NEWS FLASH!
Britney Spears’ Mother’s Publisher Delays Release Of Her Advice Book, ‘Motherhood,’ In Light Of Britney’s 16 Year Old Sister’s Revelation She Is Pregnant
No, in case you missed this, it is a real news item. Incredibly, Britney’s mother did have a book of parenting advice and stories from raising Britney coming out, and it was not a “you might be trailer park trash if” joke book. It was intended to be taken seriously, and presumably would be and eventually will be by a media that has become, itself, a bunch of ignorant fools barely able to read teleprompters and in perpetual drool over celebrity. The fact that this is news at all speaks volumes about the sad state of affairs. But here’s what’s REALLY comical yet also instructive from this three way train wreck – the mother’s statement expressing puzzlement at her 16 year old’s pregnancy because, quote (honest) “she always came home before curfew.”
You may be smarter than a 5th grader or do math better than a chimp,
but are you dumber than Britney’s mother?
Laugh. But are you similarly guilty of such stupidity in the operation of your business? Some corollary examples:
Why should I spend all that money sending my customers a monthly newsletter, holiday and birthday cards, postcards every other week and weekly e-mails? They know where we are and what we do.
I gave my front desk person the script and even went over it with her.
She’s a good employee who would never steal from me or agree with a customer that my prices are too high and refer them elsewhere or use time at work to shop on the internet. After all, she’s always here on time and never misses a day of work.
How many more of these can I list? Hundreds. Of dumb assumptions used as excuses, for being cheap in marketing to past customers, negligent in managing employees, and more. If you can’t see the sameness of these and Britney’s mother’s asinine statement, you’re either being deliberately obtuse or you need an I.Q. transplant. Get this. NOTHING really “sticks” anymore.
Nothing. With customers, you re-create relationship (or lose it) DAILY. As assets, they are increasingly perishable. ‘Customer loyalty’ is a fiction. Your ‘story’ is forgotten even if told repeatedly. They have other things on their little minds, like today’s Britney news up-date. There’s a book titled, I think, ‘Ideas That Stick’ – orange cover with duct tape; cute; but I do tend to forget and jumble its title. It definitely contains useful info about trying to make ideas stick, but even using every known strategy, you will only get stickiness, not permanent stuckedness. With staff, the entire job is forgotten every weekend, the relationship with you is inherently adversarial, familiarity and longevity breed contempt, you never get what you don’t constantly inspect, your rules are viewed as arbitrary. In Lombardi’s day, players wore coats and ties in public because Vince said so. Today, Jimmy Johnson (who exited coaching) says, at the pro level, when the player is paid a fortune, he’ll do nothing without being sold on why it ought to be done, micro-policed in order to remind him to do it, and then it’s a 50-50 shot. What should be isn’t. To prosper you must adopt that as creed and act accordingly. Or you’ll be explaining your missed targets, lost profits, lost customers, mess evolved behind your back and even ultimate failure with statements as dumb as Britney’s mom’s.
The WHY PEOPLE FAIL articles are provided by Dan S. Kennedy, serial entrepreneur, from-scratch multi-millionaire, speaker, consultant, coach, author of 13 books including the No B.S. series (www.NoBSBooks.com), and editor of The No B.S. Marketing Letter. WE HAVE ARRANGED A SPECIAL FREE GIFT FROM DAN FOR YOU including a 2-Month Free Membership in Glazer-Kennedy Insider’s Circle, newsletters, audio CD’s and more: for information and to register, visit: http://FreeGiftFrom.com/CraigValine .
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Craig Valine, “The [Former] Struggling Consultant”
http://FormerStrugglingConsultant.com
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