Anyone who has gone out to eat with me knows that as soon as we are seated and the server comes to our table, the first three words out of my mouth are always, “What’s your name?”

I think years ago my two daughters were embarrassed by my question. But as they have grown older and wiser, I think they agree that by asking the server’s name, you establish a closer connection.

I’ve found 100% of the time that once I know the server’s name, I find ways to use it. I thank them for taking my order, for bringing me my drink, for refilling my water, etc. And with this more authentic, personal connection—using their first name—I always get better service. My party seems to get more attention and when we leave, it feels like we had a superior experience.

Sometimes, the server will ask me my name in return! That always catches me off guard, but when they use my name when addressing me, my positive experience is significantly increased.

So, that made me think, how could other businesses or positions leverage using someone’s name?

For example, when I go to the doctor, it would make a positive difference for me if the receptionist or nurse would introduce themselves: “Hello, I’m Sandra and I am the doctor’s nurse. I will be taking you to your examination room, but first I need to get your vitals.” Surely that’s a lot better than barking out my name from the waiting room and then, after a walk down a long hallway, them indicating to me to sit down to get my blood pressure taken or get my weight.

Or, when I arrive at a restaurant, wouldn’t it enhance my experience to have the person at the host station say, “Hello Ms. Caplan, so happy to have you with us this evening. I am Thomas and I am checking to make sure your table is ready. It will be my pleasure to take you there now! Please follow me.”?

Some organizations depend on name tags to do the job. Did you know that the proper side to wear your name badge on is your RIGHT side? That’s because when shaking a person’s hand it is easiest to read a tag/label on the right. Most people put it on the left side and oftentimes it’s covered by a lapel or long hair, making it difficult to read. And don’t get me started on those companies who put no thought into the typeface size or ease of legibility on name tags. But, why depend on a name tag? I think it’s better to properly introduce yourself verbally.

I went to a small holiday party last week and there were no name tags. The gathering was in a person’s home and there were only a dozen people. But some people were new to the group and others hadn’t seen each other for a long time. Frankly, I didn’t remember everyone’s name and had to whisper to a friend and ask. I personally think that even in these kinds of personal settings, it is a gesture of kindness to your guests to prepare name tags, if only with the person’s first name, printed in large, easy-to-read lettering. Then have guests apply it on the right side.

So, the next time you go someplace, try it out. Ask the persons’ name—no matter where you are. It will make them feel more important, and you will probably have a better experience.

“A person’s name is to him or her the sweetest and most important sound in any language.”  Dale Carnegie

Karen

In my office, I noticed a giant stack of newspapers and magazines piling up on my assistant’s desk. Turns out, we receive more than 10 paper copies of each industry newspaper, plus at least two or three copies of each magazine.

So I grabbed a stack of the 10 duplicate newspapers and walked around the office asking, “Do you want a copy of this newspaper?” The vast majority of everyone said “no thanks”, as they get a daily electronic version via email.  Since my co-workers are on their computers all day long, plus many of them work remotely from their home offices, they have gotten used to reading the headlines on their computer and only clicking through on the super interesting stories for more info. I did find a few people who were interested in the physical paper, but honestly, they were the other baby boomers in my office (we have a great mix of team members in their 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s and 60s).

So here I was with eight copies of the industry paper and thinking, “what a waste of natural resources.” What was even weirder about this situation was that I remember cancelling all our subscriptions to these physical copies when I realized times had changed and many people found it easier just to read on online. It seems as if the publisher of these industry papers continued to send them out, probably as a way to keep their circulation numbers high.

So, this mini-experiment made me think—how many other opportunities are there to make the choice: Paper or electronic?

Airplane tickets/Boarding passes — I love getting my boarding passes on my smartphone, via the airline app. No need to print the boarding pass ahead of time or stand in line when I get to the airport to print a ticket.

Reading books on a Kindle — Many people swear by the Kindle—only one small screen to carry instead of those large, heavy, paper books.

Music — Most of us use a device for our music—but back in the day, we had to purchase cassette tapes or CDs in order to listen to our favorite music. Now, thanks to our smartphones plus wireless speakers, we can get our music anytime, any place.

Coupons — Remember clipping coupons? Now, almost all coupons can be downloaded digitally and you have them handy on your smartphone and your smart wallet.

To-do lists —  I admit, I still like to make paper lists for food shopping or my things to do, but many people use the “notes” app on their phone to make those lists, or they use the list function on Amazon or Out of Milk.

Movies — Don’t get me started on the revolution in this business. First you could only see movies by going to a physical movie theater. Then, do you remember purchasing movie DVDs? After that you could rent them at Blockbuster; then Netflix started mailing them to your home. Now, we have Apple TV, Hulu, Amazon+, etc. You can get any movie, any place. And with your smartphone or tablet, you can even watch them while on an airplane.

Magazines — Okay, I’m a little old fashioned here. We get subscriptions to at least 10 monthly magazines at our home. And, yes they do pile up sometimes … but they do get read. It’s kind of fun thumbing through the magazines, ripping out pages of stories I want to share or save.  I am aware that every one of these magazines also has my email address and drops a teaser headliner email too frequently into my inbox. But I can hit that delete button pretty easily.

Thank-you notes — I still hand write thank you notes—to the tune of 290 handwritten notes so far this year. Yes, that’s more than one a day! Sure, I could send a text or an email … but in the last two weeks I’ve gotten three separate emails from recipients of my handwritten thank-you notes with essentially the same comment: “I know this seems ridiculous to send you a thank-you note for the thank-you note. But thank you! You really made me feel special. And I rarely, if ever, get a paper note anymore.”

I could go on and on with examples of how my world has shifted from being paper-based to electronic. Most of these changes are for the better, but some are a definite adjustment.

Since the pendulum has swung very far to the “electronic everything,” this means you can really stand out if you do something on paper. I predict printed company brochures, magazines, and personalized stationery are making a comeback.

So, stand out!

Karen

With all my running and walking activities of late (I completed my fourth half marathon on last Saturday), I am having a bit of discomfort with my feet and my knees. So, I thought it would be best to see a podiatrist.

It’s so amazing how the universe works—as within a day or two after I mentioned this out loud, a longtime friend of mine sent me an email and randomly mentioned she was having foot issues and found a great podiatrist near where I live!

So, I immediately called the doctor’s office to set up an appointment. When the receptionist answered, the first thing I said was, “Who’s this?” That always catches people by surprise, but I have found it is important to refer to someone by name. The office manager’s name is Jan, and I thanked her for all her help in setting up my appointment for the following week.

I have a practice of always setting up any number I call for service or a business in my contacts. That’s because I’ve learned over the years that I will usually have to call them back again, and this saves me from having Post-its all around my work area, or having to remember their name, or having to look them up via Google. I also add the “label” for what kind of service they are in their Outlook contact. For example, in this case I wrote the word “podiatrist” in the contact, so if I need to call the person back, I am not having to remember the doctor’s actual name—I can just do a search in contacts for “podiatrist.” It has saved me tons of time searching for my plumber, my electrician, and even the cable company.

After I had set up the appointment, within a few days my work schedule went crazy and I suddenly had a work conflict with the doctor’s appointment.

So when I called the office to change my appointment, I said, “Hi, is this Jan?” I could tell the office manager was quite startled that I knew her by name. That’s because in addition to saving the doctor’s information in my contacts, I added the name of the person who answered the phone. I do that all the time—I add people’s spouses names, kids’ gender and ages, secretary’s name, etc. I learned long ago that the most important word to any person is their own name and recalling something about them personally always creates an instant connection.

Jan easily gave me a new appointment time. I could tell she was especially nice on the phone, as I made her feel important by using her name.

Have you ever done something similar to this?  Perhaps asked a server at a restaurant their name when you are seated and then thanked them by name during your meal? Did they seem a little bit more attentive to you?

So, I hope the next time you make a new connection, that you will immediately add their name, email, number, etc. to your phone/email contacts. Believe me, it may take a little bit of extra time up front, but you will thank me later when you need to reconnect with someone.

Best practice 101.

Karen

Yesterday I was on a business trip with a coworker. Because our offices are here in California and so much of the produce we sell grows here, it is easy to drive (or in our case, fly) to visit a few growers in a single day.

As we were driving back to the airport, I thanked my coworker for driving (it was about 250 miles round trip). He said, “No problem!”

I kind of gulped when he said that. Whenever I hear the words “no problem,” I am reminded of an important lesson I learned a few years ago.

A friend of mine pointed out that when we say the words “no problem,” we are actually projecting two negative words: “no” and “problem.” However, when we say “no problem,” it usually is because someone has thanked us for doing something, and instead of saying “you’re welcome,” we want to make it sound like it wasn’t a big deal, so we say “no problem.”

It reminds me of learning basic French. The word for thank you in French is “merci.” To respond to “merci,” you are taught to say the casual response of “de rien” (which literally translated means “for nothing”).

So, I offered an alternative answer to my coworker. I suggested that next time someone thanks him for something, how about saying “my pleasure.” He smiled at me and agreed to try it and see how it felt.

We pulled up to a gas station on our journey home and he got out to put gas in the car. I said, “Thanks for filling up the car with gas!” He paused, stuck his head back in the car, and said with a smile, “my pleasure.”

He agreed that it felt so much better.

And, it actually made ME feel better.

So, next time someone says “thank you,” resist the temptation to say “no problem.”  Consider saying, “It was my pleasure!”

Karen

 

Los Alamitos, CA (September 2020) – October 1 marks the 43rd annual World Vegetarian Day. World Vegetarian Day was started in 1977 and serves to kick off Vegetarian Awareness Month, a month-long celebration of plant-based foods.

More and more people are embracing a plant-based lifestyle, and the emergence of COVID-19 has only accelerated that movement. Healthy, plant-based eating is fast emerging as a way for shoppers to feel in control of their health, while also giving their bodies the best chance of fighting off disease. According to IRI, fresh produce sales are up over 10% compared to last year, versus flat growth at the start of the pandemic1.

“The pandemic has resulted in what we like to call a ‘health trigger moment,” which is the point where consumers start to rethink their approach to diet and lifestyle. Right now consumers are making shifts in how they eat fueled by the quest for immunity, which is why World Vegetarian Month is the perfect opportunity to plug into the immunity-boosting benefits produce shoppers are looking for,” says Cindy Sherman, director of marketing & insights at Frieda’s.

How can your produce department capitalize on this movement and capture the shoppers’ attention? We suggest focusing on plant-based, immunity-boosting items, including the  Stokes Purple® Sweet Potatoes (with almost 4 times the vitamin C of an orange sweet potato); Turmeric, known for its immunity-boosting, inflammation-fighting properties; and Ginger with its antioxidant, antimicrobial, and anti-inflammatory properties.

This World Vegetarian Day, be sure to have the fruit and vegetable variety shoppers are seeking for their health and wellness. Call your Frieda’s account manager today for ideas on how to make your store a vegetarian destination all month long!

Source:
1IRI, 210 Analytics, Produce Marketing Association data 8/23/20

 

About Frieda’s Inc.
Frieda’s Specialty Produce has been inspiring new food experiences for friends, families, and food lovers everywhere since 1962. From kiwifruit and dragon fruit to Stokes Purple® sweet potatoes and habanero peppers, Frieda’s has introduced more than 200 unique fruits and vegetables to the U.S. marketplace. Founded by produce industry trailblazer Dr. Frieda Rapoport Caplan, subject of the 2015 documentary “Fear No Fruit,” the family company is owned and operated by Frieda’s daughters, Karen Caplan and Jackie Caplan Wiggins, in Orange County, California. Find Frieda’s on Facebook, @FriedasProduce, and Friedas.com. Inspire. Taste. Love.