Is it a piece of glass or is it a mirror?

Interesting thing you can do with a piece of glass; with most glass you can see through it to see what is on the other side. Then, you can put a coating on it and change it so that you are looking at yourself. I think this is what a lot of businesses do - they have that coating and what they see is themselves. They don't do what is necessary to see the customer.

I thought of this yesterday as I was running a couple of errands and after each stop found my car harder and harder to start. I immediately take it to the garage and in a few minutes they announce that the battery should be replaced. They give the appropriate credit as the dying battery is still under warranty and proceed to install a new battery.

You would think they would be seen as doing a great job, and I am sure that many people would. But what I experienced was how they missed the opportunity to be outstanding. So outstanding that I would want to tell everyone about how great they are. (Remember one of our previous discussions about creating 'sneezers'?)

Getting back in the car, I remember that when you take out a battery, all of the memory in your electronics is gone. So you have to reset the clock, radio settings and all of those other details. Locating the instruction manual, reading through it, remembering all of your preferences and performing all of those tasks take time.

However, imagine the repair shop that used an additional battery to keep your car connected to a power supply while they changed out your battery. Then imagine the mechanic placing a note on your dash explaining that he or she was concerned about your losing your settings. The note explains what they did and how your settings are not disturbed. The note even states that if you have any questions you can call the mechanic with a name and phone number at the bottom of the note.

What if your repair shop did that? Wouldn't you tell lots of people about how great they are? You see, it is fairly easy to look at that mirror, but the great businesses know how to scrape off the film from the back side and see through the glass to see the most important thing - their customer. What do you see?

Enlarging your print advertising

Think about your print advertising. Some customers will go to the extreme of cutting out the advertisement and carrying with them so they do not forget to come into your business. These people will definitely be there to look at your business.

Then there are those that make a note to themselves, or perhaps just a mental note that the next time they are in the area, they would stop by. With this group, we are hoping to move them to become among those that are definitely coming.

We found that by taking our newspaper advertisement and having the local print shop enlarge it, we could place the enlargements on the doors and windows of our business as a reminder to those passing by that this is a place they want to stop.

This small investment paid great dividends in our business. And if you find a really sharp print shop, you can arrange to have them do it consistently for you. They should be able to watch the paper, make the enlargements and deliver them to you.

Summer will soon be wrapping up, and the busy season of fall tradeshows and conferences is beginning. Here is Tom's current schedule for the next two months:

August 9 Houston, TX
August 12 Atlanta, GA
August 22 Chicago, IL
August 24 San Antonio, TX
September 4-6 St. Louis, MO
September 8 Yakima, WA
September 12 Sacramento, CA
September 13 Seattle, WA
September 16 Indianapolis, IN
September 18 Springfield, MA
September 19 Chicago, IL
September 20 Philadelphia, PA
September 22 Orlando, FL
September 28 Las Vegas, NV
September 29 Newark, NJ