Left Brainers show up on time. Right Brainers don’t wear a watch.

Left Brainers know that 2 + 2 = 4. Right Brainers call a friend when it comes to math.

Left Brainers use measuring spoons and cups when cooking. Right Brainers visualize and toss ingredients in.

Left Brainers have answers to questions within milli-seconds. Right Brainers let you know they will get back to you and yes, you have to remind them.

Left Brainers love sports and scheduled activities. Right Brainers love playing guitar and dancing.

Left Brainers read blogs. Right Brainers write blogs.

Facebook and Twitter give Left Brainers a taste of what it’s like to live in a Right Brain world.

Celebrities are mostly Right Brainers. People who follow celebrities are mostly Left Brainers.

Doctors are Left Brainers. Politicians are Right Brainers especially the ones in Detroit.

To find out if you are Left or Right, click the following link:

http://www.intelliscript.net/test_area/questionnaire/questionnaire.cgi?q=right_brain_left_brain_2

Are you Left or Right?

Happy Friday!

Chicago is known for a lot of things: Parks, museums, lakefront, stadiums, shopping and restaurants. But sports? C’mon, Detroit at least in this category has Chicago down cold.

So it was with great fanfare that the Wings and Blackhawks finally got together to play hockey. The last time the Blackhawks were in the playoffs my oldest son Michael (who moved to Chicago) was 13 and got to meet Ernie Harwell.

The Blackhawks were young, dominant, quick and full of pip and vigor. The Wings were old, strategic and injury-ridden. Even so, the Blackhawks were the underdog and rightfully so.

For some strange human reason, we always root for the underdog. Why? I had to go online to find the history of the underdog to help explain the reason. This is the best one I found:

"the beaten dog in a fight," 1887, from under + dog. Cf. top dog "dominant person in a situation or hierarchy."

Yes, a real dog was involved in this and a real dog was beaten. And herein lies the answer: we feel sorry for beaten dogs and we root for them to get better.

Rarely do underdogs upset the topdogs.  But when they do, people cheer, headlines are made and optimism is shared among the 99.5% of the other underdogs in the sports arena.

As far as Chicago goes, they were outclassed in every manner and were lucky to win a single game. It might be one reason for those who moved to Chicago to come back home to Detroit.

Happy Thursday!

If you were born between 1975 and 1994, this blog is for you. You are officially part of the Net Generation (also known as the "Y" generation) and now make up the largest generation on earth.

However us Baby Boomers aren’t going away so quickly (born between 1946 and 1964). I do feel for the X’ers’. Their generation doesn’t even span 20 years and they are in the middle of the abyss.

Baby Boomers had it great growing up. The only electronic thing that we had to play with was the Magic 8 Ball. Otherwise, it was bikes, marbles, firecrackers, mini-bikes, jawbreakers and Gilligan’s Island. Entertainment was returning beer bottles from construction sites for a nickel and getting a candy bar. Speed was about how fast we could take our 20" Stingray bike down the hill with the cards flapping in the spokes.

Communication was fun too. Walkie-talkies were so cool. But the real fun was when we were in high school and got our own phone line because our mother’s were always on the phone. It was fun using the rotary dial at first, but when the push button phone (Princess model) came out, we could crank out the numbers like nothing else. Of course our parents had to teach how to use the phones and then allow us time to use them. But hey, we were listening to albums and cassettes by the Birds and the Beatles.

The Net Generation is the first generation to grow up in the digital era. They play with Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, and Google like they breathe air. They teach us Boomers how to use technology. We use cell phones to make calls, they use cell phones for everything but to make calls.

We use the Internet to learn, they use the Internet to collaborate. Blogs are written while they listen to i-Tune downloads and perhaps even while playing an online game. The Net Generation loves speed, instant responses, and freedom.

Being in business 25 years this August, we have been dealing with Boomers and X’ers for most of our existence. But now the Y is where the action is. Does the Y love catalogs like their predecessors? I’m not sure.

Boomers love to use the phone to call. Hence our contact center is perfect for them. But what about the Y’s? They love to text and learn about products through social networks. If you are part of the Y, which social network do you like most? Companies are doing Facebook and Twitter. Are these fads or trends? Or is there something else out there?

We all must stay relevant or doom is assured. The Net Generation will sway where we are headed.

Happy Wednesday!

Seldom am I excited about a new product like this one. It’s not a new flavor, new package, new name. It’s not a knock-off of an existing product. It makes people happy, both men and women. It’s reasonably priced. It’s easy to use. You get immediate results. No assembly is required. And best of all, it’s a secret that no one needs to know about.

That’s right folks, the 2009 Product of the Year is a secret and herein lies the problem–no one is going to tell anyone about it because they want to keep it a secret.

OK, you want to know what it is already. Think Viagra. That too was a winner of Product of the Year. And in the beginning, it too was a secret. Now people mention it and joke about it. But millions use it.

This product is sort of like Viagra for the hair. No it doesn’t make your roots stand on end-much better than that. Let me segway a bit more.

As men age, they opt for two choices when it comes to their hair. The first choice is to shave it off. This look is very popular and men love it because it’s cheap, easy and they don’t have to spend any time "doing" their hair.

The other choice for those who keep their hair is to watch it turn gray. Some people find that attractive however most would rather it go away. But unlike women, most men don’t want to deal with the hassle of coloring their hair. Even some women don’t like coloring their hair for this reason.

But now, history is being made. Men no longer have to shave their heads. Men no longer have to deal with gray hair. TA-DA!

Introducing Kemon YO Fast Mousse! This innovative, technology-driven product is first to market. Yogurt-based, PPD-Free, ammonia-free and you do it yourself at home in the shower. And here is how easy it is to use.

Choose "cool" for dark hair or "warm" for blonde hair. Simply apply to wet hair and let stand for 3-5 minutes and rinse out. After one application, you will notice an immediate difference. But those around you will only notice that your hair is shinier, healthier and better looking. Then repeat this process every two weeks until you get the desired color you want. The more color desired, the longer you keep on your hair (15 minutes is the maximum time). And that’s it!

Retail price is only $25.00 and this will be available in all Kemon salons within the next few weeks. Right now I am doing specific before and after test marketing with guys that are super excited to be among the first in the U.S. to experience the product. They are doing photos every 2 weeks and then we are going to post them online-what fun!

Every guy so far is super excited. And when you get a guy super excited about a hair product, watch out.

Happy Thursday-Friday!

Walking by the executive mailbox slots, overhead one can see four beautiful handmade glass vases designed by a very talented artist. They were gifts from Clairol for buying more than $1 Million in a year.

I remember way back in 1996 after buying Beauty Direct that we had to have Clairol & Wella products. Back then, tube color was gaining popularity but beauty schools and many hairdressers still preferred the ubiquitous liquid products mostly because of price, availability, and that’s what they were used to.

Paula Jacobi, then President of Clairol (ex-VP of Creative Nail Design so I knew her well) gave us two thumbs up and we cranked out 6-packs of color and tubs of BW2.

Fast forward ten years and liquid color continues its decline and eventually will be in the history books. Retail technology and upgraded beauty schools are the main culprits. But we can also blame one of the most innovative companies in the world: Procter & Gamble.

They bought Wella long ago but really never figured out what to do with it. Then they bought Clairol mostly for its retail presence and one day someone told them they also owned Miss Clairol, Jazzing and some bleach products called Basic White and BW2. In a company that doesn’t revere a brand unless it does over a $1 Billion a year in sales, this was like a pimple on a donkey’s ass.

Declining sales and loss of interest is one thing but that was not the ultimate decision breaker that led  us to drop both brands. The ultimate decision breaker is P&G’s CEO that continues to attack our industry with ads that claim their retail products are superior to salon products. For a company that also owns Sebastian, this is a dangerous road to travel. But I guess when you are mighty P&G, you can travel any damn road you want.

Their Pantene brand does over $3 Billion a year. Yes, you read that right. $3 Billion a year. Matrix who claims to be the industry leader doesn’t even do $300 Million. In their most recent Pantene ad in just about every fashion and beauty magazine P&G can find to place it, the headline is "Think only a salon brand can go to these lengths?"

With economic times even tough for P&G, A.G. Laffley, their CEO has even been quoted telling analysts that they are thrilled to be in mass market (drug, discount, supermarket) business because that’s where consumers are shopping these days. Olay is a $2 Billion brand, so what do you think they care about Miss Clairol which most likely does 75% of its business in Sally’s?

Oh well. We will miss the history of the brands like we miss the history of most brands. Luckily, we still have four beautiful vases to remind us of the great history that once was.

Happy Wednesday!

UPS and FEDEX next day air envelopes. Who invented them? People who want to know and now! And people who want others to know and now!

I have received my fair share of these envelopes filled with bad news. I don’t have enough fingers to count the number of times we lost a line for one reason or another. So I sympathize for the Chrysler and GM dealers who got their letters last week. And for those that will get their letters over the next few weeks.

No matter what, we still want to know, good news or bad. I was on my i-Phone and an alert came up that I had to update some of my downloads. I pressed "OK" and immediately the status bar pops up and slowly moved from left to right assuring me when the download will be completed.

I was crossing the street the other day and I noticed the new timers letting pedestrians know how much time they had left to cross the street. It started at "30" and even when it read "3", people were still crossing. But hey, at least we now know how many seconds we have to cross.

We need to know doctor tests now. We need to know how long it will take to reach our destination whether in the car, plane or train. I was on the new Delta plane and the pilot said over the intercom the flight will take 4 hours, 1 minute and 30 seconds. Five minutes later the lead flight attendant told us the same thing. After take off, we were told the same thing. And every 30 minutes, more updates.

We need to know who called. Can  you imagine coming home and seeing the answering machine blinking and not pushing the button? When our Blackberry beeps, we need to know who it is. Mind you, I wouldn’t ever own one of those things but it amazes me when I see people who do look at and decide who is important enough to reply back.

We need to know what we got on exams. We need to know if we got accepted or won the award. We need to know the score of the Wings game when it’s played out West. We need to know what time the kids are coming home.

WE NEED TO KNOW AND NOW!

And then what do we do when we find out what we needed to know? Mostly, nothing.

Happy Tuesday!

Dollar stores remain all the rage. People love buying stuff for $1.00 even though many items are overpriced and undervalued. But at a buck, how wrong can you go?

So you might wonder about $1.00 haircuts. Chains such as Great Clips are doing $2.99, $3.99, and $7.99 cuts. Great Clips business is booming.

This story reminds me of a hotel with 400 rooms. The room rate is $199.00 per night. Competition has rooms for $149.00; $99.00 and so forth. The hotel has a choice: leave the rooms empty or make enough revenue to cover costs. Once the night turns into day, the rooms have lost all value.

How many hairdressers are newly graduated? Or just finished apprenticeship? Of these, how many would love the opportunity to learn on real people, real customers? I bet all.

Here’s the thing: If there aren’t any clients coming in, these hairdressers are sweeping, cleaning, talking and waiting. Every hour that passes by is an hour without revenue and without experience gained.

In tough times like these, why not charge $1.00? Clients will love the opportunity, they will tip generously and perhaps even buy some retail products. And what does anyone have to lose?

One tanning salon owner I spoke too recently told me he is opening 6 new locations. His friends tell him business is down 20-30%. He tells them to get busy promoting or get busy to close. He goes on to tell me that the business is out there. If you have to give 2 weeks free tanning, who cares–the cost is minimal and they will buy products to generate revenue.

Perhaps $1.00 is too low for some salons, think about $5.00. The story ends simply by keeping your mind open to new things and remember, nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Happy Thursday!

P.S. I will return next Wednesday.

McDonald’s will soon spend $100 Million marketing their new McCafe’s featuring $2.29 tall latte’s. The powers to be calculate their market to be worth a cool $1 Billion. My bets are with them.

But let’s face it. That’s a lot of money for a cup of Joe. Let’s look at the choices available:

1. At-home brew per cup:    $.25

2. At-home packet per cup:  $.65

3. Fast-food per cup:           $.89

4. Gas station, any size:      $.99

5. Tim Horton’s, Dunkin’       $1.19

6. Starbucks, tall:                $1.49

7. Office blend:                   FREE

If McDonald’s can get you to upgrade your coffee purchase to $2.29, imagine the profits they will make. Imagine the increase in sales. And imagine why you would upgrade in the first place.

All for a cup of Joe. And here is the biggest reason why McDonald’s will succeed: coffee is addicting and once we form a habit where we buy, we stick to it.

What are you drinking?

Happy Tuesday!

There is something about free that sets us free. Human beings love free and they love to brag about free stuff to others.

I recently visited the new market in town called Plum. High priced stuff but they had little kiosks set up that cooked up tasty morsels. While the store was moderately busy, I had to dart, stop, turn and almost prevent a head-on collision with other carts being driven by gazed shoppers making sure they got their free morsels.

It was pure craziness. Amazingly, it doesn’t even matter what kinds of morsels are being served up–if they’re free, we want them! The sushi chef prepared its unique roll and handed them out for free. Now I know when I go to a sushi restaurant, people have their favorites and won’t try something they don’t like. But not at Plum. Free rolls, let me at them!

Never mind that prices were generally 10% higher than the competition and up to 20% higher than Kroger. Hey, free food is a bargain in itself.

We all know that people go to Costco on Saturday for lunch and/or dinner. The poor retired folks can’t make or serve the samples quick enough. In some instances, customers get mad that they have to wait or when they run out.

Back in the day, gas stations gave our free balloons. Trader Joe’s still does. Some restaurants give away mints, Dum-Dum’s and Italian candies.

I was sharing a story like this with Tony who owns a couple salons in Chicago. He was telling me about his color business and how retail sales were soft. I told him about Ginger Lily Farms and suggested that for every color service he gives his clients a shampoo and conditioner for free. He loved the idea.

The first month Tony bought 48 cases. Recently I met up with Tony and asked him about the giveaway program. His smile was huge when he bragged that everyone loves it and he can’t keep the products in stock. He went on to say that he raised his price point for color by $10 and the customers don’t mind because they are getting free shampoo and conditioner.

What an idea. We know salons have difficulty retailing anything. So why retail when you can give it away for free? Get a manicure, take home the polish for free! Get a pedicure, take home the foot file for free! Get a haircut and take home the hair spray for free! We love free stuff and the best part about this idea: people love to pay for free stuff.

Happy Monday!

This story is about birth and death.

Right from birth, babies start out crying. Why?

It’s their turn.

It’s their turn to be fed, diaper changed, be fed, diaper changed and be fed. Parents never have a turn.

As the baby turns into child, life changes drastically. It’s no longer their turn all the time anymore. Parents don’t say yes at whim. And if there are brothers and sisters, watch out. A classic example is going to a petting zoo and they have pony rides. The line is long and all during the line the child asks

When is it going to be my turn?

Kids want it to be their turn all the time. When the teacher asks for volunteers and the hands go up, every kid wants to be picked first. When there is an extra dessert at lunch, every kid wants at it first. When playing sports, it always the same question

Is it my turn?

As we get older, taking turns gets less important. When the BUB and I went bungee jumping in Lake Tahoe, I went first. It was scary. When I finished, I yelled up "it’s your turn!" The BUB looked at me and wished it wasn’t. When the guys are shooting shots and after the 12th shot, you are staring at the filled shot glass in front of you, the last thing you want to hear is

It’s your turn!

Life is about your turn. When you are first at the red light, when the light turns green, it is your turn to proceed first. When you are at an awards banquet and the presenter announces the winners in alphabetical order, you know when the presenter gets to your initial that it’s going to be your turn. That happened last night when Daniel was called up by Mary Cramer from Crain’s to receive his award for being one of the 20 in their 20’s. Before guys tee up, they toss a tee to determine

Whose turn it is

As adults, it’s all about turns. Your turn to cook. Your turn to clean. Your turn to watch the TV show you want. Your turn to take out the garbage. Your turn to take the kids to soccer. Your turn to go grocery shopping. Your turn to empty the dishwasher. Your turn, your turn, your turn.

Whose turn is it?

In the end, God (or whichever faith you believe in) determines whose turn it is to leave the planet as we know it. Yesterday, it was Guy Moscolo’s turn. Guy was the Guy in Toni & Guy. Guy was the partner who took a fledging education concept and developed a line of products that eventually evolved into a stick. The Bedhead Stick. Guy was part of company that broke all the rules and became a major player in the industry. Guy was part of the $440 million sale to Unilever just last month. Yesterday Guy had a massive heart attack at 65 and the funeral is Saturday.

It was his turn.

That is one turn we aren’t waiting for. Then again, it makes you think how important all the previous turns you took really were. Sometimes its better to let someone else take your turn.

Happy Friday!