Next Practice Instead Of Best Practice: Learning From Great Role Models

Some years ago, I had a conversation with a secretary who said to me "So, yesterday I had my very last training session, thank goodness. Forever." That touched me deeply inside. The woman had only been in her early 40s and had no interest in continuing her education and had seemingly decided on this seminar as the conclusion of her personal business learning journey.

I am an absolute fan of learning and lifelong education. I am convinced that if you stop learning and developing, the clock stops. Even if you're outwardly fully employed.

What about you? Do you enjoy learning?

It doesn't matter what you do for a living or how old you are. Opening up new areas mentally releases energy and strength. It is the oil in your life engine. I know people who went to university after their retirement.

Even with most of my training participants, it is always nice to observe that they enjoy it, take away an impulse or an idea, even if they have been in sales for more than 20 years, e.g. how to

• give appreciative feedback,
• how to link exciting stories to the business,
• how to deal with stress better,
• create more effective presentations or
• write curiosity-generating emails.

?Next Practice instead of Best Practice is the motto of the future. That means creatively seeking out, developing new options and finding new paths.

And that's where I found some exciting ideas...

Idea #1: The Super Show from Pike Place

I love to eat fish and about 18 years ago I came across the book FISH! The women and men who work at the Pike Place Fish Market prove that even as a fish seller you can bring an incredible dynamism into your daily business and make selling fun while involving your customers.

Now if you may think that the book is a few years old and therefore perhaps outdated by its contents, you could be wrong. Yesterday I was on the website again only and could convince myself that the fish sellers are still very enthusiastic about their business and inspire their customers with great commitment (despite Corona times). By the way, if you want, you can dial in live to the action via the web cam.

The sellers offer a great improvisation show and seem to have been taught by professional entertainers: there is joking, fish are thrown around and funny commands are shouted. In fact, you might want to hire them right away - you can learn a lot from them when it comes to selling.

Well, if such an "everyday product" (pardon the expression, as I said, I'm a fish lover) can be brought to customers with such verve, then it can be done in other areas as well.

For example, in a completely different sector...

Idea #2: How to sell a plain notebook for $12

Personally, I'm a real fan of Moleskine. Don't know what a moleskine is? It's a legendary notebook whose predecessors have already inspired Ernest Hemmingway or Pablo Picasso to jot down their creative thoughts in it - presumably in a smoky "in" café where they discussed and debated with other writers and artists. At any rate, that's how travel writer Bruce Chatwin got this story rolling (fantasy does the rest). In the best-selling book "Dream Paths," you can read how Mr. Chatwin stocked up his Moleskines every year in a small Parisian stationery store.

Unfortunately, production ceased in 1986. The reaction: "Le vrai Moleskine n'est plus" ("The real Moleskine no longer exists!") is how a Parisian stationer is said to have dramatically announced the end of this notebook, a proclamation one would rather expect to hear in the event of the death of a famous personality.

Fortunately, an employee of the Milanese company Modo & Modo discovered this story at the end of the nineties. Although it could not really be substantiated, it could be marketed all the more effectively. In 1998, the legendary notebook was reissued by a small Milanese publisher, continuing a legendary tradition. Now the notebook is back in bookstores, museum stores and design stores in numerous variations.

The story is ingenious and has everything it takes to attract a large audience. Good stories can help overcome crises. Through collaborations with artists and museums, business is booming, despite the high competition. These are available for as little as a few dollars. The Moleskine, on the other hand, costs $12 or even considerably more, depending on the edition.

Good stories touch the emotions, and many customers are willing to pay a little more for them. Like me, who would panic if I filled up my last Moleskine booklet and couldn't get a replacement. Because where else would my ideas come from, which I, stimulated by the fantasy that there might be a new Hemmingway inside me, keep scribbling into my "intellectual" notebook....

You might immediately think: That's not possible in my business, stories don't sell well there and I have completely different worries than thinking up stories, my team wouldn't go along with it either...

Idea #3: Create an inspiring workplace for more creativity.

Let's get back to the topic of selling fish. After all, Stephen Lundin shows an interesting and original way to finally have fulfillment and fun at work in FISH! In this inspiring story, they also describe how to turn a stinkin' boring "garbage department" into an energetic and productive power workplace. Some of the following insights from the world-famous Pike Place fish market are very valuable here:?

• You are free to choose the attitude with which you start your work each day
• It is not forbidden to have fun at work
• Employees who have fun at work rarely quit (internally)
• Giving pleasure to others actually works at work (and customers really appreciate it)
• Start today by repurposing your workplace as an adult playground and energize it.

?It’s your decision

Your company is probably not a fish market. But if someone can turn a fish market into an inspiring workplace, you have the best chance of doing the same for your team.

Times are bad, you're in crisis? You are not the only company. However, you can choose to either surrender to the crisis and resign, or you can make the best of it and decide that work is fun. Every morning when you and your team start. If you decide to make it a fun day, your customers will feel it too.

The decision is yours, it's in your hands!

Feel free to discuss these impulses with your team. Take a breakout and think together about what you could implement and what the next steps would be - your team might be more open and creative than you thought! I would be happy to support you in this process, please contact me at [email protected].