Five Day Perspective
March 5th, 2007 by Chief NutIt’s been five days since our return from the Global Marketing Summit and, as expected, a new perspective is starting to settle in. The trap, of course, is to let complacency take over and to allow “the real world” to consume us. Now is the time to strike at the follow up contacts, and to continue building on the relationships that began this past week.
What lessons were to be learned at the event? The obvious answer would be to list the “who’s who” lineup of speakers including; Shawn Gold of Myspace, Pat Lafferty with Discovery (formerly with Leo Burnett), Todd Cunningham with MTV, Maureen Schumacher with Google, IAB’s Greg Stuart, and many more. The insight and information these speakers provided was inspirational and valuable. They did, however, provide a predictable experience. I expected to be blown away … I expected to learn a lot … I expected to be impressed.
What I didn’t expect was the cab ride from the airport to the hotel. I’m seen here with Mr. Saul White and Lani Voivod of Epiphanies, Inc. In my experience with retaining cabbies, Saul did some things extraordinarily well;
* He engaged us in conversation. OK, that, in and of itself, isn’t extraordinary. The fact he turned a 25 minute car ride into a memorable event was.
* He taught us about the history of the area
* He gave us the lowdown about the hotel we were staying at
* He shared personal stories and anecdotes
* He boldly asked, without being too forward, if we would call him for the return trip (we did)
* He sincerely told us that he looks forward to our next trip and to keep his card
What Saul did was to begin a real relationship … in less than an hour. I can’t picture Saul ever being referenced in the same breath with the phrase “like two ships that pass in the night.” Nope. Like Caribbean pirates, he and his crew would crash their ship into yours, jump the rails to get over to your side and would fire up the party! Thanks for the lesson Saul.
Is your business more like Sauls … or like every other business in your space?
