Thursday, August 27, 2009

KAI Shears


Last night I received an e-mail from a potential customer. She was requesting a catalog and I told her we'd have one out to her the next day. I also took a moment to ask how she found out about the KAI Shears. This is what she wrote:

While working on a local volunteer project, several of the women were using your scissors and I was very impressed. They couldn't say enough about them and they even let me try theirs (as long as I was very careful). I loved them!

The project we are working on is a plantation home that is being turned into a private counseling home for young girls that are facing eating disorders and teen pregnancy. It is being turned into a designer home with donations and workroom ladies from several states have come to make headboards, curtains, and recover furniture. The website is www.aplacetobreakfree.com

Awesomeness! Great to hear the KAI shears made such a good impression, and glad to see them being put to such good use.

If you'd like to find out more about Wolff's KAI Shears, one of the choice lines for window covering professionals; then click here. The KIA Shears are all hand honed and tested before they leave Wolff, and guaranteed to cut better than any other shear you've ever used. The two most popular lines of KIA Shears are the 5000 series line and the 7000 series line. The 5000 series line of KIA Shears are Wolff's standard industrial shears. They are an excellent shear, reasonablily priced, and have been a staple in all kinds of industrial and fabric applications for years.

The 7000 series line of KAI Shears are Wolff's premium line! These shears are increadible, and I'd put them up against any other shear on the market and expect them to win any cut test hands down! They are one of the hardest, longest lasting, best cutting shears in the world. All I have to do is put one in a clients hand and they buy them on the spot!

If you are not selling industrial shears now, consider carrying the KIA line of shears.
They would make an excellent addition to your service because they're easy to sell, and a pleasure to sharpen. Let me know if you have any questions.

Friday, August 21, 2009

My AWESOME Day at BMW!!!

I just wanted to share a video of yesterday's fun I had at the BMW Performance Driving School. I was asked by BMW, along with a group of local bloggers and other social media enthusiasts, to put some high powered cars to the test. Want to guess how long it took me to say yes?! NOT LONG!!!

The invite came through my friend Kamran Popkin (they asked him for some suggestions). Kamran is a major leader in the sales of swag and other fun toys to promote your business. I've been doing business with Kamran for years, and I can truly say he is one of the best salesmen I know. Thoughtful, attentive, and obviously, he knows some people. :) You can follow Kamran on Twitter, Facebook, his personal blog, or to really see what he does; go check out http://swagclub.biz.

BMW's staff did an incredible job of taking care of us while we were there! Food, fun, and lots and lots of instruction! Everyone – from the catering folks and event coordinators to the driving instructors – were absolutely top notch; not to mention the facility. I mean WOW! They gave us one heck of an intense experience! Thanks to all of you!

You've heard me talk about Twitter in past posts. Be sure to keep an eye out for some Twitter handles of a few of my local Twitter friends. They'll pop up during the video.

Under my YouTube video, you'll find one my friend Olivier shot (He's the fella in the car with me; and a MUCH better driver by the way!) We filmed for each other throughout the day. Riding with him made the day that much more fun! Super guy with an incredible mind for business and marketing! Visit his blog for more on this subject. Well, here we go! Have fun!

My video:



Olivier's video:



A quick editors note:
I do not work for BMW, nor was I paid to write this post. This is from the heart! Thanks BMW for providing me a day I won't forget!

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Proactive vs Reactive

A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to speak at a Pecha Kucha in Greenville. This is a speaking format where each speaker gets a total of 20 slides for 20 seconds each and they have to time their presentation to fit. It was much hard to do than I though it would be. (There is a video of my presentation at the bottom of this post if you're interested. My topic was Business Networking.)

One of my friends, Olivier Blanchard, was speaking as well. While there, I gave him one of my Wolff KAI 5220's to take home to his wife as a gift. This is what he said about them on Twitter.com:


Okay...so he was one number off. Shortly after, he received this note from one of Fiskars friendly Fisk-a-teers:


He then wrote back and said:


To which she replied:


To which I responded:

and:


Well, I waited and waited. Two weeks to be exact, and guess what, no shears. So I made good on my promise and bought a Fiskars Razor Edged Shear, sent it to Olivier with some testing cloth, and then put this on Twitter:


So far no reply from either, but I've heard that a third party that helps Fiskars with some of their online marketing has taken it upon himself to see that some shears are sent.

So why am I writing this to you? To show how important it is to DO what you SAY you are going to do! Now don't get me wrong. I think Fiskars is an excellent company and they have a dynamite selection of craft shears. The Fiskars Razor Edged shears I sent Olivier are, in my opinion, a fine set of shears that cuts well with a good edge life. The problem here is that Fiskars didn't follow through and now they are in the reactive mode instead of the proactive sphere!

When you tell a potential customer (or promoter in Olivier's case) that you are going to do something, DO IT!!! Being proactive feels great! Being reactive feels awful! I'll let you know how things shake out after Olivier compares the two shears on his blog.




Fiskars is a Registered Trademark of Fiskars Brands, Inc.
Wolff is a Registered Trademark of Wolff Industries, Inc.
KAI is a Registered Trademark of KAI International

Busy Busy Busy!

It's been a busy few weeks for me! Between a number of speaking events like the Social Media presentation I did for the Social Media Club here in Spartanburg, to a brand new web site design I'm working on for www.hira-to.com:


I haven't had much time to blog. And as it stands right now, it doesn't look like things will slow up for the next couple of weeks either.

I'm prepping for Larry's new Sharpeners event over the next few days. That will take up a good bit of my time. I'm really looking forward to this show though! Everything Larry does is top-notch! The NBTSG is going to be a blast! If you are interested in coming, it's in Saint Louis, MO at the end of this month and you can find information here:


I'm also in for a treat tomorrow! I am going to BMW to drive some of their cars on their autocross course! Here is what the invitation said:

Corporate Club BMW Driving Experience helps bring new focus to your business in a whole new way. This program is designed for rewarding employees, developing team building skills, entertaining clients, networking or simply satisfying your passion for driving BMW’s.

The Corporate Club program starts Thursday, August 20, 2009 at noon with a catered lunch by our very own M-Cafe. After your lunch and brief overview you will be immersed into three exhilarating driving exercises followed by heart racing M Car Hot Laps on the autocross course with our Professional Drivers. The event will wind down with a hors d’oeuvre, wine and beer reception.


The great part is I'll be there with a large group of local business friends! This will be one unique and fun networking event! Expect some pictures!

As for the lack of posts, as soon as the smoke clears I hope to have a number of new video interviews to share from the NBTSG sharpeners event. I do have one other post I plan to put up about a Social Media Challenge that involes Fiskars Shears. I'll be writing that today or tomorrow. See ya soon!

Thursday, August 13, 2009

Speaking at Social Media Club Spartanburg

This past week I had the opportunity to speak at the Social Media Club in Spartanburg. I've been using Social Media for some time now as a tool to help me market both myself and Wolff Industries. If you're willing to invest a little time to learn more about SM, I think you'll find it to be a powerful medium for your business as well.

This form of communication is the way of the future. It's become a sounding board for what's hot and what not, and it's an incredible word-of-mouth tool that continues to grow in popularity and strength every month. Do you know what Social Media is? Do you know what kind of effect it could have in you business? Take a look at what I had to say! If you have any questions or would like to learn more just drop me an e-mail.