Sundays in Richmond mean you have to go to a second or third tier grocery store if you need something.

Number 1 is closed.

Can you imagine being that good — good enough that you can close your business on the second busiest shopping day of the week for your industry and stay at the top? Throw in the fact they don’t sell beer & wine and it’s even more amazing.

Ukrop’s is the chain. They have almost 40% of the market with 28 stores (number 2 has 45 stores and 34%, number 3 (Kroger) has 14 stores and 16%).

Why does Ukrop’s lead?

When I first came to Richmond almost 4 years ago, I would have told you, "Because their people are so consistently pleasant and helpful. They even carry your bags to the car for you." I was coming from DC and Richmond’s kindness was a shock (or a pleasant surprise).

Now, I’ve become acclimated. The kindness is expected so the awe I originally had, has worn off. Regardless, they get more than the lion’s share of our annual food spending.

Lately though, I’ve realized I go to Ukrop’s more to avoid the others rather than why I went to them originally — because I almost enjoyed it — I wanted to. The consistent level of exceptional kindness and enthusiasm has become less consistent (in my experience). Perhaps it’s because I go there much more now and as a result, experience more (at least 5 times a week). Consistency gets tough with that level of interaction.

Funny, isn’t it?

Makes me really consider the value of consistent kindness (in business and in life). With all its benefits, it seems it should come easier.

(do people want to do business with you… or do they have to?)

"You can’t say that word," my 4 year old son
said to my 7 year old son.

"What word?" I interjected.

"The S – H word," said my 7 year old.

<< oh man… already? >>

"What word is that?" I asked.

"I can’t say it."

"Yes, it’s okay. Just this once."

"Shut up."

"No, that’s not very nice." << relief >>

"Or the S word," he chimed back.

<< not so fast >>

"What’s the S word?"

"Stupid."

"No, that’s not very nice either."

A nice reminder that things are still pretty simple
(and life is good — EDIT-B-DITY).

A lot of censorship talk came out of The Oscars. Some of the artists felt it wasn’t appropriate to be told they couldn’t say certain things.

Gil Cates, the show’s producer expressed his annoyance with the 5 second protective time delay ABC put in place for the "live" show.

Fact is… it’s business. The show is produced to make money for the motion picture industry, the network that carries the show, the advertisers who run their spots during the show, and all the shareholders involved.

It’s not a fundraiser. It’s not a charitable cause. And, it’s not a public forum.

It’s a show.

When the editing and content makes everyone less money, they’ll work to fix it (and perhaps by reaching beyond more than a reality show format, wardrobe malfunctions, and cynicism).

It’s far from tragic and it looked like those who attended had a good time.

If Robin Williams (much of who’s work I personally enjoy) wants to be completely unbridled, he should blog. In fact, I’m surprised he doesn’t (does he?).

How cool would that be?

"I like nonsense, it wakes up the brain cells."
–Theodor Seuss Geisel (1904-1991)

Stretch your thinking.

Dr. Seuss was born 101 years ago today.

That’s Angelo and Sam from Green Eggs and Ham (in the book, Angelo doesn’t actually have a name). In our house, Angelo has a heavy New York accent — Sam has a British accent.

Do the kids like it? Fuggedaboudit.

My oldest son and I went to a RiverDogs game Friday night (Richmond’s minor league hockey team). A flyer at the gym caught my attention a few weeks earlier with its special YMCA Night tag line and I thought it might be a neat "Sams night out" (my son and I share the same name).

That Friday morning, I was driving the kids into school with their friends and the approaching game was mentioned.

"We’re going to see a hockey game tonight — The RiverDogs."

"The RiverDogs? Oh… they fight a lot."

Whoops. I’d forgotten that about hockey.

The rest of the day I kept thinking about how I’d handle diverting my son’s attention from the impending bouts during the game.

We got lucky. The RiverDogs were gentlemen that night (while we were seated anyway). We saw not one fight.

Rough? I’m glad I chose business.

I’m fairly certain they loosen up the rink’s walls and glass for a grander effect – the booms and lingering shaking walls from players slamming each other into the boards were frightening. The rough play — the pushing, tripping, climbing over each other, the hooking and hitting each other with their sticks, the continual jabbing — it seemed childish (and barbaric). But here’s where it wasn’t (the positive for every negative)…

Even being pushed, tripped, prodded, and hooked, these guys seemed to stay completely focused on the puck — completely focused on the goal of the game, regardless of the flack they received. From the outside looking in, they seemed to give not even a moment’s thought to what appeared to be unfair to an onlooker. Not a moment.

What a wonderful example of keeping focused on "the goal" and minimizing the attention given to diversions. These players knew the cost of even a second’s distraction from the pursuit of an objective.

Again… I’m inspired.

(added thought: Unfortunately for the sport (the business of it), I don’t think we’ll attend again in family mode. While I picked up a great metaphor for life and business, I think I can pass the focus message on to my kids in a more positive manner.

It made me think about businesses that have the potential to send poor messages to children. It seems they’d reduce the possibility of family buy-in, subsequent traditions, and ultimately, future enthusiasts (customers). Why wouldn’t they want to take the high road?)

3 hours, 45 minutes and 16 seconds at an average speed of 135 mph.

22 lead changes among 12 drivers.

A margin of less than a quarter of second for NASCAR’s Daytona 500 winner on Sunday translated into a payday of $392,116 more than what was awarded to the driver 0.158 seconds back.

That’s less than the cost of one dropped lug nut.

Pure persistence. Pure focus.

A 212 finish.

This picture was taken from my cell phone at a NASCAR event I attended last summer in Sonoma, CA. My fancy San Francisco buddy (you hear me Goose?) invited me out there with some pretty special tickets (helicopter up and back from SFO, passes to everywhere but the drivers’ seats, and some fantastic 212 service by the NASCAR people).

This crew member was practicing his lug nut installation and removal during the race.

That’s serious detail.

I was inspired.

I was rushing off to work one morning recently and my youngest tapped me on the leg.

"Here, Dad."

"What’s this?"

"Frozen trash."

"Thanks, babe."

He’s a scientist. Toothpaste potions are his speciality.

"Late last year more than 20 young Internet journalists, web technicians and bloggers were arrested and held for several weeks on charges ranging from endangering national security to insulting senior officials of the clerical establishment.

Soon after their release Abtahi revealed details of their treatment in prison where they were kept in solitary confinement, subjected to physical and psychological torture and forced to write confessions admitting to their crimes." – Reuters, Iranian Cleric Blogs for Free Expression, Paul Hughes, 02.17.05

It’s good to be an American.

Write it on your heart that every day
is the best day in the year.
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)

I love this message.

It’s today’s sales quotes™ at justsell.com (nice tie-in to the Valentine’s Day theme).

Every day is the best day in the year.

EDITBDITY. EDIT-B-DITY.

I’m not confident it’ll overtake the zing and tradition of TGIF but I wish it would.

How can we help one another create and contribute more value each day (within our families, our work, our communities)?

What if we started by eliminating the TGIF sentiment from the workplace and schools — if Fridays became an added day of equal opportunity for service and contribution? What if we took it another step and stopped perpetuating the contrived brand of drudgery that Mondays carry for so many people?

Combine these two days and you have 40% of a work week. Imagine the impact if we could get them back for all those that tend to lose them.

EDITBDITY. (even I’m laughing at this point but the message is solid — anyone have another idea?)

Work is an opportunity. Learning is an opportunity.

Every day is an opportunity.

EDIAO?

I’m trying. Giddy up.

from Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary
work — 1 : activity in which one exerts strength or faculties to do or perform something: a : sustained physical or mental effort to overcome obstacles and achieve an objective or result b : the labor, task, or duty that is one’s accustomed means of livelihood c : a specific task, duty, function, or assignment often being a part or phase of some larger activity

See the big picture.

(In sales? You might enjoy sales quotes™. In business? bquotes™ might work.)

It’s been almost a week. Nobody’s talking about it.

What were top line results for those that advertised in this year’s Super Bowl? How much sales revenue was driven from viewer response?

This is the bottom line (and the top line).

It cost an average of $2,250,000 (before high production costs) to broadcast a television commercial during the Super Bowl this year (each 30 seconds). The Nielsen gang guesstimated 90 million viewers.

Assuming every one of those viewers attentively sat viewing those ads (and none were hitting the bathroom, getting a beer, or refilling the chili bowl), it cost 2.5 cents to show their ad to each person. From a price standpoint, that’s a pretty cheap method of getting a message in front of a market.

But was it cost-effective in driving sales?

Extremely hard to measure really. Plus there are the added benefits of advertising during the Super Bowl…

"The real value of a Super Bowl ad buy, they say [Madison Avenue], cannot be measured by simple media-buying metrics, such as cost per thousand (CPM) or audience reach, but must also include a host of other factors that generate corporate esteem, employee morale, trade support, public relations and, of course, plenty of water-cooler talk." — Broadcasting & Cable

I can see that.

But with all that time and few million dollars (or several millions for those that ran more than one spot), a talented team could do much more.

Imagine if they applied the all those resources (time & money) to a customer appreciation effort for their top customer segment, an employee recognition program, or just making a better product. What kind of word-of-mouth exposure would that generate?