Hey everyone, here we go. . . . . .
IN OUR WORLD
The craziest of weeks in recent memory thanks to the fury of Mother Nature.
It took me 10 hours to go from Dallas to Orlando and I was blessed enough to be able to get the last seat on the ONLY plane that finally did go to Orlando. I arrived in my hotel room at 12:45 AM after a scheduled landing of 2 PM the previous day.
I then had to catch a flight from Orlando to Dallas and then Dallas to Phoenix. Well, I made it to Dallas, but then the storm to end all storms hit DFW airport. They evacuated all the awaiting passengers at one of the world’s busiest airports to the tornado centers as a storm filled with 70 MP winds, hail the size of baseballs and so much lightning I thought I was at a Pink Floyd concert. The papers the next day said it was the worst storm in the history of the airport with hail and wind damage to many of the aircraft on the ground. I waited from 5 PM to 11:45 PM before they cancelled all the flights. I then waited another 90 minutes in line, with everyone else at the airport for a cab home.
This forced me to miss only my third program in 27 years of Creative Ventures. I was heartbroken, but powerless to do anything.
Next week I am off to Minneapolis.
Keep your eyes open for the June newsletter where I will introduce my latest idea – DAZZLING BLUE.
HEY, YOU CAN FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER –CREATIVEVENTURE
AND ON FACEBOOK – STEPHEN HARVILL!
THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW
In a world where change smacks us in the mouth every day and where the majority of issues that can impact our life are out of our control, what strategic steps can we take that can create real impact? Let me visit with two, one is driven towards personal growth and one driven at your clients.
SKILL SETS: No matter what happens to the macro-economic picture in areas like health care, budget deficit, unemployment and such you still have power over YOU. Think about focusing some energy on your professional skill sets. Times of uncertainty beg for personal development.
Here are is one idea. Work on your presentation skills. The ONLY way to get your ideas from concept to reality is to give them traction. Presentation skills provide you the opportunity to build your career around ideas. If you can’t find any budget to move your skills forward professionally, watch a lot of presenters and take notes on what you thought worked and what didn’t. Go to www.ted.com and pick a topic that interests you and watch the presentations. You can learn a lot!
CLIENT EXPERIENCE: Despite the uncertainty of the markets appetite, you control how the client interacts within your sales process. If your process has grown to blob like proportions focus on these two ignition points;
- When a prospect turns into a customer. This is the point of the first sale. It changes everything. Look for opportunities to separate and differentiate yourself in a world that is rapidly being completely commoditized.
- When the customer turns into a client. This is when you create a relationship, something that goes beyond the transaction. Try to find something small, but personal you can do to help the client realize this is not just a transactional relationship. I use music. I create custom CD’s and send them to my clients.
There you go, two ideas that can provide focus in times of crazy change.
ENTERTAINMENT
MOVIES: The Hangover Part II: I’ll do it. Time for a crude and predictable laugh.
NetFlix Fans: Unstoppable: Really exciting and a perfect living room movie.
.
TV: Season Finale’s: Some fantastic cliff hangers from some of my favorite shows. The Mentalist gave us some resolution to the core plot line should it not make it back next year. House made me kind of glad that season 8 will be its last. Castle was a great ender and the best of the best was Justified. The good part about the way TV is structured in 2011 gives us great chances to sample other stuff thanks to cable stations. Networks launch new programs in June and the heavy hitters like HBO keep giving us great entertainment like Game of Thrones.
BOOK: Change Making – Bevan: Really interesting book with key ideas like; Build Inter-Disciplinary Teams, Develop a Strategy Around Communication Clarity. Some really good stuff.
MUSIC: My friend David Wilcox recording a FANTSTIC song in his home studio.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IqEAG5o-LFU&feature=related
WEB SITES: One of the most mind boggling digital sites on the internet!
SOUTH OF NORMAL
We’ve recently seen numerous innovations designed to ease the tedium of pre-flight waiting. Take the ebook library[www.springwise.com/media_publishing/elibrary/] at Taiwan’s Taoyuan International Airport, for example. This morning Schiphol airport in Amsterdam launched their own effort, with the world’s first airport park.
The park consists of a large interior space as well as an outdoor terrace for when the weather is fine. The indoor area of the park is designed to replicate the feeling of an outdoor space, with butterflies projected on to the walls and floors, and with sounds such as bicycle bells, animals and playing children filling the air. Surrounding a once-threatened 130 year-old tree, the park features a number of loungers and wire frame and ivy chairs for travelers to relax in, as well as the Park Café, serving fresh juices, organic coffee and hamburgers. Around the periphery of the park there are power points for travelers to charge electronic devices such as laptops, and there is the option to charge mobile phones by pedaling one of the energy generating bicycles. To boost its eco-credentials, the airport uses LED lighting wherever possible, with natural light also entering the park through fiber optic cables and tube lighting.
As airports continue to be a hotspot for innovation, there are plenty of lessons to be to be applied anywhere that consumers are forced to wait – take note and be inspired! (Related: Portland airport installs bike assembly station for travellers[www.springwise.com/transportation/pdxbikestation/] — Singapore airport’s four-storey slide rewards duty-free spending[www.springwise.com/tourism_travel/slide_t3/].)
Website: www.schiphol.nl/airportpark
Contact: www.schiphol.nl/Reizigers/OpSchiphol/Contact.htm
Drop me a note with your comments at steve@creativeventures.com
Thanks for stopping by and until next time, Adios and Aloha.
Leave a Reply