Judging a Business by its Prize

Last week I had the privilege of attending a women's health and fashion gala. The event planners did a great job of producing a 5-star event. Before the fashion show started I mingled and visited different vendors, tasted desserts, and took photos.

The ladies at a medspa-type booth got my attention when I passed by inviting me to participate in their giveaway. You could spin the wheel and win whatever prize you landed on. Prizes included mini-microdermabrasions, mini-facials, and a few other things. I had my eyes set on winning a microderm, but wanted to know what a "mini" one consisted of.

When I asked the owner, she couldn't really give a thorough explanation and basically stated it wasn't a full microderm, but I could purchase the complete service for an additional $35. She was able to articulate that the mini-facial only consisted of a cleansing.

The pressure was on so I gave the wheel a good spin. Low and behold it landed on, "Take Your Pick".

Yep - I could choose any prize I wanted.

I chose the mini-microderm, got my coupon card, and told the owner I'd be in touch to schedule my appointment. A member of her staff informed me with excitement that for a limited time, I could receive 50% off all services.

PRIZES DO MATTER

The above photo was taken to promote a Hardee's Restaurant $10,000 winner. Congratulations Jacob! Let's imagine for a second that Jacob had no idea what he was winning - he just knew he'd won something from his favorite fast food joint. What do you think would happen if he found out he won 1/2 of a free sandwich? How enthused would you be if you were the grand prize winner of:

• 1/2 a pizza
• one shoe from your favorite shoe store
• 1/2 a haircut
• a 12 hour stay at a resort hotel
• 3 rides at a national amusement park
• 30 minute private screening of a new movie

But what if you had the option of purchasing the entire whatever for an additional fee? Like, what good would one left shoe really do unless you bought the right one? Is it still a giveaway in this case?

NO FACE VALUE - LITERALLY

Once the excitement died down and I had some time to think about the true value of my prize, I decided not to book the appointment. Why? It just wasn't worth it to me. I already have an aesthetician that I love and the business owner did a poor job of selling me on the benefits of visiting her spa. Did I mention that at no point did anyone collect my contact information to follow up with me? Another missed opportunity. The entire experience was sub-par in my opinion. You lure me over to your table with the hopes of winning something worthwhile and before we even establish any kind of a relationship you upsell me. That's the kind of thing you expect from a fly-by-night car dealership.

GIVE SOMETHING GOOD OR DON'T GIVE AT ALL

This statement alone serves as the moral of the story. When thinking about ways to reward your customers, ask yourself if it's something you would like to be on the receiving end of. If the answer is no, more than likely your clients or potential clients feel the same way. Instead of gifting 10 low budget prizes, opt to give away 3 really valuable ones. Put a deadline on when the prize has to be redeemed. Collect the winner's information so you can follow up 1) to send a reminder 2) to have a conversation and find out why they chose not to redeem the prize. This will give you much needed insight to continue on with that particular giveaway or make the necessary adjustments so that future prizes have more value.

Would you have gone ahead and gotten your mini service? Why or why not? Share your thoughts with me.

Photo credit: hardees

Lessons Learned from The Real Housewives of Atlanta: A Forbes Post

In a recent Forbes post, I assessed a few of the business decisions the Atlanta Housewives cast members made. If you open up your eyes, you'll find there are learning opportunities all around us.


What Entrepreneurs can Learn from The Real Housewives of Atlanta

Save Money While Making Memories

I'm really not understanding the Christmas decor and advertisements the day after Halloween. A few days ago I made my usual Thursday morning Starbucks run before heading to the radio station and my latte was served in a cup decked out with red hollies and such. Retailers have done it again - skipped a whole month and planted us smack dab in December. This made for a great show topic and our listeners didn't waste time calling in to give their two cents.

My family started a Thanksgiving tradition 10 years ago when I purchased my first house. My middle sister had the grand idea to have dinner at my new place. About 15 of us piled comfortably into my less than 1000 sq. ft. abode. Since then, we've kept the tradition alive by rotating between houses every year.

As American families continue to face tough economic times, planning holiday get togethers can be challenging. As a result of increased gas and food prices, some family traditions have fallen by the wayside. Here are a few things you can do to save some money and cherish your time with loved ones.

• Host Multi-Family Dinners: Instead of footing the bill alone, invite neighbors and friends over and ask them to bring a dish. This can work in tandem with saving on travel. Too strapped to book a flight out of town? Stay put and celebrate with others who decided to forgo travel.

• Skip the Elaborate, High-Priced Meals: It's going to cost more money to feed more people a gourmet meal. Your family and friends aren't looking for a 5-star experience. Scale back on the specialty items and keep it simple by serving up inexpensive comfort foods.

• Reduce, Recycle, and Reuse: This goes beyond being eco-friendly. Reduce your spending all together by comparison shopping, clipping coupons, and buying early. Create a spending plan (doesn't this sound better than being restricted to a budget?). Recycle items by swapping; you can get rid of something "old" while giving someone else something "new". Buy decor that can be used for more than one season/holiday/occasion. Clear glass votives, vases, and dishes are great. Use colored linens/flowers, etc. to capture the holiday's theme.

These money-saving strategies can be used all year long. What traditions do you have and how do you avoid breaking the bank?

Photo credit: alamedabrad

Kick Butt Collaboration

How many new ideas do you think of on a daily basis? How do you decide which ones to act on? Where do you keep all of those ideas until you're ready to put them into action?

I've come a long way with managing my creative process. The more focused I become on specific goal-oriented projects, the less time I spend going off into total world domination mode - the place where one simple concept morphs into a global initiative.

I'm going to take a moment to show you how my most recent venture came about.

MY IDEA BOOK

This is the sacred place where my ideas get written down. Not all ideas make the cut, however. If it's a thought I can't seem to shake or something that comes to me in the middle of the night, I jot it down. Other factors come into play, but you get the picture. Periodically, I flip through my idea book and cross things off that no longer interest me. I wrote down the idea of having coaching and coffee a few months ago.

CLARITY

Usually when I have a bright idea, that's all I have. I wrote about this in the post talking about fear. Rarely do I have a detailed plan attached to the concept. Just as fate would have it, when all of the pieces need to fall into place, that's exactly what happens. This is especially true in this particular instance. Because I'd briefly brainstormed and ran this by my accountability partners, I did have somewhat of a clue as to how this event would actually look. Sometimes all it takes is a few key bullet points and logistics to move your ideas closer to fruition.


CONNECTIONS

My relationship with the owner began close to a year ago on twitter (I make it a point to follow locally owned businesses and entrepreneurs) when he tweeted a coupon good for new customers only. It was a well executed marketing strategy to get newcomers through the door and coffee happens to be one of my favorite things. My initial experience was fun and personable, just the way service is supposed to be and my barista won me over when he concocted something using my three must-have ingredients: vanilla, cream whip, and caramel - in that order. When I saw Kick Butt's callout on Facebook letting folks know the venue was available for events I immediately sent an email and within 15 minutes, Thomas and I were on the phone. Note: Knowing the decision makers saves you so much time on the front end. About 30 minutes later, we'd worked out all of the details and I was good to go.

Now all I needed to do was figure out how to conduct 5-minute speed coaching. Let me rephrase that - I know how to coach, but I've never actually organized speed coaching sessions. Not a problem. I knew who to call. I got Julie Lara on the phone and within another 10 minutes, she got me all hooked up.

DON'T think you need to have all the answers.
DO surround yourself with other people who do.


REALITY

Today marked my first Kick Butt Coffee & Coaching and the next is scheduled for November 16th. Was it a success? By my definition, yes. Simply deciding to get up and take action was half the battle. It would've been easy to sit back and wait for the "perfect" time to move forward. With very little marketing and the fact that today was election day, three people showed up. My inaugural gig was 1/4 full capacity! I know...most people wouldn't celebrate and share what some would consider a low turnout. The truth of the matter is we don't always come out of the gate and hit our target. We meet our goals by committing to consistency. Slow and steady still wins the race.

Your ideas are the beginning of the journey. No matter when you start, you can't expect to arrive overnight.

The Upside of Social Networking Addictions

I've been on Facebook now for almost a year, but my social media addiction started with twitter. I'd spend hours and hours laughing and tweeting...retweeting and laughing some more.

True story: The Boy (my son) once told me, "I wish I had the mom who worked at [previous employer] instead of the mom who works at twitter." Bless his heart, he thought twitter was my job!

Before migrating my addiction over to Facebook, I wanted to make sure I'd positioned myself on twitter. Not as someone who was there to self-promote, but to use it for what I believe it's truly meant for - taking online connections and turning them into real-life offline relationships. Twitter lead to the opportunity for me to speak to eWomen Network in Oakland, CA, as a result of meeting Ann Evanston online. It's been a couple of years since I sent my first tweet and I'm still amazed at the number of people who still miss the point. They continue to talk about only themselves, push their services and affiliate products, and blast sales pitches.

Now that I'm comfortable with using Facebok, I'm spending more time on twitter again. Last week I was on and happened to see a tweet announcing a chat for the upcoming Texas Conference for Women. The hashtag was #TexasWomen. I hadn't participated in tweetchat in a long time and decided to join the conversation. I was glad I did. Although I don't have plans to attend the 2010 conference, I had fun enteracting with the speakers and past conference attendees. That experience alone made me want to go to the live event and I've already put next week's chat on my calendar. I also gained a few more like-minded followers in the process.

I'm sitting in Starbucks writing this post and couldn't help but overhear two men talking about twitter. One guy was telling the other all the great benefits of being active on twitter and the other fellow was rebutting and saying what I've heard so many others say, "I just don't get it."

I'm not here to sell you on it one way or another. Not all social networking works for everyone and I don't subscribe to the belief that you have to be plugged into everything or you're not "doing it right". Find what works best for you and stick with it consistently.

Regardless to what you choose, remember this: Join the conversation - it's a dialogue. Forget about adding value and just show up and give it.

You can see my latest tweets over there to the right below my picture. If we haven't connected there yet, you can follow me at @iHiredMe.

Photo credit: xotoko