Question: In economic times like these, who can afford to be mediocre?
Answer: None of us.
When we launched the Outstanding! book, the economy was struggling.
It still is.
And included in the “47 ways to be exceptional” that we write about are these chapters:
Stand Behind Your Stuff
Never Forget Who Pays the Bills
I suggest that in good times and bad—but let’s be honest, especially during the bad—it’s imperative that we be outstanding.
Please enjoy a story that clearly defines what it means to be exceptional. It was sent to us by Church Saufley, a long time believer in QBQ! The Question Behind the Question.
————————
I recently purchased Select-Tech Dumbbells from Bowflex online. After using them for a couple of days, I realized I was going to need a better bench so I went back to their website to see what they had available. While there, I saw they were now offering a bench at no charge with the purchase of the dumbbells I’d bought. Oh, man, if I had just waited I could’ve had my bench for FREE!
Feeling like it was a long shot, I emailed them saying, “I just bought these dumbbells and I see you are now giving away benches—is there any possibility I can get that deal???”
I really expected nothing since I’d missed the promotion, but it made me feel better knowing that I had asked.
Much to my surprise, Amanda Ricketts at Nautilus, Inc. (they own Bowflex) sent me an email stating that she had reviewed my file, noted that I had been a good Bowflex customer over the years (I had also purchased a TreadClimber and the Bowflex Power Pro), and so the free bench was on its way—and no charge for shipping.
Wow!
I surely felt like a valued customer and told several people about my experience.
The story could end there on a note of outstanding customer service, but the best moment happened when the shipment arrived. What I received was a stand to put the dumbbells on—but not the bench. Needless to say, I was disappointed, but I thought, Oh well, I got it for free and I CAN use it, so maybe I should just let it go.
But I couldn’t resist emailing Amanda …
“Hi, Amanda. I know beggars can’t be choosers, but they shipped me the wrong item.”
I thought if I put the error on “they” and “them” then Amanda would save face if it was her mistake and she might be more apt to do something for me. A little sneaky, I admit!
Anyway, I expected some type of rationalization from her and no good result, but again I felt better that I had at least tried.
But evidently Amanda has been injected with the QBQ, because she not only fixed the problem by promising to send the bench, she took ownership for the mistake. Her response:
“Mr. Saufley, thank you for contacting Nautilus Customer Care. I checked your order and it seems I used the wrong part number when I ordered your shipment. I have placed another order for the bench. Please keep the stand we shipped and enjoy it. If you have further questions or concerns, please reply to this email or call us.”
She could’ve blamed the warehouse, the computer system, or me the “bad, bad customer” for asking for so much. But instead she practiced personal accountability and provided exceptional service. It was clearly QBQ! in action! Awfully rare in today’s world, but I must say it was appreciated.
I’ll be a Nautilus customer for life and now recommend them to everyone.
Sunday, October 23, 2011
How can I increase my appraisal value?
Top Five Tips to Increase Your Home’s Appraisal Value
The importance of the appraisal in a real estate transaction can’t be overestimated. An appraisal can completely kill a deal if it does not turn out well.The Wall Street Journal recently posted an article with tips on upping your homes value during an appraisal, and here are some of our top picks:
1. Spruce up the house
While a couple of dishes in the sink won’t make a difference, there are quick fixes that do. Overgrown landscaping should be trimmed, and things like marks on walls and stained carpets should be cleaned. These affect the home’s overall value in appraisal, according to the WSJ.
2. Curb appeal matters
Take the time to mow the lawn, trim the hedges, and pull out any weeds. A nice-looking yard is not only a great first impression, but it can offset any nearby foreclosed properties.
3. Note the neighborhood improvements
Location, location, location! Make note of any changes to the neighborhood that are positive, such as a new playground or a Whole Foods nearby.
4. Keep the $500 rule in mind
According to the WSJ, appraisers often value a home in $500 increments. This means that if there is a repair over $500 that can or ought to be made, do it, or it could count against the property’s value.
5. Maintain a list of all updates to home
All updates, major and minor, to the home should be listed. “Itemize each update with the approximate date and approximate cost,” recommends Matthew George, the chief appraiser of Eagle Appraisals Inc. Remember to include things the appraiser might not notice, such as insulation and roof updates.
Fed fights to keep rates down read more
Fed Looking to Further Lower Mortgage Rate
A new video from the Wall Street Journal discusses the Federal Reserve’s plan to lower mortgage rates further.
The plan is to revitalize the housing market by purchasing mortgage-backed securities, and the video below explains in detail:
The plan is to revitalize the housing market by purchasing mortgage-backed securities, and the video below explains in detail:
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Four books I just read
Heidi Sloss the Fortune is in the follow up- I enjoyed this read because it delivered simple no nonsense tips and approaches to identify where I sabotage my efforts. Where I can add focus and shotgun marketing with more of a laser beam approach. The book also has 5 tips on networking and some other jewels. Easy to apprach and embrace not the page numbers but the content within.
The speed of trust by Stephen Covey- I found this a very good read. First is dances with the definition of trust how we give and lose trust and why it is so critical in our type A world that we speed up with quality our introductions and relationships. Lord love a duxck no one has patience anymore do they? The book gets very real with how we are one world through Global stewardship and citizenship since we are in this journey together.
Drive by Daniel Pink - Daniel Pink dives into and attacks the fabric of motivation. We tend to look outside ourselves for the M word like bonus, status etc when the true drive comes from within. The book delves inot these areas and then sets forth approaches to call upon these known facts and move forward in our lives from our very own plan and not simply from a book.
Shinju by Laura Joh Rowland- this is part of what she calls the Sano Ichiro Mysteries and brings about a discussion of Ronin of feudal Japan and there is much story and history together. If you like historically based series this one will speak your interest.
The speed of trust by Stephen Covey- I found this a very good read. First is dances with the definition of trust how we give and lose trust and why it is so critical in our type A world that we speed up with quality our introductions and relationships. Lord love a duxck no one has patience anymore do they? The book gets very real with how we are one world through Global stewardship and citizenship since we are in this journey together.
Drive by Daniel Pink - Daniel Pink dives into and attacks the fabric of motivation. We tend to look outside ourselves for the M word like bonus, status etc when the true drive comes from within. The book delves inot these areas and then sets forth approaches to call upon these known facts and move forward in our lives from our very own plan and not simply from a book.
Shinju by Laura Joh Rowland- this is part of what she calls the Sano Ichiro Mysteries and brings about a discussion of Ronin of feudal Japan and there is much story and history together. If you like historically based series this one will speak your interest.
Daniel Pink blog I found interesting with comments from George Anders
October 18th, 2011
How to find great talent: 4 questions for Bloomberg View’s George Anders
Here’s a question that bedevils everyone from Fortune 500 boards seeking a replacement CEO to school principals hiring a new algebra teacher, from families looking for a great electrician to baseball teams searching for a better shortstop:
How do you find extraordinary, game-changing talent?
George Anders is a top-shelf business journalist, a veteran of the Wall Street Journal, Fast Company, and now Bloomberg View. For the last couple of years, he’s tried to answer that question by hanging out with the best talent spotters in the world – the U.S. Army’s Special Forces, a squadron of basketball scouts, the folks at Facebook, and many more.
The result is The Rare Find: Spotting Exceptional Talent Before Everyone Else, which hits stores today. (Buy it from Indie Bound, BN.com, Amazon.com
or 8CR.) I had a chance to read the galleys several months ago – and I enjoyed it so much I asked George if he’d do a short interview explaining some of the core concepts for PinkBlog readers.***
You looked at talent both widely and deeply. What’s the big insight you had after completing this book that you didn’t have when you began it?Everybody should be searching for resilience, and hardly anyone does. Being able to bounce back from adversity is crucial in just about every field I examined. You need resilience to be a great CEO, a great teacher, soldier, investor, etc., etc. But when we hire, we’re taught to regard setbacks — regardless of what came next — as flaws in a candidate. So when we prepare our own resumes, we hide our stumbles. That’s wrong! We should cherish people who have extricated themselves from trouble in the past.
I was especially intrigued by your idea of the “jagged resume” in part because I realized that I myself sorta had one of these way back when. Tell us what you mean by that term and why it matters.
Steve Jobs is a perfect example. Both in the 1970s and the 1990s, his life was a wild blend of great strengths and apparent failures. He had this awesome imagination, persuasiveness, ambition and design aesthetic. But he was a college dropout who later got forced out of one company (Apple) and couldn’t make a success of another (NeXT.) You could come up with lots of reasons why his resume was too erratic — too jagged — to make him a good bet. But to appreciate someone like that, you need to see why his strengths matter so much, and why his apparent flaws aren’t important.
You also write about “talent that whispers” — and why it’s sometimes undervalued. Give us an example and explain why we should notice this expression of ability.
Look at the amateur baseball draft, where some teams stop picking after 30 rounds because they assume all the good players have already been grabbed. Every year or two, a future All-Star sits unclaimed. Mike Piazza, the great catcher, was a 62nd round pick. Weird but true. Especially when you’re dealing with young, unproven people, some candidates show just a glimmer of promise. Their talent whispers. Don’t scoff at them. Look to open the door, just a crack, so that when long shots come of age, they’re more likely to be working for you than for the competition.
Let’s say a PinkBlog reader wants to be a “rare find” him or herself. What are some specific things he or she should be doing to stand out from the crowd?
Find the frontier. If you want to be extraordinary, restlessness is a virtue. It’s also a great traveling companion for resilience; if you can combine the two of them, your chances of finding society’s greatest opportunities in any particular decade are huge. Hang out with people just as driven and passionate as you. The great hotbeds of talent are self-sustaining because competitive internal friendships guide rapid progress. When in doubt, come back to autonomy, mastery and purpose. Those are keepers!
New bill proposes waiver of penalty for access to 401k funds to cure a deliquent mortgage
Bill Proposed to Allow Homeowners to Dip Into 401K for Mortgage Payments
Two Georgia lawmakers have proposed a bill to allow people to use a part of their 401K in order to help pay their mortgage, according to a recent article in the San Francisco Chronicle. This would be a withdrawal from a 401K retirement savings without penalty.
Currently, there is a 10% penalty for withdrawing from a 401K prematurely. In addition, that money would be taxed as any withdrawn early is considered income. This bill would allow homeowners to avoid these fees.
Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-Georgia) and Rep. Tom Graves (R-Georgia) have introduced this bill, called the Hardship Outlays to protect Mortgagee Equity (HOME) Act, in hopes that people who have saved for retirement can use that money to avoid foreclosure.
The bill would allow withdrawal of up to $50,000 or half of the 401K, whichever is smaller. The income tax would still apply, but there would be no 10% penalty. What do you think about this idea, and would you withdraw from retirement savings to help pay your mortgage if it was passed?
Foreclosures slow
Bay Area foreclosures slowed in September, down 7% from August and 10% from this time last year, according to an article in the Contra Costa Times. A report released Thursday by RealtyTrac revealed these numbers, though how long the decline will last is uncertain.
2,594 homeowners in the Bay Area were given a notice of default in September, the first step in the foreclosure process.
RealtyTrac does not include Santa Clara County in its definition of the Bay Area, however, and there was a slight increase in foreclosures in that county, as well as in San Mateo County, though that is included in the Bay Area defined by the company.
RealtyTrac CEO Daren Blomquist said that “in the next six months, it’s likely that default notices will be on a consistent upward rise in the Bay Area, once banks catch up with their backlog of current foreclosures and more people fall behind on their mortgages.”
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)