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New Haircuts
By Charles Martin | June 9, 2010
Sorry I’ve been off the ball lately — working hard like a boy should.
I was getting in the car today in a part of LA that is 15 miles from home. I had been thinking that I’d call my hair stylist on the way home and try to “sneak in”. She hates it when I do that . Nice salon. Been there for years. Part of a big brand that I’ve been loyal to for more years. Do a lot of business gabbing with the owner and I like her. But then I saw a new looking salon across the street. So, I plugged in more quarters in and jay-walked to see how it checked out. [I can do that b/c Pasadena got me on a jay-walk recently for $ and I have loaded my jay-walk bank I figure].
I viewed and smelled the scene from afar and then closer and closer. [yes, smelled. salons can't smell like old ladies. they need to smell like cool product] I decided by the modern look and feel, I’d go in. There was a few signs welcoming walk-ins too.
Met a guy at the counter and he took me in right away. Anyway, the appointment went well and my baldness was masked and abated for another four weeks. The guy was cool. The haircut pretty good. The owner also cool. She took my notes on a few of my old tricks like “pay what you want” and we discussed in detail how Groupon worked.
Boy, well worth the effort.
My point of this post is that old thing I harp on all the time.
GET OFF YOUR PLANET.
Basically every success I’ve had has been the result of a planet departure. Sometimes you go for a day. Sometimes you go for a long time and never come back. But you gotta continue to go.
Someone I know recently said “Charles, you HAVE to be friends with and know everybody!” I’m glad he said that but it couldn’t be farther from the truth. Those that get me say “Charles, it’s not the money in the sale that drives you, it’s the sense of the kill and the resulting experience”.
Exactly.
I didn’t set out to kill and drag home the info I wanted on Groupon, but it came about because I did what I always [try to] do — be nice and ask questions. When you ask questions of people, it shows you’re a freaking human and you might care what they have to say. If they have nothing to say, then there’s no loss but you’ve exercised your manners.
I may never see that salon owner again, but I do know that she will have a “pay what you want” event next Tuesday and do well by it. It’s so much better to trade information than pay for it. It was our secret little barter. That’s exactly what I do. It has nothing to do about knowing everyone. Of course those folks are always the ones that call you to get a connection they need. LOL
The people that annoy us the most in life are those people that don’t get out and see what the other side is doing, especially if you have. If you’re like some I know and you get yourself tangled in a political brawl or a sports team brawl, it’s probably because you – or they — haven’t seen what the other side has done, smelled, felt, and seen with their own eyes. While these types of conversations are at least 1/2 emotionally driven, you can come out cleaner and smarter by having a sense of opposing EXPERIENCES. Notice I didn’t say VIEWS. I can have very intelligent conversation about Groupon now which I need for current business. At 3:35 I couldn’t. Sure, I could have Googled it, but a first hand in person account is something Google can’t replace. [thank goodness]
Get out and scare yourself once a week. I guarantee it will pay off.
Topics: Big biz, Greats in business, Sales Acumen | No Comments »