For those of us who spend days, weeks, months on the road – standing in security lines, squeezing into too tiny airline seats, eating bad road food, trying to remember what color car we rented, what tonight’s hotel room number is and wondering how long the meeting will go on – I have some suggestions to make it just a little bit better:

• Do a little research ahead of time and give yourself the right to explore or visit a landmark.  I’ve walked the deck of the USS Lexington, driven the world’s most crooked street (and alley), visited the largest mall in the US, and posed in front of the American Gothic House, just to name a few. Make it a part of your plan and see something. Allow yourself to have a bit of fun.
• Mingle with the participants, not just business networking.  Learn who they are, what they do, where they are from, what they like. Your next big client or best friend could be in that crowd.  You never know.  By the way, I highly suggest staying away from alcohol and having a soft drink or juice for this.
• Talk to the locals, like the waitress or the person at the front desk. Ask about the area, what they like about it, what it is like to live there.  I gained a whole new appreciation for the farmers in America’s Heartland, Iowa, just talking to the employees in the restaurant the night before a speech.
• Make a plan ahead of time to exercise each day even if it’s just for 15 minutes.  Walk outside, walk the stairs in the hotel or office building, find a fitness center, just get it moving.   I promise you’ll feel better for doing it later in the day. And you’ll have more energy.
• Eat and drink right.  Stay away from the rich foods and alcohol. Moderation is okay, but again, you’ll feel better and have more energy to do what it is you came to do making you look like the pro and expert you are.
• Read a book, rent a movie, watch a TV show – something not work related. Give your brain a chance to rest and reload.  I have recently become a ‘Gleek” – a huge fan of Glee.  My last trip, I downloaded all the episodes I had missed and watched them on the plane.  The flight went faster, I barely noticed the seat size and bad food, and I had a smile on my face when I got off the plane.
• Close your eyes. Breathe.  Unhunch your shoulders. Just for a moment.

Now go get’em Road Warrior!

Never underestimate the power of the smile in customer service. Not that I encourage this but you can almost get away with a mediocre product, service, meal, anything – when it is served with a smile.

My birthday request was simple this year, especially after renting a castle in England last year. All I asked for was that Charlie the Wonder Husband and the boys do their version of dressed up and take me to a local upscale steakhouse. They rummaged through the bottom of their closets, found a clean pair of socks and a collared shirt and off we went.

“A smile is a powerful weapon; you can even break ice with it.”  –Author Unknown

Love my husband, teenager tried his best to be pleasant, 10 year old was ok once he found out they had chicken nuggets and the food was amazing, but our server never smiled. OK. She smiled once, after we had written in the tip and handed the bill back to her. Not good timing on her part.

Not sure if she was training, tired, didn’t feel well or just disliked her job, whatever the reason, she never smiled. The waiter next to us smiled and had quite the personality with his table. I felt deprived.

“People seldom notice old clothes if you wear a big smile.”  –Lee Mildon

For almost 22 years I played either Freebird or Stairway to Heaven every day, read the same weather forecast, observed “Two for Tuesday,” served “Electric Lunch” and tried to make people happy on the request line, which I actually answered.

It didn’t matter how I felt, whether or not I was sick or if I had overachieved the night before, I had to be happy to be there and 99% of the time, I was! There were those days however where I just wanted to be left alone but I continued to deliver the best show I could with a smile on my face.

“Smile – It’s the second best thing you can do with your lips.” –Author Unknown

Smile today. Smile all day. Smile at everyone you meet. You’ll be amazed how much bigger the tip gets in whatever you do today.

How do I get a record deal, how do I get into the music business, how do I get a radio station to play my songs? I am always surprised how often I am still asked those questions, even though I have been out of music radio and the music business since my 14 year old son was born. Yet, I still get the question almost weekly from friends, neighbors, on my Facebook page, etc.

Here’s the answer I gave an aspiring rapper (how do these people find me) yesterday:

• Take advantage of social media – Facebook and Twitter – and make it easy for fans sign on to follow you
• Post the song occasionally and other songs
• Create a website
• Do a hot or funny video for YouTube
• Create a t-shirt and sell it on Cafe Press
• Use every method you can to get your music and name out there
• If the stuff is good, it will start to spread and the record companies will take notice
• Always better if the record companies and radio stations come to you!
• Work it every day
• Network, 24/7, what can you do for them?

Tony Shelton, crisis communication expert and good friend, sums it up best with his three questions he always asks clients:

• What do you want?
• Who can give it to you?
• And most important of all, why should they?

Whether you want to be a rap star or a business star, it all works the same.

When is the last time you tried something new?  Something out of your comfort zone?  Something that might not work but you tried it anyway?

I put a friend on the spot the other night at my husband’s retirement party – sort of blindsided her when I asked her to come up and join the roast to say a few words.  Strange as it may seem to some, this friend is my husband’s first wife.  We are good friends and I felt it was important that she be a part of such a big celebration.  And, of course, I knew she would have GREAT roast material.

And she did.  And she was great.

I got a text from her the day after the event – “You always push me out of my comfort zone…just one of the reasons that I love you.”

Trying new things, leaving your comfort zone, is like learning to drive a car.  It’s scary but you know you have to do it to reach the end result – transportation.  The first several times you do it, it’s terrifying.   You may hit a few curbs.  You may scare the heck out of yourself (and others.)  However, for the most part, you learn from your mistakes and get better each day.  Eventually, you don’t even think about it when you get in the car to drive off to work.  And if you do have an accident, you learn from that mistake and, more often than not, don’t do it again.

What will you do today?  Will you leave your comfort zone today?

Kill’em with kindness.  You get more flies with honey.  Engage the customer.

All strange things to be thinking while sitting stage side in the Hustler Club on Bourbon Street in New Orleans but that’s how I think. The first five dancers to hit the main stage starred at a spot on the wall, never smiled and went through the motions to do their routine. Then a dancer smiled and made a little effort to actually look at the audience. A few more dollar bills started to magically drop on the stage. Then SHE came out. SHE hit the stage with a huge smile looking directly at her audience. SHE went straight to the people and engaged them. Smiling, talking “Hey, where y’all from?” The dollar bills were flying fast and furious and SHE hadn’t even hit the pole yet. SHE had the audience in the palm of her hand until her money bag was full. SHE gave the customers what they had been looking for all night. A smile, welcoming conversation and eye contact. That’s all it took.

Which now poses the question – why was I in the Hustler Club on Bourbon Street in New Orleans? Isn’t the saying “what happens in New Orleans stays in New Orleans”? Well, it should be.

As long as the work gets done, gets done in a timely manner, is quality work and keeps the ledgers on the profit side – do you care where your employees are or when they work?  If so, why?

Despite the fact you really couldn’t call what I do “playing golf,”  it is what I set out to do with a long time girlfriend yesterday. A quick nine holes to catch up on the last twenty years or so.  I have a golf bag filled with clubs I have no idea how to use, plenty of balls to donate up to the lake gods and my entire productivity suite with me – my iPhone.   In between fishing balls out of the lake and wandering through the high grass, I could check email, tweet on Twitter, post and comment on Facebook, link up on LinkedIn and answer to all the needs of my clients and family.

Except one.  So, I picked up the phone and called Allen Caudle, COO of Vollmer Public Relations, my biggest and ‘bestest’ client.  Explaining that “my hands are freezing on the golf course and I can’t type that many letters right now,” I responded to his query verbally (what a concept.)  He laughed, we discussed his question and decided a course of action, and I went off to hit more balls in the water with a satisfied client back at the office.

Heading home from the course, I called my managing partner to see how speech bookings were coming for the next couple of months (fine, thank you for asking.)  It was obvious she was outside and not somewhere quiet.  ”I’m at the zoo. I needed to see the seals.”  I told her I would call back or email later.

As I hung up, that exchange made me smile and laugh.  Sometimes you just need to see the seals or find your golf ball. Clear your mind, smile and laugh, relax a little – and then go back to the grind.  We’re all better for it.

So, I repeat my initial question – as long as the work gets done, gets done in a timely manner, is quality work and keeps the ledgers on the profit side – why do you care where your employees work or when they work just so long as they work?

When is the last time you sent your employees to the zoo?

Reposted from original Vollmer Voice post January 8, 2010

Stuff happens.  It just does.  And we all know how these things can really be blown out of proportion and drag on for days, months, sometimes even years.  (Hello Balloon Boy Dad.)  However, if you handle whatever mistake has happened correctly and quickly, the ‘event’ will most likely fade into the sunset with nary a problem.

Mariah Carey’s acceptance speech at the Palm Springs Film Festival for the Breakout Performance award was rambling, breathy and just downright odd.  Oh how the tabloids and even mainstream media have speculated.  Already the story is dying down because she immediately addressed the situation and told the truth.  She had been celebrating and drinking champagne.  Maybe a little too much champagne.  OK.  Raise your hand if you’ve never imbibed just a little too much and done something stupid.

Then there’s Domino’s Pizza.  Yuck.  So said a collective consumer voice from around the country.   The pizza chain recently acknowledged that the quality of their product had gone downhill, in an ad campaign no less, and has said they will fix the recipe, keeping the customer happy and getting free press all at the same time.  The jury is still out on the new pizza.  If this turns out to be that “New Coke” thing, hopefully Domino’s will admit this mistake and fix that as well.

And now we get to me.  I recently put together the January 2010 issue of Vollocity, the e-newsletter for Vollmer Public Relations.  I included links to three excellent posts CEO Helen Vollmer had written for PRWeek US but I attributed PR News.  Helen and PRWeek San Francisco Bureau Chief Aarti Shah worked hard to get those posts written, edited and posted prior to the holidays.  And I gave all the credit to another publication.  I am so sorry!

So, what do we learn from all of this?

• Admit the mistake happened as quickly as you discover it.
• Do what you can to fix it, just as quickly.
• Give a sincere apology.
• Learn from the mistake so that it doesn’t happen again.
• And if you are the other party?  Be gracious, accept the apology and move on.

Perhaps I could tell PRWeek US I drank too much champagne?  Or at least buy Aarti a bottle…

Reposted from original Vollmer Voice post January 8, 2010

Two columns caught my attention over the last couple of days.

One from New York Times OpEd writer/rock star Bono.  “Ten for the Next Ten.” In his words, the list is “10 ideas that might make the next 10 years more interesting, healthy or civil. Some are trivial, some fundamental. They have little in common with one another except that I am seized by each, and moved by its potential to change our world.”  Great words and ideas from an amazing person.

The other is from rock star Peter Shankman, “2010 – The Year of My Personal Simplicity.”  For Peter, it is “I want 2010 to be simpler. I want to own less stuff. I want to have more space, and not have to fill it. That’s my mission.”

Both articles have ideas and advice that we really should take to heart all year.  And as I said to the thirteen year old as he got out of the car for the bus this morning, “It’s the beginning of a new year.  Let’s get organized and focus on the task at hand.  You can do this.  You are only as happy and as successful as you allow yourself to be.  It is not anyone else’s job to make you happy or successful.”

So, Happy New Year.  Make it a good one.

So what do you do when Campus Activities Magazine names you a Hot Choice for speakers in their Nov/Dec 2009 issue?

Well first you blush…

…then you jump around the office….

…then you thank your amazing agent Craig Newman at APA…

…then you try to figure out how you ended up in the same category with the Soledad O’Brien from CNN…

…then you think about all the things you wish someone had said to you when you were in college…

…that you had actually paid attention to….

..and then you write a thank you note!

As most of Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota celebrates the Minnesota Vikings victory last night; I am in my hotel room preparing to speak on the second day of a travel conference to a group of travel agents at the St. Paul River Centre.

To so many, a conference means endless hours of travel, crammed airplanes, confusing rental cars and GPS directions, sessions on things we already know and, let’s not forget, chicken and rice and/or beef tips and asparagus.

However, a conference should mean learning new things, meeting new people and opening many more doors to success.  Here are a few things you can do to take advantage of the conference experience and continue to build a stage for success in anything you do:

• Utilize social media and all it has to offer.  Prior to leaving for your conference, join Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.  Get familiar with all three.  And find out if the conference has a Twitter hashtag associated with this particular event.  Learn what that means and how it works.  You don’t want to miss any chance to network in business.  You’ll also appear forward thinking instead of totally out of touch.
• Take plenty of business cards.  This is not the time to leave them at home or back in your hotel room.  And remember, don’t force that card on people but have it available if a connection is made with someone and both of you would like to keep in touch to share information.  Have that card readily available so you’re not digging in the “goodie bag,” through your purse or in your pockets.  Nice, neat business cards – nothing bent and crammed into a pocket.  *If you can have something a little different as a business card, all the better.  I use a guitar pick – definitely gets attention.  Peter Shankman uses a poker chip.  Houston clothing designer Bob Stover uses a card with pop-out collar stays.
• Traveling to the conference?  Take that time to pick up a magazine or newspaper at the newsstand while waiting for your flight or train – but pick up a periodical on something you know nothing about or could care less about.  For me that would be NASCAR.  No offense guys, but I just don’t get the whole car sport thing.  However, NASCAR does brand better than any business, anywhere, hands down.  I picked up some great marketing ideas from a NASCAR publication.  Reading something you don’t know anything about opens up your mind in new ways and will make you more open to new ideas and ways of doing things.
• Sign up for at least one session that is totally out of your field, which has nothing to do with your expertise.  You just may find a new expertise to add to your resume.  Never stop learning.  Never stop trying new things.  This is the place to do it.  You are here, you have the time and the experts are here with the information.
• Sit with strangers at lunch.  Don’t gravitate to the people you already know.  This is not high school, this is an excellent opportunity to meet and network with others in your field of business and form new relationships.  And, by the way, relationships are EVERYTHING.
• This is not the time to be shy.  During sessions, in the hall, at lunch, at the cocktail party.  Again, relationships are everything.  You are here to learn AND to network.  As someone once told me, “you’ll never get a date sitting on the couch at home.”  Or in your hotel room watching Friends reruns.
• Do your homework and find out as much as you can about the conference before and during the event.  Look over the event website before you go and read everything in the conference giveaway bag when you get there.  Most of it you probably already know and really don’t need, but you won’t know that until you look at all of it.  Familiarize yourself with who is at the conference, the facilitators and speakers, and all the sessions.  Something just may catch your eye.  The worst thing you can do is wait to read it all when you get back on the plane and realize you missed a great opportunity to see a speaker or attend a session.
• Last but not least, don’t forget the follow-up.  Take those cards you have gathered and send a brief note saying “it was nice to meet you” and “hope we can work together in the future” or, even better, “let me know if there is anything I can do for you in the future.”  Emails, a Facebook post, a tweet on Twitter, a message on LinkedIn – all are good ways to follow-up.  The best way though?  A handwritten note.  That will make the biggest impression.

Despite the travel hassles and the same food across the country at the lunch and/or dinner, a conference is still one of the best ways to keep up with your industry, network with like-minded individuals and form relationships and, open your mind to new ideas and new ways of doing things.  You are away from home and loved ones.  Make it worth the sacrifice and make that stage for success even more secure!