Impossible Steamy Bikinis

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Feb 012012
 

“We didn’t know it was impossible so we went ahead and did it.”

“I began doing everything by myself, drawing without knowing how to draw, designing without knowing how to design, directing without knowing how to direct. It was all very experimental at the time, based on trial and error.”

Those quotes could have been from the same person but in fact they come from people in two different continents and relate to projects that couldn’t be more different. The former was a comment by one of the founders of the Great Western Society that now runs the Didcot Railway Centre. As teenagers in the 1960s, four friends set out to buy a small steam engine to preserve it from being scrapped as British Railways moved over to diesel. With the optimism of youth they embarked on a project that most would have considered impossible, that then grew into something much, much bigger.

The second quote was from the founder of the Brazilian swimwear company, Salinas, and referred to the period when as a teenager,  she started making bikinis at home for the local market. Salinas has now grown to be a global brand favoured by many A-list celebrities  - probably something that may have been considered impossible if it was considered at all. (Full article on the BBC business website.)

If all you see is obstacles you’ll never get anywhere. If you see opportunities there is a slight possibility that the impossible may be possible.

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Heavy!

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Dec 022011
 

Yesterday as I was about to leave Basepoint Business Centre in Bromsgrove I was given a branded keyring that includes a disc that will operate the lock on supermarket trolleys. I am struck by how heavy it is. It has a quality feel about it. It started me thinking about heavy. A heavy pen feels much nicer to use than something that is light and plasticy. It has a quality feel. What is it about heavy that communicates quality? Possibly because heavy is often allied with solid and therefore feels well made. You don’t usually feel the weight of a car door  but the sound it makes when it closes shouts solid (and heavy), or not, as the case may be.

OK, so heavy is good. Well, not necessarily. The maker of that car will have worked hard to reduce weight to improve performance and fuel economy. Makers of very expensive performance cars may well use exotic materials such as carbon-fibre to reduce weight. Boeing’s new 787 Dreamliner makes extensive use of carbon composites to reduce weight.

So light or heavy is good, depending on the application in question. But solid is always good. Except when you want something flexible!

There is a saying amongst engineers that if it looks right it probably is right. I think the same can be said about feel. Our brains have a way of working out what looks and feels right. What looks ‘quality’. Although this doesn’t always work. Try walking on a glass floor and see whether it feels right! Glass floors aside, the image portrayed by our business and our products can be influenced by feel. Hand over a business card that feels solid and we will immediately be perceived as being a higher quality business that if we use cheap and flimsy cards. They just don’t feel right. They’re not heavy.

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More Than Words

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Jul 132011
 

Communication is so much more than words. Studies have shown that the words we use account for 7-10% of the impact of the message only. Or to put it another way, 90-93% of the impact comes from the way we use the words, our body language and other factors. The way we dress can have a significant impact on people’s perception of our professionalism. The problem is that different people will perceive different things. If we are to speak to an audience, how should we dress? If we know they’ll all turn up in suits we can probably work out the answer fairly easily. Suggestion: if in doubt, aim to be over rather than under-dressed. We can always remove a jacket, for example, to adjust rapidly to our surroundings.

And what about cars? What have cars to do with communication? Simply that we turn up in something new and very expensive and the customer concludes we’re over-charging for our services. Turn up in an old banger and the customer assumes we can’t be any good at what we do. Solution? Arrive by taxi?

I once selected a company to give a quote purely on the basis that their depot was across the road from my office and I saw they washed their vans every day. Logic: if they take that much care they are likely to be good. Unfortunately, the sales department were less careful than the transport department and sent a rep so full of herself that we took an instant dislike to her and she was shown the door. Note to sales people: you are there to tell the potential customer how your product or service can solve their problems. You are not taking part in a job interview. Come to think about it though, a job interview is also about showing the employer how your skills and experience can solve their problems.

Talking of problems, I am far more impressed by sales people who point out the shortcomings as well as the benefits, than I am with those who bombard me with the hard sell. The former communicate to me that they have integrity, the latter that they want to grab my money and run. No amount of hair gel and sharp suit will part me from my money with these types.

And now for a shameless plug. I am immensely pleased with the enthusiasm of the customer feedback communicated on this video; look at the body language – much more powerful than the words: www.SuccessfulSpeaking.co.uk.

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Musical Education

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Nov 182010
 

Yesterday afternoon I was at a concert in Birmingham given by the fabulous Orchestra Of The Swan (OOTS). The first piece was Vaughan Williams’ Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis. It was preceded by conductor, David Curtis, giving us a quick introduction illustrated by various members of the orchestra playing tiny snippets of the music.

Although I enjoy classical music and attend concerts fairly regularly, I have little understanding of it. I am sure that many in the audience have an in-depth knowledge, but I would be willing to bet that an equal number are like me and need all the help we can get to appreciate the music more fully.

If we are deeply involved with something it is easy to assume that everyone knows most of what we know. I believe that the reality is quite different. When I worked in the car industry I had a reasonable grasp on what we and our competitors were up to. But since I’ve left I have rarely read a motoring magazine or a motoring supplement in the weekend press. If you asked me to tell you anything about the models from even the mainstream producers I would struggle. I imagine that my knowledge is now on a par with the majority of the buying public.

The phrase, ‘Well known to the informed’ comes to mind!

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Doing Things

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Oct 272010
 

Winston Churchill is quoted as saying, “Success is going from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm”. That might seem like an odd definition of success but it does make sense on two levels. Unless we are dim we will learn from each failure and increase our chances of things working out next time. Secondly, by going from failure to failure it means we are ‘doing things’. By doing things we increase our chances of success, whereas if failure puts us off trying again we will get nowhere.

In an interview in 2003, Herb Kelleher, co-founder of Southwest Airlines in the US said, “We have a very special plan, it’s called doing things.”

I’m off now to do things.

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