Security & Sound Systems
Erika Engle reported in her Friday Honolulu Star Bulletin article that Security & Sound Systems is the first Hawaii business to win a national Retailer of the Year award from Mobile Electronics Magazine. President Kent Izuka said that he was among the magazine’s top 12 installers in 2005.

Special Delivery
Some of you may recall this Blog story on Valentine’s Day when I delivered a Retail Selling Made Easy audio book to Kent via limo. When I saw the Star Bulletin story yesterday, I called Kent and congratulated him. Today I went to see his business.

20 Year History
Kent started out as an installer while in high school, getting paid for doing what he loved doing. Seven years later he took over the company. He is still doing what he loves doing, but now he has four employees to help with the installations. When you find something you love to do, you never “work” a day in your life.

$700 Sale
I had the opportunity to listen in as Kent helped this customer get just the right car alarm, and then add on the hood alarm and rear direction camera. The service is as good as his selling skill. He was able to assure her that they would have her car ready for her when she returns from a walk around the block to get some lunch. I witnessed several happy customers while I was in there, and those that know me know that I am not that easily impressed.

Years of Awards
There were almost as many trophies and awards on display as there was merchandise. These awards amount to a testament of good business, good merchandise and good service. They have obviously done a great job over the years and I found Kent to be open to new ideas and desirous of going to an even higher level. There’s no complacency here.

Lots to Sell
Kent stayed busy selling the entire time that I was in the store. The sound systems, cameras, security devices all make for a “candy store” for the auto enthusiast, and we have no shortage of those in Hawaii.
Congratulations Kent, I am looking forward to meeting with you (away from the store) to share more thoughts and ideas for your expanded success.

Was it REALLY 50 Years Ago -?
I received a phone call yesterday from Terry Peterson inviting me to attend the “50 Year Re-Union” of my high school graduating class. It was a real déjà vu moment as we tossed names and stories about. He is still married to Thelma Manning, one of our schoolmates, while I have said, “I do” six times in the same number of years. Terry said that would probably qualify me as the winner of the “most times married” award. I wonder if I will also get the “longest hair on a guy” award. I am sure that the competition will much fiercer for the least amount of hair left.

Harvey’s Broiler
Cruising Harvey’s was the thing to do, especially on Friday night. That looks a little like my 50 Ford sitting there. It was a consistent parade of cars showing off their latest tuck and roll upholstery, and sounding off the glass pack mufflers. 

The Warren Golden Bears
The event will be held back in Downey, California, and include a “brown bag lunch tour” of the Warren High School Campus, where we were the first graduating class from the school. I’m not someone who likes to dwell on the past, and as scary as “50″ sounds, hearing that 42 of our classmates have already moved on to the hereafter was even scarier.
This should be a real blast. If any of the “Class of 59″ happen to see this Blog I hope you will post a comment about yourself, and if you send me a picture from “then”, or better yet “now”. I will include it in this post as an update.
You can also register your profile here for free. That should help Terry and the other organizers prepare for this.

FINAL (I Hope) Update:

3/22 - 10 AM - Jimmy showed up right on time, and spent close to two hours helping me with questions, and sourcing out a problem in the Outlook synching going back to when we imported all of the numbers from my old Razor in an attempt to get the Palm Centro working.
Another problem was in the way I had originally (and wrongly) entered my contacts into Outlook Express (years ago) and then moved them into Outlook when I updated (and upgraded) a year ago. I am now (slowly) working my way through my Outlook contacts, removing duplications, eliminating dead addresses (literally)  and changing the “Display As” settings to be able to synch with the iPhone.
The good news is that all is working, and I am rapidly falling in love with my iPhone.

WHEW!!!

Update:
3/21 at 8:10 PM

9 AM This Morning: I was the first person in the door at AT&T this morning; they were still counting the cash from yesterday, or setting it up for today.

Full Circle
The manager greeted me and apologized for the problems I have been having, and asked if I had considered getting the iPhone. I reminded him that I had originally come in to get the iPhone, but that the information I received turned me off. He apologized again, told me that they want to keep my business, and said that Jimmy is very up on the iPhone and that if I wanted to try it and had any problems that Jimmy could even come to my house to help me.

Jimmy on the Job
I said, “How about Jimmy getting in my car, with me, right now, and we go do just that?” He approved, so up to my office we went. Jimmy showed me how the iPhone works and I must admit I loved it right away. Now, he just had to make it work with my computer.

Working Uder Pressure
Jimmy spent close to three hours synching my computer up with the iPhone, getting the three e-mail addresses to work, and showing me how to use it. Remember now, I’m the guy never intending to touch a keyboard in my life. 

Team AT&T
1:30 PM - We returned to AT&T all smiles. I thanked Boyd, Jimmy and Richard for all of their assistance, and off I went, excited about using my new tool (Masae calls it a toy). I expected this picture to be the happy ending to this saga. Masae and I went to lunch at 2 PM and I began showing her how cool it is, BUT it wouldn’t send e-mail from one of my addresses.

That Does It!
I pictured myself just slamming it into the ground, but instead I called Jimmy and told him the problem. He began to tell me about a web site where I could go to get help, and I said, “No, I am bringing that phone to you right now along with my old Razor phone. I am going to leave it with you and go to my 3:30 appointment, and then return to AT&T. At that time I want it working, or everything returned to my Razor.” He said, “Okay”, and that’s what I did.
4:30 PM - I returned to AT&T and was informed that all was fixed. The problem was one wrong setting. I thanked everyone again and left. When I got to my car I decided to send e-mail to someone, and guess what… that’s right; NO GO! I went right back inside and discovered that some of the e-mail addresses in my Outlook did not get synched into the iPhone address book. I left somewhat discouraged and when I got home discovered just how many that was; TOO MANY!
Jimmy will be here at 10 AM in the morning; stay tuned. I am counting on a happy ending yet, as I really do like that phone.

3/20 at 8:10 PM - What a nightmare this has been! I am perhaps more frustrated now than ever. Something has told me for a long time not to mess with a handheld device, and I have failed to follow my feelings. After re-installing the software this evening and running the hot synch, it was worse than ever. I have another four hours of my time down the drain, and I command (and get) $500 an hour for teaching customer service.
I don’t think I am technically aware enough to even describe what’s happening. All I want at this time is to get my Razor back in working order, and my contract reverted back where it was - expired. That will leave my options open should I ever decide to do something crazy like this again.

3/20 at 4:30 PM - The latest is that I have a new Palm Centro that appears to be working. They suggested that the problem could have been caused by the hot synching process and I was told to call them if it happens again and they will look into that for me. Next is to do the scary hot synch and hope that I still have all of my data afterwards.

3/20 at 2 PM - This story is getting uglier by the minute. E-mail access from the AT&T Palm Centro has been erratic all day. I have shut it down and rebooted it numerous times. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. So, back to AT&T I went. This time I said that I need to deal with someone familiar with this product. Are you ready for this? The answer was, “None of us have been trained on it”. I was shocked and asked, “How many of these have you sold?” Are you ready for this? The answer was, “One.”
I said, “What do you suggest I do?” He said, “Well you could get a Blackberry, they are very reliable”. I reminded him that this all started with an attempt to upgrade my Palm Pilot and that the Blackberry would not synch with my Palm software. I asked, “What do you suggest?” He said, “Well, we could replace the sim card, or the machine itself, but I cannot guarantee you that it will work.” I asked, “What would YOU do?” He said, “I would get a new machine”.
So, as I type, my new AT&T Palm Centro is being set up, and I have come to my office to get the e-mail passwords for it. Once that is done I need to ask Jay to come back over here and synch my e-mail addresses and other data into the new machine. If that doesn’t work I will do one of two things;
1.) Give the Sprint Palm Centro a shot and leave AT&T for good. 
2.) Buy a new “simple” Palm Pilot and go back to hauling the laptop around.
If I get to this point, the answers I get from Sprint will determine my direction.
Stay Tuned!

UPDATE:

3/20 - 8:45 AM - The saga continues… When I logged in this morning it could not “locate the server”. I shut down and tried again… same thing. After the third re-start it worked! While that was nice, this is not something I will be able to live with, especially when traveling. I have been receiving a fair amount of e-mail on this situation, like this one I got this morning:

Ron,
How do they define “shutting it down” once a day?
I’ve never done this and have not had any problems.
Thx,
Pete

My friend Pete got his Centro from Sprint. I am starting to wonder if just MAYBE this is an AT&T issue. If so, I will be trotting down the street. I have been with AT&T (formerly Honolulu Cellular, then AT&T, then, Cingular, and back to AT&T) for about 25 years now. I would surely like to see this loyalty rewarded. 

3/18 I returned to AT&T and the tech there was able to get the e-mail working by changing outgoing settings we had set up. Don’t ask me why they worked the night before. While there I found out how to use the camera; cool!

3/19 I was starting to feel comfortable an continuing my self education. I was able to send and receive e-mail this morning. I went to the mall and bought some higher powered reading glasses. Then this afternoon it would not send or receive e-mail. Grrrr! I returned to AT&T and they were able to make it work by removing and replacing the battery. I commented that this is NOT something I want to do myself. I was then told that I need to be sure to shut it down completely at least once a day. My previous instructions were to do this every few days. I left happy again. Later, at dinner it would not send or receive e-mail. Grrrr! I shut it down and re-booted and it worked. I am now thinking that I may need to shut it down after every hot synch with my computer. I will find that out. This just doesn’t sound right to me.  

3/17

Well, I decided to go for it and buy the new Palm Centro from AT&T. As is often times the case, it all sounded pretty easy in the store.

Jay Jurick

My good friend, Palm Pilot and Internet Guru Jay Jurick then spent the next six hours in my office synching it into my two computers and setting up the e-mail. It worked once and then decided not to.
 

Next Step:
I will go back to AT&T tomorrow to see if they can get the e-mail to send and receive, as well as to get some tutorial on MANY other confusing features. The camera seems to take nice photos, but I cannot figure out where they go, and NO, we could not get the Palm software to synch into my two computers. Remember; I am the “retired guy” that was never going to touch a computer!!!

Here’s where this started 30 days ago ————————–

Pretty Slick, But…

People keep telling me how cool their iPhone is, but my eyes start glazing over as they attempt to impress me by demonstrating all of the features. Each time I get one of these “demonstrations” I feel completely unsold and sure that this isn’t the phone for me.

While at lunch the other day John Alves, president of Pacific Basin Communications gave me the best presentation yet. He held up his iPhone and said, “The instruction manual is only 8 pages, and is the size of this phone.” Now that was language I could relate to.

My mind was now opened up, so on Sunday I decided to drop by my at&t dealer to see what else I could learn. I came into the store, signed in, found the iPhone displays and began a self tutorial with one of the model phones. I giggled inside as I was able to easily add a link to this Blog on the home page of the demo phone.

I was doing a pretty good job of selling myself on the iPhone when I heard my name called. I told the salesperson that I was interested in the iPhone but had some questions. I was a bit surprised when he walked me to the register area instead of the iPhone models, but I followed him. Holding up my Razor phone I asked, “Can the data in here be transferred to the iPhone?” He quickly replied, “No”. Bad Answer! I suspected otherwise and said, “Really?” His response was, “Well not easily, it’s very complicated to do that”. Bad Answer!

When trying to succeed as a customer I don’t give up easily, so I said, “I don’t care how complicated it is, as long as you can do it”. He said, “We are not allowed to do it, you would have to do it yourself”. I was losing interest rapidly, but asked, “I have multiple e-mail addresses, can they all work on this phone?” He said, “No, only one”. Bad Answer!

Palm Centro
He then said that the new Palm Centro could handle as many as 10 e-mail addresses. I said, “Show me how that works”, and he said, “I can’t, it won’t be released until the 15th of the month”. I asked if there is a brochure or something that I could look at, and he said, “No, but you could Google it”, and wrote “Palm Centro” on a “Post It Note” for me. I thanked him and left. NO SALE!

I came home and typed Palm Centro into Google. The first thing I saw was that the phone was actually released in 2007 by Sprint. As I looked through the various Google links I found this You Tube Palm Centro tutorial. I couldn’t help but wonder, “Why couldn’t I get a presentation like this in the store?” I guess that I will stick with my Razor phone, at least until I run into a real “salesperson” somewhere.

World Class Artist

While on Maui the other day to conduct my monthly Success Rally at Pictures Plus, I was delighted to reconnect with world renowned artist James Coleman. James was there to do a show that evening at the gallery. I have always admired his work, and found him to be an all around great guy.

Walt Disney Influence
Jim’s roots go all the way back to his days with Disney Studios in the 70’s, where he worked as an animation background designer working on nine feature films and over 30 short subjects. Winnie the Pooh, The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast came to life with James Coleman’s background images.
Today you can find Jim’s art in some of the most prominent and respected galleries in North America, the Orient and the Hawaiian Islands.

Watching the Master at Work
I told Masae that James Coleman would be demonstrating his skills at the Wyland Gallery in Waikiki on Saturday evening. Being an artist herself, and a long time James Coleman admirer, she jumped at the opportunity to meet James and watch him paint.

Masae’s Studio at Uraku Tower
I invited Jim and his son, Scott Coleman to visit us at our Uraku Tower home, see Masae’s studio and have a look at the Morning Report to see how it works in an art gallery. Jim’s art is currently featured in close to 100 art galleries. He and Scott agreed that this would be a great addition to help many of them enjoy even greater success. I am looking forward to helping them make this happen.

The Best Table in Town
Sometimes I forget where the best place to eat is; HOME! After several days in “Computer Hell”, I decided to treat Masae and myself to an early Sunday Dinner somewhere at Ala Moana. There are so many places to choose from, that it’s not always an easy decision.

CPK
The first choice was California Pizza Kitchen. I was delighted to not see a line at the door. We went in and I held up two fingers. The hostess reached out with a beeper and said, “It will be about 20 minutes; our wait staff isn’t here yet”. I was shocked and said, “No thanks, we’ll go next door”. That’s one I have never heard before.

Ruby’s
As we entered Ruby Tuesday I watched the host (on his 2-way headset) talking with a co-worker elsewhere in the restaurant. Without looking at me, or saying anything at all, he handed a hostess two menus, and gave her a table number to take us to. I stared at him and said, “Aloha”. When he looked up I said, “I would prefer a table, not a booth, with floor level chairs.” By the time we reached our table we were freezing in there. Masae put on a jacket and asked me if I thought I would be able to survive the cold. Realizing that they were not likely to warm the place up just for me, I said, “No, let’s go”, and out the door we went. No one noticed our departure.

Macaroni Grill
The last time that I went to Macaroni Grill was the day they opened, and the manager comped our lunch due to the slow service. That memory has always stuck with me, but I decided to give them another try.
As we walked in I was surprised to see how empty the place was, but figured with that being the case, we would get some great service. I was wrong! After being seated for several minutes a waiter rushed by our table announcing, with no eye contact, something like, “I will be with you in a minute”. After sitting there another 10 minutes I went up to the receptionist and asked if we could be moved somewhere with a more responsive wait person. She said, “Sure” and directed me to the other side of the restaurant pointing to a large booth. I asked, “Can we have one of these normal tables with chairs?” There was six to eight empty 4-tops right there. She said, “Wait here, I will need to go ask the hostess.” When she returned, she took us into the bar area.
By now I was ready for a drink, so I thought to myself, “Super?” Well, after sitting there for another five or 10 minutes another waiter sailed by, stopped and wrote his name (in crayon) on the paper table “cloth”, and said, “My name is Chase, your waiter is real busy right now, but he will be with you shortly.” I said, “No, if we are going to stay here, you are going to have to be our savior, I am tired of waiting, and am ready for a drink”. He agreed and took our order. Well, he actually gave us an order form to write in what we wanted. That was different. Half way through our meal he returned to say, “Your drinks will be out shortly”.

Take Home?
And the food; well here’s what we left on the table after our $60 meal. Chase asked if we wanted a “doggie bag” to take that home. We don’t have a dog, so we left it.

Grand Opening - Ala Moana Shopping Center

Congratulations Michael
I was pleased to be among the invitees to congratulate Michael Zhang on the opening of his new Blue Hawaii Life Style store at Ala Moana Shopping Center.

A Private Affair
The event was “private”, however crowds gathered early to check out this unique store. Pacific Business News reported in January that Michael plans to expand to more than 50 locations in China. His goal is to brand Hawaii’s healthy, active lifestyle worldwide.

Hawaiian Blessing
A Kahuna started things off right with a traditional Hawaiian Blessing for Michael and the store. Blessings are a sacred tradition in Hawaiian protocol. The purpose of Blessing Ceremonies is to invite the goodness from the highest for Aloha, happiness, harmony, health, peace, protection & abundance, as well to say Mahalo (thank you) to supportive friends and families.

Blessed
Michael was definitely looking “blessed” as he beamed over the reactions of his many guests to the array of healthful food, drinks and other products that are “uniquely Hawaiian,” such as Hawaiian coffee, deep-sea water, books and music. 

VIP Guest
Among the guests was another long time Success Dynamics customer; Chris Eldridge; the owner of America’s Mattress. I had not seen Chris since the day he began using the Morning Report in his stores more than three years ago. We need more events like this to stay in touch. Three more Success Dynamics clients are opening stores in this exciting new Ala Moana expansion. If you haven’t been there yet, Do It Now.  

1,200 People Shopping

Anyone still thinking we are in a recession needs to take a walk through the new Nordstrom store at Ala Moana.  People were everywhere, and yes, they were carrying Nordstrom bags full of stuff.  
Nordstrom president Blake Nordstrom, was quoted on the Honolulu Advertiser as saying, “It took close to 15 years and three attempts to establish this store.” It took 10 minutes just to get through the door.

All Day - All Evening 

While the crowds continued throughout the day and into the evening, the other end of the mall looked like a morgue.

 Wake Up Call

Other mall retailers, especially Macy’s had better get creative and find ways to capitalize on the draw that Nordstrom has created to the mall.

Sony or Dell
As an admitted neophyte with the computer, it is always a big step to buy one. My first computer (in 2002) was a Dell, which I tossed out the 2nd story window along with the geek that tried to install a simple scanner on it. I also admit that today I probably could have handled the telephone tutorial that Dell offered at the time; perhaps even better than the geek did. In any case, it left a bad taste in my mouth for Dell. Since then I have only had Sony computers (lots of them).

Computers Don’t Like Coffee 

Spilling coffee into my lap top has caused me to order a new computer more times than I care to think about. When something goes wrong I buy a new one and trash the old one, or I give it to a friend capable of making it work. This time it was just a matter of wanting something bigger and faster.

So, I called my favorite geek (I hope that’s not offensive) and asked him, “What’s hot?” As he described the latest and greatest Sony computers I learned that they all come with the VISTA operating system. He went on to say that the only PC still available with Windows XP was Dell. My mind raced back to my earlier experience with Dell and I decided to look into VISTA. I found this YouTube presentation and it scared me. Then I read this article in The Register where geeks can talk to geeks. One said, “I have tried my best to work with VISTA. It just did not work, so I went back to XP and all my problems are gone.”

5-Day Delivery Time

So, Dell gets another chance. I ordered the biggest and best Dell made and had it delivered to my house.

From None to Three

I made an appointment with my “main geek” and had him set up the Dell, keep the Sony, and also install a Compaq as a third back-up; all XP. As I look at myself today with three computer monitors going I wonder whatever happened to that guy who swore that he would NEVER touch a keyboard.
STAY TUNED!

Optimism Required

I continue to hear negative comments about the economy and a so called recession. I also continue to say that “Now is the time to grow”. As evidence of Hawaii’s optimistic outlook, The Honolulu Advertiser reports that 17 new retailers will be opening stores along with Nordstrom’s 210,000-square-foot store. Among those stores are a number of Success Dynamics clients, and I can tell you that we don’t accept pessimism in our ranks. Our clients continue to see good and even record numbers. I am very excited about all of the new opportunities that this growth offers and will also be watching the impact on the naysayer’s and doubters.

Opening Soon
I had the opportunity to tour this new wing the other day and can tell you that the enthusiasm runs high. We are looking at 300,000 square feet of new retail space, bringing Ala Moana Shopping Center up to 2.1 million square feet with about 290 tenants.
Along with these new stores comes the opportunity and challenge of finding good salespeople to work in them. My suggestion is to NOT seek “good salespeople” (they are already doing well elsewhere), but rather to just find “good people” and then help them become good salespeople. My father used to say, “The new broom sweeps clean”. New salespeople do not have any bad habits and are more likely to be open to your teachings than some “old pros” that may want to teach you (and your other employees) their way instead.