Pickles are those special extra things you do to make people happy.  It’s a special phone call you make to your customer or a handwritten thank you note That you include with every order.  It is taking the time to walk the customer down the isle to find the item that they are looking for rather than pointing them in specific direction to the back of the store.  It is offering them a special promotional item or even just calling them by their name.   It is the art of finding out what your customers want and making sure they get it.

The Pickle Philosophy is the brainchild of Bob Farrell of Farrell Ice Cream Parlor fame.

He was a pioneer in the restaurant industry, having created one of the first national full service chain restaurants opening and managing over 150 locations before selling the chain to Marriott.  It is Farrell’s belief that businesses are in the “people business” and that it is not what you sell that is important, it is how you take care of the people who buy your product.  It is about figuring out what would make your customers happy and giving it to them.  That’s the pickle.

It all started with a letter:

“Dear Mr. Farrell,

I’ve been coming to your restaurant for over three years. I always order a #2 hamburger and a chocolate shake. I always ask for an extra pickle and I always get one. Mind you, this has been going on once or twice a week for three years. I came into your restaurant the other day and I order my usual. I asked the young waitress for an extra pickle. I believe she was new because I hadn’t seen her before. She said, “Sir, I will sell you a side of pickles for $ 1.25.” I told her, “No, I just want the extra slice of pickle. I always ask for it and they always give it to me. Go ask your manager.”

She went away and came back after speaking to to the manager. The waitress looked me in the eye and said, “I’ll sell you a pickle for a nickel.” Mr. Farrel, I told her what to do with her pickle, hamburger and milkshake. I’m not coming back to your restaurant if that’s the way you’re going to run it.

The customer

Mr. Farrell was successful at responding to the customer, apologizing and asking him to come back and has taken this letter to create the war cry “Give ‘em the Pickle” so when something happens with a customer and you are not sure what to do? Give them the pickle. Do what you have to do to make things right.

This story applies to all businesses that want to put strategies into place that will keep the customers coming back. Focusing on providing excellent customer service at every touchpoint and building an organization whose employees are trained, motivated and informed about the company’s approach to customers will exceed the customers expectations with each and every opportunity.

So create an environment for your employees to excel at customer service by following the pickle philosophy:

•Service: Make serving others the number one priority of your business.

•Attitude: Choice a service-oriented attitude. How you think of your customers is how you will treat them.

•Consistency: Set high service standards and live them every day. Customers return because they had a positive expierence last time.

•Teamwork: Commit to teamwork. Find ways to make each other look good. In the end, everything ends up in front of the customer.

When you are in doubt on how you should handle a customer, remember “Give ‘em the Pickle”!

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©Kellie D’Andrea & Associates

Want to use this article in your newsletter or web site? You can, just include this complete blurb with it: Kellie D’Andrea is the creator of the BLAST system and publishes “The Marketing Edge” a FREE award winning ezine for small business owners who want to gain the competitive edge with strategic marketing and branding techniques that actually work. Find out the 23 Common Mistakes Most Entrepreneurs make with a FREE report offered at www.KellieDandrea.com.

In business, you often hear the statement “It’s Not What You know, It’s Who You know!”

Napoleon Hill introduced the concept of a mastermind group in the early 1900′s. In his timeless classic “Think and Grow Rich”, he wrote the Mastermind Principle: “the coordination of knowledge and the effort of two or more people, who work toward a definite purpose, in the spirit of harmony.” Hill also wrote, “No two minds come together without thereby creating a third, invisible intangible force, which may be likened to a third mind”.

The powerful result of a mastermind group is that there is a synergy of energy and excitement that participants bring to the group therefore raising the bar by challenging and encouraging other members to create and implement their goals.

Being part of a mastermind group has proven to have many benefits to entrepreneurial success:

• Idea Sharing, Creativity and Brainstorming

Information is one of the most powerful assets a person can posses and having the ability to leverage other people’s information is exponentially better. Each group member will come with different experiences, perspectives and ideas that will most likely be your next big money making idea. The ability to brainstorm and be creative with a group of people all focused on helping you solve a problem is one of the biggest benefits you will experience from a mastermind group.

• Accountability and Responsibility

Most goals are not achieved because (as business owners) we are not held accountable to anyone to achieve them. It is our business and we want to procrastinate or put task on the backburner because of other operational issues we deal with, which is our prerogative, right? The second biggest benefit of a mastermind group is that they hold you accountable to reach your goals and monitor your actions to ensure you are on the right path. They act as sounding boards, gatekeepers and test groups while asking you where you stand with your plan.

• Motivational Support

Staying positive and motivated is a big challenge for some business owners especially after the excitement of starting a business has worn off and the business becomes work. Businesses have many different sides and not everything runs smoothly all the time. This can be very frustrating and cause many entrepreneurs to lose their motivation. By surrounding yourself with a mastermind group, you will receive positive encouragement no matter how you perform and the active discussions you will participate in will most likely inspire and stimulate you to move forward.

• Networking and Business Relationships

A big part of being in a mastermind group is developing solid relationships with your group members. These relationships have been proven to last a lifetime and can be the catalyst for millions of dollars. You will form friendships and connections that will provide you more than just business benefits; they will provide you with a sense of belonging and being part of something special.

• Additional Resources

In a year where time is money, having access to additional resources is critical to any business owner’s success. By connecting with peers in your mastermind group, you will be provided with access to the resources that others in your group are using to achieve similar results. This will reduce the time required to find alternative solutions as well as the learning curve usually associated with implementing new solutions. Not to mention you will save time working within a group versus trying to figure something out on your own.

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©Kellie D’Andrea & Associates

Want to use this article in your newsletter or web site? You can, just include this complete blurb with it: Kellie D’Andrea is the creator of the BLAST system and publishes “The Marketing Edge” a FREE award winning ezine for small business owners who want to gain the competitive edge with strategic marketing and branding techniques that actually work. Find out the 23 Common Mistakes Most Entrepreneurs make with a FREE report offered at www.KellieDandrea.com.

1. Think Positive, Think Bold!

To grow yourself and your business you need creative ideas. You need to think out of the box and get out of your comfort zone. To create powerful ideas, you need to think boldly. Bold thinking is the art of reaching out of your comfort zone and developing solutions to do things quicker, faster and cheaper or to set yourself apart from your competition with a new product, new brand or a new process. To be able to think boldly, you need quiet time away from distractions. Allow yourself time each day to shut down, no t.v, no kids and no phones and just think. Open your mind to possibilities. Our brains are pre-wired to be creative and to solve problems and if you give yourself the opportunity, you can create innovative ideas that will change your business.

2. Change Your Way of Thinking.

Did you ever notice that great things usually happen when you stop trying so hard? Or if you take the time to notice the good in every situation? Every time something happens to you, you have the choice to see it negatively or positively. How you think and how you approach life has a direct link to how successful you will be. If you dwell on the negative side of experiences, you will attract more negative experiences into your life, but if you accentuate the positive side of every experience, you will open yourself to more opportunities, have more confidence the next time you encounter a similar experience and be able to respond proactively. Next time you are having a bad experience, view something positive from it. Chalk it up to a learning experience or find something good in the bad. Changing the way you think, will bring more positive experiences into your life.

3. Visualize Your Future Self

Each of us carries a mental blueprint of ourselves and our future programmed deep into our minds. When you can bring these visions of your future self to the surface and focus in on whom, what and how you would like to be, you will begin to “act like” that person therefore achieving all of your goals. The power of visualization is well documented in the book and video “The Secret” where countless people recant stories of success using positive visualization to change their lives. Visualization helps you focus in on exactly what it is you want and keeps you motivated until you reach it. You want to start small and focus on real attributes and character traits that you future self would possess. You will slowly begin the transformation into your future self and create a positive, winning attitude along the way.

4. Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff.

As my teenage daughter would say “take a chill pill”. Don’t sweat the small stuff. So much about success and positive thinking come from living in the moment. If you focus too much on the small stuff and the things that can go wrong, chances are they will. And if they do, so what? This tip is hardest for those that are serial planners who need to be organized to a fault and create plans and to do list and are troubled when they don’t get to everything on their list. Avoid micromanaging every aspect of your life and let things just happen. You will be surprised at how much freedom you will experience when you don’t sweat the small stuff and that freedom creates positive energy and time to spend on pampering yourself.

5. Change Your Environment, Change Your Results

How many times have you heard a success story that started “I was just in the right place at the right time?” When you expand your universe and venture out to other places, you open up the possibility for new experiences and new adventures. You cannot create new experiences sitting around waiting for something to happen. You need to change your environment in order to change your results. If you continue to do the same thing, each day in the same manner, you will always get the same results. Remove the routine of your life and try something new. Meet new people and leave your comfort zone. The more changes you make, the more positive things will happen and the better luck you will experience.

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©Kellie D’Andrea & Associates

Want to use this article in your newsletter or web site? You can, just include this complete blurb with it: Kellie D’Andrea is the creator of the BLAST system and publishes “The Marketing Edge” a FREE award winning ezine for small business owners who want to gain the competitive edge with strategic marketing and branding techniques that actually work. Find out the 23 Common Mistakes Most Entrepreneurs make with a FREE report offered at www.KellieDandrea.com.