What’s your Minnie Pearl pillow?

Hey, everybody. Drew McLellan here from Agency Management Institute this week coming to you from Nashville, Tennessee.

You know, Danyel and I travel a ton for work. And one of the things that's interesting is some cities feel like a city. You could close your eyes and you could be in one of many cities and have no idea which one you're in. And other cities have a style, a stamp, a sense of who they are that is very unique. So, for example, there is no place else other than Nashville, Tennessee, where you would probably find in your hotel room a pillow with Pee-Wee Herman being kissed by Minnie Pearl. Just not going to happen. Everywhere we go, as you might imagine, the Muzak systems play country music. Everything feels very Nashville. And as I've been here this week, I've been thinking about how much I love being in a place that knows who it is and sort of celebrates who they are and what makes them unique. Which of course made me think about you and us, and how do we create that sense of uniqueness with our clients and our prospects?

You know, back when I still had my agency and we were super active, we always served warm M&M cookies at client meetings. So, if, unless we were going to the client meeting and then we just took the cookies, but we had a full kitchen in our office and we would make these M&M cookies. And so clients loved coming to see us because there was always warm M&M cookies. And one step further, our logo colors are purple and green and orange. And so we bought custom M&Ms of just those three colors. And we made our own cookie dough, obviously. And so not only did we have warm M&M cookies, but they were MMG-colored choc- er M&M cookies.

And so clients began to look forward to that and talk about it. And we tried to create a work environment that felt like us, like you walked in

And it wasn't just our office, it was how we showed up at meetings, how we showed up at conferences, the things we sponsored. We sponsored a pie eating pairs contest at the state fair. My point is this, there are things that are unique about you and about your team, and about the work you do and who you serve. And you can either be like a nameless, faceless city that looks just like everybody else, or you can figure out what your version of the Minnie Pearl kissing Pee-Wee Herman pillow is, and weave it into the experience that you have with your team, with your clients, with your prospects in your industry. And celebrate who you are and be more distinct and memorable because there's something really special and different and very unique to you about you and your team. So I'm challenging you to figure out ways that you can stand out from the crowd, that you can feel different. It's not just about the quality of your work or the work you do, but also just who you are culturally as a team and how that culture wraps itself around the people that you work with every day.

So I'd love to hear some of the ways that you kind of put on your brand, and that you help people feel the uniqueness that is you and your team. But if you haven't figured that out, now might be a great time.

Okay? I'll see you next week.