Benton Crane

I currently pay $0.10/text and absolutely hate receiving a text message ad. I have considered purchasing the text messaging add-on for my plan, but I just don’t text enough to justify $10 per month.

I use ad based email, photo sharing, and many other services. I even use 1-800-411-METRO which is a free ad based telephone directory. Why don’t we have anything like this for text messaging? I wouldn’t mind filtering through a few ads if I didn’t have to pay for them or any of my other texts.

Is there anything like this in the near future?

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In preparation for FamilyLearn’s team barbecue, Jeff and I stopped by Harmon’s grocery store to get some meat (it was a bring your own beef barbeque). I hate cooking and I rarely do it. But I was hungry and not about to settle for a hot dog. As we arrived at the meat section, there was a sample table manned by a big friendly fellow named Nate. He asked, “What are you guys looking for?”

“Something to grill,” I responded.

“Let me see if I can change your mind,” he replied while handing us each a sample of the roast he had prepared.

The roast was excellent, but I was thinking in my head, “Oh great! Now we have to listen to him try to sell us a roast when we just need something for the barbecue.”

Instead, Nate asked, “So, when do you need this?”

“Tonight,” we replied.

He continued, “Are you cooking for lots of people of just yourselves?”

“Just ourselves.”

“So, do you want a really good steak or just something mediocre?”

We hesitated as we realized we hadn’t even thought about the quality of meat to purchase.

“Well let me ask you this,” he continued, “Do you want to spend $12 or $4″

“Four dollars,” Jeff quickly responded.

Nate then left his post at the sample table and walked us over to the steaks. He quickly educated us on the hierarchy of steaks. He told us about the different cuts and types of meat. Even after learning our options, we didn’t want to make a decision.ÂWe asked which one he would get. He explained that he loves Black Angus steaks, but those are much more expensive. Both Jeff and I said, “Okay, I’ll take that one.”

“Great,” he continued, “Do you already have seasoning?”

I sarcastically thought, “Oh great! One more thing to buy!” But instead, he stepped behind the deli counter and pulled out some steak seasoning sample packets. He tossed them to us then quickly explained how to season and cook the steaks.

“You guys will love these steaks,” he assured us. “But if you don’t, just bring them back and I will buy them back from you.”

Without even feeling like we had talked to a salesman, we were sold the most expensive steaks in the store. We walked out of the store commenting to each other on how much we like Harmon’s grocery store. At the barbecue, we were the envy of the party. No one’s hot dog tasted very good after seeing and smelling our steaks.

Thinking back over the experience, I asked myself how Nate had created such a perfect buying experience for us. His questions were the key. Through his questions, he found our exact need, then provided a great solution for the need.

There is a lot written on effective question asking, but I haven’t read anything yet on how to instill a question asking attitude in an organization. How do you train a team of Nates?

Let me know your thoughts. Please refer me to some good books, articles, or posts.

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Shortly after the announcement that the Olympics would be coming to Salt Lake, the newspapers were filled with headlines about the Olympic scandal: “Biggest Scandal Ever to Hit the Olympics,” “Oly Scandal Leads to Resignation,” “Olympic Shame,” and many others.* The current Olympic committee at the time had accumulated a 4 million dollar deficit. Sponsors were quickly withdrawing their sponsorship. The international view of Utah was at an all time low. In short, the outlook for 2002 was bleak!

This was the situation in February 1999 when Mitt Romney (who is now the governor of Massachusetts) became CEO of the Salt Lake Organizing Committee. Under his leadership, everything changed. Internal politics ended. Talks of scandal and bribery ended. Relationships with sponsor were not only fixed, but loads of new sponsors were acquired. In fact, the 1996 games in Atlanta had previously held the record for the most sponsorship ever–the SLC games almost doubled the sponsorship of Atlanta. The $4 million deficit became a $100 million profit. Headlines were drastically different from before: “The Little City that Could, Did.” and “Salt Lake, We Will Always Remember You. These Were Perfect Games.”

Yesterday, Mitt’s right-hand-man, Fraser Bullock, spoke at BYU. Fraser signed on with Mitt in 1999 as CFO and COO. He came to BYU to tell us how we can apply lessons from the 2002 games to organizational and individual success. Here are my notes:

Organizational Success Fundamentals

• Great People: Every organization depends on honest, ethical, talented people with amazing skill sets. Mitt surrounded himself with amazing people, Fraser Bullock being one of them.
• Compelling Strategy and Plan: Everyone works toward common, focused, and achievable milestones. Over their 3 year journey, the Salt Lake Organizing Committee set and reached over 42,000 traceable and measurable milestones. Most of those were obviously on more localized levels for the organizations within the committee.
• Positive Culture:
  • Teamwork: Cooperation is critical. Internal politics will destroy an organization.
  • Discipline
  • Continual Improvement

Individual Success Fundamentals

• Get all the education you can:
  • Start networking while you are in school.
  • Learn all you can about your company/industry. Become an expert.
  • Education doesn’t end with school. Read!
• Be an exemplary team player:
  • No hidden agendas.
  • Facilitate communication.
• Become Indispensable:
  • Be Productive. Anticipate needs.
  • Be reliable. Do what you say will.
• Build Your Network:
  • Your own exemplary living will be the key.
• Do The Right Thing:
  • Live by the highest ethical standards.
  • Use the Washington Post test: “How will you feel if your words today become tomorrow’s headlines?

Fraser explained that when it’s all said and done, and we look back over our life and accomplishments, some will be more important than others:

• Financial Achievements.
• Developing/Serving others.
• Legacy (have I made organizations better?)
• Developing and Serving Family.
• Who Have I Become?

He concluded with a couple of questions: Do I have a plan? Am I driving, or being driven?

*I haven’t verified the headlines and numbers in the post. They are all taken from my notes on Fraser’s speech.

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Last Friday left me scrambling for a date idea.  When I thought it had come down to carving pumpkins or rollerskating, Jeff Harmon gave me the idea to build a pumpkin parachute.

After picking up my date, I took her to the grocery store where we bought garbage bags, string, duct-tape, and pumpkins.  After about 45 min. of cutting, taping, and tying; we had a parachute with about a 9 foot diameter.  It’s 16 cords used all 100 feet of the sting we had purchased.  I was surprised by how much my date seemed to enjoy building a parachute.

We took the chute and the pumpkins to Rock Canyon in Provo.  We went to a popular repelling cliff called “The Green Monster.”  It’s a 175 ft. vertical wall.  We hiked in the dark to the top of the cliff.  It’s not a dangerous hike, but I think it took my date out of her comfort zone.  She laid on her belly and held the flashlight over the edge while I lobbed the pumpkin and parachute into thin air.

It took about 50 ft. of free fall before the chute fully opened, but once it did, the pumpkin floated down gently.  Our screams and yells echoed off the canyon walls as we congratulated ourselves.  Later inspection of the pumpkin showed that it suffered a minor crack on the landing, but otherwise escaped intact.

I’ve seen a few lists of dating ideas posted on the web, but most are pretty cliche.  Jeff and I are compiling a list of more orginal, adventerous dates.  Jeff is creating a wiki where he will post them.  I will link to it ASAP.

For now, coupons4dates.com has a decent list.  It’s more directed towards marrieds, but I like some of their “get to know each other on a deeper level” dates.  For example, go to a bagel shop and talk about how to fix world hunger.  If you succeed in developing a real conversation even though the topic is very idealistic, you’ll probably find a lot out about your date.

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Wallstrip, a daily internet newscast, was launched this past Monday (Oct. 16).  Each day it features a company whose stock is at or near a new high.  They look into why it is succeeding, but not from a “Wall Street” perspective. They keep a very “real world” point of view.  It’s quite refreshing.

For example, on Monday Wallstrip looked into why Apple’s stock is soaring.  Wallstrip attributes it to Apple’s retail stores.  The store atmosphere, customer service, products, and experience all contribute to the store’s success and Apple’s stock.  Or yesterday, Wallstrip examined RIMM.  Why is Blackberry doing so well?  Because it’s addictive!

After watching these short, entertaining newscasts; you can join in the online conversation where professional stock bloggers debate the issues.  This part actually sounds a bit intimidating to me…I haven’t joined a conversation yet, but I was surprised to find that most of the content was written on my level.  See for yourself: Dave Landry, one of Wallstrip’s bloggers, explains why he would avoid Apple stock.

Not only does Wallstrip hit the spot with the right content, but they got an amazing anchor.  Lindsay Campbell is gorgeous, witty, and fun to watch.  For all of us single guys, let’s hope she’s available!

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Imagine this:

Yikes! You just lost your job! You’ve been so busy at *work* that you don’t feel your network is as strong as you would like it to be! What are you going to do with (and to) your network in the next 6 weeks as you begin an aggressive job search campaign? And, outside of your network, what job search tactics will you employ? Or your best networking tips related to job searches.

That’s the question posted by Jason Alba as part of a “blog carnival.” He will eventually link to all the people who have posted on the topic. Here’s what I would do:

Pursue a passion:

I would decide what I’m passionate about, what I really love to do, then I would pursue it. 

Read:

I would read a careful selection of books, blogs, and magazines to learn everything I can about the job I’m pursuing.  I would learn who the key players are in the industry.  What is their history, their niche, and their focus.  I would find a need then prepare myself to fill it.

Write:

I would carefully document my job pursuit in a blog.  What are the lessons I’ve learned?  Who are the people I’ve met? What is the industry need that I can fill?  I would link-out a lot and be fairly transparent in my writing, but when something is sensitive, I would write it in my private journal. My blog will be a valuable networking tool at the same time it builds credibility.

Go Get The Job:

After updating my resume, I would use what I’ve learned and who I’ve met to go out and find the job I want.

My perspective might be kind of unique in that I don’t mind if I’m unemployed for a few months.  I’m single, and can live on very little.  It wouldn’t be hard for me to squeak by until I find the job I really want.  The important thing is that I put myself on the road I want to be on.  I hope I never have to take a job just to have a job.

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Lorri Randal from Copperrain informed me of an upcoming seminar that they will be holding for Online video advertising. I won’t be able to be there, but someone from FamilyLearn should be able to go. We will use it to further our mission of uniting families. After the Google Youtube acquisition, a lot of people will be putting more and more emphasis on video advertising. It’s important that we stay at the forefront of this movement.

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Paul Allen taught us today about PPC Marketing.  I already had a decent understanding of how PPC campaigns function.  I went in hoping to gain a better understanding of how PPC marketing fits into the overall Internet Marketing picture.  In other words, how should my focus be distributed amongst PPC, SEO, affiliate, and other types of marketing?

Most of the meeting was more directed toward teaching what PPC is, and how to start a campaign; but at the end, Paul took a few minutes to give a recommendation on when to implement it:

1. Create Your Strategy.
2. Refine your landing pages.  It’s not smart to spend money, sending traffic to pages that are not focused on the keywords and the ad.
3. Put some sort of analytics on your website.  There is no point in driving untraceable traffic to your site.
4. Now you have done your homework and prepared your website, you are ready to drive traffic to it.  PPC is a great starting point.  You get immediate traffic and immediate data on how specific keywords and ads are performing.  This data will be very useful as you start to apply the principles of SEO and other types of internet marketing.  Always cross-test your ads and keywords.  Run comparable ads so you can track and compare the progress of each.
5. Start applying other kinds of internet marketing (I will post on other types as I learn about them).

Paul used a couple of different powerpoint presentations.  Both were very well done and extremely helpful.  Jeff Harmon posted them on his blog.  If you are learning about pay-per-click, they are worth looking at.

Provo Labs has a comfortable atmosphere.  I didn’t feel intimidated to ask questions and participate in the discussion.  I can already tell that the group learning and collaborating will be very helpful.  I’m excited to continue learning.

I’m even more excited to apply the principle I’m learning to FamilyLearn’s websites.

What wasn’t so nice:

I don’t remember exactly when, but I think it has about one year since I first saw that construction had begun on the ProvoLabs office building on 900 E. in Provo.  I’m in awe that it has taken so long.  It’s now in use and it isn’t even complete.  Last week’s opening social was held on the first floor amongst a bunch of cubicles.  I came in late, so I wasn’t even able to get close enough to Paul to hear what he was saying.  Fortunately, I was able to catch him afterwards.  He spent a few minutes with me individually which I really appreciated.

Today’s seminar was held on the mostly completed second floor, which at least has a conference room.  The smell of fresh paint was quite strong—I had a bit of a headache by the end.  The room doesn’t have a projector or projector screen, so the start of the meeting was delayed while chairs were stacked as a resting place for Paul’s projector.  Instead of desks we had chairs—not a huge deal, but it’s nice to have a place to set your laptop.

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Paul Allen blogged today about the importance of rushing into online video.  He linked to an article he recently wrote for Connect magazine.  He wrote of the importance of skating to where the puck will be, and not where it is.

At FamilyLearn, our focus is on preserving life’s stories.  We’ve primarily done this through written stories, memories, and journals all supplemented by photos.  Paul’s post helped me realize that many families’ stories are in home video format.

We need YouTube style video sharing and storage, but focused on families.  How many families record events just to put the tape in a drawer and never see it again?  What family wouldn’t want that drawer organized, accessible, and shareable?

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