What a great trip! The people in the twin cities are absolutely lovely, kind, smart, and funny. At least the creatives I met there were. The fine leaders of ASMP-MSP can definitely hold their heads up–they run their organization’s events well and made me feel comfortable and appreciated. I’ll be recommending to some of my speaker friends that they consider speaking for that group. No question.
Thanks to everyone who made it possible for me to be there, including the sponsors (ADBASE, AsukaBook, Livebooks, Workbook, Minnesota Creative Source) and all the volunteers who helped out.
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The travel was fantastic as well. For those of you who do not know this about me, I don’t fly. Yes, that makes me a loon, but there’s never been any doubt about that. I took the train to Minneapolis-St. Paul…make that several trains.
I may be a loon, but I’m not alone in my preference to travel by train. I spoke with many fellow passengers and I did not meet a single person who also did not fly. Instead, several people said they chose the train because it was a much more pleasant way to travel. You don’t get strip-searched, you do get fed, and the service is great. Yes, it is slower and it’s not cheap, but you arrive at your destination relaxed and feeling energized, not stressed and compressed.
So what does this have to do with your business? Think about it. Airlines keep cutting back on service and struggle to stay afloat while Amtrak adds services to their existing trains and sees their revenue increase. In fact, they saw their greatest revenue increase in FY 2006–up almost 11%!
It’s not about being the cheapest or even the fastest–it’s about serving your clients. Figure out what their needs and wants are and cater to them. Don’t lower your prices, raise them, but make sure to give your clients great service for their money (and a great product too, of course).