August 22, 2007
Dear
{FIRST_NAME},
On the
second day of ninth grade science class, Mr. Sika asked us to pass
in our homework. I had nothing to pass in because I didn’t
do it. And Mr. Sika noticed. He walked over to my desk and stood
in front of me.
“Do you have your homework?” he
asked.
“No,” I said. “I
left it at home.”
So, Mr. Sika pulled a little notepad and pen out of his shirt pocket.
“Why don’t you give me your home phone number and I’ll
give your mother a call” he continued. “I’ll have
her read it for me.”
At that moment I wished my mom had been one of those liberated
women who could have provided me an excuse by being at work. But
she was a stay-at-home mom, so I had to come up with something else.
“I don’t think she’ll be able to find it. My
desk is pretty messy.” I was shoveling it pretty heavy at this
point.
“Oh, I’m sure she’ll be able to find it. So,
what’s the number?” His pen was poised over the notepad.
We were at a stalemate.
Mr.
Sika relented from his attack. He finally said, “You
didn’t do your homework, did you?”
I think
I croaked out a “Yes.” The immediate
incident was over but not the embarrassment.
Fifteen years later I finally redeemed the situation. Well, sort
of.
Some
friends and I went to an improv comedy club several years ago in
Orlando. The emcee asked for a situation that we wished we could
redeem. I volunteered my sad story about Mr. Sika at West Geauga
Jr. High.
The
improv players performed a very funny skit with my story as fodder
for many laughs. In a mystical miracle, Mr. Sika’s character
got on the phone to my mother’s character and even guessed
my mom's real name, “Hello,
Phyllis, Dave’s mom?” Much to his surprise, my mom faxed
my homework to Mr. Sika and all the kids danced mockingly around
him and the audience laughed uproariously. The crisis was redeemed.
If
only our crises could be redeemed so easily. I’ve had
several situations in the past year that were real punches in the
gut. Very few of them were resolved so neatly or victoriously. I’ve
taken my lumps.
One
lesson I’ve learned from the improv classes I’ve
taken is the foundational statement, “Yes, and … ” For
example, a fellow improv participant might say, “You have a
duck on your head.” Instead of responding, “No, I don’t,” you
say something like, “Yes, and he’s keeping my bald spot
warm. You wanna borrow him?” Now the other player has something
tangible to respond to.
Perhaps
you've had some situations lately you'd like to redeem.
Where
can you say, "Yes, and ..." in your business?
If any
of those statements have to do with making your website work harder
for you or getting greater online presence, please give
me a call. We'd love to be part of the redemption process.
One
final note to Mr. Sika: If you are reading this ... yes, I didn't
do my homework and I'd appreciate you letting me turn it in tomorrow.
 |
Dave Carlson
Owner, Green Chair Marketing Group
|
WEB SITE SPOTLIGHT
 |
105.5 Jack
FM
Jack FM is a Denver
radio station that's a lot of fun, and they wanted this communicated
through their site. We redesigned their site, as well as
fixed up their Content Management System. I listen all day
to this station, along with their sister station, KCUV.
Visit
the 105.5 Jack site |
|
|
Golf Guys
We redesigned and programmed
this site for a company that sells tee time reservations
in Denver and throughout the U.S. We are also doing online
marketing for them so they get more visitors to their site.
In the first month of our management, they saw a 12% increase
in their traffic.
Visit the Golf Guys
site
|
|
 |
Carefree Yacht Charters
We redesigned Carefree
Yacht Charters site and added new functionality that automatically
pulls in information from a third party site. They recently added
Greek yacht charters to their offerings. The owners moved to
Evergreen, Colo., this past year after 13 years of providing
yacht charters in the Virgin Islands.
Visit
the Carefree Yacht Charters site |
|
 |
Sn8kes
We designed a site for Sn8kes, a new company that makes colorful,
bendable bracelets and necklaces. The owner was featured on "The
Big Idea with Donnie Deutsch" on CNBC, where he mentioned Green
Chair as handling his marketing. You can see the interview on
their web site.
Visit the Sn8kes site |
JUST
FOR GRINS
There's
a video on YouTube that's called "Dove Evolution." There
have been several spoofs of it online but my favorite has been
the "Slob
Evolution" where it's a reverse evolution. I've put up the
original and the Slob version on our site.
See
the Slob Evolution
Please visit
our site at www.GreenChair.net to
see the many services we have to offer. Also, feel free to forward
this to friends who might be interested in improving their marketing
and communication strategies.
Services Green Chair Marketing Group offers:
