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It's Harder To Be Kind Than Clever
We hope everyone had a great Labor Day long weekend and had a fantastic summer season. This week we share a powerful message from Fast Company magazine founder, Bill Taylor.
Bill's message is a powerful reminder about something that we are all craving in this fast paced life and business world we find ourselves living in and that is genuine kindness and connection to our humanity.
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One of the more heart-warming stories to zoom around the Internet lately involves a young man, his dying grandmother, and a bowl of clam chowder from Panera Bread. It's a little story that offers big lessons about service, brands, and the human side of business — a story that underscores why efficiency should never come at the expense of humanity.
The story, as told in AdWeek, goes like this: Brandon Cook, from Wilton, New Hampshire, was visiting his grandmother in the hospital. Terribly ill with cancer, she complained to her grandson that she desperately wanted a bowl of soup, and that the hospital's soup was inedible (she used saltier language). If only she could get a bowl of her favorite clam chowder from Panera Bread! Trouble was, Panera only sells clam chowder on Friday. So Brandon called the nearby Panera and talked to store manager Suzanne Fortier. Not only did Sue make clam chowder specially for Brandon's grandmother, she included a box of cookies as a gift from the staff.
It was a small act of kindness that would not normally make headlines. Except that Brandon told the story on his Facebook page, and Brandon's mother, Gail Cook, retold the story on Panera's fan page. The rest, as they say, is social-media history. Gail's post generated 500,000 (and counting) "likes" and more than 22,000 comments on Panera's Facebook page. Panera, meanwhile, got something that no amount of traditional advertising can buy — a genuine sense of affiliation and appreciation from customers around the world.
Marketing types have latched on to this story as an example of the power of social media and "virtual word-of-mouth" to boost a company's reputation. But I see the reaction to Sue Fortier's gesture as an example of something else — the hunger among customers, employees, and all of us to engage with companies on more than just dollars-and-cents terms. In a world that is being reshaped by the relentless advance of technology, what stands out are acts of compassion and connection that remind us what it means to be human.
As I read the story of Brandon and his grandmother, I thought back to a lecture delivered two years ago by Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon.com, to the graduating seniors of my alma mater, Princeton University. Bezos is nothing if not a master of technology — he has built his company, and his fortune, on the rise of the Internet and his own intellect. But he spoke that day not about computing power or brainpower, but about his grandmother — and what he learned when he made her cry.
Even as a 10-year-old boy, it turns out, Bezos had a steel-trap mind and a passion for crunching numbers. During a summer road trip with his grandparents, young Jeff got fed up with his grandmother's smoking in the car — and decided to do something about it. From the backseat, he calculated how many cigarettes per day his grandmother smoked, how many puffs she took per cigarette, the health risk of each puff, and announced to her with great fanfare, "You've taken nine years off your life!"
Bezos's calculations may have been accurate — but the reaction was not what he expected. His grandmother burst into tears. His grandfather pulled the car off to the side of the road and asked young Jeff to step out. And then his grandfather taught a lesson that this now-billionaire decided to share the with the Class of 2010: "My grandfather looked at me, and after a bit of silence, he gently and calmly said, 'Jeff, one day you'll understand that it's harder to be kind than clever.'"
That's a lesson I wish more businesspeople understood — a lesson that is reinforced by the reaction to this simple act of kindness at Panera Bread. Indeed, I experienced something similar not so long ago, and found it striking enough to devote an HBR blog post to the experience. In my post, I told the story of my father, his search for a new car, a health emergency that took place in the middle of that search — and a couple of extraordinary (and truly human) gestures by an auto dealer that put him at ease and won his loyalty.
"What is it about business that makes it so hard to be kind?" I asked at the time. "And what kind of businesspeople have we become when small acts of kindness feel so rare?"
That's what's really striking about the Panera Bread story — not that Suzanne Fortier went out of her way to do something nice for a sick grandmother, but that her simple gesture attracted such global attention and acclaim.
So by all means, encourage your people to embrace technology, get great at business analytics, and otherwise ramp up the efficiency of everything they do. But just make sure all their efficiency doesn't come at the expense of their humanity. Small gestures can send big signals about who we are, what we care about, and why people should want to affiliate with us. It's harder (and more important) to be kind than clever.
If your business needs help sharing it's kinder side, give us a call. We're here to help!
Have agreat week unless you choose otherwise!
Drago
(Follow us on twitter now @AdamAdGroup)
PS - We are committed to helping businesses become better marketers. One way we do that is through Content Creation Strategies and video is a big part of that. Having video on your website benefits you in multiple ways - it creates engagement with visitors to your site. It helps your site to show up more frequently when people are doing searches on their mobile devices, and it helps your videos get more views on your YouTube channel which helps your Google rankings. If your business does not have a mobile version of your site and you don't have a YouTube channel set up you need to remedy that ASAP! Drop us a line a line to find out more.
Here is a recent video from Gateway Toyota in Edmonton.
Here is West Coast Mazda's latest video.
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Testimonial Of The Week - The Adam Ad Group has helped our company add new business despite being in the middle of a declining market. By using a targeted approach and messaging directly to these targeted markets, they have created a campaign that not only increased our business, but brought in exactly the type of customer that has helped us improve. Drago is always working with us to find and develop new programs and even created a program through Global TV to garner additional exposure. Prior to 2007 the Surrey Golf Club was ranked #4 for rounds played in the Lower Mainland and with the help of the Adam Ad Group we have been #1 for every year since 2007. Hats off to Drago and his team for the great leg up on the competition.
(Brian Young - Chief Operating Officer, Surrey & Delta Golf Clubs)
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Please meet some of our fabulous clients or view their commercials at our YouTube Channel:
Sherwood Park Dodge - www.sherwoodparkdodge.com
West Coast Toyota - www.westcoasttoyota.com
West Coast Ford - www.westcoastfordlincoln.com
4D LABS - www.4Dlabs.ca
Dominion Lending - www.dominionlending.ca
Ask Scott - www.AskScott.ca
South Centre Fine Cars - www.southcentrefinecars.com
West Coast Mazda - www.westcoastmazda.com
Kia West - www.kiawest.com
BC Hyundai Dealers - www.HyundaiCanada.com
North Shore Acura - www.NorthShoreAcura.com
Ken Evans Ford - www.kenevansford.com
Cold-FX - www.Coldfx.com
Jim Pattison Toyota - www.jptoyota-surrey.com
Spraggs & Company - www.AskTom.ca
Jim Pattison Hyundai - www.jpautogroup.com
Capital Direct - www.CapitalDirect.ca
Jim Pattison Lexus - www.jimpattisonlexus.com
Happy Honda - www.HappyHonda.com
Watkin Motors - www.WatkinMotors.com
Buist Motors - www.Buistmotors.com
The King Of Floors - www.KingOfFloors.com
Bon Voyage Travel - www.BonVoyageTravel.com
Cove Mortgage - www.CoveMortgage.com
Mattress Mattress - www.MattressMattress.com
Israel Tours - www.Israeltoursforchristians.com
Briar Design & Construction - www.Briarrenos.com
Spa Utopia - www.SpaUtopia.ca
Direct Buy - www.Directbuy.com
Crystal Clear Water - www.crystalclearh2o.ca
Cummins - www.Cummins.com
The Hockey Shop - www.TheHockeyShop.com
Prestigious Properties - www.PrestProp.com
Ralph's Auto Supply - www.Ralphsauto.com
Royal City Jewelers & Loans - www.Rcj.ca
Sunshine Coast Health Centre - www.Sunshinecoasthealthcentre.ca
Sears Carpet & Upholstery Care - www.Searscarpetcleaning.ca
SureSlim - www.SureSlim.ca
Surrey Golf Club - www.SurreyGolf.com
Tell Del - www.TellDel.com
Tourism Surrey - www.TourismSurrey.com
Just to name a few…
Success Profile
This week's success profile is Craig Shostak and his team at South Centre VW.
South Centre VW is steeped in rich history as it originally opened as Pados VW in the 1950's. Craig and his team's entire goal is to be dedicated to providing exceptional service, fair pricing and a relaxed car buying experience that has you telling your friends and family about it.
Their commitment to exceeding customer expectations and offering a wide variety of vehicles has led to the decision of operating out of a new location. They have just moved to their brand new location at 11527 29th Street SE.
In both sales and service South Centre's exceptional staff are here to deliver for you, that's why they are called "The Power to the People Dealer"
To find out more visit them at www.SouthCentreVW.com
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