Best Sedona Hiking Guide

Jim Reich is your man! I first found him on Trip Advisor where he received rave reviews. As I continued my online research, his site sedonahikingadventures.com kept coming up. His hikes are not ‘cookie cutter’ hikes for large groups of tourists, they are customized to your skill level, taste and interest.

I emailed him the week before I arrived to see what his availability might be. We spoke on the phone and based on our rapport, I booked two hikes with him. I explained that I was in decent shape but wanted an ‘easy’ hike and wanted his dog, Summit to join us.

Jim picked me up at my hotel and he gave me a brief driving tour of several hikes near my condo that I could conquer on my own later in the week. We stopped at Euro Deli (Omg delicious sandwiches!) to get our lunch to eat on the trail.

We began our hike around 10:30. We started up the Wilson trail, a nice, comfortable but challenging incline. My new Merrell hiking shoes handled the trail and the red rocks nicely….no blisters! All along the way Jim narrated what peaks we could see, the history of the name, how to hike to the top etc. He was patient when I needed to stop for a drink of water and to catch my breath. My eyes were so focused on the trail, looking down to make sure I didn’t miss step, I had to purposely choose to stop, to breathe, take in the view and to appreciate the beauty. Parts of the trail were narrow and on the edge of a steep drop if I slipped or lost my concentration. Jim carried his own camera so he could help document my hike. I should have counted how many times I said “WOW”! Breathtaking, stunning, amazing, awesome are some of the words that come to mind that still don’t do the red rocks justice!

We ended the first trail back at the parking lot and continued down towards a creek for lunch and swimming. At this point I was already fatigued and hungry…and anyone who knows me, knows that I only get crabby when I’m tired or hungry and now I’m both!

We took a simple trail down to the creek area then Jim explained we needed to hike a little further up the flood plan over these big river rocks to get to our secluded spot he had named “Dave’s Rock”. As we are walking, climbing and jumping from rock to rock, I wonder out loud, “Jim do you consider this an easy hike?!” It was a fantastic work-out and challenge to my balance skills but I was fatigued and hungry for lunch! And secretly in my head I was thinking “are you effing kidding me? I’m paying this guy to effing torture me!”

Then we get to a point where we have to cross the creek to get to Dave’s rock. I was not prepared with water shoes so Jim carried my shoes and backpack. I was close to losing it at this point. I joke that I am a delicate flower. I’m not an out-doorsy girl who hikes all the time. I had a spa pedicure a few days before the trip. And now I’m crossing a creek barefoot with my OPI Pink Flamenco toes! Are you kidding me?!

Jim was extremely patient and supportive the whole way. He kept reassuring me I was going great and it was going to be worth it. I’m sure I cursed outloud the whole way but I arrived safely across the creek and climbed up on Dave’s rock for lunch.

And yes, Jim was right, it was totally worth it! The view again was stunning. It was only 70 degrees and very windy, so sitting on this giant sandstone red rock in the middle of the creek was perfect! (photo above shows the creek I crossed and the height we hiked down to get to the creek) My ‘italiano’ sandwich from Euro Deli was satisfying and delicious…hard baguette, salami, prosciutto, provolone, mozzarella, roasted red peppers…mmm mmmmm! Jim also brought Cactus Juice to drink, a unique blend of cactus, apple and lime juice.

After we ate, Jim moved to another rock and took his meditation pose. I simply laid back flat on the rock to stretch my back, relax and meditate. The sound of the water, birds chirping, ducks quacking, the warmth of the sun on my face and the strength and heat of the rock supporting me made for a relaxing mediation. I shut my eyes and tried to clear my mind. I lay there for what I thought was maybe 10 or 15 minutes. I opened my eyes and checked the time…it had been 40 minutes! I don’t think I fell asleep. I do feel the energy took me to a relaxing, meditative state. So perfect for my first hike in Sedona!

Vacation Planning Technology

So here I am in a Sedona coffee shop filled with locals, Java Love Café, I highly recommend. I booked this trip about a month and a half ago on an impulse. Now Sedona has been on my list for a long time but the actual decision was made one day in a half hour at lunch in my office.

As a time share owner, I have access to other properties at random times called “Getaways.” So every-once-in-awhile I search availability just for fun, to day dream and possibly plan a trip. Well, April 11, 2011, Sedona finally showed up with availability! And not just an odd date in a week’s time, Memorial Day week! (9 day vacation for only 4 vacation days :))I quickly checked flights on Southwest, they were still affordable so I booked the trip. And the research began…

I read reviews of the Sedona Summit on Trip Advisor. As I said, I’m a time share owner so I’m used to the hard sell when you check in. This place got hammered with bad reviews because of the aggressive sales people. It also had super positive reviews for the rooms, amenities and location. The picture above is one of the breath-taking views from the property. Perfect!

I love the pre-vacation anticipation and exploring the activities the destination has to offer. And as a marketer, Wow! I love SEO for this! Found this coffee shop where I’ve met the most interesting local fellas! Found the Cowboy Club restaurant where I ate snake, buffalo and cactus for the first time ever. (Touristy and crowded but fun to try the funky, weird food) Found my private hiking guide Jim from sedonahikingadventures.com online. He’s become my own personal Sedona concierge and you’ll hear more about him in my next entry. I also booked a body wrap and sunrise balloon ride thanks to the handy, dandy SEO.

And my brother-in-law’s very polite GPS lady guided me to Sedona with zero wrong turns and no stress.

Now that I’m here, I’m not completely detaching from technology. Got a phone call and a few texts on my Blackberry during my hike yesterday! So weird that I got service way out there but not in my room! That’s fine, I need time to quiet my mind, breathe deeply, feel the energy and shut this laptop down!

24K: Behind the name

24K, Reliv’s healthy energy shot, was officially launched 2.3.11 to rave reviews from the field. Sponsoring and sales are up. We can feel the momentum building. In my 20 year marketing career, I have never worked for a company with a tangible, consumer packaged good so this was a very exciting project for me personally. Name, label, pre-launch teaser campaign, launch and post-launch campaign etc. Pretty Cool!

The process began for marketing back in July of 2010 with writing a document that described the overall strategy for the product so we could begin trying to choose a name. The document detailed the target audiences, the key benefits, why our product would be different and better, and the general ‘personality’ of the product.

We began a series of brainstorming sessions around the key benefits of energy and mental clarity/focus. We cranked out hundreds of ideas. We looked at Greek mythology, we translated the words energy or focus into other languages, created acronyms, tried single letters to the nth degree and made up new words. Every time we narrowed it down to our favorites and these were submitted to legal, they were all taken. This happened over and over. Any obvious word or phrase was trademarked.

Carpe Drink’em was a team favorite that never made it to legal. It is now our trademarked name for our happy hour events!

I searched websites on Harry Potter charms, spells, characters etc for nonsense words for inspiration. I found online name generating tools that combined prefixes and random groups of letters to form nonsense words. I even found an English to Klingon translator tool. Did you know that hoSDo means ‘energy beings’ in Klingon?

Finally in October we had real samples of the product in near final formulation! We could taste it and see it. Our SVP of sales started thinking about the color of the product and thought to himself that this stuff is pure gold! This turned into 24K. Then he asked his dad (aka our Chief Science Officer who also formulated the product) how many active ingredients were in the product…thank you Dr. Carl! 24 active ingredients and four months later we had a name!

Survivor Tweets Rock!

I recently posted about how I rarely watch live TV. I love my DVR for the freedom it’s given me!

Well, the last few weeks Survivor episodes have had the host, Jeff Probst, live tweeting during the show. This is the coolest! To have this kind of access to the host, the guy who’s been there since the beginning, to have his commentary, jokes and insights is a huge value-add to sitting alone on my couch yelling at the TV!

And this resurrects ‘appointment viewing’ for TV. For the last two weeks I’ve been on the couch promptly at 7 with my Blackberry in hand to watch Survivor and follow Jeff’s tweets. I’m watching live so I can’t fast forward through the commercials. This has to make the advertisers happy. It has improved my viewing experience, deepened my loyalty and now I’m telling people about it!

On the flip side, yesterday a group of managers met in our conference room to watch a webinar on coaching. The hosts gave us the hashtag to use so we could comment and submit questions. They failed to manage their time properly and due to all of their extraneous bantering, they ran out of time and couldn’t take advantage of the feedback received via Twitter. Bummer for them!

Fage Greek Yogurt: Stunning Art Direction

Thanks to my DVR I only watch commercials by choice. I rarely watch live TV so I always ff through. So, recently I’m ff-ing through Top Chef and a commercial actually catches my attention. I rewind and watch this commercial twice. It’s stunning. This photo was taken on my Blackberry of the TV.

It’s so refreshing to see a company invest in something high-end and truly artistic. The flowing images of the milky white liquid, the streams of color that morph into a person, the drops of color that evolve into a ballerina and eventually the flavor of the yogurt…stunning.

Marketers talk about “breaking through the clutter.” Fage has done this by taking the high road and appealing to the viewer’s aesthetic. The quality of this commercial is that of comtemporary art you might see in a gallery. I’m going to assume the quality of the product, the taste and texture of this “total authentic Greek yogurt” is going to be much more appealing than those I’ve tried and discarded without finishing in the past.

I will be buying my first samples of Fage Greek Yogurt this weekend.

Do you bleed red?

I just returned from my first trip to Spring Training to see the St. Louis Cardinals…something every Cardinals fan should be lucky enough to experience. Combine the gorgeous weather of Florida (while St. Louis is experiencing another round of ‘wintery mix’) with the intimacy of a small stadium, palm trees in the background, accessible practice fields and a casual environment where the players sign lots of autographs and you have the ingredients for an amazing fan experience.

I saw two Cardinals games and one Marlins games. Both Cards games were sold out and it was a sea of red. The Marlins game was maybe 1/3 full and a sea of random colors. The gift shop inventory was probably 2/3 - 1/3 Cards-Marlins. Personally I bought three new Cardinals shirts for the trip and I am not the biggest fan out there! Everyone at the Cardinals game was wearing red or the logo. Women bedazzled flip flops and hats with Cards gems. Cardinals’ fans travel hundreds of miles…Marlins fans could drive.

Sports fans can be the most uber-loyal brand ambassadors. You see people paint their faces and bodies, shave the team logo in their back hair (ewww, I know, I saw this at a Rams game) or create their own costume and persona like the Towel Guy at Blues games. And how do some teams inspire infatuation and others barely fill the lower bowl of seats? And how can this translate to a regular consumer brand and inspire that kind of passion and enthusiasm in its customers?

5 Tips for Cold Calling

5 Tips for Cold Calling

I receive at least one daily cold call voice mail message. As the Director of Marketing I receive cold calls from people selling everything: printing, creative and design, trade show displays, logo’d premium items, meeting and event services, sales incentive and employee recognition, web/SEO/social media, marketing technology, and services unique to the direct selling industry.

Wow! Are people wasting their time! These voice mail messages can be so annoying. I hate voice mail. It slows me down, is cumbersome and a pain. So here are my 5 tips for cold calling...thoughts on how to improve your efforts, get me to call you back and even schedule a meeting.

1. Get my name and title correct. You can call my company’s main number and our receptionist will not only give you the correct spelling of my name and title, but she will transfer the call to me. But don’t move too fast, don’t waste this first shot to dazzle me.

2. Warm me up. My preference is to receive a compelling mail piece that I can quickly scan, get an idea of how you can help me be more successful and tee up the idea that you will be calling me in the coming days. It can be a simple postcard, an envelope with brochure, letter, white paper etc. Or a clever dimensional item that links your creativity to my presumed strategic need. If you are local and drop off candy or a tin of popcorn…you’ve got my attention. I know that’s dorky and maybe shallow, but I will at least give you a few minutes on the phone to thank you for the snacks.

If you address the piece to Marketing Director, it goes directly into the recycle bin. I’m the Director of Marketing. If you can’t get that detail correct, what makes you think I can trust you to execute a campaign without mistakes? The picture above is a piece I just received...Two qualities marketing communications must have? ...accuracy in personalization is a start.

If you address the piece to Mr. Chris Scherting, it goes directly into the recycle bin. Come on!

3. Have a story. Think this through. Your story begins with your warm up and continues with your voice mail message. Script it out. Link the mailing and the vm message. Practice and leave yourself the message you plan to leave me and see how annoying it is.

Remember, I get at least one cold call vm a day. How am I supposed to remember you and your company and why you are different or better? It might be a creative theme; it might be a specific value prop statement or tag line; something to link the warm up to your message. If you follow up with an e-mail, continue the ‘story’ in the subject line. Otherwise it will be quickly and easily deleted.

If your plan is to leave me a sequence of two or three voicemail messages over a period of time, weave the story through all three messages. Script all of them. Give me some value-added tip, intrigue me, be patient, polite and friendly.

4. Give me your name and number up front. I am ready to take transcription at this point. I pick up voice mail once a day and have a pen and paper handy. My preference is to get the name and number up front, listen to the blabbity blah blah, and then repeat the name and number at the end so I can double check my hearing.

5. Speak slowly. Again, I may be taking notes on your message so I know why I am calling you back. I hate-hate-hate it when people speed-talk and I have no idea what there name or company is and they ramble for several long, torturous minutes and then zip through their number so fast I can’t write quickly enough. At that point I hit delete. You just wasted my time. And yours.

In the past several months, I’ve met with several potential vendors who cold called me. One company outsourced the appointment setting. She was great, I thoroughly enjoyed her approach.

One time I actually picked up the phone even though I did not recognize the number and knew it was going to be a cold call. This guy did his homework. He knew my name. He immediately built a rapport based on details in my Linked-In profile. So simple.

I’m always reading business books, white papers, marketing newsletters etc. to stay up on new technology and strategies. You may offer valuable services that can help my company grow. Somehow you’ve got to stand out from all the other blabbity blah blah in my voicemail box and get my attention.