Archive for the ‘Business Thoughts’ Category

Every morning I take the train into Penn Station in New York City.  It’s often a difficult commute at just over 1.5 hours, but I’m getting used to it.  Consequently, my mood isn’t always full of sunshine on weekday mornings.  That being said, there are a few things I have noticed walking from the train station to my office.

1. There is a small restaurant along the main concourse of Penn Station.  It is no more significant than the other overpriced establishments along this stretch.  However, there is a man that stands outside of the restaurant every morning (the same man) advertising their breakfast special.  He calls out to the hundreds of people walking by every minute with things like “Taste our coffee, it gives you wings like Red Bull” or “We have the best breakfast in New York City” or my favorite “After you try our breakfast, I promise you’ll start coming on your own”.  Now, ordinarily I would not stop at this strange place for a full breakfast – I eat a bagel when I get to work == much cheaper!  — but the way this man speaks for the food at this restaurant makes you believe that he actually thinks this is the best breakfast food New York City has to offer.  The humor I find in this is the only reason I would ever eat there.
2. Upon leaving the station you are immediately greeted by one of many people distributing free newspapers.  At first I took this as somewhat of an annoyance – it is difficult enough trying to wade through the crowds of people without someone waving their arms standing in your way.  I would never take one of these newspapers, and I sometimes wished the wind would get the best of her neatly stacked pile.  After the first week though, I recognized the depth to which she took her job.  Without fail, I’m always greeted with an exciting “Happy <insert day of the week here>!”  It’s refreshing.  Handing out newspapers isn’t glamerous, but if everyone worked like this woman, things would get done with a lot more creativity and spunk.  Unfortunately though, if I ever did take a paper, it would be because I appreciated her making my morning better, not because I actually wanted to read the publication.

I think what these two examples have in common is the perceived belief of quality in a service or product one is offering.  If you can make the masses think that you know your selling them something great, you will receive their attention.  Unless of course the product/service you are offering sucks… in this case you’ll turn their heads once before they become angry that you fooled them, and consequently they will never come to you again.