Hello ,
Greetings from Sheffield, I'm at Ancient Wisdom HQ.
Last week I was telling you about a trip in a UFO, and our adventures in Slovakia. You can read it here.
Since then I have found my way home, and to the mother ship, that is Ancient Wisdom HQ.
It's been really busy at AW with a constant stream of containers arriving much of it with much needed stock items and some new lines as well.
I was very interested to read about the new silk route. The train that runs all the way from Yiwu, China (where we have a warehouse and office) to Barking UK. BBC report.
The first train arrived this week, only 14 containers but in only 15 days.
I was actually in Yiwu train station only a few weeks ago and I can tell you it is a big thing there. There were wall sized posters of the big bods of China launching the train from their end, and everywhere informational posters explaining the route and investment and opportunities for the business folk of Yiwu. Being actually one of those business folk, in fact at both ends of that train line I was keenly interested.
The posters declare (In English) .. "Faster than a ship, and cheaper than a plane".
That sounds great :) just what we need to get all that stock you are waiting for here on time. The positive power of words!
"Faster than sea, and cheaper than air" - it's the perfect copy. See what they did there?
They made a very compelling argument by stating two undeniably good things close together.
That's the power of words for selling things.. but in the same way you can destroy the chance of selling or communicating something just by using the wrong words.
What if you said.. "This freight route is more expensive than sea, and slower than air".. also true but unlikely to find you any customers :)
Another great example of the power of words I came across this week was this from Seth's Blog. (Check it out - it's amazing).
Seth came across this unfriendly sign in an airport:
TERMINAL CLOSED
FOR MAINTENANCE
between 12:00 a.m.
and 4:00 a.m.
until further notice.
Ticketed Passengers &
Employees ONLY
will have access
to Terminal.
A few questions on our way to fixing this:
Who is it for? What impact will it have on everyone else?
To the sign maker: Are you angry? Frustrated? Trying to teach people a lesson?
What does it sound like when you read it aloud? and... is it clear?
When I look at this sign, I wonder why it needs to say, "until further notice." After all, aren't all rules in place until further notice?
And why say 12:00 a.m. when midnight is so much more clear?
Do we really need to alert employees to this rule every day?
Mostly, though, the headline is confusing (every person reading this sign for the first time is sure the terminal is closed right this minute, until they read the next line).
Perhaps, then, it might be a better sign if it said:
Hi. To keep this terminal clean, it's closed
to visitors from midnight until 4 a.m. every night.
Ticketed passengers are always welcome.
See how words can be unkind.. or they can be uplifting and helpful.
It's getting towards that time of year when words, can change your life, at least your love life :) I'm talking about Valentine's day of course.
And of course you know where to come for the perfect LOVE stock.. yes gifts to get hearts beating, gifts to make love bloom, gifts to rack up some decent sales :)
And I always think this is just the beginning of the "Love Season" - because next up is Mother's Day, and then we are into the Wedding Season. So it's all about love for gift shops especially at this time of year.
Check out our deals below.
And remember the power of words. They can change the world.
Take care and happy trading!
David
