Pablo's Pen

To anyone’s measurement, Pablo Picasso was one of the most talented artists of all time. His complicated life mixed with inspired work continues to make him a fascinating subject to study and learn about. 

As legend has it, Pablo and a friend were having lunch one day and one of the other patrons recognized the great master. After some hesitation, she approached him with a napkin. She asked Picasso if he would take a moment and do a quick drawing for her. 

 He said it would cost one million dollars. Shocked, she questioned why a simple drawing would be that much. Picasso replied that it took him thirty years to perfect his talent and it is not free. 

We shouldn't put a price on every moment of the day, and none of us is Picasso, but we should be careful not to always give away our experience simply because it would take just a minute to share it. 

Free is rarely free. 

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Got a Pen?

To anyone’s measurement, Pablo Picasso was one of the most talented artists of all time. His complicated life mixed with inspired work continues to make him a fascinating subject to study and learn about.

As legend has it, Pablo and a friend were having lunch one day and one of the other patrons recognized the great master. After some hesitation, she approached him with a napkin. She asked Picasso if he would take a moment and do a quick drawing for her.

He said it would cost one million dollars.

Shocked, she questioned why a simple drawing would be that much. Picasso replied that it took him thirty years to perfect his talent and it is not free.

We shouldn't put a price on every moment of the day, and none of us is Picasso, but we should be careful not to always give away our experience simply because it would take just a minute to share it.

Free isn't the best price.
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Bitcoin and Painters

To anyone’s measurement, Pablo Picasso was one of the most talented artists of all time. His complicated life mixed with inspired work continues to make him a fascinating subject to study and learn about.

Pablo and a friend were having lunch one day and one of the other patrons recognized the great master. After some hesitatation, she approached him with a napkin. She asked Picasso if he would take a moment and do a quick drawing for her.

He said it would cost one million dollars.

Shocked, she questioned why a simple drawing would be that much. Picasso replied that it took him thirty years to perfect his talent and it is not free.

We shouldn't put a price on every moment of the day, and none of us is Picasso, but we should be careful not to always give away our experience simply because it would take just a minute to share it.

Go a pen?
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Be Picasso

I love this story.

To anyone’s measurement, Pablo Picasso was one of the most talented artists of all time. His complicated life mixed with inspired work continues to make him a fascinating subject to study and learn about.

Pablo and a friend were having lunch one day and one of the other patrons recognized the great master. After some hesitation, she approached him with a napkin. She asked Picasso if he would take a moment and do a quick drawing for her.

He said it would cost one million dollars. Shocked, she questioned why a simple drawing would be that much. Picasso replied that it took him thirty years to perfect his talent and it is not free.

We shouldn't put a price on every moment of the day, and none of us is Picasso, but we should be careful not to always give away our experience simply because it would take just a minute to share it.

Got a napkin?
__________________________________________________________________

Giving Away Experience

To anyone’s measurement, Pablo Picasso was one of the most talented artists of all time. His complicated life mixed with inspired work continues to make him a fascinating subject to study and learn about.

Pablo and a friend were having lunch one day and one of the other patrons recognized the great master. After some hesitatation, she approached him with a napkin. She asked Picasso if he would take a moment and do a quick drawing for her.

He said it would cost one million dollars.

Shocked, she questioned why a simple drawing would be that much. Picasso replied that it took him thirty years to perfect his talent and it is not free.

We shouldn't put a price on every moment of the day, and none of us is Picasso, but we should be careful not to always give away our experience simply because it would take just a minute to share it.

Got a napkin?
__________________________________________________________________
Kneale Mann | People + Priority = Profit
New Book out in 2016 – Details soon!

Free Experience

To anyone’s measurement, Pablo Picasso was one of the most talented artists of all time. His complicated life mixed with inspired work continues to make him a fascinating subject to study and learn about.

Pablo and a friend were having lunch one day and one of the other patrons recognized the great master. After some hesitatation, she approached him with a napkin. She asked Picasso if he would take a moment and do a quick drawing for her.

He said it would cost one million dollars.

Shocked, she questioned why a simple drawing would be that much. Picasso replied that it took him thirty years to perfect his talent and it is not free.

We shouldn't put a price on every moment of the day, and none of us is Picasso, but we should be careful not to always give away our experience simply because it would take just a minute to share it.

Got a napkin?
__________________________________________________________________
Kneale Mann | Leadership Strategist, consultant, writer, speaker, executive coach facilitating performance growth with leaders, management, and teams.

Pablo Picasso | Three Musicians

Experience + Help + Time ≠ Free

Can You Spare An Hour?

One issue that has been coming up more and more is free.

Give It To Sell It.

This is not about being there ahead of the sale or building a strong community, this is about allowing vultures to pick away at your gray matter with wild abandon.

Lovely image, isn't it?

If you don't give your time and experience value, who will?

Social networks have given us the wondrous opportunity to meet people we would not have otherwise met. It gives us a chance to get to know each other. It's far superior to cold calling by ten to the power of infinity.

Business Over Coffee.

If you and I met for an hour to talk about your business, it would not be an hour, it would hour plus twenty-six years of marketing, media and management experience overseeing multi-million operations. It's also an hour of your time plus all of your experience.

But I buy most of my music. The album only has two good songs. The band already makes plenty of money.

The music industry continues to deal with the issue of free. After all, there are hundreds of thousands of songs being illegally downloaded every minute. They have tried watermarks, law suits, embedded code, threats, public relations campaigns and people are still stealing their stuff. Why? Because they can.

The Doors Are Wide Open.

If you owned a clothing store and told the world that Thursdays were free night, how's the lineup on Fridays?

If you are planning to redecorate your office, the manager at the hardware store is probably not going to let you bring home the paint so can decide if you want to pay for it later.

But it's much tougher to quantify our time. It doesn't fit in a glass, it's gone and there's more in its place so how do you value it?

It's Just a Doodle.

A colleague recently reminded me of the story about Pablo Picasso having lunch in a restaurant. Another patron approached the master and asked for a quick drawing on a napkin.

Picasso quickly informs the man that it will be $1 Million. Shocked, he questions why a simple drawing would be that much. Picasso replies that it took him thirty years to perfect that talent and that is not free.

We are all Picasso in our own way. We need to celebrate that and stop giving our time away like it's in endless supply.

Three posts about free from three brilliant colleagues who continue to give away plenty for free. You can read them here, here and here.

And feel free to add your free thoughts.

@knealemann
strategy. marketing. social media.

photo credit: echostains

Reading The Room

Years ago I worked with a sales guy who used to constantly remind me to “read the room”. He felt it was paramount that he knew the dress code of each meeting, who was attending and how the client’s pain was going to be cured.

Room? What Room?

The theory of reading the room or knowing your audience seeps into all that we do. It becomes especially tricky through the digital channels we reside.

Mitch Joel recently wrote a post about the difficulty of scaling your personal brand.

If you build a community then tell that community you don’t have time for them, how long will members remain?

The challenge is that we often want to share information but can’t give it all away for free. Time and money make for a delicate dance.

Defining The Room

I was speaking with a colleague recently who is a VP at one of the major U.S. cellular companies and he shared with me the story of dealing with one of his largest clients. This six figure client owns a big construction company whose world does not include a sales guy in a suit.

My buddy’s boss wanted to meet this client. So he suggested he'd pick him up on the way to the meeting. As suspected, the boss was in need of a wardrobe change. He told him to lose the suit and tie clip in favor of jeans and a golf shirt.

The meeting was held at a construction site - the client’s room - and the language was a tad looser than some would expect.

It Ain't About You

The boss was shocked by the repeated expletives by both men. The client said that his team was very happy with their new digital devices and all was going well. My buddy's boss learned a lesson about clients and suits. Thanks Chuck for sharing that story!

If we pay attention we can often figure out who we want to engage and those we don't, after we read the room.

Is it important to 'read the room'?
What are your thoughts?

@knealemann
marketing and social media strategy

image credit: netmaestro.co.nz

Remember | Never Forget

Remember those who have fought with their most precious gift of all.

Remember fathers and mothers, sisters and brothers, cousins and friends who did not come back and have the time to cherish the freedoms we enjoy.

Remember that our problems pale in comparison.

Remember women and men who continue to defend our right to say and do what we want.

Remember those who helped shape our ideals and freedom.

Remember souls who give us hope and perspective
to what is really important.

Remember to say...

Thank You

Customer Service: Not A Given

Last week I spoke with someone who said his customers don’t know what they want. That statement may be partially true but what he is missing is that his customers’ perceptions are their realities. Like it or not.

If it’s broken to you, it’s broken.
Seth Godin

I had an interesting exchange with my Cable/Internet provider a couple of weeks ago because I miscalculated last month’s bill by $31.59 which garnered a rude call from their collections department.

I have been their customer for more than twenty years and they are on me like dirt over thirty-one bucks. I told the person he had about 15 seconds to convince me not to take my business to the competitor.

His response was underwhelming and I hung up the phone then paid the difference. Twenty years and I am treated like a delinquent. To me, they are broken.

Marketing Is A Promise, Not A Campaign

So all the well thought out marketing and advertising campaigns were tossed out for the sake of a miscalculation. Because I screwed up some math, they broke their promise.

It may be difficult to grasp, but people will often pay more for something that works and something that is superior. Price is not the only deciding factor – remember shareware?

They Solved My Problem

I had a hefty bill recently from my local tire and brake place. It was my fault that I had let it go so long and not their fault that new tires and brakes were $2500. The entire exchange was enjoyable.

As I paid the bill they reminded me to bring my car back every 10,000 miles to get my tires rotated for free and it would be ready as soon as Ralph put it through the car wash. And important to note, the people working in this garage get along well and help each other constantly. You want to give these guys your business.

My perception was not that they tried to gouge me for tires and brakes, my experience made me tell everyone to go there if they ever need their car serviced.

Lessons Learned?

So I am mad at one company for hounding me over $31.59 and happy to promote another company that charged me $2500. By the way, the car drives like new and my hi-speed internet service is still sporadic most days.

Perception is reality and nothing you can do will change that.

Which company best describes your company?

@knealemann

Giving Up Control

I received a call from a colleague recently who pondered why music companies don’t release new albums along with concert tickets at the same time. That way, fans can download the music or buy it at a store along with tickets to the upcoming shows. He went on to wonder if there is concern about free downloading of music and movie torrents, why don’t studios simply release the film and DVD on the same day?

What? And Give Up Control?

Old model thinking is you can control the marketplace, behavior and spending. It is a fantasy. If you owned restaurant and people quickly found out that Thursdays are free food nights, how big would your line up be on Friday? Sure some would come back because you offered great food at a great price point, but could you control that?

Collusion vs. Solution

I have been in media and marketing for a long time. I know it doesn’t work this way. It’s not a simple solution but is it not a worthy discussion? The Ticketmaster/LiveNation merger has created a lot of heat because of the collusion ramifications, so merging a distributor with a concert company and a music label will create even more.

But let’s focus for a moment on behavior.

We all know stealing music is wrong, downloading movies is illegal, taking something that isn’t ours is improper and our moms taught us that years ago. But has that changed behavior?

If you found $1,000 in an unmarked envelope on the ground, what would you do? If I told you that you could download as much music as your heart desired without any consequence, what would you do? If you found a loophole to avoid paying income tax, what would you do?

Is it wrong or is it reality?

The topic of free is a big one right now. If you can get the same service or product for less money – or even free – is that your preference? Now flip it around and tell me you will offer me your service or product for less money or free.

The music labels are in trouble, that’s well documented but as one who adores music and wants it to continue to thrive, let’s look at solutions rather than trying to cram more genies in to more bottles.

How does this apply to your work? How can you better understand customer and human behavior in order to better meld your business plans with reality?

@knealemann

photo credit: rdhelectronicsinfo.com