My New Friend George

Last month, I drank from the fire hydrant of entrepreneurial knowledge.

I am part of an organization called EO – The Entrepreneurs Organization (http://www.eonetwork.org/). It’s a place for us manic entrepreneurs to learn, grow and bond with other kindred spirits of the same ilk.

EO puts on a program called The MIT Entrepreneurial Masters Program (formally called The Birthing of Giants).

It was fours days of intense learning from great speakers. They brought in top business consultants like Verne Harnish (the founder of EO and now founder/top dog of Gazelles, Inc. http://www.gazelles.com/), other business book authors, entrepreneurs and my new friend, George.

George is George Naddaff. He’s a legend. They call him “The Franchise Guru.”

You may have heard of some of his businesses – Boston Chicken, Sylvan Learning Centers, Mulberry Child Care Centers/Living and Learning Schools (now Kindercare) and many more.

George is now taking on the obesity problem in the US.

He started a new franchise called KnowFat - http://www.knowfat.com/ (they are changing the name to UFood Grill.) It’s a healthy lifestyle grill aimed at providing good food that Americans are now used to, but in a healthy way. For instance, instead of deep frying their french fries, they "air cook" them with hot air.

He had more energy than all 60 of us combined in the classroom. I loved this guy!

Oh, and by the way, George is 77.

I felt so inspired by his presentation that I called him about an hour after his presentation. He works in Boston, so I figured he would be back in his office by then. :-) I really wanted to meet with him.

And I did. I flew back to Boston about two weeks later we met for more than three hours.

I learned more from George in three hours than most learn in a two year MBA program.

I turned on my recorder and just listened. He gave me such great energy and inspiration – energy that I needed. You see, I am actually getting restless with the day to day operations of Next Step. I don’t want to sell, but I don’t want to continue on my current course either. I need some drugs, and my drug of choice is building business ideas….

More to come on that in my next blog entry…

But back to George.

I have made a new friend. I gave George a big hug when I left and felt like a met a soul that I once knew in a past life.

We will keep in touch and I will hopefully continue to learn from the master.

My question to you – where do you go to learn and get energy? Do you have a George?

Sponge Bob and My Managers

What does it mean when two of your top managers watch Sponge Bob Square Pants? Seriously. Let me know. I am dying to know.

On Monday, I was flying to NYC with them for a conference called "What Teens Want" (http://www.whatteenswant.com/). On the plane, we were all in one row and I was in the middle seat. I was reading my business journal when I glanced up to see what they were watching (we were on JetBlue).

Laura Hammond, Next Step's girl-wonder VP/Editor in Chief was watching Sponge Bob cartoons.

Chris Roberts, Next Step's VP/Guru of Marketing and Interactive was watching…. Sponge Bob Square Pants.

The weirdest part - neither of them knew what the other was watching. Pure coincidence.

What does this mean?

These are smart, hard working professionals, both watching a sponge with square pants. Hmmm….

Have I driven my managers so batty that they need to turn to Sponge Bob for solace?

Does Sponge Bob provide some sort on hidden inspiration that I am not aware of?

Do they work so hard that watching Sponge Bob gives them a needed break - maybe like bubble gum for the brain?

Or, is it simply that Sponge Bob is hilarious at any age and I just need to lighten up and start watching?

I'll try. Right after I finish reading my business journal.

David vs. Goliath

Yehaa! We won!

I just got back from Association of Educational Publishers Distinguished Achievement Awards in Washington D.C..

Next Step Magazine was nominated for Periodical of the Year in the young adult category. These awards are known as the "Academy Awards of Educational Publishing,” and helps to recognize the year’s most outstanding material in the field of teaching and learning.

The cool part was being nominated. The outstanding part was winning and beating out the three esteemed finalists - The New York Times Upfront, Scholastic Art and The Wall Street Journal Classroom Edition!

Imagine that - Next Step beats out those behemoth companies....

It just goes to show you that having a ton of money doesn't necessarily give you the resources to be the best. Sometimes, all it takes is good ole' fashioned creativity, hard work and a small but awesome team!

Congrats to my awesome team…

The case against cost per lead

I am against advertisers judging media buys strictly on cost per lead success, and here's why -

IT'S INCOMPLETE.

Cost per lead metrics give no credence to a well designed advertising campaign. For instance, I may be in the market for a car. Maybe I saw a billboard, a TV ad, a magazine ad and spoke to a friend about the car.

When I walk into the dealership, I won't say, "Hi, I just saw your billboard, your TV ad, your magazine ad and spoke to my friend, so therefore I am ready to buy your car."

That just doesn't happen. What happens is that in a good marketing campaign, with effective ads and a targeted mix of media, each ad becomes part of the push that moved the prospect to buying.

I spoke to a longtime client yesterday. I love this guy and he loves Next Step. Let's call him Hank.

Hank renewed his advertising for the next school year because he knows Next Step works well for him. But the "people upstairs" are breathing down his neck about "the number of leads" he gets from each of his media buys.

He said the "people" are always saying it's not enough.

I asked him how do the "people" account for all the Next Step readers who just saw his good ad and called, went to his web site or e-mailed? (We don't get credit for those).

He thought that was a good question.

Then I asked Hank how his year was. He said "Incredible - a record!"

I then asked him for part of the credit. Next Step was one of only three advertising vehicles Hank used.

Hank gives me the credit. He gets it. He knows that all good advertising can't be tracked by lead. It's the "people upstairs" that we need to worry about.

All they see is a number (leads). They need to start looking at a different number - Hank's record year. That's the metric that really matters.

I get quite passionate about cost per lead in my recent newsletter. For more cost per lead ranting, please go to http://www.brand-university.com/.