Capitalizing on Perspective

It's still cold in the northeast. My friend in New Hampshire said they had six inches of snow last night and added "Spring is still a long ways away - we got another 6" of snow last night. A big improvement, we haven't had any in a couple weeks and the old snow wasn't pretty at all." Perspective! He could have chosen to complain. Instead, he found the positive.

Another friend of mine fell in the downtown shopping area, smashed her shoulder, hit her head and was unable to get up. It took a half an hour for the ambulance to arrive and take her to the hospital. She called me the next day and after telling me the rudimentary facts, stated with great enthusiasm, "I met five of the nicest people yesterday!" She was referring to the ambulance crew, the hospital nurse and doctor--this from a lady who will need multiple operations and a year before her shoulder will be as it was.  Perspective!!

Where the economy is concerned, most people are feeling the pinch in some way, even if they are still employed. The ultra expensive dinner in the city can easily be replaced with the opportunity to dine in a less expensive restaurant, and other minor strategic changes could easily be made without the feeling of sacrifice. You can change your Perspective!

On a personal level, I think back to the days when we were starting out as a family in our new house which needed lots of work, as did our neighbors' homes. Every Saturday, after a day of hard work, we'd combine ingredients we had in each other's homes and have an outrageously good time partying together, kids included, with very little additional expenditure. Maybe we can look for these opportunities again. Perspective!

For entrepreneurs, this is a time to "see" a need and fulfill it. For example, rude salespeople are one of my pet peeves, either on-line or in person. My husband recently traded in his cell phone for a new one at an AT&T store and came home raving about the service he got from the man who waited on him. The next day he got a call from AT&T asking him to evaluate this person. That's good business.

100% of my dealings with Apple have been extraordinarily good! I'm a devotee of Apple products and their employees. Their products are fantastic, and their employees always make me feel special.

Yet, there are too many exceptions to AT&T and Apple, and these companies do lose money because of the service they deliver. I won't go back to a place where I was treated poorly. I went to Circuit City twice ever and was treated poorly both times. Could their service have factored into their going bankrupt?

My point is poor service by retailers is a perfect opportunity for an entrepreneur to develop a product, training, a service--something to remedy the loss of business an owner faces because of his less-than-civil employees. The challenge is to change the business owner's Perspective.

I will be addressing this problem in my area by introducing Chambers of Commerce and franchises to my "Secret Shopper" booklet, my training course for Secret Shoppers, and my book One Talk Fits All, which can be used as a basis of training for employees and customers.

Look around. Where do you see a need? Drop me a line and I'll share your ideas in this column. How can you earn money by sharing your Perspective for success with store owners?
 
Happy, happy,
Gail

P.S. As I reread this letter, I see another word that could replace "perspective," and that's "attitude." As William James said, “The greatest discovery of my generation is that human beings can alter their lives by altering their attitudes.”