Lisbeth Calandrino::

According to Information Resources, Inc. 2008, half of U.S. consumers consider at least one sustainability factor when selecting brands to buy or stores to shop. If you're in business, this is certainly a good reason to go green.  The more I read about green the more I know that green is more than a trend for our world, it is our world.

The other day I was buying a birthday present and instead of using a fancy paper gift bag I decided to purchase an ecofriendly bag that could be saved and used at the grocery store. I am becoming more conscious of how much paper I use and shred and frankly I'm ashamed. I do much of my food shopping at the Honest Weight Food Coop in Albany, New York and am surprised at how many people bring their own bags and how many of the bags are made of recyclable materials and are a permanent solution to plastic and paper bags.

2008 ImagePower Green Brands Survey also states, "Though U.S. consumers are more concerned about the economy than the environment these days, they still will pay more for green products." For most of us, business is slow and most retailers are looking for new ways to meet and keep customers. So why why not tout your "greenness" as much as you can? If you're going to talk the talk you had better walk the walk. In a 2008 survey by Burst Media, 12.1 % of consumers say they never believe the green claims and 65.3% say they sometimes do. Therein lies the reason: if you are going to build green into your business you'll have to "show 'em you mean it." Not sure how to go organic? Go here to learn.

Walk the walk seems to be the norm for Amy Rao, CEO of Integrated Archive Systems Inc. in Palo Alto, California. Amy  grants each of her 63 employees $10,000 toward the purchase of a gas-saving hybrid car. This is quite a commitment on Amy's part but she considers herself a committed environmentalist. Maybe you can reduce your own business travel or provide incentives for employees to use public transportation. How about buying bicycles for those who are willing to bike to work rather than drive? Whatever you do, get the word out to your customers via your business blog or through other media resources.

According to the American Solar Energy Society, by the year 2030, there will be 40 million jobs in the green sector, which will be up from 8.5 million in 2007.

Is the boomer your customer? Sara Wilson states that not only are boomers representing the biggest wealth transfer in history, they also started the green movement. They are concerned about the environment, health, financial planning, travel and everything in between!

November 26 is the last day of Green Week for NBC. If some of you are participating in green, let me know what you are doing.

I'm not sure that green beer on St. Patrick's Day qualifies.

Related sites:

• Energy Star

• US Green Building Council

• Green Biz

What others are saying…

“Lis is a high-energy and very personal presenter with a great sense of humor. Her presentation is based on a very solid understanding of the flooring retail market and is full of very practical ideas of how to improve the business of a floor covering store.” – Svend Hovmand, Chairman, Crossville, Inc.

“Lisbeth Calandrino is the most dynamic force available in the industry today. Her extensive experience and deep understanding of business allow her to immediate hone in on the best strategic solutions available to an organization. Combine that with a practical no-nonsense approach to identifying and understanding industry issues and you have solutions second-to-none, guaranteed to last and sure to be fully embraced by the organization working with her. Lisbeth is not for the faint-of-heart. She will pour heart and soul into developing solutions that address current and future market conditions, expecting you to be as committed to the process. If you’re passionate about your business and its long-term viability, you won’t think twice.” – Christine B Whittemore, Director, In-Store Innovation, Wear-Dated Carpet–Solutions Inc.

“Lisbeth, thank you for your key note addresses for the Arizona floor Covering Association. Your interactive, thought-provoking delivery hit just he right notes with our audience of small business owners, distributors and manufacturers. Every time you address our group your presentations are new in content, extremely useful and fun to listen to. It’s also great to get a view of our target female customer from  a woman. A number of our board of directors commented they could have stayed all night and listened to you. Come back again. I have someone outside the industry doing one for me.” – Peggy McCarthy, Executive Director, Arizona Floorcovering Association

“Lisbeth, our conference attendees enjoyed not only your message, but also the humorous and real life way it was delivered. The round table discussions were a great way to deal with the most important topics facing our owners as well as a way for them to share their information and learn from each other. I received numerous posive comments from our business owner who now understand the issues facing them more clearly as well as having new tools to wow and service their customers. We would love to have you back again.” – Christine Rankin, President, Carpet Network, Inc.

“I am thrilled to have been a part of many of Lisbeth’s presentations. Every I listen to her the content is always different and relevant, market trends up to date and delivered with extraordinary high energy. The information I have gained from Lisbeth over the past years have proved to be invaluable in my business and my life.I am impressed with her subject knowledge as well as her presentation skills. I look forward to having my employees attend more of her seminars.” – Kevin Gamble, Co-owner, 332 Hardwoods

“I recently attended my first seminar with Lisbeth.  I was impressed with her understanding of human behavior and how I might motivate my staff. Since networking  and outside sales is of particular importance to our business, I found Lisbeth’s ideas to be right on  target and gave me new ways to grow our business. Lisbeth’s thorough understanding of the flooring industry  has given me tons of new ideas. I can’t wait to go back and share them with my staff. Thank you Lisbeth!” – Herb Hildebrand, COO, Great Lakes Carpet and Tile

“I wanted to thank you for the classes. I have learned more in 2 days than I thought possible.  I enjoyed your class so much.  Please know that you have made a difference in my life, your are such an outstanding person.” – Katherine Miller

“I enjoyed your presentation and look forward to reading your blogs as well as any other information you send my way. The energy that you displayed while you were speaking seemed to flow through you and out to everyone that was listening. Your passion for us to better ourselves was overwhelming, I look forward to putting into action some of the things that you talked to us about.”
- Jeff Rudisill

I watched with amazement the other night when John McCain kept asking, "is Joe the Plumber here?" Obviously, he wasn't. As of today, Joe the Plumber has two no-shows and as the scuttlebutt goes, hasn't paid his taxes.

I felt bad for McCain as he continued to gaze around the crowd searching for Joe. Well, apparently Joe has shown up only once. Hmmmmmm, where I come from a couple of no-shows and you're looking for another job.

Maybe McCain should have Googled Joe before he invited him to this little event.

This really isn't a partisian comment but if I were running for president — and thank God I'm not, it's really a tough job that doesn't pay all that well – I sure would know who I had for back up. It's like getting a new installer and trying him out on a complicated job without checking his references.

Maybe Joe will get his own talk show instead.

Three months ago I realized I was putting on weight. Maybe you've been there yourself: pants that seem to have shrunk and a button that just won't close. You  blame it on the clothes dryer thinking it must have shrunk the jeans. Or maybe the culprit is the scale–it's just  not trustworthy!

Of course, if you know me you're laughing. I look like 99 lbs soaking wet. Not fat by anyone else's standard, but the real truth is that I've thought about my weight since as long as I can remember. It all goes back to childhood.

Life experiences change what we think about ourselves. I realize my thoughts about weight go back to my grandmother. Eating, just like any other habit, is formed based on a series of decisions. How we sleep, eat, exercise, etc., they're all habits. I started noticing mine and thinking again about weight. It hit me: my grandmother was overweight. I adored my grandmother. On Saturdays when I was young we all piled into grandpa's Cadillac and drove to the city of Hudson to shop for groceries. It was a tight fit in that back seat with my chunky aunt and grandmother Christine. When winter came there was less room with more coats, more elbows and pocketbooks in the way. When summer came there was still less room and I realized grandma Christine looked bigger. At the movies grandma would put 25 cents In the scale and weigh herself. There was a point when she stopped giving me the numbers. Actually, i was too young to equate the numbers with fat. I was fascinated with the  scale–I didn't equate it with grandmas weight. I was also too short to read the scale.

By the way, every Saturday  we went to the five and dime for a hot fudge sunday, with whipped cream, nuts and cherries. This continued for years until my grandma had a heart attack and died. I heard them say she was too fat. And so, my lifelong obsession with weight began.

In my seminars I talk about how we make decisions. Decisions come from beliefs we make when are young and impressionable.

I miss our trips and the closeness, and think of how many more experiences we could have had together. Somehow I don't feel hungry anymore.

Workshops and Seminars

Lis is a frequent speaker at local and national conferences, workshops and seminars. She’s presented in front of groups ranging in number from five to several hundred, and always aims to help attendees get the most of the seminars.

Business Consulting & Consumer Research

With a background in customer service, Lis can help you find out what your business is doing right and what it can do better. She’s conducted focus groups with thousands of customers over the years to find out what they like or don’t like about a product or brand, and has overseen a number of objective, third-party customer surveys to find out exactly what the business’ clientele thinks about them. She’s found direct customer feedback to be the most valuable information a business owner can have.

Having founded and led her own businesses, Lis has the tools to help ascertain where your business is at in its growth, and what structural and strategic improvements can be made.

Online Marketing Consulting

Lis has immersed herself in the world of Internet Marketing since the rise of blogs and social networking sites, and has learned how to maximize their offerings for business success. With this expertise, she can help you leverage your existing marketing efforts with blogs, podcasts, video casts, e-mail marekting campaigns, social networking sites and more to help bring greater visibility to your brand.

I must admit, I don't get it. Companies seem quick to spend significant money on racks, products and private label programs, but when it comes to investing in training employees there seems to be a problem.

First, employees are the key to the fiscal health of any business. In fact, employees are the first customers of any business. If they don't get it, the second customer will never get it and your products will never get out the front or back  door.

Training is the backbone of your business. Good employees are an asset, bad employees are a liability, but great employees will grow your business into a profitable money-making machine.

How do you build great employees? Here are some tips:

• Determine what skills your employees need. Maybe they could improve in the area of customer service, or sales, or follow-through.
• Define a standard — what do your best employees do? This provides a benchmark.
• Plan how you're going to get that done. Maybe good customer service is calling the customer after the job.
• Track the behaviors to see if you're getting what you want.

The difference between what you want and what you get is the training  gap. Now you know what you need. Look for the right training program and send them out for training or have someone come in and customize a program for you.

The more specific the skills, the easier to track and train as well as chart improvement.

Tomorrow, making training important.

Blogging from Las Vegas, NV

According to a recent study conducted by Peter Lovatt, Phd., in Britain, the better a man can dance, the more likely he is to get a great mate. Women want men to be coordinated — more like John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever than Napoleon Dynamite! The “shuffle” is out. Waving arms uncontrollably is also out.

I must admit that I am a closet "Dancing With the Stars" fan. There’s just something about music that increases my endorphins and makes me feel good. In 2002, I was in San Francisco watching the international dance finals. The clothing was beautiful and cost thousands of dollars. When I need a lift, I go into my closet and gaze at my dance shoes, which I bought at that event.

My dance intensity goes way back. Having majored in physical education, modern and jazz dancing was a major part of our curriculum. I don’t remember ever having a dance class in high school or grade school, but maybe I thought those things were about to change. Otherwise, where I would use these skills? If nothing else, it was fun and I remembered when we were told that our dance group was to join the Martha Graham dance group and that Martha herself would be there. Most of us complained about the extra dance workouts, never realizing how lucky we were to be part of the troupe. The dance group was founded in 1926 and is the oldest and most celebrated contemporary dance company in America. Martha herself danced until the late 60’s.

What’s in? Well, coordinated moves and good rhythm. What’s not to like about it? That’s why Dancing with the Stars is so popular—I notice my friends have to get home to watch the reality show so they can sway to the music.  In the early 90’s I went to Arthur Murray’s for some dance lessons. I must admit, this was some of the most fun that I have ever had. It just shows if you work hard enough at anything you can get good; maybe not great, but certainly good enough to get out on the dance floor.

Hey go out and have some fun; the world will still be here when you get back. Take some dancing lessons; every city has tons of dance schools and dance clubs. You don’t even need a partner to take lessons. I know a flooring store owner who has line dancing in her store on Thursday nights. Fun for all.

I think I’m going to head to the closet and blow the dust off those dance pumps. Interested?

Blogging from Albany, NY

How much time do you spend preparing? Thursday, October 2, we all watched as Joe Biden and Sarah Palin showed us their communication skills. During the week the news showed clips of Sarah Palin standing behind the podium (on the lawn at John McCain’s house) practicing her talking points. And why shouldn’t she practice? She could wind up with the second highest job in the country or perhaps even that of President.  It just got me thinking, my experience is that most salespeople put lots of time into learning about their products but not as much time into how they present their product and themselves. Maybe they think the outcome of their performance isn’t as big as, say, their preparation for a Vice Presidential debate. But in actuality it is that big. It’s their future.

To be a good salesman you have to know both your product and your audience.

I find that as a speaker and trainer, it’s easier to sell product knowledge classes than it is to sell presentation skills. What salesmen don’t always realize is customers buy “them” before they buy the product knowledge.  It’s a lot easier to listen to the message if you like the presenter. In fact, some studies say that the salesperson is 37% of the sale. 

Buying is all about emotion. If I like the salesperson or the presenter, the message sounds better to me. As important is the product is, the presenter is even more important. If we’re not connected to the presenter we tend to discount the message or product. Of course you need to know your “message”; the trick is to know what you’re selling and have the skills to deliver the message.

 Too much product makes you boring and too much smiling makes you “fluffy.” The key is to have a good balance.  So how do you put it all together?

• Do a trial run with your presentation, either in front of peers or a video camera. What do you look like? Are your mannerisms distracting? Are you smiling too much or smiling when you should be serious? Make a list of what’s important to your audience and critique the outcome with a colleague.
• Know your audience. Be personable and get them to like you. Don’t be sarcastic or project an air of “being above them.”  If they don’t like you, forget your product, it will be hard to get the sale.
• Project self-confidence. Remember, the audience wants you to do well. If you are uncomfortable and can’t deliver the message, the audience is going to take on your discomfort and pray you’ll get off the stage before it gets any worse.
• Remember your diction skills. It’s okay to use slang to make a point, not because you don’t know the “right” word.
• Build passion into your delivery. Speakers who are passionate are remembered. Even if we aren’t sure we agree with them, their emotional delivery will be etched in our memory.
• Believe in what you’re saying. Believing in what you say and who you are will come across in your delivery. Remember, the key to getting others to buy what you’re selling is to first believe it yourself.

Even though the Wall Street bailout bill is in place it still will take time before money is available. Of course everyone is hoping this will make money easier to obtain. While you’re waiting for the “traditional bank channels” to come through, consider some of the following options. I have not personally used any of the Internet connections but these are some I found on line.

Web-only banks. These are internet banks and found only online. These do not have brick and mortar presence therefore do not have the same overhead as traditional banks. Also you may want to check the online bank rates against the traditional banks, they may be more competitive. Check out www.ebank.com for more information. For a list of unauthorized banks, click here.

Peer-to-peer lending is another way to get money. Put together your financial statement, why you need money and what you’re going to use it for and go online to sell yourself. The money will come from private lenders — $100 here and there, as well as larger amounts. It is estimated that by 2017 nine billion dollars will be lent this way.  Click here for more information.

Have money invested in your 401K? Why not talk with your financial planner to explore the pros and cons of withdrawing some of this money? They can look at your particular situation to determine the best tax and investment strategy going forward. According to Barbara Bouchey, CEO of Barbara Bouchey Asset Management, Inc., “Retirement plans are a great vehicle to save money because of the tax savings and the tax deferment." While most people would never consider withdrawing money before age 59 ½, owing to the 10% penalty and taxes, Barbara says there are some upsides. “Oftentimes, the breakeven point after paying the penalty and taxes on withdrawing money can occur within 5-10 years. Therefore, these vehicles are an attractive place to save and withdraw money for purposes other than retirement.” For more information go to www.barbarabouchey.com.

Remember, “cash” is still king.

A builder friend of mine, Ron Cassella, commented on what it takes to "know the customer." Most of his work is concentrated in downtown Albany, which is the historic area of the city. Period homes with strict historical renovation guidelines from the color of your house to the placement of an outside air conditioner.

By the way, most of Ronnie’s customers are female. Ronnie has seen this change over the past 10 years—prior to that time Ronnie was used to working with men and most of his work was supervising large roofing crews. When the market changed, so did Ronnie.

Lis: What makes a good customer?
Ronnie: A customer that is educated on the process. I spend considerable time educating my customers on the process. What it takes to renovate a house and what costs. For instance customers want you to shop with them and help them pick out the right things—especially women. They want to build a relationship with you and sometimes jobs take years to complete so you have that relationship. But I have to charge for shopping! One hour is precious to me. So first I educate customers on the process of renovation. 

Lis: Have the home shows hurt or helped your business?
Ronnie: They have done both. Sometimes I think they watch too much Bob Villa and programs like this. It looks so simple to move walls, build closets and make changes to an existing structure that customers don’t understand the costs. It’s helped give customers knowledge about what they might want. I don’t have to do all of the thinking for them. Often times the customer can be very creative which makes for more interesting work as well a increasing the scope of the project—they get these ideas from the television shows.

Lis: What’s been your biggest influence in your business?
Ronnie: I grew up with 10 sisters, and I was the youngest child. They taught me how to dress, to pay attention to detail and to understand color and cooking;  in order to survive I had to learn skills that I would have never learned. All of these things are skills and interests that most women have; it’s helped me build rapport and trust with my customer.

Lis: What was the hardest thing for you to learn through the years?
Ronnie: I think it was understanding that when it comes to rehab it’s never simple and once you take down a wall you never know what’s behind it or what you’ll need to do when you get there. 25 years ago I bought an 1856 shell of a house on Pearl Street in Albany and it’s been my labor of love as well as my school. I fell in love with the detail of the house; not having a lot of money, I began to work on “recreating” the look. I realized that my eye for detail and patience paid off. Those long hours I spent with my sisters proved to be valuable.

Lis: Ronnie, can you give me 10 lessons you’ve learned though the years that have helped you be a better business person.
Ronnie: Yes and most of them I learned the hard way but they’ve paid off.

1. Always take your customer’s phone calls. Some people send everything to voice mail; I always pick up the phone no matter what. They are always very surprised but I’ve been able to troubleshoot and prevent bigger things from occurring.

2. Write everything down. I get talking to customers and it’s easy to forget what you said you would do, how much time it would take or even what you talked about. Particularly if you’re doing several jobs.

3. Explain in detail what the customer should expect on a job. How long it should take if nothing happens after you tear the wall down.

4. Take photos of the job as you go along; if you rip a wall down, take a photo of it before you took it down and what it looked like after it was down. Customers can’t always remember what it looked like or how much work it took to remove the wall.

5. Give customers options as you go along with the work; get the customer involved with the process—give them ownership. Always remember it’s their home not yours and they should get what they want.

6. Never forget that you’re the expert. If it can’t be done or you think it shouldn’t be done it’s your responsibility to tell the customer and stick by your guns. Of course you have to follow your building codes and sometimes the outcome can’t be what the customer wants. Maybe it’s a transition molding that you need on the floor but the step is too high; you may be asking for a lawsuit from someone who trips on the molding. It’s not desirable to have the customer “sign off” on a procedure that you really don’t think should be done even if it falls within codes.

7. Get plenty of written references and photos of jobs that you’ve done. Your great customers will be happy to talk with new customers; referrals are the best business you can get and most of your business will come from referrals—I stopped advertising years ago.

8. Get to know your customer’s lifestyle, look at where they live and what they’ve put in their homes; what do they value? Many times I’ve had customers say they want to save money and then I remind them of how they like to live and where they invested their money in their last house. Renovating a home is an investment not an expense—it should be what you love and want and support your lifestyle. If a customer really likes to cook and entertain they shouldn’t skimp on their kitchen.

9. Help customers understand that changes cost money and it’s wise to think things through before they ask you to go ahead. One of my customers had three doors in this tiny room; the question was which ones should be closed and which one should be the entrance door. Believe it or not, she had me change the entrance three times. After the first one I told her that every time we changed it there would be a charge; she said keep changing it until I like it—and so we did. The best way is not always evident.

10. Remember the customer’s home is extremely important to them; it maybe the only home they ever renovate. You must treat each customer and each home as if it’s special—to you. Get excited, take an interest and be genuine.

"I have learned that success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which one has overcome while trying to succeed." - Booker T. Washington