Katrina

Sad Greetings tonight:

Again, we are called to assist our brothers and sisters who are in need. It is time to rise up and do what's right.

www.nola.com is a new site that I found that seems like a local source for news regarding the New Orleans area.

It appears that donations can be made to the following:

www.redcross.org

http://www.salvationarmyusa.org/

http://www.catholiccharitiesusa.org/

Times like these remind us of the importance to continue giving back to communities. One area that is often overlooked are the service organizations. I'm a member of Rotary and am looking forward to seeing how local Rotary clubs respond to the relief efforts. www.rotary.org I am always amazed at how small groups can change the world.

Have a fruitful day,

RGH

The Exponential Power of Networking

Unusually Wet Greetings:

Sometimes during your life, you stumble upon a tidbit of knowledge that just amazes you. One of these was taught to me during an Information Technology course at DePaul. According to the textbook Information Management Practice by Barbara C. McNurlin and Ralph H. Sprague, Jr. and New Rules for the New Economy by Kevin Kelly:

The value of a network increases exponentially with each new connection! This happens because for every connection made so many new connections are created. If you have a network of 3 people, there is a possibility of 6 one-on-one connections. A network of 4 creates 12 one-to-one connections, 5 creates 20 one-to-one connections.

My friends, I'm going to leave you tonight to ponder this rule and how it applies to your personal network and relationships. How much more valuable will your personal network be by developing one new contact? It's pretty staggering isn't it?

Have a fruitful day,

RGH

A shout out to the Wizard

My friend Dan and I have a morning ritual. We call each other and check in. It could be just a good morning or it could be a long conversation on business philosophy. We touch it all from finance, marketing, management, etc. It's always a joy and always useful.

Dan called me this morning and asked "Have you looked at Roy's website lately and checked out his blogs?"

"No, I haven't checked on him lately," I replied.

He knows how I've been disappointed in the writings of one of our favorite marketers. Dan urged me to check it out again. So I did.

All I can say is "Wow! He's back!"

Let me fill you in on "The Wizard of Ads!" aka Roy Williams. Roy writes the Monday Morning Memo. This might qualify as one of the original blogs. It is so original that you used to get it on your fax machine every monday morning. (Yes, the good old days before everyone had the internet!) He still does the Monday Morning Memo over e-mail and the internet. I highly recommend it.

Each monday, Roy educates you, free of charge, on the finest aspects of marketing. Not just on cpm and other marketing terms. Roy takes you deep into recesses of the consumers brain and shows you how the consumer makes decisions. He shows you how the consumer responds to each of his senses. Where else can you learn about Broca's area of the brain?

Ofcourse, Roy offers much more. He offers marketing courses, advertising consulting, seminars and other fine services. He also makes it fun.

Roy, I'm glad Dan had me visit your website again. I have re-subscribed to the MMM and am eagerly anticipating each issue. Keep up the good work! Thanks for being a pioneer.

If you are interested in the Monday Morning Memo, please check out http://www.wizardacademy.com/memo.asp . It'll make you think.

Enough of the commercial.

Have a fruitful day,

RGH

The Bears Sleepover - A Fable

The other night, the Brown Bear family and The Grizzly Bear family decide to go to the river to play. The kids had a grand time and the adult bears enjoyed talking. At one point in the evening, Mr. Brown turns to Mrs. Brown and says that he can't wait for their date tomorrow night.

Mrs. Brown said "Oh dear, Little Red Hen hasn't said if she can babysit or not. In fact, she hasn't even called."

Mr. Bear growled "But I've been planning this date all week, now what!"

"Don't worry Honey, I'll figure it out," claimed Mrs. Bear.

Mr. Grizzly felt very bad for his friends. On the walk back to their cave he mentioned it to Mrs. Grizzly. She said that she felt the same way and also needed a baby sitter during the day. She knew that Little Red Hen, who is the best babysitter around, was going with her friends to scare campers. She felt that Little Red probably didn't call back because she felt bad about letting everyone down. Mrs. Grizzly said that she would call Mrs. Brown in the morning to see if Mrs. Brown could watch the Grizzly boys in the afternoon and the Grizzly's would watch the Brown's boys in the evening.

The next afternoon, Mrs. Grizzly called Mr. Grizzly and said that that an even better solution was found. Mrs. Brown would watch the Grizzly boys in the afternoon and then the Brown's boys were going to sleep over! Mr. Grizzly wasn't crazy about this idea and growled all the way home but there was nothing he could do. (He didn't want to wake up in the middle of the night to calm all the little bears down.)

It turned out to be a great idea! The boys were great! Everyone slept soundly. No one had to pay Little Red Riding Hood for babysitting. The Brown Bears had a fantastic time without little bears around. (All parents can relate.) Both sets also realized that a new and better solution was found "The Sleepover!"

Moral: If you are a supplier and your customer needs something that you can't supply, don't be afraid to call them and try to work out a solution together. Don't be left out in the cold like Little Red Hen. You never know what kind of solution your customer might find on their own. Who knows? They may find a solution that leaves you without a customer.

Have a fruitful day,

RGH

The Power of One Extra Phone Call

Warm summer greetings!

A great book to read is Don't Fire Them, Fire Them Up by Frank Pacetta. (Thank you Dick Canada for suggesting it!) It's one of those fantastic chearleading books with great ideas on how to manage your sales team. If this book can't get you motivated, I'm not sure what can!

The other day, I was reflecting on the thought of making one extra phone call each day. Pacetta lays out the concept pretty good in his book. According to Pacetta, "Excellence is not easy to achieve... in the end you simply have to grind it out." It takes dedication but you never know what will happen with that extra phone call.

1 extra phone call per day = 365 extra phone calls. If you make an appointment with 10% of your phone calls, you've made 36.5 extra appointments. 3 extra per month.

I was discussing this concept with a small group of motivated women who sell Discovery Toys. We were all blown away by that simple statistic. 3 extra parties per month with one simple phone call per day.

It's time to grind it out. Make that extra phone call. It will pay dividends.

Have a fruitful day,

RGH

Oil Market and Emotion

Warm Greetings,

Today, King Fahd of Saudi Arabia passed away. Oil futures closed above $61.00. King Fahd will be succeeded by King Abdullah. Wait a second, King Fahd had a stroke several years ago and King Abdullah has been basically a figurehead since then. Abdullah has been ruling the kingdom since the stroke. Riyadh is saying that oil policy is not changing.

What am I missing here? This is a prime example of either markets acting on emotion or prices being controlled. If the news is correct, then nothing else makes sense.

On another note, I am trying to start a running program for myself to get back into decent shape. Trying to complete my MBA and having a family caused my fitness to lapse. Anyway, no excuses now. Ran and walked 1.5 miles today.

Have a fruitful day,

RGH