Fly on the E-Commerce Cyberwall

Business Lesson From a Flight Attendant
On the trip to and from my wife's home town for her mother's funeral, I hadn't expected to get a business lesson, but I did.

Flying a smaller plane into her home town, we settled in for the usual, predictable flight attendant safety lecture. But the flight attendant was anything but predictable. Her spiel had us laughing from beginning to end. She started with, "Now please take out your safety instructions and pretend to follow along." She reminded us to have our seats locked in the "upright and uncomfortable position" during takeoff and landing. And she reminded us that smoking was prohibited onboard and that attempts to sneak a smoke out on the wing would give us a whole new meaning for the phrase "Gone With the Wind."

In all, the dull, routine safety lecture that nobody pays attention to had us applauding at the end.

The business lesson? As merchants, there's plenty that we do that comes across as bland and predictable to our visitors, too. One sales pitch easily sounds like another and gets tuned out by visitors as certainly as a flight attendant's safety lecture normally does.

But people are curious. Give them something unexpected and you earn their attention—and even their appreciation. Give them a bit of yourself instead of just a rehashed sales pitch. Give them something you put a little passion into. You might be surprised how much better you do with it.
Jeff