Bill Murray – Best scenes from the “Groundhog Day” – 4

It always begins at 6 o’clock in the morning. Everyday is exactly the same..just like Bill Murray’s facial expression..

Bill Murray – Best scenes from the "Groundhog D…
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In Search of Tulsa’s Voice

Tulsa: A great community to call home

“Maybe the Libyans could show us Tulsans how to deal with our squabbling city leadership.”

That’s a Tweet I sent a couple weeks ago. The reference to recent citizen uprisings in Libya and Egypt sounds rude and violent. But that’s not what I meant. Let me explain. You see, I live in Tulsa and our local government fights like pre-schoolers. (I should know; I have two kids.) I didn’t mean we should violently protest our government, but I did mean to imply that – by comparison – our citizens are silently standing by while elected officials argue over things like who paid for a city volunteer’s business cards (true story).

We should speak up. I’ll come back to that point in a minute.

Evidently, I’m not the only one thinking along those lines. Check out this commentary by Tulsa World Editorial Cartoonist Bruce Plante.

Divisive accusations are not what we elect leaders to do. We elect them to propel our city forward. Instead, every day our leaders play the finger pointing game is a day our community falls behind. And those days are turning into months and years.

In fact, I literally can’t remember a time in my life that our elected leaders worked together cooperatively. That might be an exaggeration. I’m 34. I probably started paying attention to local government when I was in my teens or early 20′s as a college student. The community was trying to pass an aggressive economic development package called The Tulsa Project. No one could get along and when the measure went to voters, it failed.

Years later, a third attempt at a similar pro-growth package called Vision 2025 finally passed. We now can point to numerous improvements to our community that make life and business better for everyone. What a shame it took so long. But despite that victory, we continue to plod along watching our Mayor and City Council engaging in the political equivalent of a barroom brawl.

So maybe what I’m really saying is I can’t remember a time in the past 15 years when our leaders worked together cooperatively. That’s still a long time. I don’t want to wait another 15 to see the political climate improve.

This recent article from the Tulsa World says it all. Forget the details – regardless of who’s right and which side you’re on, it’s just embarrassing and unacceptable. And this is only the latest in a series of scandalous soap opera dramas.

Tulsa is a wonderful town with vast opportunity, rich resources, a proud heritage and a welcoming culture unlike any place in the world. With a little creativity and partnership, we should be on a fast track for success.

Let’s get back to my earlier point about the need to speak up. As I talk about these issues with my friends and colleagues, I feel a unanimous sense of frustration and disgust with the infighting of our local leaders. And I dare say, many of us don’t really care who’s right or wrong. We just want it to stop. We want a better community. We want a better future for our children. We want to love this town for what it is, not what it could be.

I hear suggestions for better arts. I hear pleads for more bike and hiking trails. I hear people say our roads should be easy to drive on and that we need more police and fire protection. People talk about better education, more jobs and attracting vibrant businesses to our area while supporting the growth of the companies we already have (and trying to keep them here). I hear a lot. The ideas and people who have them are diverse.

But no one is really saying anything. Not publicly anyway.

So I get to wondering. I know WHAT my friends and colleagues are thinking, but I’m curious HOW they would really express themselves, relative to the topics they care most about.

How would my songwriter friends use their art to send a message? Or what creativity would my video production friends put into a special Web TV series about these issues? I have some professional colleagues who build some award-winning interactive Web sites and mobile apps. How might they put those talents to use in telling our city leaders to get along? I can envision art fairs, battles of the bands, Tweetups, Facebook group pages and YouTube campaigns – all in the name of speaking up.

The silent majority has an opinion. But it doesn’t have a voice. Yet.

I quickly polled a few people about becoming more vocal. I was intrigued by their positive responses and a sense of enthusiasm and energy. Maybe we’ll find our voice after all. I sure hope so.

Don’t Check In At Work

I try to keep track of trends in social media because it’s part of my job as a PR guy. One of the newer trends is the rise of location-based applications such as Foursquare and Gowalla. This isn’t a how-to article or an introduction to the various GPS-based apps out there so if you’re looking for tips, this won’t help you.

I’m writing this post to people who actively participate in social media, whether you’ve tried the check-in apps or not.

So the obligatory summary first — the check-in apps use the GPS on your handheld device to allow you to tell your network you’ve arrived somewhere. Check-in often enough and you might get rewards or various games like collecting items on a scavenger hunt. It’s competive, it’s interactive, it’s over-sharing. It’s totally social media.

Now to my point. So users who want to gain something other than fun and entertainment are trying to check in as often as they can to the companies they frequent, such as gas stations, restaurants and other retail stores. They want to be Mayor. They want to collect badges and items. But they don’t want to compete with employees of those establishments who have the unfair advantage of going to work every day and sometimes more than once per day.

Let’s take this example. I want to check in often at the Gap in hopes of getting a discount on clothing. But every time I go there, I notice the Mayor on Foursquare never changes. I look closely at the person’s profile picture and they’re wearing a Gap sales associate pin. I look further into the Gap location on Foursquare and notice there is a comment from the Mayor saying “Come see me about great prices for jeans!” It’s obviously an employee. I like the Gap, but I don’t go there five or six times a week like an employee might. (in fairness, this is a fictional example. I love the Gap and haven’t noticed their employees doing this)

As long as that person has the Mayorship of Gap, I’m never gonna get it. And that means I’m not going to get discounts if they ever offer them, which Gap does (thank you!).

I see it as a customer service element. Most companies train employees not to park in the spaces closest to the entrance. Leave those for customers. You can think of all the other customer-oriented training tips you’ve probably received in your various jobs. So why is this any different? Leave the check-in games and benefits for the customer. You know, the person who spends money at your establishment and makes your job possible.

Now this doesn’t mean employees should NEVER check in at work. Just be mindful that if you do it so often that you prevent customers from benefitting from the activity, you’re probably not being smart.

Attention Corporate Marketing and Communications leaders. Think about your policy. It’s hard to monitor all of this activity, but consider this scenario — you setup a 20% discount on merchandise and offer it to Mayors on Fourquare (if you’re a retailer and haven’t thought of this, look into it). Now every customer who checks in will see the special offer and get excited. Your plan is working! They check in and see the Mayor is actually an employee. Discount not possible, customer annoyed and now your social media campaign is actually a liability.

Beginner Hiking Gear

My wife and I have decided to take up hiking.

We’ve been hiking before here and there, but neither of us has ever made it a regular hobby. We like getting outside and seeing various terrain, woods and whatnot. We can even tollerate critters that come along with it. We’ve got two labs and two young boys — all of which could benefit from a little fresh air. So why haven’t we thought of this before? We don’t know and we’re not going to find out. We’re just going to start hiking. We know just enough about it to know we don’t need a lot of gear, but we do need the right gear.

For better or worse, here’s what we’re starting out with:

Boots: We both have a good pair of Vasque Sundowner boots. Mine are about 10 years old and my wife’s are nearly 20 and have seen better days. She’ll need a new pair soon, but we’ve got a good head start. For the uninitiated, boots are a must for three main reasons. First, they have a stiff sole that protects your feet from uneven ground, rocks, sticks and so forth. Step on too many of those with sneakers and your feet will hurt. Second, they offer ankle support which helps avoid sprains when you step on a rock the wrong way and also offers support when walking up or down steeper inclines. There are enthusiasts who prefer NOT to have the ankle support and some who believe in going bare foot. I’m not in those camps, so I won’t speak for them. Finally, good boots should be water proof, allowing you to go through mud or puddles without changing your travel route.

Comfortable Clothes: Leave the spandex at home, but generally anything else you might workout in is a good start. I really like anything with wicking fabric. Keep in mind your arms and legs are both swinging so wear loose fitting pants and shirts. Avoid denim and cotton. This is an area we’ve not purchased anything new for yet, but I’m eager to explore some of the versatile trail pants and shirts by Northface and Patagonia.

Hydration and Food: We’re planning to be out there a while, like a couple hours and for five miles or more. And we want to hike year round. That means we’ll get thirsty and possibly will need a light snack midway through the excursion. I had seen waistpack water bottle carriers and thought they would do well. We landed on this bag by Osprey – holds two good size water bottles and has a couple of small pockets for granola bars, cell phone and wallet, camera or whatever else you think you’ll need out there.

There are plenty of other items you can spend money on, but that’s where we’re starting. See you on the trails.

Customer Service Lessons for Car Dealers

I posted previously that I am helping my 80+ grandparents buy a new car. We visited four car dealerships — Honda, Chrysler, Nissan and Toyota. Here’s 6 suggested tips for car dealers and their sales teams based on MISTAKES made during our shopping experience.

1. Greet Customers Promptly — The first dealer we went to took between 10 and 15 minutes for ANYONE to greet us — in the showroom. Ok, I realize some people might complain that you can’t seem to usually get out of your car before an “all smiles” sales associate accosts you and asks about your trade in almost before he’s finished introducing himself. A lot of people like to meander around the lot when they kick tires. Look the models over, check the window stickers and get “in the mood” before they bother with a sales person. But in our case, my grandparents didn’t care to drive anything on the first day of shopping. They just want to give the models a good look and ask questions. So for this customer segment, just think how long 10 or 15 minutes really is. I’ll tell you — it’s long enough to walk back to your car and go to another dealership.

2. Don’t Run Out of Business Cards — Do I really need to include this in my list of faux pas? ANSWER: Yes, because 50% of the salesman we talked to made this mistake. Ok, 2 out of 4, but the math still works. C’mon, get a clue.

3. Don’t Run Out of Brochures — Again…really? One dealership didn’t have proper marketing materials for us to take with us. Guess what the sales guy said? “You can find everything you need on the internet.” Oh.

4. I’m Not Interested (But How Do You Know That?) — Ok, in fairness, I made it clear upfront to the sales people that we weren’t driving anything that day and we just wanted to give the cars a look and then think things over. That’s how my grandparents wanted it. One guy heard that and thought it meant, “Leave us alone immediately and go tend to other random customers.” I never said not to talk to us. I just tried to set the expectation that we’re not going to be here long today. This guy took that as a sign he could turn and run the other direction as fast as he could. Guess what we did? The same thing. And my grandmother actually really liked that car. Oh well.

5. Product Knowledge Is a Must (and a No Brainer) — Ok, I’ll give up asking whether these suggestions are relevant because this one just shows you can’t ever be surprised in life. About anything. One sales associate acted like we were part of a training program called, “Ok, now that you’ve read through the brochures once or twice, let’s see how well you do describing this car to me.” We were talking about engine power and he struggled to complete his thought about smooth power when citing the car had CVT (continually various transmission). I jumped in and finished his sentence for him when he started, “You don’t feel any power lag when it…changes..” —- “Because it doesn’t doesn’t change gears if it has CVT.” I’m not sure why he was surprised when I said that. But he was. Next dealer.

6. Put the @#$% Price on the Window Sticker — I hate it when dealers won’t give you the price of a car on their Web site, but I can understand why they do it. It’s always better to get a customer on the phone or in the showroom (provided you greet them promptly..Ok, I’ll stop now). But once I’m on your lot, don’t play games with me. Tell me the overly inflated price you pretend to think you’re going to get so I can compare that to all my research and get sense for how ridiculous you’re going to act when we negotiate. There’s enough jokes about car salesman; let’s not fuel the fire.

The dealer who got it right did all of these things well. Greeted us right away but wasn’t pushy. We said we had questions, and he walked us to the entrance and then offered everyone a bottle of cold water. My elderly grandparents took him up gladly. He gave us a brochure for each of the two cars we were interested in and actually stapled his card to both brochures! We said we were just looking and not driving anything yet and he just casually hung out with us, offering suggestions and information as we chatted. Price was clearly labeled on both cars. The kicker — he actually knew about the cars he was selling. And so did his boss, the sales manager who seemed to magically show up out of nowhere. Usually, this bugs me. If I want your manager, I’ll ask. In this case, the gentleman waltzes over and just made chit-chat with us. No pressure, just an easy conversation (of course, filled with suggestive selling, but not overtly).

I think my grandparents are doing business with the dealer who got it right. Good fore them for spotting a very simple equation of customer service.

Car Shopping for My Grandparents

So my grandparents need a new car. And they asked me to help them buy it.

Cool.

I love buying cars. So much, in fact, that I oughta just work in the automotive industry (maybe). On average, I buy a different car for myself about every two years. I’ve kept several as long as 4 years, but that’s rare. I like the whole process — research, asking friends, dealership drive-bys, online classifieds and so forth. But my absolute favorite part? Sizing up the sales people.

For the most part, I’m not impressed with car salesman. Sorry, but I’m not. I’m sure few dealerships can keep sales associates around for too long, so product knowledge has to be a constant challenge. If I had a dollar for every salesman I’ve dealth with who doesn’t quite have a full beard and can’t remember the difference between ABS and AWD…well, I’d have a few more dollars in my pocket.

Every now and then, you get a pro. A salesman who really takes product knowledge seriously and seems to really like talking cars. In these cases, I yield like a lap dog rolling on its back when a big angry mutt struts by. (realizing I need to add a tag to this post about “random metaphors.”)

But back to my grandparents (another tag: digression). They’re in their mid 80′s and just don’t need to pay attention to cars anymore so they’re not up on the latest models and trends. They want a crossover or an SUV that isn’t too aggressive or large. Oh, and a recent snow storm convinced them they need all wheel drive. They think they want to buy new. And their budget is $30,000. So much for the Escalade and living vicariously.

So I’m blazing through the Web on Consumer Reports and Kelley Blue Book. I’ve got my short list for our first day of test drives — Toyota Highlander and Venza and Honda Pilot.

This should be interesting. Car shopping with two of America’s Greatest Generation — survivors of the Great Depression, Oklahoma’s Dust Bowl, a World War II vet and a woman who’s never met a waiter who doesn’t make mistakes.