Where to Get a Haircut in a New Town


A small business owner, let's call him Bob, arrives in a small town for a meeting with a potential new client. Before his afternoon meeting, Bob decides he needs a haircut to get all spiffy. The receptionist at his hotel tells him there are only two barbers in town, both with shops along the main drag. It's a sunny warm morning so Bob sets off walking.

When he arrives at the first barbershop, Bob can clearly see through the big front window that the place looks less than pristine - hair on the floor and a general air of disorganization. There's one fellow getting a cut and another waiting. Even the barber himself needs a trim!

Further along Main Street, Bob comes to the second barbershop. The view in the front window looks much better. The floor is swept and gleaming, the barber is busy lining up shampoo bottles on a display shelf and his own hair has a crisp updated cut.

Bob turns around and heads back to the first barbershop to get his cut. Do you know why?

I read some version of this story in a logic puzzles book as a kid and it has stuck with me because it has such a powerful unexpected message. Have you figured it out yet?

The barber at the first shop has a line-up, he's clearly in demand and too busy to keep his shop as tidy as it should be. He's likely in demand because he's the more talented of the two barbers, being the person who cut the second barber's hair.

The next time you're looking for a website developer, or a business coach, or a printing company, or a haircut, look beyond the website or shiny window. Look at the customers to see the results. Really happy customers become fans and they'll be easy to find, even if they're not in line for a haircut.

photo by hfrank71 / Flickr

Click to Tweet this Article

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Three Words for 2017

Image
'Focus' has been my 'word of the year' since January 2010. When I did a little checking to figure out that date, I was surprised at how long I've been focussed on focus. Perhaps I'm as focussed as I'm going to get. This year I'm going to buck the 'one word' movement and go with three words: surprised by joy . It's a wish for how I want to be in 2017. The first line of William Wordsworth's poem of the same name is: "Surprised by joy - impatient as the Wind" I stumbled upon it recently while reading books by Canadian author Louise Penny . "Surprised by joy" is a recurring theme throughout her Inspector Gamache series. Maybe it stuck with me because patience sure isn't my best quality. Share your word (or words) of the year in the comments. Whatever they are, my wish is that you will be surprised by the joy of success this year. Click to Tweet this Article
Keep reading »

It doesn't have to be About You

Image
Let’s face it: some businesses are in a better position to provide valuable information through newsletters (blogs, social media) than others. Take our own newsletter as an example. We could easily publish a newsletter about publishing newsletters. (Stay with me here.) It would have lots of tips and suggestions and advice. We could really show off our expertise and share our opinions. Now, who would that appeal to? People who are publishing their own newsletters. Perhaps even people who are publishing newsletters for others. These people aren’t our target market - not even close. Our newsletter has nothing to do with our area of specialty. But of course we have to have one. What’s an 'enewsletter boutique' without its own newsletter ? So we found something else of use to our target market:  ideas and tips for small business owners shared by other small business owners. And (big bonus here) members of our...
Keep reading »

Where's the Value?

Image
Some of you might remember the old Wendy's ad, "Where's the beef?" I was reminded of that when I saw these 3 examples back-to-back on Twitter. What's missing from the middle post in this screenshot? The beef. People are picky about what they subscribe to. If you don't give them a good reason to sign up, they won't even get to taste the beef, no matter how many patties there are. Good calls-to-action are not easy to construct but it's important to make the effort. Click to Tweet this Article
Keep reading »

Alert: How to Increase your Open Rate by 38.1%

Image
I admit to having a bit of fun with that subject line but I'm not BSing you. Here is the statistic given by Adestra: Using the word 'alert' in a subject line increases open rates by 38.1% (variance vs. average).  (Source:Adestra) You have just participated in an experiment if you opened this post in your email - thanks! If you can legitimately use 'alert' in your subject line, that's great. But beware - if your subject line is not relevant to the content within , you might get more opens but will lose credibility (and subscribers). Another way to lose credibility is to quote incorrect information as fact. I originally stumbled across that statistic in an article by Hubspot. This jumped off the page: 61.8% increase in opens when using the word 'alert' in subject lines. (Source:Adestra) It seemed a little too good to be true and I immediately started plotting to use 'alert' in a subject line. I'm glad I decided to check the origi...
Keep reading »

Content Ideas for Consultants - Teach Something (Part 3)

Image
It's been said that the best way to become expert at something is to teach it and I've certainly found that to be true. Teaching forces us to research and prepare, to find the answers to tough questions, and to be open to feedback. This is where you write an article (or more) to teach something but first I challenge you to learn something new that's relevant to your business. If you've already been through Getting Started (Part 1) and Useful Content (Part 2) , you've had some practise. Keep your momentum going with this exercise. First, pick something to learn. This shouldn't be hard but, if you don't already know of something you want to learn, search topics for your industry online. Next, do the learning. This might involve taking courses, talking to experts, online research, and so on. Be tuned in for blog-worthy content. How you choose your learning method can also be part of what you write about. Make notes along the way. Now, teach. Yo...
Keep reading »

Ink It when you Think It

Image
Do you lose track of your great ideas? I do and I know my clients do, too. I've written before about using an 'idea catcher' . Mine is a notepad but sometimes that's not good enough. Many people have said they get their best ideas in the shower ( here's a tool for that ), while driving or walking, or standing in line. Our ideas are precious but fleeting, and it may not be easy to capture them all in one place. The important thing is to capture them somehow. Handwritten notes : If your notebook isn't handy use the back of a receipt or a napkin. When you eventually write the article, include a photo of your note for visual interest. Typed notes : There are many ways to capture your ideas if you're sitting at your computer. I tend to use Word for lengthier articles or series (kept in a folder called 'content ideas') and I start a draft on my blog for brief articles. Phone or tablet : When you're out and about, use notepad apps, or se...
Keep reading »

Idea Challenged? Here are 3 Tools

Image
We can all get writer's block. I've found 3 tools that help me get past it. I may not use the exact suggestions that result, but the suggestions trigger more ideas and before long I'm off and writing. Hubspot's Blog Topic Generator Fill in the fields with terms (preferably nouns) that you'd like to write about, and you'll get a week's worth of relevant blog post titles in a matter of seconds! Imagination Prompt Generator A prompt appears and you can click the button to generate another. Keep going till you find one that speaks to you, then start writing. 420 Fables Freewrite. Choose a subject and write continuously for a set period of time. Disregard spelling, punctuation and grammar. 420 Fables gives you a time limit and a place to write. If what you freewrite is good, edit it into an article. Click to Tweet this Article
Keep reading »

Why Buy the Cow When You Can Get the Milk for Free?

Image
Some people still think there’s a scarcity of information in the world, to be hoarded and divvied out carefully. It's true that information becomes less valuable the more it proliferates... but there's definitely no scarcity. If you are ever concerned about sharing too much information, consider this: someone else is sharing it. If it's your area of expertise, shouldn't you be, too? As information becomes increasingly cheaper, the voice of experience becomes much more valuable. That's because it takes more than information to make a good business decision. Experience and sound advice thoughtfully applied to specific situations are what can make the difference between a success and a big mistake. Give away information for free (the milk) so readers can peek at your secret sauce and realize the extra value they’ll get from working with you (the cow) on their problem. Click to Tweet this Article
Keep reading »

Even Good Advice Expires

Image
One of the questions I get asked the most is, "When is the best time to send out my newsletter?" It's a great question because the timing really is important. During a lunch and learn workshop a few years ago, I suggested that Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays were best, at about 9:45am. At the time that tended to be the rough schedule I followed for myself and some of my customers. I even said that I felt Wednesdays were the better than Tuesdays and Thursdays. Two weeks later on Wednesday morning at exactly 9:45am, I received 3 newsletters - one I sent on behalf of a client, and two others from workshop attendees. Suddenly 9:45am on Wednesdays seemed not quite as stellar. It's a paradox that the more a piece of advice becomes popular, and the more it's implemented, the less effective it may become. There are many  other reasons for good advice to expire, mostly to do with changing conditions or specific situations. Check that your source of advice i...
Keep reading »

Content Ideas for Consultants - Useful Content (Part 2)

Image
If you've already mastered Getting Started (Part 1 in this series) , you have gained some momentum and are ready to expand your skills and tackle some content that is useful to your readers and time-saving for you . Save Yourself Time and Be Useful There are so many types of content that can fit into this category; my concern is overwhelming you. So let's start simple and you'll begin to see all the possibilities yourself. Think of a piece of information that you relay repeatedly , such as every time you take on a new client. If you can't think of it now, this will come to mind when you do it next. My example is about writing the introduction to your first newsletter. Every time I started working with a new client, I wrote them an email giving advice and examples. The quality varied, the examples varied, and I was wasting time repeating myself. Either now or the next time you have to, take the time to write an awesome version of that information, detailed and...
Keep reading »