Here's yet another example of how to ruin your business one sale at a time.

The other day I was looking to replace a wrist brace I bought at Diamond Athletics in Winnipeg four years ago. Since I now live in Toronto – I thought “why not buy it here?!”

Here’s what happened:

It took me 05 seconds to find the brand name on the wrist brace.

• I Googled “Med Spec” and found it in a minute.
• The online store suggested they only ship this U.S. $24.95 with-in the U.S.
• I called the CSR in Charlotte N.C. who referred me to their Canadian distributor in Quebec.
• The CSR in Quebec didn’t know of any retail stores that sold the product in Toronto but promised to call me back in an hour. She didn’t.
• I called back the next day. A non-CSR answered this time, apologized for the other CSR’s lack of responsiveness, put me on hold and tried to find contacts for me. They have no retail distributor list online. I offered to build them a site – “no thanks”. They gave me FOUR names and numbers.
• The first two retailers I called had not heard of Med Spec + the third did not carry their products. The fourth said they could order anything I wanted, needed to approve the order through their physiotherapist, would charge tax if the order was without a “prescription” would not if I had one. The fourth could not tell me and refused to estimate how long it might take to order the device. I could leave my name and number and join the line in the waiting area.
• So I looked up Diamond Athletics, found my wrist guard on line with the help of a bright, engaged and knowledgeable CSR who addressed any and all of my questions. The product was in stock and would be at my house by Friday. I gladly paid C$45 plus $15 for shipping.

• I called back store #4. “Hi can you hold please?” “No I can’t” I said. “I’m calling to cancel my order. Bye.”
• I then called Charlotte N.C. and told them my story – auto pilot CRS putting in time.

So much for shopping local.

If you’re ever in Winnipeg and need support – check out diamondathletics.com

Dear all,

As the year draws to a close I’m reflecting on where I’ve been, what I’ve done what I want to do next and how. The short answers are as follows:

• I’ve been on an amazing +35 year rollercoaster ride.
• I experienced some amazing + some rally shitty stuff along the way.
• I want to keep going as a mentor - maybe a guru.
• I’d like to share and give more than I currently do.

In hindsight, most of my regrets are related to two things:

1. Not listening to my elders because I was young and they were old. I didn’t understand that they had gone through the same kind of stuff that I was going through now – or worse. But because their (past) experience didn’t LOOK exactly like my (current) situation – I discounted or dismissed their lessons altogether.

2. Not having someone I trusted and could go to for guidance in my teens and twenties. The reason I’ve chosen to be a mentor is that a mentor (that you can trust) can make a big difference right now and a world of difference by the time you’re my age (58). You’ll have to trust me on that, or save this note for about 30 years.

The enclosed article by Jason Nazer is food for thought as 2013 draws to a close.

Remember: “you are what you think and most consistently do.”

“I started Docstoc in my 20’s, made the cover of one of those cliché “20 Under 20” lists, and today I employ an amazing group of 20-something’s. Call me a curmudgeon, but at 34, how I came up seems so different from what this millennial generation expects. I made a lot of mistakes along the way, and I see this generation making their own. In response, here are my 20 Things 20-Year-Olds Don’t Get.

1. Time is Not a Limitless Commodity

I so rarely find young professionals that have a heightened sense of urgency to get to the next level. In our 20s we think we have all the time in the world to A) figure it out and B) get what we want. Time is the only treasure we start off with in abundance, and can never get back. Make the most of the opportunities you have today, because there will be a time when you have no more of it.

2. You’re Talented, But Talent is Overrated

Congratulations, you may be the most capable, creative, knowledgeable & multi-tasking generation yet. As my father says, “I’ll Give You a Shit Medal.” Unrefined raw materials (no matter how valuable) are simply wasted potential. There’s no prize for talent, just results. Even the most seemingly gifted folks methodically and painfully worked their way to success.

3. We’re More Productive in the Morning

During my first 2 years at Docstoc (while I was still in my 20’s) I prided myself on staying at the office until 3am on a regular basis. I thought I got so much work done in those hours long after everyone else was gone. But in retrospect I got more menial, task-based items done, not the more complicated strategic planning, phone calls or meetings that needed to happen during business hours. Now I stress an office-wide early start time because I know, for the most part, we’re more productive as a team in those early hours of the day.

4. Social Media is Not a Career

These job titles won’t exist in 5 years. Social media is simply a function of marketing; it helps support branding, ROI or both. Social media is a means to get more awareness, more users or more revenue. It’s not an end in itself. I’d strongly caution against pegging your career trajectory solely to a social media job title.

5. Pick Up the Phone

Stop hiding behind your computer. Business gets done on the phone and in person. It should be your first instinct, not last, to talk to a real person and source business opportunities. And when the Internet goes down, stop looking so befuddled and don’t ask to go home. Don’t be a pansy, pick up the phone.

6. Be the First In & Last to Leave

I give this advice to everyone starting a new job or still in the formative stages of their professional career. You have more ground to make up than everyone else around you, and you do have something to prove. There’s only one sure-fire way to get ahead, and that’s to work harder than all of your peers.

7. Don’t Wait to Be Told What to Do

You can’t have a sense of entitlement without a sense of responsibility. You’ll never get ahead by waiting for someone to tell you what to do. Saying “nobody asked me to do this” is a guaranteed recipe for failure. Err on the side of doing too much, not too little.

8. Take Responsibility for Your Mistakes

You should be making lots of mistakes when you’re early on in your career. But you shouldn’t be defensive about errors in judgment or execution. Stop trying to justify your fuck-ups. You’re only going to grow by embracing the lessons learned from your mistakes, and committing to learn from those experiences.

9. You Should Be Getting Your Butt Kicked

Meryl Streep in “The Devil Wears Prada” would be the most valuable boss you could possibly have. This is the most impressionable, malleable and formative stage of your professional career. Working for someone that demands excellence and pushes your limits every day will build the most solid foundation for your ongoing professional success.

10. A New Job a Year Isn’t a Good Thing

1-year stints don’t tell me that you’re so talented that you keep outgrowing your company. It tells me that you don’t have the discipline to see your own learning curve through to completion. It takes about 2-3 years to master any new critical skill, give yourself at least that much time before you jump ship. Otherwise your resume reads as a series of red flags on why not to be hired.

11. People Matter More Than Perks

It’s so trendy to pick the company that offers the most flex time, unlimited meals, company massages, game rooms and team outings. Those should all matter, but not as much as the character of your founders and managers. Great leaders will mentor you and will be a loyal source of employment long after you’ve left. Make a conscious bet on the folks you’re going to work for and your commitment to them will pay off much more than those fluffy perks.

12. Map Effort to Your Professional Gain

You’re going to be asked to do things you don’t like to do. Keep your eye on the prize. Connect what you’re doing today, with where you want to be tomorrow. That should be all the incentive you need. If you can’t map your future success to your current responsibilities, then it’s time to find a new opportunity.

13. Speak Up, Not (act) Out

We’re raising a generation of shit talkers. In your workplace this is a cancer. If you have issues with management, culture or your role & responsibilities, SPEAK UP. Don’t take those complaints and trash-talk the company or co-workers on lunch breaks and anonymous chat boards. If you can effectively communicate what needs to be improved, you have the ability to shape your surroundings and professional destiny.

14. You HAVE to Build Your Technical Chops

Adding “Proficient in Microsoft Office” at the bottom of your resume under Skills, is not going to cut it anymore. I immediately give preference to candidates who are ninjas in: Photoshop, HTML/CSS, iOS, WordPress, Adwords, MySQL, Balsamiq, advanced Excel, Final Cut Pro – regardless of their job position. If you plan to stay gainfully employed, you better complement that humanities degree with some applicable technical chops.

15. Both the Size and Quality of Your Network Matter

It’s who you know more than what you know, that gets you ahead in business. Knowing a small group of folks very well, or a huge smattering of contacts superficially, just won’t cut it. Meet and stay connected to lots of folks, and invest your time developing as many of those relationships as possible.

16. You Need At Least 3 Professional Mentors

The most guaranteed path to success is to emulate those who’ve achieved what you seek. You should always have at least 3 people you call mentors who are where you want to be. Their free guidance and counsel will be the most priceless gift you can receive.

17. Pick An Idol & Act As If”

You may not know what to do, but your professional idol does. I often coach my employees to pick the businessperson they most admire, and act “as if.” If you were (fill in the blank) how would he or she carry themselves, make decisions, organize his/her day, accomplish goals? You’ve got to fake it until you make it, so it’s better to fake it as the most accomplished person you could imagine.

18. Read More Books, Fewer Tweets/Texts

Your generation consumes information in headlines and 140 characters: all breadth and no depth. Creativity, thoughtfulness and thinking skills are freed when you’re forced to read a full book cover to cover. All the keys to your future success, lay in the past experience of others. Make sure to read a book a month (fiction or non-fiction) and your career will blossom.

19. Spend 25% Less Than You Make

When your material needs meet or exceed your income, you’re sabotaging your ability to really make it big. Don’t shackle yourself with golden handcuffs (a fancy car or an expensive apartment). Be willing and able to take 20% less in the short term, if it could mean 200% more earning potential. You’re nothing more than penny wise and pound-foolish if you pass up an amazing new career opportunity to keep an extra little bit of income. No matter how much money you make, spend 25% less to support your life. It’s a guaranteed formula to be less stressed and to always have the flexibility to pursue your dreams.

20. Your Reputation is Priceless, Don’t Damage It

Over time, your reputation is the most valuable currency you have in business. It’s the invisible key that either opens or closes doors of professional opportunity. Especially in an age where everything is forever recorded and accessible, your reputation has to be guarded like the most sacred treasure. It’s the one item that once lost, you can never get back

Globe + Mail, ROB, Dec 2, 2013 Edition, Page B11

By Suzanne Vranica

Television proves its marketing appeal, even for an online generation

Well boys + girls; here’s an article that every “digital agency manager” and “digital brand manager” should tattoo to their right forearm as it reiterates what all great agency practitioners are taught, challenge, integrate into their understanding of communications and then practice + preach with religious zeal.

1. Great multi-media campaigns work much better than mono-media campaigns do because they extend message reach, message frequency and importantly, they dramatically broaden the terrain + context in which the message can be presented and then absorbed.
2. An online campaign made up of Adwords, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and Linked in (for example) is NOT a multi-media campaign. It’s a mono-media campaign. Period.

This argument is consistently misunderstood and misinterpreted by almost all of today’s brand managers and their well-meaning agencies for a wide variety of reasons that I won’t go into today.

The theme picture for this blog entry is a surfer riding a big wave.

When I started in advertising over 35 years ago I saw a lot of people worshipping the then big idea: a new computer program that could optimize magazine, radio or TV campaign schedule “reach or frequency” performance. (But you still had to calculate the multi-media R/f estimates manually or with a calculator).

Only a few people really understood this stuff and could use it to their advantage – like this surfer does. Others were awed by it – or drowned in the reams of data. Sound familiar?

Over the years I’ve seen many big breaks – a few great riders – and lots and lots of short-sighted victims on the agency and client sides that got sucked into the wave and lost their shirt and pants.

Watching this digital wave – that has been building for the last 15 years – I see the same pattern, except that most of those with meaningful off-line experience have moved on to make room for those new to the “digital space”. People who behave as though this is the last frontier.

The final wave.

Forget what Google wants you to believe and ask yourself (as a free independent thinker) "what will advertising in the year 2049 look like?"

In about six weeks from now your team will be heading home for the holidays. In about eight weeks they’ll pick up where they left off – heading in what they believe is the “right direction”.

And while you’ll want your brand to do better in 2014 than it did in 2013, so will every other brand manager out there.

What will you do to build brand fidelity – not just brand loyalty?

While I’m not going to attempt a summary of best practices here because the right approach for your business depends on your management style, your business category, competitive environment, brand positioning, and where your brand is on its brand life-line, here are a few things to take to heart:

1. You need a plan. Period. Many businesses I work with don’t have one and wander around lost.
2. You need to plan the work. A plan, however rudimentary, enables you to define your goals and justify them emotionally and intellectually. Both kinds of justification are important as they will combine to create a far more compelling force with which to propel you towards your goal.
3. You need to work the plan. The plan needs to be understood by all and worked by all because a good plan helps employees and customers clearly understand the terms of the brand relationship.

Many people don’t like “working the plan”. I have two thoughts on this:

1. If it is a trusted brand stakeholder with a progressive idea based on a logical consumer insight, find a way of doing a cost-benefit study without affecting the pace and trajectory of your original plan.
2. If it is an impatient or frustrated individual who thinks that they have a short-cut to your success – proceed with caution. The greatest names in every discipline known to man are slaves to repetition.
3. Because it takes time and perspective to write a good, actionable plan, start now. Consider reviewing your current plan and your progress in the next two weeks. Then look at the changing competitive terrain and decide where you want your brand to be in December 2014. Agree multiple paths to the 2014 goal line with your management team.

Prepare a presentation for early January 2014 that outlines the Goals, Strategies + Tactics for 2014.

Break the tactics down to the individual level to ensure each person on your team knows exactly what they need to do to help the brand make its year.

Need help with your plan or presentation? e-me at: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

This morning I heard a story on CBC that I hadn’t heard in a long time: “shop local”. Apparently Toronto merchants are banding together to encourage shoppers to shop local this Christmas. The counterpoint of this news-bite was a woman who told the reporter that she and her daughter “always go to Buffalo because there are so many more bargains”. I hear the same stupid story when I’m in Winnipeg where residents love to brag about the great deals they can get in Grand Forks.

While the "deals" are there, the only polite way I can describe this behavior is economically short-sighted. If you’re earning your money here and you’re spending your money there, who and what is supposed to pay for the infrastructure you insist on having – including state of the art health care with no waiting times and the same-old-same-old postal service standards despite the fact that you’re doing everything by e-mail and e-transfer?

Consider these facts I gathered from Wikipedia.

The service sector in Canada is vast and multifaceted, employing about three quarters of Canadians and accounting for 78% of GDP. The largest employer is the retail sector, employing almost 12% of Canadians. The retail industry is mainly concentrated in a small number of chain stores clustered together in shopping malls. In recent years, there has been an increase in the number of big-box stores, such as Wal-Mart, Future Shop, Zellers-Target and Home Depot. This has led to fewer workers in this sector and a migration of retail jobs to the suburbs.

The second largest portion of the service sector is the business services, employing only a slightly smaller percentage of the population. This includes the financial services, real estate, and communications industries. This portion of the economy has been rapidly growing in recent years. It is largely concentrated in the major urban centres, especially Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver.

This helps to explain why you'll see so many ghost-town (when driving) across Canada. Locally the big box malls bankrupt the small towns' main-streets. Regionally the larger cities attract the kids from the small towns with hope of finding a good job and an interesting future. With-in a generation all that's left is a boarded up town. Homes and businesses can’t be sold because the town’s cash flow has been siphoned off locally and regionally.

Today our unemployment rates vary from 5% in the West to 14% in the East.

If you shop local it doesn’t have to be that way.

At the local level you can buy almost anything you want or need to enjoy the good life if you give your head a little shake.

• Replace the international hunt for lots of bargains with a local hunt for lots of quality that's rewarded with repeat purchases.
• Replace the international hunt for cheap with a local hunt for good value that's rewarded with referals.
• Replace the international hunt to save a buck with a local hunt to save a job that's rewarded with lower unemployment rates, vibrant communites, pride of ownership, community support and more.
• Replace your silly new year resolutions with a few smart ones like: buy local, buy quality, say no to sales, say yes to a fair price + good value and standup for a fair minimum wage that enables a single individual to afford to live with dignity (not in a shelter supported by food banks).

Please think about the ripple effect your behavior can have before you spend your hard-earned dollars "there".