To the scrooge at Chick-Fil-A - Toot Your Horn! Read Only. No more posting. - PlanetChristmas! Forums. Read Only. We've moved to http://talk.planetchristmas.com - The Forums of PlanetChristmas have moved to http://talk.PlanetChristmas.com
So tonite I went to Chick-Fil-a for dinner and after a hard day of work I was looking forward to telling some people about the christmas lights after I was done with my food. I finish my food and throw my trash away and walk up to a nice looking guy with his 2 teenage kids.
I had one of my promotional cards out for the light display and put my hand out to offer it to the father (thinking he probably wouldn't like it if I did the same thing to his daughter). I started my little rehearsed speech:
"Excuse me, If I could interupt you for a moment, I would like to tell you about my Christmas Lights ... I put on my Hou ...".
At both "..." He says in a gruff rude tone "WE ARE EATING DINNER!". Because of the number of times I have said this it took me a moment to derail my thoughts and process his statement. At that point I say
"Bu .... Ok. (pause) Ok."
I was almost going to say "But their computer controlled and you probably think the are cool", but I decided to not push any more conflict and just walked away at that point.
Seeing that probably won't ever see this cause he didn't take the card or hear anything I had to say. I will say this:
I am not selling Anything. I am not looking for you to give me money. I want to tell you about the hard work I put into this to give YOU as a part of the community a cool christmas gift. Since you couldn't take 30 seconds while you where chewing your food to listen, You won't get a chance to bring your kids to see the blinking lights. It is christmas time and If anyone came up to me anywhere I would at least hear what he or she had to say before making any judgements about the person or something they had to say.
Ok, I am done with my venting now. Have a Merry Christmas.
"Toot Your Horn!
Got something you're really proud of? Tell us all about it right here."
Are you proud of the post? Probably not. Look at it from the man's perspective, here's a guy walking up with a card in his hand while they are eating dinner. Probably someone trying to sell something. Not everyone understands us (thank goodness!) nor will they ever. Just do your display and enjoy what it does for others. You do a lot for your community just keep it up and keep up your spirits.
I know how yah feel. Try letting your local news stations know about your lights. place an add in the paper and even ask local supermarkets to let you post an advertisement in their windows. this year my display is small so im letting it go off of word of mouth for people to stopo by. ive actualy had about 15 cars a night wich isnt bad for a 6 channel display with no fm transmitter.
It doesn't matter if you're giving away a religious tract, a business card, a coupon for a free meal, etc. People don't like to be solicited to.
It might have worked better if you first asked him if his kids liked Christmas lights. If he said "yes" then you could explain your display and hand him your card.
Yeah, your rehearsed speech sounds just like a sales pitch. You don't want to hit people with that during dinner. When people pay to eat out, they have the reasonable expectation that they will not be disturbed. If your enthusiasm gets the better of you, then the suggestion above of asking, "Hey, do you guys like Christmas lights?" is a better opening than what you're doing.
Also, keep in mind that not everybody is as impressed with blinky lights as we are. They don't look at it as missing out on your gift to the community. Don't let your happiness with your lighting display be dependent on how many other people think it's cool. As long as you think it's cool, that's what matters.
Out of 200 cards last year and 400+ cards this year This gentlemen is the first guy to ever respond in this way.
Most people listen for 30 seconds and some have a resounding "COOL!" some have a more reserved "cool." some just say "Ok?!?".
This was the first guy who just flat out wouldn't listen at all, I was very suprized at his reaction. and I wanted to see what you guys would think of it.
Larry, Mark, I do kind of like your ideas I will incorporate them into my intro.
Thanks guys
Oh and Jeff, I am proud of my display, and this is my first post this season so With sequencing 9 more songs this year for a total of 18 i figured people might click on my website link for the new vids. I also couldn't think of a better place to put it.
Am I reading this right? You approach people AT DINNER (I'm being generous here and counting Chick-Fil-A or whatever it is as dinner) and you get upset when they don't respond in a positive manner?!?
Don't do that. It's just rude.
I think you got off lucky.
If anyone approaches me unsolicted ("unsolicitedly"? I guess that should be an adverb) in a situation like that they had better be buying my meal and throwing around $100 bills.
Last edited on Tuesday December 18th, 2007 03:34 am by ChuckHutchings
It may help if you have a $10 bill paper clipped to the Card.
I agree with others that most people are going to think you are selling something when you approach them. Unfortunately we get bugged a lot by sales people wither it be on the phone, at the mall walking through, or quickly going into a store to get something. If you are not a cute girl scout trying to sell cookies, there is a good chance you are going to get rebuked no matter what you were trying to give them.
A few years ago I helped out at a booth at a local mall trying to sell a product to help a family member out. As people passed by, I would try and approach them to just give them a free sample of lotion. Some were nice but most people either ignored me, said no thanks, or were down right rude. I really don't blame them because it gets pretty old walking through the mall and sales person after sales person keeps bugging them.
I kind of got sick of it and thought I would do an experiment. I got about $20 in ones and was just going to hand them out no strings attached. I was not going to push the product I was selling or even mention it. I would approach people with a handful of cash and say "Hello! I am giving away $1 bills, would you like one?". People were pretty much the same. Ignoring me, telling me they are in a hurry, they are not interested, etc. Every now and then somebody would stop and would ask "What is the Catch". I would say, there is no catch I am just giving them away. Some people would take it and I would say "Hope you have a good day" and then I would walk away and they were totally confused.
People are so conditioned by sales people approaching them, they automatically think you are selling something and wasting their time even though when you are trying to share a gift with them.
Chuck, I have given out about 100-150 cards at Fast food restaraunts. Now i do not go there specifically for this purpose If i happen to be there and I see someone who looks like they might be interested then I approach them. I would presume that it is a casual enough atmosphere there to do that. I would not think of it at any sort of sit down restaraunt, Nor do I go door to door. The vast majoraty of people in the restaraunts thank me for telling them and tell me they will be by at some time to see the lights.
Now my wife has a guide dog, if we follow your logic no one should ever come up to us at any time while we are eating dinner, We have had people come up to us at restaraunts where the meals are $50 a plate asking us about the dog, do I snap at them and say "WE ARE EATING DINNER", No We take time out of our night to answer any questions the person may have about the dog. I expect the same out of someone who doesn't have 10 people a day coming up to them asking questions. But maybe I am just to kind hearted person and I should start acting differently.
PS I believe Unsolicited is the correct word you where looking for.
Interesting story richard, I have had a few responses saying "Sooo... you are selling this as a kit?" my answer is nope, its only for you to come by and enjoy and for the few that have asked that question they immediately smile after my answer.
robogeek wrote: PS I believe Unsolicited is the correct word you where looking for.
No. I was being funny. "Unsolicted" is an adjective and I don't believe there is an adverb version of it. Hence, I should have used another word.
Astute readers may feel free to correct me. (I'm frequently wrong on these things.)
Edit:
I probably should add that I think it's kind of a cool idea that you do this. Just don't do it when people are eating. Wait 'til they get outside or something.
And I know how you feel - we tried giving out candy canes the other night. We had them in a stocking (red and white, just like you'd imagine) but people were initially put off because they thought we were collecting money or something.
We don't give out candy canes anymore.
Last edited on Tuesday December 18th, 2007 04:11 am by ChuckHutchings
I probably should add that I think it's kind of a cool idea that you do this. Just don't do it when people are eating. Wait 'til they get outside or something.
I think it would be best to hang out in dark parking lots waiting for people to come to their car and approach them when they are alone.
if you light it, they will come. plain and simple.
in my opinion, no need to advertise or hand out cards. when you do, it comes off as "hey, come see what i did" as opposed to saying "i did this for you"
The way I approach people with my information cards is .... I let them make the first move.
After thanksgiving I start wearing Christmas hats and other seasonal head gear (see the image to the left of me at PLUS). If some one laughs or makes a comment about what I'm wearing I make a comment like, "Oh, now you've done it. You obviously like Christmas or have a good sense of humor, so I have to let you know where to see our Christmas lights ..." then I give them the card.
If this occurs in a restaurant or store and there are other people who hear the conversation I make sure to add at the end a comment like “Oh, let me give you an extra card (or two) just incase you want to share.” Most of the time while I’m walking away I hear the person behind me asking the checker for one of “those” cards.
This way I’m not invading anyone’s space in any possible way.
Last edited on Tuesday December 18th, 2007 05:44 am by MrsD
thyno z wrote: if you light it, they will come. plain and simple.
in my opinion, no need to advertise or hand out cards. when you do, it comes off as "hey, come see what i did" as opposed to saying "i did this for you"
I agree with that sentiment.
If you feel you must market your display, get some enthusiastic family (not immediate) or friends to carry some cards for you. Then they can say "dude, my buddy has this HUGE display you just gotta see..."
There's already the perception (unfortunately correct in some cases) that all of us do this just to get attention lobbed onto themselves. I fear that handing out cards and "selling" your display to them will only further it...
I had cards made up several years ago. We hand a dozen or two out every year (mostly Cathy does), mainly to friends and to people that ask about the display or know of it but are not sure where we live. I've never done a "sales pitch" though, and I still have about 2/3 of the cards. The display is simiilar enough that I will continue to use that stock up...
Have you ever heard the saying, "If you build it, they will come?"
Believe me, there may be a time you really appreciated the quite times when your display was not as well known.
I live out in the sticks...I mean way out. You cannot even see my display from the county road 1000 feet away. My display covers about 4 acres and they come. I have a large parking area and it is about 1/3 of the way filled on the weekends.
My display is part of an annual charity event that is put on by our local radio station so the station does advertise it, but this station is just a local station in a country town so not many people from distant towns will be able to hear the station, but they still come from distant towns. I have had people tell me that they have driven 100 miles to come to the display.
What I am saying is, word of mouth is the best advertising. I have witnessed this year people talking on there cell phones to friends and I hear them telling them to come and see this display. I have seen cars come in 3 and 4 at a time loaded down with family, friends, and kids. All of these people tell others and the others tell more others and so on.
I hope the media does not find out about my display because word of mouth is enough.
I did my display at a different location in years past. One night in 2002 I counted 25 cars parked in my small parking area (about 1/2 the size I have now) and cars lined up both sides of the highway. I do not wish for that type of gridlock to return, but one day I expect it.
My display went dark for 3 years. Last year was the first year since I restarted doing the display, so I am starting over so to speak. I learned from years gone by that I don't want to push my display to people, let the people find it. Be careful pushing your display too much, it may turn around and bite you. Just ask Chuck Smith, Walter Monkhouse, Tim Fischer, Jeff Womack, and many many others who have been around PC for years. They sure have stories to tell about being too well known.
____________________ Mark & Rene' Obermiller
Lexington, Indiana
PC member since August of 1998.
All new Computer Controlled Display for 2006. http://www.computerchristmaslights.com
I do mine for the pleasure (or pain!!) of doing or making something. It's a lot of hard work, money, many cold nights in the garage or yard (got bronchitis last year), danger (ladder falls, elect), carpal tunnel from the computer, etc. Some days I don't think it's worth it, and wonder WHY? But that work gives me about 35% of the satisfaction of making a display.
The other 65%, I hope I bring some joy to children of all ages. If a mob showed up, great, but if only one person showed up and smiled, that's priceless and makes it all worthwhile. I don't advertise, I don't see the point. If it's a good display, people will tell their friends. They will come.
This year is the first time I actually went out and talked to visitors. Last few years I just waved unless talked to. Some saw it previous years. One couple came back the next night to share with their parents. That priceless. Others, well, they were actually lost trying to find the nearby Candy Cane Lane. I smile, and point them in the right direction. It's all good. Merry Christmas.
Sometimes, I have to smile real big and shine the flashlight on the candy cane basket to get people to roll down their windows!!!!!!!!
Handing out cards at Chick-Fil-A seems like a stretch. I agree with Jeff, be proud of what you are doing and happy with those who actually show up and enjoy it.
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) of doing or making something. It's a lot of hard work, money
