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Time Away With My Wife
By Robert Skrob | July 28, 2008
My mom wanted to spend the weekend with her grandchildren, so my wife, Kory, and I took the opportunity to spend a weekend alone together in Orlando.
My wife’s commandment for Saturday morning was that I needed to sleep in. After a long week, I was ready for a few extra hours of sleep.
Later that day, after a stop at the Victoria Secret outlet to buy $45 bras for $9.99, we visited Expo. It’s an upscale home design store owned by Home Depot. They sell everything you need to decorate your home, other than furniture and paint. They have appliances, light fixtures, drapes, faucets, thousands of different knobs, area rugs and a whole lot more than I could name.
When home prices are appreciating at 20% a year, it’s easy to invest money in a home remodel. But even in the current down housing market, there were folks buying countertops, appliances, $3,500 area rugs and mammoth outdoor kitchens in every corner of the store.
A visit to this store proves that people are still spending a lot of money in spite of $4-a-gallon gas. There is plenty of money out there if you work at it.
Luckily, I got out of Expo without spending any money. I spent all my money on $10 bras.
One thing did amaze me. Everywhere we went we were greeted by an eager employee. You could roam a Home Depot store for weeks without finding an employee. At Expo you can’t walk 15 steps without being greeted and assisted to find something to buy.
Making it easy to buy is essential to generating customers in any economy. While a few years ago these employees would have been busy writing up orders, now they have to be busy selling. Today, these employees have to turn lookers into buyers.
Selling is more difficult, but it’s still happening throughout the market. Having a great system for turning lookers into customers is essential to thriving in today’s economy. You can’t rely on customers selling themselves any longer.
Saturday night we visited Jimmy Buffet’s Margaritaville restaurant. Don’t worry, we took a cab back and forth so we didn’t have to drive.
I must say, I’m a big Margaritaville fan. Even so, it’s hard to imagine anyone walking out of there not being a fan. The food is pretty typical. We had nachos and a hamburger. That plus more than $50 in liquor.
Jimmy is famous for saying, “Sure, it would be more interesting to serve sushi and champagne, but what people really want is a good hamburger and a great margarita.” That’s what you get at the Orlando Margaritaville.
It’s important to remember that while Jimmy Buffet sells the image that he’s relaxing in a hammock, he’s actually extremely hard at work propagating that image. He tours with a series of concerts throughout the country every year. He performs at fewer concerts than a couple of years ago, but it’s still a lot of travel.
That, plus evaluating hundreds of licensing deals, managing his record company, planning tours and overseeing his restaurants plus his own radio station take a lot of work.
Buffet’s hard work is what makes Margaritaville that much more impressive. How can something that had so much work go into it make you feel so good about loafing? It’s a work of loafing art.
Kory and I had great plans to stay out late and party into the night. In the end, we went back to the hotel and were asleep by 10 p.m.
We woke Sunday morning without any plans for the day. So we enjoyed a great breakfast at IHOP (may I recommend the stuffed French toast?) while we decided what to do with our day.
Turns out, we went to Disney’s Hollywood Studios theme park. It was busy and hot, but we braved it anyway.
As we walked up to the ticket booth, I was pleased to have the attendant try to sell us the five-day pass rather than the one-day passes we wanted. Even the ticket booth attendants at Disney are experts at increasing their transaction size.
Kory and I saw almost every attraction. Even though the park was crowded, we were able to get around without a lot of hassles. We waited 20 to 30 minutes for shows to start, but never waited more than 15 to 20 minutes for any of the rides. At some attractions we walked in without waiting.
I’m always impressed with the number of employees Disney has and how well trained they are. When you watch them work, you can see there is a checklist for every job. They go through their steps in the same order each time. They say their “lines” as scripted. They are courteous because they aren’t haggard from the effort of having to reinvent their jobs every 10 minutes.
Disney World has more than 55,000 employees; it’s the largest jobsite in the world. While there are companies with more employees, none has more in one location. With all those employees, it’s amazing how they can keep up with checklists for the 3rd person at the ride. However, they do it.
How many positions do you have in your company? I can tell you that I only have seven folks at my company. And I’m embarrassed to tell you, there aren’t enough checklists and scripts to outline how work is supposed to get finished. At least for now.
Disney has a show about The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian movie. After the show I asked Kory to take a photo of me in front of the stone table where Aslan was murdered by the White Witch in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Pretty cool, isn’t it?
After a day at the park, Kory and I hit McDonald’s and went back to the hotel to crash. We were never hurried or hassled, but the sun tired us out all the same.
Now I’m on an airplane heading to Las Vegas for a meeting. It’s the Destination Marketing Association International’s annual meeting. This event is for individuals who work to attract visitors to their communities. They are employed by organizations called travel bureaus or convention and visitors bureaus. Just a few years ago, these folks sent out hundreds of thousands of printed travel guides. In the years since, they’ve converted to websites. Now they have interactive websites that allow their guests to upload their own stories, photos and videos of their vacation experiences. Amazing how things are changing in every industry.
I hope you have a great week.
Topics: Skrob Family | 2 Comments »
August 13th, 2008 at 7:55 PM
I couldn’t stop laughing about your Home Depot Expo Experience. The last time we went we spent 1600 dollars on door knobs! I have banned my husband from going there ever again.
August 14th, 2008 at 3:45 AM
Only $1,600? It’s easy to spend a lot of money in that place. Good to hear from you.