nice
So I’m Googeling around looking for information about commercial invoices. What value do you have to use on the goods shipped if it’s prototypes? I started reading this one site when I notice a text in the lower left hand corner. It’s a Buddha quotation. “What we think we are. The mind is everything. All we are is the result of what we have thought.” Quite a strange thing to put on a business site. Never the less it got me thinking. The power of the mind is incredible. If we smile or laugh it sends signals to our brains that we are happy. “What we think we are”. So when ever my depressing thoughts take over my brain: that’s what I am. This is true of course.
Or is it simply saying “perception is reality”?
Earlier this week I ordered a book called the power of nice. I like nice. Try to live by it myself. There are times however when nice can be too much for some people though it seams. As I’m happily walking around in the grocery story one evening, this man walks up to me. He looks like a perfectly normal man in his 40ies. He points down at my cart and asks “Did you find those sodas here? I’ve never seen them before. What are they?”. Instead of being a normal low-key Swede trying to avoid any contact with strangers, it was if someone has asked me to be in a TV ad! I took up my Mountain Dew and held it as if I had to show it to the camera. It’s only sold in certain stores with a “US-corner” where you also find Ranch dressing and marshmallow fluff. I told him everything there is to know about this drink. But either the guy was very shy or in a hurry. He hardly looked me in the eyes, sort of backed away from me and tries to hurry off. I wasn’t quite done with my Mountain Dew campaign and shout after him “and it contains loads of caffeine!”.
It got me thinking of this show on TV now called The Singles Coaches where they teach people with low self-esteem how to approach someone they want to date. One of the tip the coaches had for one of the guys where that “it’s ok to walk up to the girl in the park who is reading, and ask what she is reading”. Maybe this guy thought asking about my sodas was a good way to make contact? He just wasn’t prepared for my nice-campaign! Sometimes I think nice can be too nice.
posted by Åsa @ 8:52 AM
15 Comments:
I would have thought that Mountain Dew was global. I love your writing and look forward to reading your blog. :)
What a sweetie you are ”it’s me”! Thank you so much! And I so agree: Mountain Dew should totally be a global drink!
See you later at your blog :-)
I am laughing picturing your "commercial." You should send this story in to Mountain Dew and maybe get a few free drinks. LOL!
Nice can be a good thing when in the right hands. Some people look at niceness as a weakness and that's when I have to act a fool. LOL!
Asa...I didn't mean to post as anonymous. Don't know what happened. This was my comment:
I am laughing picturing your "commercial." You should send this story in to Mountain Dew and maybe get a few free drinks. LOL!
Nice can be a good thing when in the right hands. Some people look at niceness as a weakness and that's when I have to act a fool. LOL!
You probably scared the heck out of that guy! I'll bet he wasn't wasn't expecting that. It's too bad that people sometimes associate really nice with being slightly suspicious or even crazy. :)
There are U.S. corners at stores in Sweden? I didn't know that!!
I think there is plenty of power in being nice. I just wish more people practiced it!
CreoleInDC: Hey that’s a good idea! I should see if Mountain Dew would send me a few cans for mention them on my blog ;-) I laughed at myself when I thought about what I had done!
Strange that nice can be looked upon as a weakness. In improvisation class we talked about status. High status can also be someone like Dahlia-Lama or Gandhi. And I rather scare people off by being too nice than by being rude.
Greg: Oh I’m sure this guy thought I was very suspicious! That is just not normal behaviour on a Wednesday night at the grocery store in Stockholm!
Diane: Jepp – there are! It’s kind of funny. But there are a few products that just don’t sell enough to be part of the regular grocery store selection. We also have Thai corners and Tex-Mex corners etc in the stores as well.
I’m just glad that nice is starting to get recognised. That It’s a fact that nice people have easier to get employed etc. You don’t have to be cut-throat to succeed. And it’s healthier for the body to be nice. A win-win situation you know!
I think there's two types of nice--one that comes from confidence, and one that stems from fear. Of the two, only the confidence version is truly real.
You're very nice.
yeharr
There is no such thing as too nice *S*
Maybe the fellow was just a bit overwhelmed with all the information. Let alone wondering what "ranch dressing" is and why any one would want to dress a ranch in the first place!
Balloon Pirate: What a sweetheart you are! You saying that mean a lot to me.
Your interpretation of two nice, sort of corresponds to the high status nice as supposed to low status brown-nosing. Right? And of course it comes from confidence! It never occurred to me. Or maybe it gives confidence? Hen/Egg. I think one thing can lead to the other.
Mal: I have no idea what scared that poor guy off. But something sure did! Maybe there’s no such thing as too nice – but there can be too much information…
By the way! Do you have Mother Goose Ranch Dip powder – you know that you can use for chips or vegetables - where you live? I used to get that in CA, but haven’t found it on the East Coast. I love that stuff!
Åsa’s note to self: Hmmm… No one has commented on the commercial invoice value yet.
Asa- I have only seen Mother Goose when I visit my Dad in So Cal. Here in Minnesota it is pretty much only "Hidden Valley" and nothing else.
Regarding the invoices...should we ask? DARE we ask? *L*
Yeah, and they also have quotes from Abraham Lincoln, Mother Theresa, Goethe and Oprah. In addition they have time and distance calculators, a world clock, and a simulated slot machine. Looks like it's trying to be a valueable tool to people doing international business.
Yeharr
Mal: the invoice thing isn’t so bad. I mean if you sell one batch for $100K because it’s including the R&D and then get to manufacture more batches after that they sell for $10. What is the true value that should be on the commercial invoice?
<Balloon Pirate: well I would have spent more time on that site, had I only realized how helpful it was! You don’t KNOW how many times I’ve been needing a simulated slot machine at work ;-)
Happy Thanks Giving you guys!
Asa- now thats a can of worms? It depends on whether you are looking at the economic costs or accounting costs. Are the costs opportunity related, value added, or maybe accrued? How does that play into customer acquisition costs? My head spins just thinking about it! The one thing I can assure you is the number is probably inaccurate.
In our industry, we evaluate the opportunity. If the opportunity is reasonable in size, we will do the product development work and often supply a proto-type run for customer evaluation at no charge. There is a very real cost to the customer to evaluate our material, so we try to make it a mutual investment.
I am not sure if this is a style of doing business or part of our industry in general. Send me an E-mail with some particulars if you would like to discuss it further
Okay, I seriously think you should get royalties for advertising!!! That's too funny! (Meanwhile, he's trying to pick you up...)
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