All the world needs is pizza!

I was at home last week and watched the Ellen DeGeneres Show and they were spotlighting a kid (he’s in his 20s) who left Wall Street, moved home to Philadelphia and with no restaurant experience, he opened a pizza joint, Rosa’s Fresh Pizza.

At the beginning of January his little pizza joint had 599 “likes” on Facebook. Today, just a week after the Ellen Show, they have just under 10,000!!!! That’s insane. Normally I’m not a huge proponent of “followers” or “likes” because it doesn’t truly show engagement. (Side note, there are benefits of having followers and likes but many times the numbers are overrated…but that’s a different post). However, in this case, I’m making an exception and it’s because of why this little pizza company is gaining so many followers that I’m writing about them now.

Today I was at home and there was one bad thing after another on the news…a hospital shooting in Boston, a freeway collapsed in Cincinnati, gas leak down the street from my house, all of different magnitudes of bad news. There’s very little positive or happy news on the TV, and then I remembered seeing Ellen’s show on Rosa’s Fresh Pizza.

What makes Rosa’s different is that they are giving their customers (and now non-customers) the ability to easily and quickly help those who are hungry.  It’s this simple…you buy a $1 slice of pizza and you tell the person at the counter that you want to buy another $1 slice for someone who is hungry. You then get a sticky note (just today 3M  provided Rosa’s with a whole lot of sticky notes…woot woot!), write a message on the note, stick it on the wall and when a hungry person walks in, they go to the wall, take a sticky note and trade it in for a slice of pizza. That’s it!  That’s all it takes to make a difference in someone’s life…a positive difference. It’s such a great story and it’s fantastic to hear that thousands of folks have heard the story now (thank you Ellen) and are now following this little pizza shop. And, the shop is now getting in money from people nowhere near Philadelphia to help feed the hungry. Check out Rosa’s Facebook page to see and read the stories. I dare you not to smile and give a huge sigh of “wow, people really are good!”

This week I challenge you to two things! 1) Spread positive news. When you’re about to tell your neighbor/friend about something bad that happens, stop, and think of something positive to say. We need more happy stories. 2) Do something good/nice for someone to pay it forward. When I cross a bridge in the East Bay (an actual bridge, not an analogy), I always hand the toll taker a Starbucks gift card for $10 and sometimes I pay for the car behind me. It makes me feel good, I love seeing the reaction of the bridge toll taker and seeing how long it take the car behind me to realize what I had done 🙂 (side note…did you know that bridge toll takers have one of the highest suicide rates of any job?)

Check out Ellen’s blog post here.

Check out the Ellen interview here.

Pay it forward my friends, pay it forward!

Rosa’s Fresh Pizza Sticky Wall

 

Science vs. Art…or both

I recently spoke to a few members of a Marketing team and although they had great Marketing ideas, they had trouble getting adoption from their Field and Channel Marketing teams. They couldn’t figure out why – great ideas, great team members, great product, great corporate revenue…

As I started asking questions, I quickly realized that they considered Marketing to Field and Channel a science. You do A and B and C will automatically happen. Unfortunately, they were wrong. Marketing to Sales people and Channel partners isn’t a math equation, it’s a lot more than that…I’d say they have half the equation down pat. But, the other half is completely missing and in 2015 it’s a shame to say they are definitely not the only Marketing teams that have this problem.

So what’s the problem? The “art” is missing. Marketing to Sales and Channel partners is also an art. You cannot have a team focused on creating Marketing programs that just push those programs out. You absolutely absolutely absolutely must have a relationship with those folks to whom you are giving the programs. I can’t emphasize this enough!!! You have to understand their goals, what motivates them, get their input and feedback and just know them. Believe it or not, it sounds easier than it really is.

I’ve been at many companies where the Marketing team has no idea who the Sales teams are and couldn’t name four Sales people. Marketing teams where they haven’t spoken to anyone on the Sales or Channel team in months, yet are focused on helping them sell more. Does that make any sense to you? I really hope not!

I don’t care who you are, where you work or what you do for work, if you don’t have a connection with people, your fantastic ideas will fail! It’s that simple! Anyone remember “new Coke“? This example might be a radical one, but you get the point. If you’re goal is help people, talk to them.

Field and Channel Marketing is both a science and an art. Metrics are important but you also have to have a relationship with the stakeholders. Doesn’t matter how fantastic your program is, if you don’t have end user buy in, it’ll flop.

Austin, Death and Being Human

“Thank you!” How often do you say those two words…and actually mean it? And I mean really mean it.  Not the assumed, “Here’s your coffee” followed “thanks” while not looking at the person and walking out the door.

I was recently in Austin, TX and let me tell you, those folks are amazing.  I was overwhelmed by those working in the stores and restaurants.  They asked questions and were really interested in the answer.  I’m so used to being the Bay Area where a natural response to “Hi, how are you?” is “Hi, I’m fine.  How are you?” but not meaning it because I (or the other person) is walking out the door while answering it. It was uncomfortably reassuring that they wanted a real answer.  Weird that it was uncomfortable, right? Why should it feel so awkward to have someone ask me how I am and mean it?

This past weekend I was in Detroit for my Auntie Joan’s funeral.  One thing that she was known for was her kindness towards others which was shown in hand written notes.  She’d write a note to say hi, happy birthday and, as I found out this weekend, to congratulate my cousin for the birth of their son.  What was funny was that she was so fast to write a congratulations note that she wrote “Welcome baby Cormac!”  By the time the card arrived, my cousins had renamed their son to Kiernan 🙂  She was just that fast!  But the important thing to remember is that she took the time to write a note to someone rather than texting or emailing.  She took the time to show her appreciation for a new nephew and to congratulation my cousins by finding a card, writing a note, addressing it, finding a stamp and them putting it on the envelope and finally mailing it.  There was much more involved that just opening up email, writing a few words and hitting send.  She made it personal.

At the end of the day, we’re all human.  We want others to notice when we have done well.  We need constant feedback that we’re on the right track and we want to feel appreciated.  We like to hear “thank you” but only when it’s genuine.

As we, in the States, get ready to celebrate Thanksgiving, thank you!  Thank you for reading my blog, thank you for forcing me to write and thank you for your interest. If I had all of your mailing addresses, I’d send you a note.

I challenge you all in the next week to compliment someone, even if it’s just a thank you, but really mean it.  Make eye contact, say it sincerely and see the response you get.

Happy Thanksgiving!