This excerpt is from the cover letter of a salesperson: Telemarketing There is no better. willing to work Short Term, Long Term, Temp. Commision, depending on rate of pay. Currently i am working a sales job, however, i do not like it, although i am very good, great at it I am only making $7 an hour. Pass.
Continue ReadingCue Up For Dinner
I’m not British so waiting is not my specialty. This factoid is from the JustSell.com daily newsletter: According to the National Restaurant Association, the average consumer is willing to wait 23 minutes for a table for dinner. That number rises slightly to 31 minutes if it’s a weekend. If you replace minutes with seconds, you will know my threshold for waiting at a restaurant. My wife, who will wait 45 minutes to get into a good restaurant, has initiated a behavior modification plan to correct this weakness in me.
Continue ReadingCompany Mission Statement
This BusinessWeek.com article – How to Avoid the Commodity Trap – caught my fancy but I have to admit, it is a bit short on the “How to” part. The main thrust of the article is to treat your customers with respect. That is solid advice, but I was looking for more. But what the article lacks in tactical description, it makes up for with anecdotal stories. The article is a fun read. It closes with the author retelling a personal experience: My last example is personal. Two years ago, I dented my car and took it to a body shop for an estimate. A large tattoo-covered man stood behind… Read More
Continue ReadingTop 10 Travel Blunders
Since I suspect many of you will be hopping on an airplane within the next few days, here is an article from Yahoo Finance titled 10 Biggest Bonehead Moves at Airport Security. It is a funny article especially if you have been caught in one of these scenarios. I usually cause one of these scenarios: 4.) Sporting Lace-Ups When Loafers Will Do You don’t need to wear your father’s slippers, but you shouldn’t wear his army boots either. Nowadays, everyone — and that means you, Your Honor — has to take off their shoes for X-ray inspection. So wear shoes that can be easily put on and taken off. And… Read More
Continue ReadingChristmas Price Index
This info is trivial, but entertaining. From the JustSell.com daily newsletter – the 2007 cost of the 12 days of Christmas from the CNNMoney.com website: Here’s the breakdown of the 12 days… 1. Partridge in a Pear Tree – $164.99 2. Turtle Doves – $40 3. French Hens – $45 4. Calling Birds – $599.96 5. Gold Rings – $395 6. Geese-a-Laying – $360 7. Swans-a-Swimming – $4,200 8. Maids-a-Milking – $46.80 9. Ladies Dancing – $4,759.19 10. Lords-a-Leaping – $4,285.06 11. Pipers Piping – $2,213.40 12. Drummers Drumming – $2,397.85 I had no idea the price of Lords-a-Leaping had gone up so much.
Continue ReadingNow THIS Is Marketing
I heard a radio commercial this morning for one of these credit card debt consolidation companies. The closing line from the commercial: Must have over $10,000 of credit card debt to qualify. Qualify? Exclusivity in a club for which most people would not want to qualify. Excellent spin.
Continue ReadingWearing Out The Delete Key
From a cover email I just received in response to an ad for a regional sales manager: Hi, Lee. I am _____. I live in __, however, I am international, or regional, or national, or whatever the job calls for. It gets worse. The candidate worked in a collection-type role and included 2 pages of collections (amounts, dates, commission, payment type). He included the first and last names of the people from which he collected the late payments. Unbelievable.
Continue ReadingWhen Your Cell Phone Takes A Swim
Seriously, this happened to me. When my son was 2 or 3 years old, he took my work cell phone and dropped it in the toilet (is there a better motivation to make sure everyone in your house flushes the toilet?). I couldn’t find it, I called the number and couldn’t hear it. I asked my son and he slowly led me to his bathroom where he raised the toilet seat and there it was. Yup, I reached down into the water (was flushed, thankfully) and pulled it out. I removed the battery and washed the entire thing with Lysol …twice. I let it dry out for 2 days and… Read More
Continue ReadingDoom On Company Time
The Herman Group newsletter this week discusses the amount of gaming that goes on in an office. Gaming as in playing video games. Seriously. We estimate that computer gaming is costing United States employers millions of dollars every year. According to a recent survey of computer gamers, 24 percent of white collar workers admitted to playing during work hours. The most critical finding is the frequency with which these workers play. Over half (53 percent) said they play at work at least once a day. Seventy-nine percent said they play at work several times a week—or more. Eighty-four percent said that, on average, they play casual games at work for… Read More
Continue ReadingSupplemental Income
You know, I have had fourth quarters where I was tanking on my commission plan. Yet, I never thought of this idea to make up for it: A bank teller in Clearwater had a million reasons not to open an account for an Augusta, Ga., man Monday, authorities said. Alexander D. Smith, 31, was charged with disorderly conduct and two counts of forgery after he walked into the bank and tried to open an account by depositing a fake $1 million bill, said Aiken County Sheriff’s spokesman Lt. Michael Frank. Fantastic. My favorite line from the article is the last one: The federal government has never printed a million-dollar bill,… Read More
Continue Reading