Last Saturday I gathered up a ‘coalition of the silly’ to take part in the first annual ‘King Krawl’ up in Baltimore. We had a few entrepreneurs and Maverick members like Chris Daigle, Andy Miller, Ian Platt, Chad Mac, Rob Olic and Dave Dolak. And we had a few of my brother, Adam’s, former college friends.
There were about 10 of us all dressed up as the King that invaded Baltimore.
We basically had 2 rules.
Rule #1 – Stay in Elvis costume all night.
Rule #2 – See rule #1
We got some serious stares from people starting with the cab ride over to my brother’s house in Canton. At stop lights, people were yelling and taking pictures of us. Then when we got up to my brother’s place we added another 3 Elvi’s to our group to bring us to 10 strong.
Here are a couple photos before the ensuing antics:
And here’s a little video as we ate dinner:
It was a total motley crew of different Elvis outfits and sequined suits. I was the only brave enough (or stupid enough) to wear the fat costume. That was one of my favorite outfits when Frank Kern and I did a road rally a few years back when we barely fit into our lime green Lotus with our fat suits on.
Everywhere we went, we definitely created a scene from people wanted pictures with us to them asking us WHY we were doing this. There were lots of different answers and we never had our story straight. Some of the guys said it was for my birthday, others said they were lobbying to bring the Elvis convention to Baltimore and my favorite explanation someone made up was “The King for E.D.” Then we would sing “Viva Viagra!”
It got a bit crazy – and I have to hand it to the DJs of most to the bars. Within 5-10 minutes of walking in they’d put on some sort of Elvis song. Then we’d do a little hip wiggling and really bad singing for the crowd. People at the bars were pretty polarized – they either thought it was funny and wanted in on the action or thought we were a bunch of idiots and wanted no part of us.
I think both groups were sorta right.
**
Stellar Service in New York? Yup!
Yesterday I headed into New York City for a few meetings with WIRED and an interview with the ‘Forbes Adventurer’, Jim Clash, on my upcoming Virgin Galactic Space flight. Last night, Dan Schorr, our head of sponsorship and partnership at Maverick, headed to The Modern for dinner. He developed a relationship with Danny Meyers, the famed CEO of several top NYC restaurants including the Modern and author of “Setting the Table”.
One of the touchstones of Danny’s book is his philosophy of ‘Enlightened Hospitality’. He hires people who are eager to serve others and do whatever it takes to make their meals memorable.
I wanted to go to one of his restaurants to check out how they do it and keep my antennae up for marketing nuggets. Now the Modern is a pretty upscale restaurant but Danny’s restaurants range from the elegant to a simple ‘Shake Shack’ serving up shakes (obviously) & burgers & hot dogs.
The meal at the Modern is a typically a tasting menu or a 3-course prixe fixe menu. I went for the tasting menu accompanying by a glass of wine for each course. The service was spot on and the food was excellent – but the real story of ‘Enlightened Hospitality’ came about ¾ of the way through our dinner.
Our table backed up to table of a 50-something couple who were obviously not happy with each other. He was yelling at her about why her parents had to come for Thanksgiving to just general obscenities. Seriously. As the night progressed they got louder and louder. Dan was right behind them and it was impacting our dinner conversation. I headed off to the bathroom and while I was gone our wine steward and waiter, Nick, did something pretty interesting. He came to the table and overly exaggerated to spill a small amount of bottled water on our table. Then in a loud voice (to make sure the other couple could hear) he said, “Oops…how clumsy of me. I can’t believe I spilled water all over the table. We can’t have you sitting at a wet table so let me move you over right away.” Then a team of 7 swooped in and moved our table, wine glasses (probably 6 of them) and meals across the dining room.
I walked out of the bathroom and stood awestruck for a second because our table was completely cleared. I looked around and found Dan across the room. The staff had correctly assessed the situation as being irksome and did something really smart (but at the same time not embarrassing to the other couple).
The Story of Stellar Service that “MUST” be Told
Problems like these handled incredibly well create stories of stellar service that people want to share. It’s a pretty powerful marketing concept because Dan and I are practically forced to tell others about this experience. In fact, he already mentioned it to 3 people including the publisher of WIRED magazine. And now I’m sharing it on my blog for even more exposure for them.
A few weeks ago I was in Aspen for the 3rd Maverick Business Adventures® experience. This time we went whitewater rafting, rock climbing, rappelling, mountain biking and on a 4x4 jeep tour.
Before I give you the low down on the trip highlights – I think the day before I left was extremely interesting from a marketing perspective.
Aspen is filled with great boutiques, restaurants and art galleries. I wasn’t really planning on buying anything but enjoyed looking in the art galleries – and that’s where our story starts. (Note: If you have not read ‘Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion” this is a good example of the techniques at work.)
The first step in the sale…
The first part of any sales process is typically ‘Attention’ – my attention was caught by a piece in the window that was very cool. It was cartoonish but yet sophisticated. So I popped into the gallery. It was by an artist named Todd White and I found out the work was called “My Heaven and Hell”.
It immediately caught my eye so I investigated a little more. The gallery had a bunch of his prints and as I browsed through them I was paying attention to the sales process. I started getting the ‘story’ of Todd White from Johnny. It was about how he worked on Ren & Stimpy and helped created Sponge Bob Square Pants. I’m a big fan of animation so this intrigued me more.
[Story is one of the most underused ways of making deeper connections and setting up the sale. The story is also important because I get to tell it again to people who comment on the piece at my house, etc.]
That was followed a laundry list of celebs who collect his work. [Social Proof]
As I perused the different pieces, Johnny, would throw in a few comments about the work (i.e. like the “My Heaven & Hell” piece explaining it was 6 of White’s ex-girlfriend and 3 were good and 3 were devilish.)
Johnny showed me a brochure with other works mentioned how most were sold out because he did prints in very limited quantities (like 150). [Scarcity]
After showing interest in a few of them he asked me if I wanted to gave him move them into a better light in the backroom. I declined several times because I knew where this was heading -- but finally let him move 2 works in there. The role of this backroom is for the prospect to imagine it in their homes.
[Commitment & Consistency now takes over since I’m making small commitments towards buying. The first commitment is even picking which paintings I like the best.]
As I was picking from a few works that I liked best I was offered a beer, champagne or water. [Reciprocation]
I’d been through this same process before so it was interesting watching it unfold with my psychology hat on. But something they did that I haven’t seen was actually having a DVD playing that highlighting Todd White’s career, his press coverage, his works, his bio and people who were his collectors. [Authority and Social Proof]
As I was considering my favorite piece, Johnny, asked me if I’d take it today for a crazy price? I knew this was another commitment technique so I kept it vague. Then he asked if I’d take 2 of them. After saying I only wanted to discuss the price on one he went back to the owner to discuss. [Reciprocation after a Concession]
When the owner Michael came back he made sure to discuss the frame itself, the multiple layers of the frame and how ornate it was to build up the value. Then mentioning the hand embellished print so it wasn’t simply a print. [Value build] He gave me a reason about the discount as this being the shoulder season and the rent was due. [Reason Why] and we negotiated down to about 50% of the ‘retail’ price. We shook hands and now a few weeks later a huge crate arrived at my house with my “All Lit Up Again” work by Todd White:
It’s a great example of using psychology and influence in the real world. In fact, I loved the process so much I recommended the Cialdini book to Michael and Johnny. Then a funny little side note – Aspen is pretty small – and we bumped into them at one of the hot bars that night.
Highlights from the Maverick Business Adventures® ‘Rocky Mountain High’ Experience:
Now for those of you who want the recap on the Maverick trip – watch the 3 minute highlight reel created by members below and read on…
The first night in Aspen I brought in my friend and true Maverick, Frank McKinney. The Wall Street Journal called “the Real Estate Rock Czar” because he builds spec homes (homes built without a buyer) valued in the tens of millions of dollars, including the creation of the world’s first $100+ million spec home. In addition to his real estate artistry, Mr. McKinney is a two-time international best-selling author, speaker, adventure racer, demolition derby driver!Plus, he’s a true philanthropist with his Caring House Foundation that builds housing for the desperately poor in Haiti. I think people originally saw a flamboyant guy with long blond hair and easily dismissed him until after his presentation. Frank was pretty incredible sharing his 49 secrets for Extreme Success. But even more inspiring was the philanthropy roundtable he was on with founding Maverick members, Jim Spano and Brian McElroy. Both of whom are very heavily involved in charity foundations.
There was a tremendous amount of interest from the members about starting their own foundation and the in’s and out’s of this fascinating and enlightening topic. Right before the charity roundtable discussion Carl Banks showed up. Carl was our other Maverick icon guest – he’s a 2-time Super Bowl champion with the NY Giants and a multi-time entrepreneur. He helped build G-III apparel into a $500,000,000 behemoth and his latest venture is “Famous 58” BBQ line.
Carl and Frank both joined us for dinner at the prestigious Little Nell. Now most of us turned in early because wake-up was at 5:30 AM (ouch!). We boarded a luxury motor coach to head 3 hours out to the Royal Gorge area for our adventures. For the last half hour of the trip I thought it might be a funny idea to play ‘Deliverance’ on the DVD player. In hindsight probably a bad idea. After the banjo scene is got a little graphic with the most famous (and disturbing) clip from the whole movie. If you don’t know which one I’m talking about – it’s better that way.
As soon as we set foot on the ground we’re off to get changed into wetsuits and gear up to hit the rapids. I guess the water level had really gone down because the first part of the day was pretty slow. Though we did get to see Maverick and Elite MasterMind member, Gerald Romine, get spilled out in, what I’d classify as, class 0 rapids.
Yes, that earned him the coveted ‘Up the Creek Without a Paddle’ award later that night.
We took a break for lunch and held our Maverick business session right on the bank of the Arkansas River. Definitely out of classroom. Then after regrouping we hit the water again for some class IV rapids. It was definitely a bit wilder in the bottom section when we hit the Royal Gorge. Our guide, Kendall, had our boat preparing and drilling like we were a Whitewater SWAT team. Not only did we have to practice and know the basic forward and backward strokes but he had us drill on moving everyone from one side to another so we could sneak through some seemingly impossible spots on the river.
If you watched that little highlight footage there is a spot at 2:32 in the video that makes me laugh over and over again. We were getting bored splashing our fellow Maverick boats so our raft decided to up the ante. Watch and you’ll see a yellow and red raft float by from a random group. After a disarming ‘hi’ we open up to splash their raft. Their guide was totally shocked and lobbed his own water spray right back in an instant. I thought it was hilarious. (Oh yeah – we did again at the 3:00 mark to a different raft.)
I also had offered up $50 for anyone in Carl’s boat to make him swim but I guess that wasn’t a big enough reward to try and dump the 6’ 3” All-pro Linebacker into the drink. (About 2:18 in the video)
After drying off we headed back to the lodge for a special BBQ dinner hosted by Carl Banks. It started with Carl sharing his football story and then quickly segued into his business career. Many people might not realize how successful and accomplished he has been in the business world. It started when he was still playing for the Giants and became a licensee for the NFL selling high fashion leather jackets with team logos. And his endeavors have branched out remarkably since then.
Following Carl’s talk – we all piled up our plates with all sorts of BBQ accompanied by Carl’s ‘Famous 58’ sauce. Really, really good stuff and worth picking up online. As a side note – Carl was pretty smart. He essentially created the ‘Instant Sales Letters’ of tailgating BBQ. He sells people a pre-made, pre-cooked kit of everything they need for an awesome tailgate. Smart. That’s one of my ways of coming up with a BIG idea – give people the ‘fish’ – don’t teach them to fish.
After polishing off some ribs and bison – I interviewed Carl one-on-one and then let members get any of their business (and even football) questions answered. Carl stayed late into the night smoking cigars swapping stories with us. Here’s a pic of him having S’mores for the first time with Carrie Wilkerson.
The next day we were at it again this time being split into 2 groups. Half the members tackled rock climbing and rappelling while the other half did some pretty intense mountain biking.
I was in the rock climbing/rappelling group for the morning. I’d never done rappelling but falling off of things appealed more to me than climbing up things so I spent most of my time rappelling.
Our guide neglected to tell me it might be a little more comfortable with gloves. As I dropped 60 feet down the rope completed burned my hands and when I got back to the top of the mountain I asked our outfitter if there were any gloves, he said, “Oh yeah, in the red bag.” Yeah in the red bag how silly of me. My hands were burning the next few times with gloves too so I’m glad I finally found the red bag.
Before breaking for lunch a few of us went to the backside of the mountain to work on some climbing. I’ve never been rock climbing before either and it was pretty hard. I’ve done climbing walls in gyms and those were a piece of cake compared to the real thing. We had a couple members get all the way to the top in under 3 minutes – pretty impressive. My best was ¾ of the way up – about 40 feet.
One of the funniest moments was turned in again by Gerald Romine. He was taught a technique by our climbing guide of shoving your hand into crevices and then using the bone as leverage. Well – he wasn’t so lucky to shove his hand straight into a Wasp’s nest. I think 3 of them stung him. I had to laugh because I was climbing that exact route 2 minutes prior.
After lunch our groups switched and we went mountain biking. The trail was pretty advanced stuff – we told the guide wanted it ‘Maverick’ style and he turned in a good performance. I was certainly lucky that a camera captured prime highlights footage of me hopping down the trail trying to avoid falling over. I did about 8 hops and finally tumbled to the ground in dejection. (For your viewing pleasure -- it’s about 1:49 into the video).
I also had another tumble – going completely over my handlebars and really wiping out hard. Unfortunately for you guys – there was no footage – so it’s like it never happened.
After our all-day adventures it was back to Aspen for a much needed shower and quick rest before we dinner. Once again we headed to the Little Nell but this time it was their ‘wine room’ for a fabulous dinner with a Master of Scotch from Johnny Walker. It was pretty interesting because each of the dishes we had were all made with some Scotch.
The next morning was one of my favorite parts of the week – it was the ‘giving back’ to young and aspiring entrepreneurs session. We brought in about 80 kids to Aspen High School (from several different community groups). It’s an optional activity for members but we still had about 17 of our members come to share their real-world experience about being entrepreneurs. It was great seeing the faces light up and get really engaged when we started asking for their ideas and then preceded to give them a blueprint to follow their dreams.
I was really impressed with one 12-year old, Garrett, who was in the audience. He already had an eBay business where he took items on consignment and then paid the owners 40% once it sold. The kid took reams of notes and he’s got a bright future. In fact, he did an interview with Maverick & Elite MasterMind member, Carrie Wilkerson, and he told her that when he grew up he wanted to be a Maverick. So cool!
Then we got this note back from his mom:
“My son was among the young people who attended and I can tell you he hasn’t been the same since. Since your [presentation], he has begun his own website and has even begun to make money with it using some of the advice he received…I believe that the seminar your group so selflessly presented has altered the course of at least one young entrepreneur. I can’t thank you enough.”
One of my big goals with Maverick is educate young and aspiring entrepreneurs so if you have an organization that can benefit from the 2-hours of education we provided – we will make it available to you. Please contact Tim Warren – tim@maverickbusinessadventures.com
After the young entrepreneurs session we headed out on a 4x4 adventure. We went up some pretty hairy roads with no guardrails (and some major drop offs) to get to the top of the one of Aspen’s best peaks. I think we were about 12,500 feet up – not sure – but the view was amazing except for 4 anonymous members who resembled Barney:
To cap off our successful adventure – we arranged dinner at the Aspen Mountain Club. It’s one of the most exclusive clubs in Aspen with a long waitlist to pay the $125k membership fee. You have to reserve the entire Gondola to the top of the mountain just to get there. Just the sunset from there was really unparalleled and worth the trip.
After dinner some of the members headed back while some of us ventured out to enjoy the Aspen nightlife. For a small town, I have to give Aspen credit. They have a good party scene and we closed out “FLY” there. I loved the décor of the place because it’s made to resemble an airplane with video screens for windows and the waitresses are all dressed as flight attendants.
For those of you who don’t want to miss the next Maverick Business Adventures® experiences – we’ve now got the remaining 2008 and full 2009 calendar on the site. Check it out. (There are some really cool trips coming up!)
Plus October 20, 2008 we’re running a “TASTE OF” Maverick with a 1-day driving formula cars track day along with business sessions.
I also have a ‘secret’ project I’ve been working on with the members from Maverick – that’ll be sharing some details with your soon. It’s for the people who don’t qualify (yet) for membership but love the idea behind making more, having more fun and giving back more!
