CRM=?

CRM=Customer Relationship Management, on the one hand, and CRM=Customer Retention Management, on the other.  Which is it?  Why does it matter?  Who cares?  Aren’t they both the same anyway?

Whoa!  First of all, there’s a remarkably big difference.  I heard a major sales muckity-muck from a humongous corporate entity–who really should know better–give a presentation today to one of my clients, and he tossed out the terms interchangeably before finally parking himself in the retention garage.

A careless miscue methinks.  Something about that ambivalence represented his whole attitude, which was essentially to laugh and smile his way through misleading and oh-one-more-thing half-truth price quotes that seemed to change with each clock tick closer to New Year’s.

Managing relationships with customers and attracting new ones by virtue of positive-oriented, proactive processes that involve some give and take, some sharing, the development of “high trust,” and mutual respect based on consistent demonstrations of integrity is where best-practice, leadership companies continue to move.

On the flip side, managing to retain or keep customers is a negative-oriented, knee-jerk reactive, desperation-based process that amounts to clinging-on-to-customer behaviors and seeking to appease at all costs . . . even giving away the store (or farm, or horse, or youngest son or whatever)because customer RETENTION programs are driven by insecurities and fears.

Ah, yes, well there is that little economic suffocation pit we’re thinking we need to be crawling out of.  Bull!  If you think that, you show that, and you won’t sell stilts to pygmies.  Get off your knees and out of the hole and stand up tall and sell value and sell your confident self!  Focus on the relationship!

And customers, by the way, get this.  It’s easy to spot people selling their wares from a position of perceived weakness, compared to those who register in the strong zone as they present themselves.

Think about it.  Would you rather have someone level with you and work to cultivate a relationship with you, or speak to you with crooked mouth and work to retain you?  There’s a much bigger difference in the RE words (RElationship and REtention) than most probably stop to think about.

The differences though account for the both the personality and the character of a given company.  Because the difference is a matter of attitude.

Attitude, we might want to remind ourselves is what accounts for the difference between success and failure, on the athletic field, on the stage, on the factory floor, in the farmland, the office cubicle, the great outdoors (to make sure we cover all you forest rangers, lumberjacks, truck drivers, lifeguards and ski patrol people out there), the boardroom, or the computer workstation.

It’s all about attitude.  All. 

What’s YOUR business ALL about?                  

# # #

 931.854.0474    Hal@BusinessWorks.US

“The price of freedom is eternal vigilance!”  [Thomas Jefferson]

Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals! God Bless You.

Make today a GREAT day for someone!

Is what you’re doing right this

very minute taking you to

where you want to go?

     You run your own business, or a number of businesses.  You know who you are.  You know you’re an entrepreneur but you don’r readily admit it.  (Why?  Some other time.)  Right now, what matters is that you step back for the couple of minutes it takes to read this, and pat yourself on the back.

     What’s the reward backpat for?  You deserve to appreciate yourself for believing in yourself.  And you should probably get a medal for keeping your ego in check enough to engage the “missing ingredient” help you need from those with the expertise to excel at the tasks you never mastered.

     You haven’t been squirreled away this holiday season assessing your past business moves and decisions and carefully designing your next gameplan strategy for 2009.  I know this because I know if you are truly the stuff entrepreneurs are made of, these are things you do weekly, if not daily or hourly. 

     While others are racking their brains with planning exercises, you are busy testing and trying new ideas and new twists on old ideas.  You do this trial and error thing all year long because there’s just not enough time to take your advisory board on a retreat weekend, or lock up in some hotel room for days on end talking each other’s brains out. 

     That’s time that could be spent doing it, right?   

     In fact, odds are you hate to think about or plan anything farther out than about 60-90 days.  You prefer not thinking past 30!  And you’d rather get in and out of a convenience store with breakfast to eat while you drive than to sit down in a restaurant for more than 15-20 minutes, or at home where you’d have to waste time cleaning up after yourself, except maybe on Saturday or Sunday, when you can move a little slower. 

     Shopping excursions you actually enjoy are probably limited to Staples or Office Max, and to Lowes or Home Depot.  I say all this just to let you know I get it.  I got it.  And, you, as independent a cuss as you may be, are not –surprise– alone.  I’ve been working with entrepreneurial whack-o’s like you most of my life because I love the challenge, high energy, enthusiasm, and turn-on-a-dime response level.

     What’s important to know is that YOU, and others who fit chunks of this profile I’ve outlined, are the catalysts in society that in fact make the world go around. 

     If it was not for you and other dreamer/doers we would surely no longer be a (at least partly) civilized nation on this fragile planet.  There would be no industry or marketplace or culture or technology to speak of.

     Now with all this positive fluff floating around, it’s also important that –to be and/or continue to be successful– you maintain a balance with reality.  This means you need to be forever vigilent about  recognizing one extremely critical entrepreneurial business factor. 

The foundation of your business rests squarely on shifting sands, and the stability of your enterprise is only as strong as your ability to remain flexible enough to shift when the sands shift. 

     Those who entrench themselves thrive only in corporate environments that lack this balance and awareness.  And you can only maintain your own ability to go with the flow by staying focused on which ways the moving targets move. 

     Is what you’re doing right now with your business growth, development, and presentation of itself (how it communicates its messages) keeping a step ahead of the pace within the universe of business you’ve chosen?  Is what you’re doing right this very minute taking you to where you want to go?

     In other words, for example: Are you making the best possible most-in-demand kinds of pizzas with the best possible ingredients for the market you most want to capture and presenting them at the price and service level that will usher in the sales you need to generate the profits you want? 

     REMEMBER:  Shifting sands work just fine when you’ve got a four-wheel drive vehicle, can deflate and inflate your tires according to how packed the surface is, have a couple of pieces of planking with you in case you get stuck, and are constantly monitoring wind, tide and precipitation (where appropriate), temperature and other weather conditions.

     Stay alert.  Don’t get hurt.  Build bridges, but don’t burn them.  Make sure the risks you take are “REASONABLE.”  Always imagine a “worst case scenerio” before you act. 

Remember your energy and the people around you in your life are your most importanat assets. Protect them by keeping on top of your stress, not under it!

halalpiar

# # #

See Nov 29th post (Nov Archives, far right) for New Year’s contest prize and rules – Then GO FOR IT!  Emails to Hal@TheWriterWorks.com with “SOUNDS OF THE SEASON” in the subject line.          # # #

Check out and contribute to the daily growing 7-Word Story started 108 days ago (inside a coffin).  Click on the link to the right, or go to the “BOOKS” tab at the top of this page, then to the top headline link.

     ‘Twas the day after Christmas, and all through the house, were new toys, new clothes, new computer and mouse. While I on my YouTube, Mama all a Twitter, forum posts on Face could make Rudolph jitter.

OMG!  What to our wondering eyes did appear but a pile of wrappings, half-filled glasses of cheer; some wine in this one; in the other, some beer.

Then out on the lawn, there arose such a clatter, it was junior’s new pull toy descending the ladder that Santa had climbed to get up on our roof when Blitzen drank beer and twisted her hoof . . . Okay, okay.  Enough! 

     It’s back to business and personal inventory time. 

     It’s that time of year to itemize, sort out, assess, adjust and go forward. 

•      So, what didn’t work this past year? (Not “why?”; that might take weeks to answer, just “What?”). 
•      And what, praytell, is working now? 
•      What needs to be eliminated? 
•      And what will work going forward? 
•      What needs to be reevaluated?  
•      What needs to be fixed?  Adjusted?  
•      Completely overhauled? 
•      What needs to be attempted? 
•      What needs to be planned? 

     Remember, this is YOUR business and YOUR self we’re talking about here, so ONLY YOU can decide where to go next and ONLY YOU can choose how to get there.  ONLY YOU know the real answers to all the questions about growing your self and your business! 

     And after hours of research and surveying, the bottom line is –dear entrepreneur, dear business owner and manager– that in the end, YOU must charge forward by experience, instinct, and informed subjective judgement.  YOU must take REASONABLE risks!

     What you choose as a course of action may be wrong, but YOU are the captain of your ship, and YOU can adjust the course you’re taking at any hour of the day or night, or simply put into port for a short layover to get yourself more focused if need be, simply by choosing!  (Since all behavior is a choice.) . 

     No excuses here.  Get hopping! 

     It’s YOU and YOUR BUSINESS that need your input and guidance and decision making as the 2009 bell starts to ring.  No one else can do it for you!                        halalpiar 

# # #

See Nov 29th post (below) for New Year’s contest prize and rules – Then GO FOR IT!  Emails to Hal@TheWriterWorks.com with “SOUNDS OF THE SEASON” in the subject line.          # # #

Check out and contribute to the daily growing 7-Word Story started 107 days ago (inside a coffin).  Click on the link to the right, or go to the “BOOKS” tab at the top of this page, then to the top headline link.

Not A Cursor Is Stirring . . .

     I started a couple of nights ago with a post of some nostalgic recollections of some Christmas’s past, but then got myself caught into a second-wind rush of business thinking again for the last two nights’ posts.  Is that kind of like going on vacation and taking half a week to unwind and realize you’re on vacation? 

     Anyway, I hope you will take a look at all three of those posts.  They’re certainly two of my writing extremes.  You may like all or neither, but if you prefer one direction over the other, please call or write me and let me know. 

     I continue to straddle the line between literary fiction interests and hard-nosed (but light-hearted if one could possibly have both a hard nose and a light heart?) business teachings. 

     Having been a businessperson, professor, consultant, and author makes it hard to get it out of my system, but I love writing fiction too, and often find myself writing blog posts on a coin toss!. 

     As for this blog site, I have all kinds of analytical stuff to digest, but it rarely helps me know how to most effectively divide my writing pursuits because YOU –you who actually return here without threat of punishment– are really the only ones who can help me do that. 

     So do pass along your thoughts on what you’re more or less interested in.  I may not pay any attention, but I’ll love you for trying.  Seriously, I will greatly value your input. 

     I figure if you’ve read all this, and gotten this far, you either relate to something I’ve written, or you wish me off the planet, or you’re stealing my ideas to start up a new government in Bongo-Bongo (I DO get a lot of regular visits from many foreign countries!), or your tv is broken and you’re ready to join a lonely hearts club, or you’ve got 16 kids with stockings to fill and toys to assemble and you’re doing tasks of avoidance right now by pretending to be engaged in important research as you hover over your screen, or you’re a really sick puppy?!  

     SO:  Tis the night before Christmas, and all through your mouse, not a cursor is stirring, not even the souse who lives next door and pounds on your door when you stomp on the floor and call him a louse . . . whew!  Can you tell I had a glass of Christmas Eve wine? 

     Really, all you dear visitors, I wish for each of you the happiest, healthiest, and Merriest Christmas of all time.  Stay close.  Stay Safe.  Stay warm.  Love Those You’re With and Miss Those You’re Not With.  Relax.  Smile.  Laugh.  See you sometime after a late Christmas brunch (with some fun comments about one very memorable Christmas in Ireland!). 

     Have a great sleep (unless you’re in Bongo-Bongo and just woke up!) and a great day tomorrow!  

# # #

See Nov 29th post (below) for New Year’s contest prize and rules – Then GO FOR IT!  Emails to Hal@TheWriterWorks.com with “SOUNDS OF THE SEASON” in the subject line.          # # #

Check out and contribute to the daily growing 7-Word Story started 106 days ago (inside a coffin).  Click on the link to the right, or go to the “BOOKS” tab at the top of this page, then to the top headline link.

DRINK. LIGHT A CANDLE.

WEAR YOUR SLIPPERS.

BRING YOUR DOG.

     Like using up a yellow traffic light to get under and past it before it changes to red, this is the time of year to make the most of The Great American Work Slowdown that starts this weekend and lasts until New Year’s weekend’s hangovers have been adequately resolved (probably January 6th or 7th this year depending on whether you use Alka-Seltzer or not!). 

     What is that supposed to mean?  You saying to work while everybody else is partying?  No.  I’m saying take time to relax, take time to be with family (and bury the family-feud hatchets at least for a few tolerable hours), and take some time to reassess where your business is headed and how you’re going to get there.

     Now, I’m not talking corporate types here.  They get downtime all year.but have managed to convince themselves that they work hard and deserve it.  I’m talking about the all-American entrepreneur business owners and managers, and professional practice principals — those who thrive on stress, work 6-7 days a week, and have the ingenuity to make a go of anything that comes along.  If you’re it, you know it.

Take time to assess where you’re headed . . . “Where you’re headed” as in goal adjustments.  Are your goals/objectives specific, realistic, flexible, and due-dated? 

If all four of these criteria are not present by the way, your goals/objectives are simply Disneyland fantasy wishes that are wasting your time, money and energy! 

Take time to reassess how you’re going to get there . . . “How you’re going to get there” as in strategies.  What are the thinking avenues you’re going to take to reach the goals? 

If you lock in both of these, the only place you can fail is with the tactics you use to execute the strategies to achieve the goals — and tactics can be changed in two shakes of a lamb’s tail (which is pretty damn quick if you’ve ever seen a lamb’s tail shake!)

     S L O W   Y O U R S E L F   D O W N. 

     Wear your jeans and take your slippers with a giant cup of coffee or bottle of wine or some sipping brandy.  Park your car somewhere out of sight.  Lose your cell phone.  Play some background music you like.  Light a candle.  Bring your dog.  Take advantage of empty email and voicemail in-boxes. 

     Quiet time in the office can work wonders.  You’ll astound yourself with how much you learn and create and plan when nobody else is around.  You’ll get more done in half a day than you normally would in an entire week. 

     Remember all behavior is a conscious or unconscious choice.  Make a conscious choice to treat yourself to some private quiet business think time.  Oh, and do make written or tape-recorded notes of your rendezvous with your SELF!  They’ll make a great launchpad for your 2009 opening bell!    halalpiar    

# # #

See Nov 29th post (below) for New Year’s contest prize and rules – Then GO FOR IT!  Emails to Hal@TheWriterWorks.com with “SOUNDS OF THE SEASON” in the subject line.          # # #

Check out and contribute to the daily growing 7-Word Story started 102 days ago (inside a coffin).  Click on the link to the right, or go to the “BOOKS” tab at the top of this page, then to the top headline link.

Do it upsidedown

insideout

and backwards!

     Stop just THINKING outside the box.  Hop, skip, and jump outta there! 

     It’s been a while since we’ve talked about creative and innovative business methods and models, but I’m sure you remember me saying that creative ideas in business are worthless unless you can follow through with all the details, which takes a creative idea out of its tailspin and thrusts it forward onto an innovative runway.  Much like taking fantasy into the realm of reality.

     Well, now I’m about to share the thinking that creative ideas in business are really okay when they’re used as a stimulous to entrepreneurial thinking, like a trial and error approach to deciding worthiness for innovative applications.

     Here’s the bottom line.  When you hit a wall, a writer’s block, a blank, and nothing in your traditional arsenal seems to work, it’s time to get down on the floor on your hands and knees and play with the nearest baby, or puppy. 

     Now, I’m not talking token play here.  This is serious stuff!  That means you need to laugh!  Let’s face it, if you can’t laugh at yourself and giggle with the baby and bark back at the puppy, you’re not cut out to run a business.  You need corporate confinement, or a shrink.   

     Here’s the deal.  Got stuck?  Don’t waste a minute.  Immediately withdraw from your computer, your desk, your office, your briefcase, your cell phone and any other business entanglements, and RUN! 

     Run to the nearest source of relief, the nearest distant world, the farthest away mental or physical place you can, then shake your booty, rattle your cage, stick out your tongue.  Put yourself in a totally foreign situation. 

     Hey, a trip to the islands is great if you can afford the price and the time, but I’m talking about an entrepreneurial quick-fix approach. 

     Take a different route to work, and home.  Brush your teeth with your other hand.  Scrub under your other armpit first for a change.  Put your underwear on insideout.  Try doing things backwards and upsidedown.  CAN YOU DO THINGS DIFFERENTLY FOR A DAY?  Watch what happens.  You will amaze yourself! 

     Don’t take my word for it; visit or call someone you know who makes a living by being creative (a writer, painter, musician, stage performer, broadcast personality, sculptor, designer) and ask her or him what’s the best way to stimulate the creative juices.  The answer will relate to doing things differently.

     INVENTORY YOURSELF.  How does it feel?  After you get past the feeling stupid part, how does it feel? 

     What does doing things differently do to your thoughts and expectations about who you really are and what you normally do in different circumstances?  What can this exercise teach you about you? 

     Remember the more you know about what makes you tick, the more you can control your own destiny and the better you’ll relate to others, and be able to help them.  In business, making a sales means helping someone to get what she or he wants or needs. 

The more you know about you, the more you’ll sell!      

# # #

See Nov 29th post (below) for New Year’s contest prize and rules – Then GO FOR IT!  Emails to Hal@TheWriterWorks.com with “SOUNDS OF THE SEASON” in the subject line.          # # #

Check out and contribute to the daily growing 7-Word Story started 100 days ago (inside a coffin).  Click on the link to the right, or go to the “BOOKS” tab at the top of this page, then to the top headline link.

The sky is falling!  

What is this,

Chicken Little?

     Enough of this doom and gloom crap, already. 

     The only ones out there who are doing their jobs successfully are the two-faced mainstream media alarmist exaggerators!  And they have become so effective at brainwashing public opinion that they’re making the rest of us look like fools! 

     U.S. business owners and managers everywhere are walking face down with slumped shoulders.  They’re tsk-tsk-tsking the same people they had been rah-rah-rahing to build their businesses just a few short months ago. 

     What is this, Chicken Little?  The sky is falling? 

The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, USA Today, Washington Post, Boston Globe, Baltimore Sun, Time, Newsweek, and majority of other U.S. propaganda news publications . . . plus ABC, CBS, NBC, TNT, CNN, MSNBC, PBS, and majority of other propaganda news broadcasters have been doing their damnedest to paint our lives bleak and hopeless. 

     They have made every manipulative, conceivable effort to create unrest and depression.  Why?  It’s in their best interests; it serves them well: 

1. They’ve made the public hungry to find out more about this economic monster that’s crushing in around us on all sides, which sells newspapers and grows broadcast audiences (which attracts advertisers and commands higher rates).

2. They’ve made us search desperately for light so they can rally us to overcome the odds and revel in the brightness they think they can lead us all to, from out of the dark shadows they’ve created and wrapped around us.  (This is also designed to build sales, increase rates, and attract advertisers.) 

3. It helps them justify their years of relentless attacks on a President they despise, and pave the way for their annointed savior next month.  Unfortunately, nothing in their optimism could be more pessimistic.  (And this bit of shortsightedness may actually cost them money!)

4. Nothing (nothing) could be further from reality than the strategic roads they ride, but reality doesn’t sell newspapers or build viewer and listener bases — that command higher rates and sell more advertising. 

     What these great mind-bending institutions have failed to realize, however, is that they can never take away our freedom of choice.  And what we need to realize –to rise above the din of narrow-minded defeatest thinking that mainstream media representatives would have us wallow in– is that we CAN think and behave as we choose. 

     We can choose to simply reject all the nonsense the media would have us associate with their “recession” drumbeats.  We need only to look inside ourselves as business owners and managers, as key pieces to the business and economy turnaround leadership puzzle. 

     Finding fault doesn’t find the path out! Cutting budgets doesn’t create sales! 

     We need only to exercise our own intestinal fortitude as a nation of entrepreneurs, as a nation of businesspeople driven to achieve.  We are believers to the core.  We are people who exercise universal charity, who reach out to help the downtrodden back up onto their feet.  We see problems as opportunities. 

     We business owners and managers inspire by doing.  We do not accept the negative values that the media or others try to put upon us.  As a nation, we strive to be winners.  By charging forward to scale the heights, and by reaching beyond where others think is possible, we brighten the lights that bring hope to this planet.  halalpiar         

 # # #

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  Hal@Businessworks.US   302.933.0116

  Open Minds Open Doors 

   Thanks for your visit and God Bless You.

  Make today a GREAT day for someone! 

Dogs, music, and BJ’s

. . . sounds a little raunchy, but remember the source.

       How hard is it to keep your stomach from gurgling with anxiety when you’ve got blog posts to put up and articles that need writing and editing, and the hours tick by, while no one at the cable company knows more than to tell you that your connections are not functioning?  Duh!  Uh, we called you, remember? 

     So me, the great 30-year teacher of stress management needs to . . . well, you know the rest. 

       A little diversionary follow-up report to yesterday’s post, btw, is that the BJ’s I mentioned, that had the gall to charge prospective customers for the privilege to shop in their new (197^th) store, opened today.   

     The most telling comment I heard was that there were more people inside the store at any given moment of the day than live in the entire town (and probably four surrounding towns as well).  So that just goes to show you how little I know about what works anymore in retailing.  Who woulda thunk it?  Right, BJ’s! 

       But the good news is that the store is 100% perfect, bright, cheerful, beautifully laid out, lots of quality merchandise at very low prices, and offering a huge selection.  Just too crowded!  Oh, well.  We’ll try it on a weekday.  I’ll let you know.  Humpf!  

     I just wrote a reminder note for Monday Vet checkup appointment for my two dogs and that stool samples are needed.  Best place to put it is with my papers for early morning meeting with clients so I remember to get on the road asap after the meeting.  Hope the note doesn’t fall out.  “Bring poop samples to next meeting!” might be hard to explain.

       It’s weird to be typing this in Word instead of my friendly little blog window. 

I was reminded today of two things you can never get back:

the stones you throw and the words you use.

     Belated Happy Birthday to my son the musician.  We spoke (and I sang!) on his day, 12/11, but I hadn’t yet managed to squeeze Christopher www.alpiar.com into my blog.  Anyway, he sent me the following link that he ran across:  http://video.stumbleupon.com/?p=kkdpiahine . . . a pretty cool solo performance no matter what your level of music interest.

       Oh, right, dogs.  So now you know the slow motion truth of my brain activity.  But since you already know about their poop, you should want to know that one’s an all black 5 year-old cocker spaniel, Tuckerton (he’s named after NJ’s Tuckerton Seaport, a mile from where we once lived), and the other’s an 11½ year-old golden retriever, Barnegat (she’s named after NJ’s Barnegat Bay, where we once welcomed the waves onto our front yard).  Now you know why I’m not moving to Machipongo, VA, anytime soon.  

     I promise more substance tomorrow, assuming the great awakening of my cable company.  In the meantime, have a wonderful night.   halalpiar

 # # #

See Nov 29th post (below) for New Year’s contest prize and rules – Then GO FOR IT!  Emails to Hal@TheWriterWorks.com with “SOUNDS OF THE SEASON” in the subject line.  # # #

Check out and contribute to the daily growing 7-Word Story started 95 days ago (inside a coffin).  Click on the link to the right, or go to the “BOOKS” tab at the top of this page, then to the top headline link.

Every purchase decision

is emotionally-triggered!

     I am forever amazed at the ability of some retailers (and especially in this economy) to assume the luxury of pre-qualifying customers before they ever even set foot inside the store.  Have you noticed?  Or have you been asleep at the keyboard? 

     There’s a BJ’s opening nearby.  Kathy and I went to buy (“buy,” mind you) a “BJ’s Club Membership” card to be allowed to shop at this store that isn’t yet open!  For those even more in the dark than I’ve been (hard to imagine), this means you pay for the privilege to shop at this store.

     Like an idiot, I agreed to stay with Kathy and work through the 35-minute application process (when, alas, I could instead have been happily poking through the aisles of the next door hardware store), highlighted by having to have a photo I.D. in order to obtain a photo I.D.

     Now that makes alot of sense, right?  Isn’t that a lot like the bank being willing to give you a loan if you have enough in the bank to cover the loan?

     Yeah, but, the BJ’s fanatics tell me, you can get lots more stuff cheaper than other places, so it’s worth it to let them take out a second mortgage on your third child in order to be allowed to shop in their store (which, I might add, ain’t quite Tiffany’s!). 

     Well, excuse me, but wouldn’t you think any retailer would be thrilled these days just to have you drop by and do a little shopping?  What makes this join/enroll/enlist/sign up mindset so compelling that people feel they just “have to” buy into the program? 

     We are spending our money to buy products and contribute to –in this case– BJ’s profits, yes?  I mean it’s not like we’re qualifying for the Olympics, is it? 

     Aha!  It’s because we’re all suckers!  It’s because BJ’s, CostCo, Sam’s Club, et al suck us into “Club Memberships” knowing we can’t resist making a good solid emotional decision to join in the mutual exclusivity of others we like to believe we identify with in terms of lifestyle. 

     Huh?  Well, remember that no purchase (ZERO, NONE, NADA) is a rational, logical, unemotional decision.  It’s simply the way we justify ourselves.  But what about the economics of joing retail club membership rolls, and paying to be able to act and feel like we are getting exclusive purchase deals?  Well, maybe we are.  But so what? 

     Maybe we really don’t care about any of this, or maybe we can rationalize it all away.  What?  Oh, you don’t make emotional decisions?  HA!  Ask any good salesperson.  Every purchase decision is an emotionally-based, emotionally-triggered decision. 

     The rational, logical, unemotional stuff is what we use to justify our emotional choices, so we tell our friends about the product or service features, the great price, and how the car will do everything except make coffee, but the truth is we think we look good driving it, or we got totally hooked into the salesperson’s personality, or we have a need to “show off” our good taste . . . something emotional makes it happen! 

     What else?  I am now a card-carrying BJ’er.  YOW!     

# # #

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  Hal@Businessworks.US   302.933.0116

  Open Minds Open Doors 

   Thanks for your visit and God Bless You.

  Make today a GREAT day for someone! 

ONE thing about Christmas  

There is ONE thing about Christmas that thankfully always survives.  And that ONE thing always manages to rise above:

• the protests of close-minded “PC” worrywarts who cringe (and yes, panic) at the thought of anyone mentioning anything more specific than “Happy Holidays” for fear of insulting and upending the belief systems of non-Christians

• the life-threatening turmoil of struggling people and countries

• the out-of-touch, out-of-place over-the-top commercialization of a joyous and sacred religious celebration

• the self-inflicted emotional and physical stress that breeds in upsetting memories and unrealistic worries triggered by self-indulgences and self-inadequacies that accompany annual cultural periods of celebration of love and family

• the shakiest of world economies, national economies, state economies, county and town economies, company and organization economies, family and personal economies

That ONE thing I’m talking about is the ever-expanding collection of traditional Christmas Carols.  The traditional Christmas Carols that all of us have grown up with and sang and hummed (and memorized so many of) that thankfully find their way into our hearts year after year. 

The poorest of times, the saddest of times, the most disconcerting of times are all at once lifted in spirit each year by the music that the celebration of Christmas inspires. 

Well, not for everyone, you say?  Wrong!  For everyone, save those that lurk among and hide behind the evilest and blackest of terroristic souls. 

The impact in today’s world for many is that Christmas carols in all their splendor supercede even much of the sacredness they celebrate.  The music is respected and enjoyed in every corner of our world. 

Find me even one non-Christian who doesn’t know some of these tunes and refrains, and who fails to find reassurance in the messages of peace and love and joy that the marvelous songs convey.

Am I suggesting the music is so pure and the music is enough that we should take down the Santa Clauses, pull the light display plugs, and not exchange gifts?  Hmmmm.  Maybe not a bad idea.  After all, times are pretty tough. 

Let me snap you back to reality: If you are reading this, odds are at least a zillion to one that times are not so tough for you compared to those who are suffering pain and hunger right now.  

I AM suggesting that our traditional Christmas music can and does literally carry the holiday season, even for many less fortunate people.  The point is that it can and does. 

However the spirit moves you best

is the best way for you to move. 

But whatever you do for or about Christmas, let yourself SING OUT!  It’s as good for your soul and well-being as laughter is for your heart!   halalpiar

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