Gracie Communications

Why is it that we women tell our hairdressers anything and everything?  Seriously, it doesn’t really even matter which hairdresser. My regular stylist was on vacation in Greece when I had a total hair emergency.  I made an appointment at David & Mary Salon/Spa in Clay Terrace and ended up telling a completely new hairdresser all about my kids, my business, even my new love for the pumpkin spice latte at Starbucks.

We also talked at length about the promotion ChaCha was running in the salon. Every person in the place had on a ChaCha t-shirt and each mirror sported a static cling text message code.  Not only was it a great way to reach a captured audience, the promotion also was a great conversation starter.  The big question is:  If a hairdresser you trust with your tresses uses ChaCha, would you be more likely to try it?

(more…)

Sales reps selling products at mid-size and large companies know you can’t convert prospects to clients in one meeting, but many service professionals – especially freelancers – seem to have forgotten this. The bottom line?  It takes at least three meetings (interactions) to really understand a prospect and determine if your services can be part of his or her long-term solution. 

Think of it like dating.  You wouldn’t expect a marriage proposal on the first date, right? (And unless you are Britney Spears,  you wouldn’t say yes either.)  Business relationships need the same time to develop.  Too many professionals get caught up in the exciting prospect of new work and do one of two things.

(more…)

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the power of praise. I recently read Nuture Shock, and as Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman suggest, all praise is not created equal.   They call this the inverse power of praise.  It works like this. Praise the child; he doesn’t work as hard the next time.  Praise the action; she learns it’s about how hard she works.  

To fully understand the subtleties of how undirected praise can backfire, I strongly recommend you read the chapter instead.  (Heck, read the whole book. I’ll lend it to you.)   In the meantime, here are two other things to think about to determine the value of a compliment:

(more…)

President Obama’s speech to school children this week has been in the headlines for nearly five days. One could argue it stayed in the news as long as it did because holiday weekends are traditionally slow news wise. Regardless, now that the speech has passed with little to no controversy, Americans will turn their attention elsewhere. Why? According to ChaCha the average adult attention span is far less than five days. 

It’s only 20 minutes. That actually was longer than I expected.

(more…)

The word bumble has gotten a bad rap.  In fact, I didn’t even know the word could be a verb until I read Tom Hodgkinson’s article on being idle in the August issue of Real Simple.  

Bumbling means “wandering around without purpose.” And guess what? Not everyone who bumbles is an idiot.

As Hodgkinson notes, “Children are good bumblers.”  Poets and plein air painters are natural bumblers. I personally think graphic artists are good at it too. As a recovering workaholic (okay, maybe not fully recovered), I have a real appreciation for those who know how to enjoy a good bumble.

(more…)