Operation Smile Reaction

Last week, husband, child, and I traveled to the nation's capital for some museum-hopping, 9-year-old style: American History, Air & Space, Natural History, and the Spy Museum. The Hope Diamond was "very disappointing" while the dinosaur and mastodon bone reconstructions were "awesome!" Husband and I loved the Lincoln exhibit at American History (well-told and very inspiring). All three of us were wowed by the Spy Museum.

Beautiful weather allowed for a long walk along the mall, past the impressive WWII memorial and the currently-empty reflecting pool, to visit Mr. Lincoln's "temple" and the flanking memorials to the Korean War and the Vietnam War - such powerful reminders.

All in all, a successful spring break trip... with one notable exception.

Most of the "service providers" we encountered "forgot" to smile. As retailers, our radar is set VERY high to the customer service responses of everyone we encounter. We understand that 'smile enforcement' often improves & increases with the quality and cost of service provided (i.e. fast food vs. high end restaurant), but this DC anti-smile trend was overwhelming and pervasive.

It started at the hotel reception.

We walked up to the desk with 2 suitcases and a very excited child, who knew there was an indoor pool. The woman behind the desk glanced up and said "name?"

Really?

No "good morning", no "welcome to the L'Enfant Plaza. Are you checking in with us today?" *sigh*

Maybe she was just having a bad day...

Later, at the cafeteria at the Air & Space Museum, the cashier never looked up from his machine. He simply stood and waited for us to speak. I honestly cannot remember if he even gave us the total. If he did, those were the only words he spoke.

Hmmm...

The next morning, as we were eating at another museum cafeteria (American History), husband said "have you noticed the lack of smiling here?" We both then acknowledged the lackadaisical, uninspired clerks who were sitting in chairs, chins in elbows WHILE THEY RANG UP THE SALES. Huh??? Seriously... imagine your elbow is on your desk, your chin is in your left hand, while your right hand rings up a customer... and you have the picture. A late lunch at a Penn Quarter Cosi gave us the least interested service providers yet... who not only didn't smile, but wouldn't speak above the roar of the ventilation system and screwed up our order to boot.

Curses! We were trapped in a city with a non-smiling epidemic! Our mission: find some smiling people, pronto!

Fortunately, the next morning saved us... of all places, it was a Starbucks. Now, this is a national chain that prides itself on its well-trained, welcoming staff, and that Tuesday morning was no exception. Amid a rush of commuters and morning-coffee-break DC-ites, they smiled at the trio of tourists. They made us feel welcome, and they said thank you. They made us feel like important customers.

Whew.

Here's the thing... what you PROJECT into the world through your facial expressions and body language can create a stronger reaction from others than any words you might speak. We all know the yawn syndrome: whether you're sleepy or not, if you see someone else yawn, your jaw starts to pull in that direction. (I'll bet that just reading this made some of you yawn! I just did.)

The same holds true for smiling (or frowning).

According to a January, 2000 American Psychology Society research report by Swedish psychologists Ulf Dimberg, Monika Thunberg, and Kurt Elmehed:

Studies reveal that when people are exposed to emotional facial expressions, they spontaneously react with distinct facial electromyographic (EMG) reactions in emotion relevant facial muscles. These reactions reflect, in part, a tendency to mimic the facial stimuli.

In layman's terms, this means if you are smiling, someone seeing you is more likely to smile. If you are frowning, they will frown. The next step is the mood change.

It's like the FISH philosophy, that started in the Seattle Pike Place Fish market: there are four "simple but powerful practices" that can change not only your behavior, but the reactions and behavior of those around you. Here are the 4 behaviors practiced by the Seattle fishmongers:

1. Play - bring some fun into your work life. A little laughter goes a long way.
2. Make their day - make someone ELSE happy. A small, sincere compliment will improve their outlook on themselves and on the day (and make them like YOU).
3. Be There - don't let your mind drift away to other things... the party last weekend, the bills at home... be THERE for your customer, guest, friend
4. Choose your attitude - only YOU can choose how to come to work each day. Show up in a bad mood and chances are you'll try to drag everyone down with you all day long. Show up with a sense of optimism and hope, and others will feel your mood.

This week, a good friend told me that I approach life with the glass half-full. I was surprised, because I've always thought of myself as a realist who thinks about what could go wrong in a project/situation/plan and then takes steps to prevent those problems from happening. There is so much in life that we cannot control... but you can control whether you're smiling at the next person you see. It's all about making sweet lemonade out of those tart lemons: Taking the time to notice a cardinal who is having a "bad crest day" on a rainy day makes the rainy day brighter... Try it! You might find it pays forward all the way back to you again.

Oh... and how should you handle it if you encounter a customer service person who isn't smiling? First - try smiling at them. If that doesn't work, and the opportunity exists, please try to let that person's supervisor know. Businesses want their employees to be friendly, first and foremost. If they aren't, we want to know.

I'll end with a shout out to the wonderfully friendly, happy, smiling team you'll find at LaDiff... and if you catch any of them in a mean old scowl, you be sure to let me know, okay?!

Has it really been 30 YEARS since 1980?

Wow.

We're 30.

The big 3-0.

No more swinging twenties for us... LaDIFF is officially OLD.

Here's the tricky part... we're THIRTY, and yet we were born in 1980.
Doesn't that just sound WEIRD???
Wasn't 1980 only a few years ago?

Well... to show you just how long ago 1980 was, here's a quick summary of some of the 'stuff' that happened in 1980. You can decide if it reads like history or is part of your short term memory...

• The underdog U.S. hockey team surprises everyone - themselves included - with their gold medal win over the U.S.S.R. team (psst... that's "Russia" now) at the 1980 Winter Olympics.
• "Blues Brothers" movie with Dan Akwoyd and John Belushi opens
• U.S. President Jimmy Carter authorizes legislation giving $1.5 billion in loans to bail out the Chrysler Corporation (proving that history really does repeat itself).
• Mount St. Helens erupts in Washington, killing 57 and causing US$3 billion in damage (hey! I remember studying about that in 8th grade science class when it happened!).
• In Australia, baby Azaria Chamberlain disappears from a campsite at Ayers Rock, reportedly taken by a dingo, (thereafter burning into our psyche's the phrase "The Dingo ate my baby." spoken in a thick Australian accent)
• Marlo Thomas (aka That Girl) and Phil Donohue get married.
• 21-year-old John McEnroe beat Bjorn Borg to win his 2nd straight US Open title. (many years before he was doing Amex commercials)
• IBM hires Paul Allen and Bill Gates to create an operating system for a new PC. The pair buy the rights to a simple operating system manufactured by Seattle Computer Products and use it as a template. IBM allows the two to keep the marketing rights to the operating system, called DOS.
• Atari becomes the first company to register a Copyright for two computer games "Asteroids" and "Lunar Landar" on June 17, 1980.
• Now 2-time Oscar winner Tom Hanks makes his television acting debut on a little show called Bosom Buddies, where he dresses in drag every night just to keep his apartment.
  
• Former governor of California and former actor & president of the Screen Actor's Guild Ronald Reagan defeats incumbent Jimmy Carter in the presidential election.
• Blondie's Call Me edges out Pink Floyd's Another Brick in the Wall to top the Billboard charts. Olivia Newton-John, Michael Jackson, and Captain & Tennille rounded out the top 5 (no, it wasn't Muskrat Love... although I loved that song when I was a tween).
• A gallon of gas (on average) is $1.19; average income is $19,170, and a new house costs $68,714. More importantly, most cars on the Price is Right still needed only 4 digits to guess the price (average was $7,200).
• Beatle John Lennon is shot & killed by deranged fan, Mark David Chapman, outside of his NYC apartment building, leaving millions of fans to mourn his talent.

And, to be fair, here's what had NOT happened (yet) by 1980...

• We all typed our papers on typewriters. If we made a mistake we either started the page over or used Wite-Out. Yes, there were a few word processors out there (that's what we called computers that let you hit a delete button to erase your mistakes!), but they were expensive! If we needed a copy of the paper, we used carbon paper between the sheets on the typewriter or our teacher let us borrow the 'mimeograph' machine (ah... smell the blue ink.....) "Xerox machines" were available at the library and the post office if you wanted to pay for a copy.
  
• When we called each other on the phone, we used phones connected to cords that went into the wall. Sometimes you had more than one line in the house if mom & dad didn't want to have to share with their kids. Car phones? only for the rich and famous.
• Want to walk around while listening to music? Simply record your favorite songs onto a Memorex cassette, pop it into your Sony Walkman, put on the headphones, and off you go... for about 45-60 minutes. (p.s. most of the time you recorded the songs directly off the radio, during Casey Kasem's Top 40)
• We had 4 television stations... including PBS (Shown on the UHF- Ultra High Frequency - channel). While Tuesdays belonged to ABC and Gary Marshall's hit shows Happy Days and Laverne & Shirley, Friday night was all CBS: The Incredible Hulk (loved me some Bill Bixby), Dukes of Hazzard, and Dallas

Oh... and there was no LaDIFF in Richmond!
LaDiff was 'born' in Charlottesville in 1980. It wasn't until 1992 that we opened a store in Richmond!

Hope you've enjoyed this trip down memory lane.
If it's made you feel OLD, well, I can't say I'm that sorry, since I've been feeling that way for a long time now.

We'd love to hear what YOU remember about 1980 or about LaDiff when we were 'young'. Drop us a line or post a comment.

... and let the anniversary year celebrations begin!

Mr. Washington would WANT you to shop on his birthday.

Today, the United States is celebrating the birthday of the father of our country, the first president of our nation, the man as famous for his legendary-but-not-true tales of wooden teeth, cherry trees, and silver dollar tossing as for his crossing of the Delaware and leading the troops during frigid winters.

George Washington would be 278.
Well, not today actually... it would be NEXT Monday (Feb 22nd), according to the Gregorian calendar... but when Congress passed the federal law that recognizes Mr. Washington's birthday as a national holiday, and made it land on the 3rd Monday of February, no one did the math. The holiday will NEVER be on his actual birthday.

But, since his birthday was not originally Feb. 22, 1732, does it really matter? When Washington was born, the colonies were using the Julian calendar, established by the former Roman emperor, so baby George's recorded birth date was February 11, 1731... *sigh*.

So now we have Feb. 11th, Feb. 22nd, and a floating third Monday.

To make matters worse for the first commander-in-chief, most states, ignoring the federal 'ruling', call it Presidents Day. So now Mr. Washington has to share his day? Perhaps it refers to a joint celebration for Washington and Lincoln; after all Lincoln's birthday was Feb. 12, 1809. Some say it's to honor ALL of the 40+ presidents. Personally I like to think that it's for George & Abe. I'm not ready to have a holiday for Calvin Coolidge just yet (no offense).

Okay... so the holiday is set. The kids are gleeful because it's one more day without school (unless they have endured multiple snow days in the weeks preceding). Grownups without kids are gleeful if they work for federal organizations and the like who tell them they don't have to work that day.

And... retailers are gleeful because people go SHOPPING.

What? Shopping on Washington's Birthday?

What is the meaning of this unusual and possibly irreverent tradition?

Shouldn't we all be researching our history, visiting famous Washington monuments & memorials like the beautiful life-size marble created by Jean-Antoine Houdon that lives in the exquisite, classical Virginia State Capitol building right here in downtown Richmond? (We're rather smitten with Mr. Washington around here, since he is the first of the 8 presidents born in our beautiful state.)

Well, yes, probably...
But, instead, over the last several years, retailers have realized that they have a captive audience with a 3-day weekend. Unlike Memorial Day and Labor Day, the pools aren't open and the beaches are cold, so what's a federal employee to do?

SHOP!

The furniture industry took the marriage of Washington's birthday and selling furniture so seriously, they even founded the American Furniture Hall of Fame on his birthday (his, uh, Gregorian 'real' one: Feb. 22) in 1988.

I for one think Mr. Washington would want his citizens to shop on his birthday. It stimulates the economy. It helps your community. It builds a local tax base (when you shop locally, of course... and you do, right???). And that 'retail therapy' high you feel when find and buy something you love - well - that's gotta be good for America, right?

So, today, on this Washington's Birthday/Presidents/Presidents' Day, as a citizen of this fine country, of the beautiful state of Virginia where this important man was born, I ask you, I implore you, I beseech you to do your patriotic duty.

Get out there and SHOP! ...especially if you want some terrific modern or contemporary furniture that you can only find in a one-of-a-kind 3-story showroom in downtown Richmond...

p.s. LaDiff is open 11-5 today, just for Mr. Washington.

Home Entertainment... then & now

This Saturday, LaDiff is hosting our 7th annual Home Theater Event... except this year we've renamed it our Home Entertainment Event, because now we can 'entertain' ourselves electronically in any room of the house!

Ray Lepper from Home Media of Richmond is going to show us and you all kinds of gizmos and gadgets to bring us up to speed on what's available out there. He'll let us in on all the new secrets of wireless capability so that you can program, watch, enjoy, and be entertained anywhere and everywhere in your house.

Which got me to thinking...

The 'what' is really nothing new... it's the HOW that's the new part (the gizmos and gadgets, that is).

When I was a kid, my sister and I enjoyed 'home entertainment' all the time! When I think about it, our house was light years ahead of its time in terms of what was available... especially circa 1979.

You see, our dad was (and still is) a gadget freak. A nut. A junkie.

It all started with the trains. When little Jimmy was a boy, he liked trains. He liked Lionel trains, and he got new ones every year for his birthday and for Christmas (and he got upset if he did not get the one he asked for... yes, we have family video footage to prove this little temper tantrum to his grandchildren.) When I was a very small child, Jimmy's train village took up an entire room in our basement. Occasionally he would let my sister or me wear the conductor's hat, too. Now the trains are packed away... (we need to change that).

Then there were the phones. Jimmy worked for 'the phone company'. We had LOTS of phones. When most of our friends had 2-3 phones (1 in the kitchen, 1 in their parents' bedroom, and 1 in the study or den), we had... 17. Yes. We had 17 phones. Oh, and they ALL worked.

We had the expected princess styles in the bedrooms (and bathrooms), and then we had the novelty phones: Mickey Mouse, Celebrity, Stars & Stripes. When our friends came over, there were two distinct favorites: the switchboard and the phone booth. The switchboard had all of the wires and plugs, just like the kind Lily Tomlin used when she squawked "one ringy dingy, two ringy dingy" on Laugh-In. And it worked.

The phone booth was the real hit though. The payphone inside the booth really did require quarters to call out. ... which reminds me of the payphone episode in The Brady Bunch... a plan that went bust on poor Mike Brady... but I digress.

This was the kind of phone booth that helped Clark Kent become SuperMan, the kind that college students used to stuff themselves into for photo opps, the kind that my giant stuffed gorilla from a long ago boyfriend used to live in, after I left for college.

So, we've got the trains and the phones. We also had GAMES. Board games were a huge part of growing up for us. From Chutes & Ladders, Candyland, and Sorry, we moved onto Operation, Twister, Life, Trouble, and Clue. Of course we had the requisite Monopoly sets, multiple Scrabble boards, and, later, Pictionary and Trivial Pursuit.

And, of course, when 'video games' came out, my dad had to get the latest and greatest gadget of them all: PONG by Atari. For those of you too young to remember this early video game, you can click here for a PONG video version. Note the high skill and technical prowess required........ to stay awake while playing.

Thanks to my dad's gadget-habit, we girls also had great stereo systems, walkie-talkies, cb radios, early cell phones (the ones that actually came in a bag you kept in your car), and COMPUTERS!

So, I guess when I begrudge my daughter some screen time with the TV, Wii, DS, or computer, I really need to think back to the time I spent on 'Home Entertainment' growing up. Gadgets can make our lives simpler AND more complex. We love 'family game night' at our house, because it means we turn OFF the tv and play charades or a board game. We also love having teams and challenging each other to a bit of Wii bowling (my 9-year-old is darn good... and my Mii is cuter than I am, so it's a whole lot of fun!).

However you enjoy 'Home Entertainment' with your family and friends, we hope you'll visit LaDiff this Saturday, Feb. 6th, to get a glimpse at some of the NEW ways we can be 'entertained' at home.

The 'Because' of Cause Marketing

January is traditionally a time for reviewing the year that's gone by and planning for the new year ahead. As a retailer, planning one's "marketing" calendar is part of that process.

At LaDIFF, we enjoy plugging in both sides of our brains to get the creative/right brain working with the strategic/left brain.

This year - 2010 - we have something very special to celebrate: LaDiff's 30th anniversary. As you may have read in our previous blog, an homage and plea to assist earthquake-stricken Haiti, the seed of inspiration to begin LaDifference began on that very island, 30 years ago.

For many retail businesses, marketing is all about "advertising". The traditional channels of print, television, direct mail, and radio are now all mixed up with the newer channels of web advertising and social media. Often when meeting with an 'expert', these are the channels discussed: where dollars should be spent, should you use image or promotional creative spots, which is better: frequency or audience... etc. etc. etc.

Seldom do the 'experts' mention an area that means quite a lot to LaDiff: "Cause Marketing"

Cause marketing is when you find a way to present your mission and vision and hopefully reap financial success in such a way that it also brings attention to a "worthy cause." When businesses, both big & small, choose to allocate some of their "advertising" dollars to causes that matter both to them and to their customers, their customers respond.

In the last week, our customers have called and written in support of Andy's blog post and (subsequent Richmond Times Dispatch reprinting!) about his memories of Haiti.

In the last week, we delivered over 400 pounds of canned goods to the Central Virginia Foodbank and will be following that up with a healthy cash donation - all from our customers who enjoyed giving to a local cause in exchange for a fun holiday sale.

In the last week, we tallied up the donations for our Ekornes promotion to learn we exceeded our goal and nearly tripled what we brought in last year. We will be presenting a very happy check to the Caritas Furniture Bank on behalf of the customers who wanted to give.

In the last week, I have responded to a giant pile of solicitations for silent auction donations for area schools and non-profits, whose board members and donors and party attendees are all current or future customers of LaDifference.

To whom you give and how you help can vary. We are fortunate to have a LARGE building where we can support the occasional fun evening event. For the second year in a row, Easter Seals will be throwing their annual Eggstravaganza bash in our store!

Whether you put up posters to help others advertise their fundraisers, you put a jar for donations on your counter, you stroke a check to sponsor an event, or you simply spread the word through Facebook, Twitter, or email lists to help "causes"... you CAN make a difference in your community.

We've got plans for more 'cause marketing' in our 2010 advertising budget.

I hope you do, too.

Our Haitian Beginning...

guest blogger: Andy Thornton, president and founder of LaDifférence, Inc.

For La Diff the news of the earthquake yesterday, January 12th, is close to home in many ways. La Diff is celebrating our 30th anniversary this year and it was Haiti that spawned our creation in 1980. Our very name, LaDifférence, comes from Haiti’s national slogan – Haiti, Vive La Différence.

From 1978 – 1980 I lived in Port au Prince and created an export business handling handicrafts, artwork, rugs, and the like. We worked with hundreds of Haitians in the capital, in Gonaives, Jacmel, St. Marc and in the countryside. The experiences were incredibly formative and rich. Some were delightful, some were quite painful but they all left an indelible impression on me.

The news that we are now getting out of Haiti is indeed very sad. Once again this poor country has been hit with tragedy – this time in the form of a massive earthquake whose epicenter was close to the capital of Port Au Prince.

Because of the lack of communication systems, the rest of world is only just starting to get reports of the nature and extent of the damage; it seems to be pretty devastating.

If one were Haitian it would seem fair to wonder why so much travail and hardship is 'dumped' on this island and its people. Already the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere it has suffered from innumerable hurricanes, political violence, corruption, deforestation, over population and a litany of other ills that would break most people’s spirits or beliefs. Now they are faced with rebuilding their lives and homes after the worst earthquake in the region in 200 years. It seems hard to understand how anyone could suffer so greatly and still go on.

And yet the Haitian spirit seems irrepressible. These are lovely people who have faced adversity countless times but keep smiling and persevering. They will survive and they will rebuild. Ask a Haitian "comment ou ye?" (how are you?) and the most likely answer will be "map debat" (I am getting by). They have an uncanny knack for survival and good humor and good grace but certainly could use any help that we can give them in this dark hour.

Personally and through LaDifférence, we will extend financial assistance to Haiti to assist in relief work and to help rebuild this island nation. There will be many outlets for providing support; we only ask that you donate to established, reputable organizations, such as the Red Cross, Oxfam. The Huffington Post is providing lists of ways we all can help, and they will be updating the list regularly. We hope you will help us show support to this country of survivors.

My heart goes out to Haitian friends from years gone by – William, Lionel, Luckner, Francois, Jean-Jacques, to their families and to so many more. "Monsieur et madame, m’pense ampil d’ou jodi a."

What the 'experts' are saying...

Who doesn't like to be right? Or, at least, have their opinion validated by some experts in print.

My chest was all puffed up yesterday morning, as we greeted the New Year and read an article in the Richmond Times Dispatch about Home Trends to watch for in 2010. First off, the puffed up chest went well with my puffy eyes and face from actually seeing midnight for the first time in a few years (I really needed to say goodbye to 2009 in person, and watch it leave... for good.) ... but that's a different story.

While Mr. President of LaDiff was none to pleased that design blogger Patricia Shackelford "thinks we'll see more patchwork quilts, hooked rugs, needlepoint and chintz" in the year to come, you have to read between those words to see the meaning of her message.

Remember... when times are 'tough', comfort is KING, and what is more comforting than the familiar? and, little does he know, we've just added a beautiful very antique quilt, hand-sewn by my great grandmother Carrie Ferguson and great great aunt Bess, to our homestead.

My belief has been that if you surround yourself with items you love, that are beautiful to you, they will 'work together' to become something harmonious. In the same story, Keith Johnson, buyer at large for Anthropologie (one of my FAVORITE stores to visit in NYC... and now a 5 minute walk from my Richmond home) talks about selecting items on the Sundance Channel program "Man Shops Globe." Johnson says "recycled items will be purchased only if they are beautiful." Beauty+function+recycled=a great combo.

So, how would you expect a 'modern' furniture store to react to this infusion of the 'comforts of traditional fare'?

For those who know our store, you also know we've always been a bit 'eclectic'. (Richmond Magazine even described us that way in one of their annual 'Best of...' issues). When LaDiff first opened, a whopping 30 years ago in Charlottesville, VA, the store sold Haitian handcrafts. Furniture didn't even come into the mix for about 2 years.

Having the name "LaDifference" means you are not locked into ONE style. We have ventured down all of avenues of design: Shaker, arts & crafts, minimal, glamour, whimsical, stark, rustic, high gloss, over the top, shabby chic, recycled, old world, mid-century modern, ... you name it, we've seen it, done it, sold it... because this is how people (YOU) truly live. Last year, we added Vive as an expansion of our love for the eclectic and exotic.

In October, the blog about purposeful eclecticism showed our thoughts in how these designs are now merging and mixing together more beautifully and in a more accepted fashion.

Reading the 'expert opinions' on Saturday morning was quite interesting. Not that we 'need' the validation (okay, yes, ... yes, sometimes I do), but it was nice to wake up on the first day of the new year and 'read' that our look is on the right track.

Here's to 2010 - twenty-ten - MMX - look for more celebration and fun and walks down our 30 year memory lane as the year goes by. We hope to see YOU more often, inside our wonderful 'recycled' building, enjoying our historic downtown, and loving our eclectic yet modern home furnishings. ... Our goal is to inspire you to take a few pieces back to YOUR home too.

Happy New Year!