A story about a guy (me), a Movado watch a jewelry store and watch-maker in downtown Concord, New Hampshire.

When I was a senior in high-school I became obsessed with Movado watches. The all black face without the second hands, the single dot a twelve representing the sun at high-noon. Only years later did I discover Movado means: “Always in Motion.” Combine the beauty of museum watch” with the fact most Movados are not way over-priced made owning one much more appealing and realistic. 1997 was the year I got my first Movado watch.

It had a black leather band, the signature all black face with gold trim around it. It was about $495 at the time. Lucky for me, my mom, agreed to go half and make it an early graduation gift. It was a classy  time piece for sure. About a year after graduating from high-school and about nine months into being a “wet behind the ears” small business owner I decided I wanted a Movado with a stainless steal band. No going halves with mom on this one though!

I went out one night in November of 1998 and bought one. I ended up wearing the new one with the stainless steal band most of the time. In my secret reveries I dreamed of being a collector of fancy time-pieces one day. But in 2002 my collection was reduced by half when my leather-banded Movado disappeared. My frugality and practicality kicked in and I decided the stainless steal Movado was good enough for me.

In 2008 the Movado stopped (“always in motion, but not all the time). I got the battery replaced and it worked for a short time before it conked out on me again. Then, I sort of forgot about it. But in late 2009 I decided it was time to get it fixed because I wanted to wear it again. So I began my search on Google’s home page. I found a jewelry store in down-town Concord which advertised it was a Movado dealer. I called the store two days after Christmas to verify they were open. Then, I headed south on I-93. When I got there I encountered something I can only describe as pure rudeness!

I tried to explain what I thought was wrong with the watch at which point, I was abruptly cut off and “told” how they handle Movado repairs. Imagine, Scrooge, before he was converted by the three ghosts! “$300 should cover it. That’ll include shipping it to our facility in Massachusetts, taking it apart and repairing all the mechanical.” I chimed in (or at least tried to), “But is there a way for you to tell me what is wrong with it?” Scrooge replied: “You probably got water in it.” Me: “I’m pretty sure I didn’t get water in it.” Scrooge: “Well, that’s just my guess!” Me: “Great, a $300 guess!” I grabbed my Movada and my shattered confidence of getting my watch repaired and headed for their door faster than a jack-rabbit who just drank a Red-Bull.

The search continued .

But this time we weren’t on Google’s home page anymore. I spotted another store so I went in with my fingers crossed. Two pleasant young ladies gave me the name of a watch repair shop across the way. The Bristol Watch Maker in Concord if you’re taking notes. They informed me he kept limited hours so I gathered the info and went back home. The Movado, still not in motion.

Then one day I realized I always pass a local jewelry store right here in Tilton. I went in and picked a nice little sliver bracelet out for Jamie and asked about watch repair. Guess who they mentioned. Right, the same guy that was referred to me in Concord two months earlier, The Bristol Watch Maker

Fast forward about seven months and I finally brought my watch to the only person in Concord, and the entire central part of New Hampshire (at least that I’m aware of), who could fix a Movado. The price range given to me over the phone? About $200 less than our rude friends on Main Street. The final cost or repair? Sit down…. A whole $15! What was wrong with it? The battery leaked inside the watch causing it to stop. No water at all, just as I suspected!

Funny thing is this…

I’m really easily persuaded. If the owner of “Rudes R Us” on Main Street were just a little nice I most-likely would’ve just said “OK, whatever you need to do, I want my watch working again.” But they weren’t. Their excuse for being rude-mongers? The holiday season. I kid you not!

The moral of the story? I don’t know, but maybe this…

I don’t believe being “nice” all the time is always the best policy. Sometimes you have to put your foot down. Plus, there’s that old thing about “nice guys finishing last.” So while being nice doesn’t work all the time – being rude really never works.

Just a quick reminder…

If you don’t have my book: Motion Before Motivation, The Success Secret That Never Fails

Grab it here…

MotionBeforeMotivation.com

On one of my recent TV shows I had the chance to sit down with Leslie Sturgeon. Leslie started her first business twenty plus years ago. Since that time she has expanded and now runs 3 different businesses. One of those is really her true passion in life. It’s about 9 minutes.

We discuss…

• Simple Tips for Starting Your Business or Taking Your Career to The Next Level
• How to Effectively Network and Get Others to Help You
• How More Doors Can Open When You Take Action
• The Clint Eastwood Model for Success

Keep in mind, this 9 minute video was taken from a 30 minute interview. We did our best to get you as much “meat” as possible!

Enjoy!

I not an expert on networking and have never played one on TV or Radio.

But this week on “Mike D’s Mobilazational Monday’s,” (my weekly radio show on WSMN 1590 in Nashua) I had two guests who run local networking groups.

Their respective groups have grown in recent months.

So Don Daigle & Joanne Randall stopped by the station to talk about effective networking.

This 8 minute video is only a small segment of what we covered, but I know you’ll enjoy and pull something from it.

OH– and One Danger of Facebook you’ll want to listen up for.

And our little blunder at the end!

Enjoy…

You’ve heard that quote about Gazelles and Lions in Africa right?  The Gazelle wakes up knowing it has to run faster than the fastest Lion – the Lion has to run faster than the slowest Gazelle or one goes hungry and one gets eaten. The point of the quote is to remind us to “get moving!” The New Year brings a fresh opportunity to make things happen. Here are seven tips to get your business moving in 2010…

Develop a Sense of Urgency

A sense of urgency in your business is not about any “hurry, the sky is falling and make hasty decisions out of fear mentality.” Oh  contraire! In the world of successful small business a sense of urgency is about hurrying to make things happen. Hurrying to create products and services to market and sell. It’s about getting your clients and customers the results they want quickly – faster than your competitor can, (Lion or Gazelle)!

A sense of urgency is about being proactive and not reactive. It’s about getting priorities in order. It’s about taking massive action to produce results.

Set Ambitious Deadlines

The greatest time management tool ever invented was the deadline because without it nothing else would ever get done. Something to experiment with this year is raising the bar on completion dates. Remember, getting it done is more important than getting it perfect.

Let go of Waste

Hanging on to old ways of doing things or systems that just aren’t productive anymore will equal a ton of waste. Many companies that struggle in economic downturns are usually carrying a lot of waste in the form of advertising that’s not working or operational procedures that are inefficient and outdated. Don’t believe me? Study just a few of the companies that stood in line for government handouts in recent times! Which is a good lead in to our next tip…

Be Unique In Your Marketing

Are your marketing messages too inwardly focused and egotistical? Do they get lost in the shuffle because there’s nothing unique, fun, new or different about them? In our emerging economy there’s no room for “sameness.” Brain-storm the ways you are different from your competitors and communicate why your differences are of benefit to your prospects.

Get Savvy about Selling

In some circles “selling” has become a dirty word. But the truth is nothing happens until somebody sells something. It’s sad when businesses spend money on marketing to generate traffic to their locations or get their phones to ring and then someone drops the ball or “un-sells” the prospect.

Get back to basics and focus on the little things. Train yourself and your sales staff to ask questions to uncover the desires of your customers. Once you know what your customer wants, show them how to get it. Have regular meetings, role play and study the art of ethical persuasion.

Keep it Simple

To move quickly in 2010 and reach all of your goals a little faster why not adapt an attitude of simplicity? Does anything seem to be a little over-complicated in your business or life? Be honest with yourself and then take corrective action to simplify.

When I speak to groups of business owners I often get their attention and a laugh when I tell them I’m going to share the easiest and most important financial, business and economic principle. They are on the edge of their seats as I tell them as long as they follow it they can’t help but be successful.  “What is it?” they say. “It’s the Chunka Principle!” “Huh?” “The Chunka coming in has to be bigger than the Chunka going out!” Simple, but effective financial advice.

Have Fun

PT Barnum, the famous showman and promoter, said people will spend their last nickel to have fun. Have fun and enjoy the ride this year. Think of ways you can make things more fun and enjoyable for the people around you, including your customers and clients. I’m not advocating “not taking business seriously” just make it a priority to enjoy it this year!

Put these seven ideas into action quickly and I know you’ll move fast toward your goals in 2010. Post this article somewhere you can see it and remind yourself to “make things happen!”

A couple of other things…

Of course, Happy Thanksgiving to my U.S. Peeps.

Jamie, Julia, Marissa and me we’ll be hangin’ out and enjoying turkey, peas, mashed potatoes, and stuffing. I think Jamie’s gonna whip up a Pumpkin Pie too.

Guess who does most of the cooking ’round here during the week?

Not Jamie – Me.

OH- she’s much better than me, so it’s mainly a schedule thing.

I’m more of a “short order cook”

 I can handle Breakfast and do make some kick butt omelets. Gotta have some meet to go with  breakfast too. Tomorrow morning I’ll do some sausage made from freshly ground pork. I added the spices- Pepper, Salt, Cayenne Pepper, Brown Sugar, and a little Crushed Red Pepper- good stuff.

Handling dinner is cool, but again I’m real simple. Usually some chicken, beef or fish and a veggie. We don’t do a carb every weeknight.

So where am I going with this??

Since Jamie is the better cook, she’ll be taking care of Thanksgiving dinner. Ya gotta know when to let the experts do their thang.

OK- down to bizness…

If you missed Monday’s radio show but would be happy getting some more leads from your website for your “local biz” than catch the replay. The Player is below.
 

And- if you want to read an “OK” (being modest) article, check out this link…
http://www.askmiked.com/unionleaderstory.pdf
 
It’s a story that came out about me in Monday’s state-wide Newspaper.
And lastly-

If you’d like some help to “Ratchet Up” your sales and marketing. Check out this compilation of wisdom to shortcut your success…
http://askmiked.com/shortcut/

I often seek out interesting and not so typical marketing materials for myself and my clients.

A very high percentage of the time (when applicable) I also use what I end up sharing.

Recently I came across some unique business cards. Those of you who have met me, know I currently have a unique business card. Anyway, these cards actually felt like credit cards rather than business cards. They were made from the same plastic. So I figured… “sweet, I can use these and recommend them to my clients too, these will stand out and be remembered.”

A few weeks ago I contacted the company and explained that I’d like to find out how to order some cards and also get some samples. Even if the samples were in digital form that would be fine. I basically wanted to see if they could also add some sample text that I would send so a few of my clients would have the cards 90% complete if they wanted to get some for themselves. I have learned to do my best to make things easy for people!

I wasn’t asking for a whole lot. Over the years I’ve had a numerous “samples” created and a fair share of my clients do end up transacting business with the companies I recommend.

The voice on the other end said; “Sure, no problem.” After all this is basically 0 cost advertising for them, plus I was also interested in getting some myself. He instructed me to send him the text and assured me this would take his designer a few minutes and we’d be all set.

I figured– about a week should be fine. “If I don’t hear back I’ll send an email.” A week goes by, nothing, no call, no email, no sample.

Three weeks goes by. Now I look like an idiot because I told some clients that I’d have a sample for them. I place a call to the company. The guy on the other end apologizes and then proceeds to tell me that the reason he never got back to me is because he was in the middle of selling a percentage of his company and in the transition they were “just not following through on things.”

Confused?? I was! Here I am trying to buy from this company and send them referrals and all they have for me is some lame excuse about being “in transition.”

So if this company’s business is “a little slow,” is it the economy or something else??

What do you think??

I figured that since it’s Halloween month and the scary ghosts and goblins will be out soon that I’d do my best to tie it in to this article. So let’s see…

The economy is starting to show some signs of recovery, but for some reason the stage still does not seem set for a period of growth which usually follows a down turn.

Why is that? Why is there still this feeling of… “We’re not out of the woods yet.” The only possible explanation is that small businesses are still scared. But it’s not that they’re scared  because Halloween is coming or about how they’re going to make the bills. What we’re a little scared about is all of the talk out of Washington lately. What kind of talk? Talk that makes our lives more difficult as owners of small enterprises.

 “Cap and Trade,” which basically creates a Carbon Credits system. Of course intentions are good; reduce greenhouse gasses. But sending energy prices sky-high will hurt all of us. I encourage you to do your own research on this one. And why aren’t China and India on board? They want to see their economy grow, that’s why!

Then there’s the monster lurking around with “Healthcare reform.” Just the thought of being penalized is enough to make you grab on tight. Again, there’s got to be a better way to get the cost of healthcare down so more people can afford it.

There’s also some scary things going on with labor. Mandatory sick leave is one. Being scared about this one is not about being an insensitive employer. It’s more about the new regulations and daunting amounts of paperwork needed to comply. Small companies will be forced to take time away from productive wealth-creating activities that benefit everyone just to report to the bureaucrats. There’s also talk about reclassifying independent contractors. Independent contractors provide much needed services to small firms for less than it would cost them to hire an employee.

Yep! If you pay attention it can get a little scary! The best thing to do is to let your elected officials know that you want your government to help keep you safe while ensuring the enforcement of sound and ethical business transactions. But there’s no need to be so involved that creativity and productivity suffer because someone is always breathing down your neck.