| No!! I forgot his birthday
again. Ever had that experience ?
It's a job for a Birthday Alarm!!
It's easy to forget. The pace of modern living, the
pace of change in peoples lives and just good ol' being busy would account for
probably 80% of missed birthdays.
Sociologist suggest that
acknowledgement and validation
are two key things people need and desire in our modern world.
A birthday can take care of that for you.
Acknowledge they exist
Validate who they are and what they do. Here's
an example:
"Happy Birthday Grandma Kate, you are the best Grandma a girl could have"
Madeline, 4ys
old.
Simple, yes?
Just remembering is sometimes all that is needed. A bithday alarm might help you to do this.
Our technical world often interferes with human
relations. How's this small example from the business world? A start up
company who called their clients RGUs, short for revenue
generating units NOT PEOPLE! How very caring. Surprisingly. they
are no longer in business. From the real world...the family who referred to --
not to their faces -- the Father's family as the Out-laws. There was a lot going
on between these two families.
Easy to "forget" when you have a less than
positive attitude toward them in the first place.
So, who has come to the rescue to help us acknowledge and validate people in our
lives?
Drum-roll!
Technology --take a bow!
Yes, a new crop of
"Reminders" have come to our rescue.
The Birthday Alarms are ringing.
What are they.....?
A birthday alarm is a combination of calendar, email and auto responder messages
to help you remember when a person's birthday is due.
They are all the craze for an on-the-go world.
You can even have them text message you to your portable phone or pc.
Hugely associated with online gift shopping. Get the alarm, click to buy and
it's all taken care of.
My critique of the BEST ones are below. A
Google search on Birthday Alarms will reveal loads more.
Birthday
Alarm
The most popular on planet earth. Has a
very slick interface and is full of stuff to explore. You could spend
hours here.
Big Dates
Cool service and my pick of the crop. Love
the personalized attention Dottie the Digital PA gives you as you move
through the site. Lot's of fun and even a cool link to shopping if
that's your thing. Simple, fun and hip.
Digital Concierge
If you don't like following the crowd and setting up a bunch of dates just for
birthdays here is a great all round digital assistant. You drive this one. Very
clean and no shopping links.
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If the technology sends chills down your spine
and you feel it is beyond you, don't worry. Good old fashion diary, phone, calendar, notches in the
tree trunk might do the job..
Is there a trick to remembering?
Do it early in the year, and build in a reminder of the reminder.
Make use of what is comfortable to you.
A word on how far is your reach.
The technology makes it easy to remember
everyone's
birthday...yes even Miss Mabbs your pre-schools teacher 25 yrs ago!
I have a simple rule for people who ask about
these things:
If you are going to commit it
to memory
-- electronic or otherwise --
only do so if you are going to ACT ON IT and make their day.
Having a core group and a way of leveling the playing field
might help keep the numbers down. How? Really focus on the key people in your life. Acquaintances etc
might be here today, gone tomorrow.
A way of looking at this might be:
Close Family
Extended Family
Close Friends
Far Away friends
Crucial Acquaintances
Colleagues
Clients
People Of Influence
People I want to impress
People who remembered my birthday
Maybe go through your life and look back and see if
there are any people you may like to re-connect with. What a great time to do it
at their birthday. Now that is a wonderful gift.
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How about...
At the office:
Fabulous as part of a data base -- depending on your client status and
your business's need to stay in contact with them.
Hook into the value of a life time customer. A simple, sincere "Happy
Birthday" message might be all you need to keep the referral coals
burning. Hand written is still King! It's one of the 1% of things
successful business-people do. |
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