I have stayed in thousands of hotel rooms in 36 countries. But I’ve never stayed at a hotel where Housekeeping is even sloppier and more incompetent than I am at making a bed.
Until a couple of months ago, when I spent a week at Spangdahlem Lodging (Germany).
It was so bad that I turned to the U.S. Army for help.
February, 1995 (continued):
A week after speaking to a public radio group in Nashville, I flew to Tulsa for a couple of days, where I conducted both HOW TO CREATE MAXIMUM IMPACT RADIO ADVERTISING and AIR PERSONALITY PLUS+ for Carl Smith and the Oklahoma Association of Broadcasters.
As you might know, I conduct Customer Service seminars for retailers as well as broadcasters. Here’s a minor incident that illustrates an important Customer Service point:
The seminars were held at the Doubletree Inn. For years the Doubletree chain had cultivated a unique “benchmark” image by making it a point to deliver a couple of freshly baked (still warm!) chocolate chip cookies to the guest’s room shortly after check-in. You might consider this true “value-added.”
Like any value-added item, the first time the guest experiences it, it is a delightful surprise. On subsequent visits, the guest expects it (and, presumably, still enjoys it).
But when I checked into this Doubletree, the desk clerk completed my registration and wordlessly handed me both a key and a box containing two cold chocolate chip cookies.
Did I think, “Oh, great! Cookies”?
No. I thought, “Hey, these are cold. And usually they bring them to my room. And the desk clerk’s determined lack of human touch has reduced this ritual from a warm, personal contact with the hotel to something he simply is required to give me.”
In my seminars, I refer to every contact a business has with a customer as a “profit point” — a chance to enhance or strengthen the relationship with the customer. By transforming freshly baked cookies into just another part of the system, however, the Doubletree brand lost the profit point…systemwide.
Usually when we talk about writer’s block, we’re referring to the writer who just can’t get words onto a page. That would be someone working on a novel or a play or an extended essay for publication; they just can’t seem to get started or, more often, they’ve started but now they’re stuck.
That kind of writer’s block invariably is caused by one of two things: Lack of information…or Fear.
When I say “lack of information,” I mean the writer hasn’t worked out the story sufficiently or doesn’t really know the characters; the way you solve that problem is to stop trying to write and instead work on understanding the story or the characters better.
But most writer’s block — as the term usually is used by copywriters — is caused by fear. There is nothing more intimidating than a blank page.
So…Put something on it.
Here’s a trick I learned a long time ago, and it works whether I’m writing a commercial or a newsletter or a book: Don’t end your workday or your work session when you’ve finished an entire section. Start writing the next part, even if it’s just a couple of sentences.
So if you’re writing a book, don’t stop when you’ve finished a chapter. Begin the next chapter, and tomorrow when you sit down to write you won’t have to ask “What do I do now?” because you’ll be joining a work in progress.
You see, for most writers the hardest part isn’t writing; it’s starting. And when you sit down at the keyboard to find that someone already has started writing the commercial for you, it’s like you’ve given yourself a gift.
But for people who work for a radio station and write lots of commercials, often it’s not really “writer’s block;” it’s lack of time. It’s “Here’s the copy order, goes on the air tomorrow, and our production guy is leaving early today for a doctor’s appointment.”
If you’re writing commercial copy and you feel stuck and you’ve got at least a few extra minutes, here’s an easy technique that will help you get started.
Call the client and ask, “How did you get started in this business?” — and then let him talk. Most business owners have a story; let your clients tell theirs.
Here are two more questions you can add. Let’s say he owns a bookstore. Ask him:
“What’s the one thing you love most about running a bookstore?”
“What’s the biggest misconception people have about bookstores?”
Nine times out of ten, if you listen, the client will GIVE you a great story to use in your commercial. I don’t mean putting that story directly into the copy; it might just be the feeling the story expresses.
A while ago I wrote commercial copy for a number of different restaurants, and again & again the restaurateurs would tell me the most satisfying aspect of owning a restaurant is seeing how happy their guests are while at their restaurant. I never would have guessed that; I probably would have guessed “being my own boss” or “hearing people rave about our food.”
I also learned that is how they refer to their patrons: “Guests.” Not customers. Not diners. “Guests.”
And all of that helped me understand the experience I was going to try to convey in 30 or 60 seconds.
More techniques for overcoming writer’s block in future blog posts.
1. DELETE every third word of your copy. If you can remove 1/3 of your words, your copy is too verbose.
2. PRODUCE the music track separately from the voiceover.
3. USE effects only to accentuate the music.
4. SHORTEN the distance between the idea and the expression of the idea. Rather than having one person write the copy, another voice the copy, and a third person produce it, cut at least one of those people out of the process. If you can write, voice and produce the promo, you’re in the best possible position. If you can write the copy, coach the voiceover, and then produce the spot, that’s almost as good.
5. FILL the creative well. When you’re not on the job, you’re still on the job. Regardless of what you are doing in your off-hours, always observe human nature. Those observations are the well from which you’ll draw your creativity when producing promos.
6. GIVE yourself enough time to finish a project without interruption. For the first 4 hours of your workday, hang on your door a sign that says “Radioactive: Do Not Enter.” Let everyone know that you mean it. Other people can bring you their problems and requests during the second four hours of your workday.
7. KNOW when you’re finished. When you’ve achieved your goals and it sounds really good, STOP. You’re done.
Dave Foxx will conduct a live teleseminar, fielding questions from radio station imaging people around the world. Here’s all the info.
