I was raised with a lot of rules: food rules, behavior rules, dating rules . . .

One of the things I like about The Nutrition Diva is her credible way of busting the myths I thought were rules.

Check out the podcast on how much water to drink.
Interesting.

The Nutrition Diva is the newest guru on the Quick and Dirty Tips Network, one of my favorite resources for usable, on-the-go information.

I particularly like her because of her voice, (she is an operatic singer), the way she uses words to mean different things at the same time (her ending is “Eat something good for me.”), and her pacing.

And, I like the format of the podcasts on the QDNow Network because the show notes are a complete transcript (for people who would rather read than listen) and there are often extra links in the transcript–important since I’m always driving while I’m listening.

If you haven’t gotten the podcast bug yet, this might be the place to get exposed.

Enjoy ~ W!

So I was thinking in my sleep this morning . . .

Yesterday I was at my hair salon, and saw Beth.
I used to go to Beth. Now I go to Michael.

It happened pretty organically; I needed an appointment, Beth was out, the receptionist said Michael was available. The next time I called Beth was busy, but Michael was available.

I was afraid it would be uncomfortable, but Beth was cool.
She stopped by, put her hand on my shoulder and said 
“Looks great.”

After awhile I stopped even asking for Beth.
If Michael’s not available I check another day.

Now, imagine you’re Beth.
How Could This Happen?

Here’s an interesting piece of information:
I was referred to Beth.
By Amy.
Amy still goes to Beth.

So, I was thinking in my sleep this morning . . .

and I remembered the last time Beth cut my hair.
I was standing at the desk, paying, and Beth came up to me with four cards.                           
“I’ve got space for a few more clients,” she said.

You’ve been taught that script, right?
Jason Wright uses a variation of it very successfully.

“Here are three of my cards with your name on them,” Beth said.
“Give them to your friends.
When they come in, I’ll give them 20% off.
When three of your referrals come in I’ll give you a free haircut,
and a free massage from Juan. This is Juan. He’s terrific.”

So I went back to the office, walked over to Amy, and said,
“Look what I just got from Beth!”

Amy took the cards in two hands,
looked at them,
looked up
and said,
“She’s never given me a free haircut,
and I’ve referred more than three people to her. I sent you.
And I sent Sarah.  And I sent Rebecca.  And I sent Diane.”
and she handed the cards back to me.

This is worth thinking about.
This is what Dan Airely researched.
If I have to choose between Beth and Amy, Beth loses. Every time.
If I have to choose between benefit for myself and offending Amy, I opt out.
Every time.
Without even thinking about it.

So, I was thinking in my sleep this morning . . .
and it occurred to me why asking for referrals backfires.

• Years ago we were at a New Year’s Eve party.
  As we walked in the host greeted us with“Mr. Important is coming!
  Isn’t that great? We’re so excited that Mr. Important would come
  to our party. It’s going to be a great party  once Mr. Important gets here.”

I remember thinking: Then we can leave.
but I don’t think I said it out loud.

Mr. Important never did show up.

I think we opted out of future invitations from them.

Don’t you always want to feel like the important guest?
Then how can there possibly be any benefit
in telling guests they are less important than anyone else?

And it occurred to me in my sleep this morning . . .

that when Beth asked me to refer my friends to her,
and offered 20% off – times three friends
plus 100% off for me
and a massage worth even more than that
I heard her say that my [unknown] friends were more important to her
than I was.

And when one of my friends felt left out,
I opted out of Beth’s party.

So the answer came to me in my sleep this morning . . .
asking for referrals backfires
because it makes the person being asked
feel less important.

of the things I like most about PowerCore meetings is the 7-Minute presentations. It was the CPA’s 7-Minute presentation at the first meeting I attended that hooked me. I didn’t join for referrals; I joined because I wondered why my CPA wasn’t telling me the things this guy was sharing. That’s how I feel about the TED blog. These scientists are sharing cool info I don’t hear anywhere else.

Yesterday we flew from Atlanta to San Diego via Denver.

(Needed to get the Denver Skyline mug.
Didn’t.
If you’re going through Denver and feel like doing me a favor, give me a call.) {grin}
Just before the Denver landing the battery on my computer expired and with no time to recharge I feared boredom for the final leg of the journey.
[DA-DU.DU.DUON] {sound of George riding to the rescue}
He suggested it was a perfect opportunity to watch the TED video blog.

Jill Pullen introduced me to TED with this video of Jill Bolte Taylor, a neurologist, describing her experience having a stroke.
(At one point she gloves up and uses a real human brain, including spinal cord, as a prop. Incredible.)
Hooked, I found the link and downloaded all back copies to George’s iPod. (Mine is full of other stuff.) We hadn’t had time to watch anything since April. The flight from Denver was the perfect opportunity to experience TED again.

We listened to Paul Stamets – telling how mushrooms can save the universe
Hector Ruiz – CEO of AMD (the Intel competitor) with his big bold goal, and a touching story of his father
They Might Be Giants (These guys are silly, they start with a song whose lyrics are: “You’re older than you’ve ever been, and now you’re even older. And now you’re even older. And now you’re even older. And now you’re older still.” Approaching our birthdays we fast-forwarded to the end.)
Brian Cox – on particle excelleration
Dean Ornish- showing that our genes are not our destiny
Brian Greene – explaining string theory.

Wish my battery had given out sooner.

This is Dave Balter’s second book, (hence the Volume II) his first was Grapevine (yes, he knows).

Lee Kantor turned me on to Grapevine, where Balter shared the surprising information gleaned from his business, BzzAgent, the first word-of-mouth marketing company.

In The Word Of Mouth Manual Volume II

Dave continues sharing incredible value.

The book itself is unlike any other – remember the Volume II? that’s the least remarkable feature. The size, paper, placement of title, author’s name and photo, and the price ($45!) are all singular.
On page 71 he covers the reason why paying for word-of-mouth doesn’t work. (Same principle as Dan Airely, different logic.)
On page 77 Balter references Duncan Watts research at Columbia University, which shows that marketers should focus less on people who influence and more on how people are influenced. (That would be InfoMinute technology.)
On page 94 (there are only 119 4″ x 5″ pages!) Balter uses a rolling the dice metaphor to explain the difference between viral marketing and word-of-mouth.

I’m looking forward to having that same discussion with him about the relationship between word-of-mouth and referrals.

Until then, I’d love to discuss it with you. Which is possible because Balter is giving the book away by .pdf! (He calls this the non-waterproof version.)

Can’t wait to hear what you think ~ W!

Don’t remember where I found out about MyMorningCoffee, probably on someone else’s blog. [grin] And now I use it every day.

MyMorningCoffee is a Firefox add-on [I do remember who told me about Firefox: Jeff Paige, Member of the Buckhead Team. Thanks Jeff; best thing you've ever done for me!]

When I visit a web site I’d like to keep track of, [like - for instance - this one!] I just click the coffee cup icon in my Firefox toolbar, and select a day of the week. Each morning, when I click the MyMorningCoffee cup, up come the blogs and web sites I want to keep track of. I log in going to the gym on Joe’s Goals and close the window; read the copy on Woot and close the window; move to Sid’s blog, close the window; see how my friend Jon Schwartz is channeling Vinny Verelli, on to Sandy . . .

I do love MyMorningCoffee.

“Success is liking yourself, liking what you do, and liking how you do it.”From Linda Alarcon’s sig file.

Attributed to Maya Angelou

For discussion, look at eduqna.com

I’m a BzzAgent
The Frogpond is a perk.
And that’s where I learned about Rohit Bhargava’s book:

*Personality not included
*Why Companies Lose Their Authenticity-
And How Great Brands Get It Back.

He inserted a little punctuation personality!
I’m liking Bhargava’s material for several reasons:

• It’s real. As he says in the forward, he’s currently working in the industry. This is not a case study from one successful client. These are principles he uses daily.
• His layout is fresh. He says most books peak in chapter six. So he ends the first section at chapter six, and included feet-on-the ground exercises and templates in the second half of the book. Then he references a tool in a chapter, (so I flip forward) ends the tool with a reference to another chapter (so I flip back) it’s taking me a pack of post-its to keep my place!

Bhargava also included ten marketing techniques:

• Curiosity Marketing
• Karmic Marketing
• Participation Marketing
• Un-Whatever Marketing
• Sensory Marketing
• Antimarketer Marketing
• Insider Marketing
• Incidental Marketing
• Useful Marketing [Members who have partipated in the GateOpener Workshop have explored this arena.]

Each technique begins with reasons to green light or red light the technique.

Un-Whatever gets a green light for businesses in a crowded marketplace; a red light if the product or service is only marginally different from competitors.

How fresh; what personality.
This work ties directly to InfoMinutes.
Great new material.
Can’t wait to share it.

We are what we repeatedly do.
Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit.

Aristotle

For years we’ve known that offering a referral incentive (“Give me a referral and I’ll give you $100″) backfires.
Dan explains why.
His description of social norms vs. market norms is emotional and memorable.

Do I believe in saying thank you?

Yes, of course.

Do I believe in offering a thank you to generate a referral?

Now less than ever.

New research for those of us who crave referrals, Dan’s blog is a way to learn more. Click here to see his comments, and ask him a question.