Meet Francois Brosseau

I am a fan of LinkedIn The Q&A feature can be of great value if you are of a mind to do some testing. Of course, those that have read my book, Purple Curve Effect, do a lot of testing. If they took the time to read and study and apply my book. But I digress...

"What are you doing differently in your business today, from just 30 days ago?"

That is the sixty-four dollar question that I asked on Tuesday. Within 24 hours, I had 17 good answers, but I selected Francois Brosseau's as the best of the best. Here it is:

Two things come to mind in reading your question. First I started actually using LinkedIn after being initially invited and doing nothing about it earlier this year. I must admit, thinking back, convincing myself that I was much too busy to begin using it as a networking tool. Your question today has made me realize that the economic anxiety has been the cause of a mind shift towards being much more receptive to using LinkedIn as an effective tool. Like any tool, what you get out of it is proportional to the effort you put into it. Secondly, late today I received an email from a surf shop in California where I spent 3 weeks surfing with the family this summer. "Killer Dana" operates 3 shops in the southern state and they do a brisk internet sales business as well. Instead of the usual promotional email, this one was a personal note from Steven, Killer Dana's "CEO". Reaching out to his clients, he was admitting to spending a lot of time in the water. "Great waves these days", he says, "but also in an attempt to avoid news of the turmoil." With that kind of thinking this could really be a banner year for surfing, I thought. But he went on to admitting that things were challenging and that he was focused on running a tight ship, while still providing clients with great service and selection, as he described: - by providing further markdowns, even on surf boards, something they had never done in the past - by continuing to offer free shipping, despite rising costs - by completing a company-wide inventory to make sure clients aren't disappointed due to lack of availability, backed up by a "free stuff" guarantee And to my surprise, - by vastly Expanding its product offering, this to make sure clients have incentive to shop in one place, Killer Dana He finished his personal note by not only thanking clients for their loyalty, but by showing his appreciation for allowing he and his colleagues to live an incredible lifestyle - like coming to work in surf trunks and sandals, holding board meetings on surfboards, taking mid-day trips to the beach.... He completed on a more serious tone, sincerely thanking clients for allowing them the opportunity to continue doing what they love to do. The Killer Dana message is simple: maybe this is a great time for reaching out to clients and personally telling them just how much we have appreciated their business and their loyalty, over a period of time which has proven to be a very incredible period of growth. We can do it by email, by regular mail or even better, in person. Check out killerdana dot com —Francois Brosseau (via LinkedIn)

It pays to have smart friends... what are YOU doing differently? -ski ---- Jeff 'SKI' Kinsey, Jonah Strategy, Tactics & Execution Dover, OH | Hilton Head Island, SC | Las Vegas, NV Cell: +1 330.432.3533