Dear Leaders, Entrepreneurs, Dreamers, and Creators of Great Things: I write these Love Letters each month with the hope of bringing you a little encouragement, some marketing help, and a few minutes of joy. Whether we are already friends or have yet to meet, I hope you’ll enjoy my stories from the road and some awesomely random takeaways, tools, tips, and updates.
Sandwiches
Recently, I saw a post on Reddit where a person with extreme anxiety asked how to order a sandwich at Subway because they’ve never tried it. Someone replied and wrote out step-by-step instructions without being snarky or judgy and honestly, that was one of the sweetest and kindest things I have seen in months.
It also really got me thinking about the advice we give to people.
I sit in a lot of conference rooms, and I hear a lot of speakers give advice. Lately, I have been listening to the instructions being given through the lens of that Reddit user.
I see stuff like, “give value” or “follow up” or “be consistent” or “always be networking” or “use technology” or “create culture” or “stay in touch” or (my least favorite) “stay top of mind” and I am left wondering… but what do we actually DO??
Y’all… there is a huge difference between:
“Walk in and pick something from the menu and then choose your toppings.”
and
“When you get to the counter, there are three things they will want to know:
1. Choose a type of sandwich you want from the menu, such as tuna
2. Say what kind of bread you want. These options are shown in an image on the glass case in front of you.
3. Say if you want a 6-inch or a footlong (12-inch) sandwich
It will sound something like, ‘Hi. I would like a club sandwich on honey oat, make it a footlong, please.’
They will then say….”
See the difference?
Ever since I saw that thread on Reddit, I have been super conscious of how many times we assume people know the steps. Most of the time, they don’t know the steps! I have been so much more careful lately to include things like, “this is what you’ll say” or “this is what you can expect to see,” or “here’s the actual list of tasks.”
Friends, don’t take your knowledge for granted. Life is already confusing and intimidating enough. Show them the steps.
Two Small Stories
Years ago I heard Bob Goff talk about goal setting.
Imagine, he said, that your to-do list is a chessboard. Even if you don’t really play chess, you probably know that your goal is to advance your pieces across the board to the other side. You only have sixteen pieces, so you have to be strategic because if you make a wrong move, you’ll lose one of them. Now imagine, Bob said, that each of those sixteen pieces is a goal. But, in order to move one forward, you have to take one off the board completely.
When Bob said that, my heart skipped a beat, and not in a good way. What? If I decide to move one forward, I have to eliminate a goal completely? So that means I might not get to do all the things? That was a sobering thought. I considered my to-do list, mentally thinking that everything was so important, absolutely nothing could be removed… right?
Bob went on to say that when we focus on too many things, nothing makes it across the board. It was an a-ha moment for me, for sure. I am definitely looking closer at my list.
**
I cancelled a service last week. Something I have been paying for for over nine years.
I did a deep dive into my recurring expenses while I was working on taxes and I started asking myself, “Do I really need this? Do I even use it? ”
A funny thing happened after I cancelled it. The company called me. This company that I have never heard from in all of my nine years of paying them $18 per month, called me. They called me, they emailed me, they texted me, and they called me some more. All so they could tell me what an amazing customer I am and how they hate to lose me and is there anything they could possibly do differently to get me to stay?
Never in all nine years of being a customer has that company shown me any appreciation. Not a single discount, not a phone call to see how they are doing, not a ‘thanks for the over $2k in fees’…nothing. But when I was leaving – when I’d already made the decision to make a change – they suddenly had an entire “retention” department falling over themselves to figure out what to do to make me feel appreciated.
It got me thinking about the way we treat our customers, and the amount of effort we put into recruiting vs retention. Food for thought.
This is where I share the good stuff
… the latest websites, books, & tools that are inspiring me, the people who are making me smile, and the stuff I have been writing on sticky notes.
So often we never go past “how are you? Good, how are you?” with even the people we love the most. This list of 50 things to ask instead of “how are you” has really helped me.
An excellent read about what leadership really looks like right now.
Loved this list of ways to meet people and make new friends offline and IRL!
If you lead people or serve people, you need to add this book to your list!
Quote I keep thinking about:
“If you don’t know what you want, the world will decide for you and you won’t like the result.” – Alice Maudret
Thanks for reading, friends! If you want to get these in your inbox every month, be sure to get on the mailing list. And if you are looking for a speaker who will motivate your organization to get up, get moving, and face change head-on, I would love to chat.
