If you are at all aware of internet marketing, you should be aware of the term ‘viral’. Internet marketers love when a blog post, video, podcast ‘goes viral’ because it means that the market is passing the message along with no further effort by the marketer. Sometimes, I get the feeling that they (internet marketers) think that they invented the idea. Those of you who are old enough may remember this commercial. Isn’t that viral?

Here’s a question…Is your REAL reputation viral? Do you have people talking about you? Does the conversation continue after you leave the room? I’m not talking about forwarding a you-tube video. Is one person talking to another about you? Is the second person talking to a third? Can you ‘go viral’ in reality?

I remember (years ago) Cutco prospects greeting me with, “I was wondering when you were gonna get here. All my friends have told me about you.” I’m not trying to take anything away from all those internet people. I just want to point out that you don’t need a computer to create a buzz.

My most recent example…You may remember this blog post about Paula’s personality. Today, Elaine asked me if I would stop at Talbots and return an item that she had purchased. When I walked into the store, Paula was about 30 feet away. “Rick, how are you? Come on in. I want to introduce you to some people.” I met Becky, the manager of the branch across the mall. I met Lauren, the general manager of both stores. I was told that my blog post had been forwarded to the district manager and Becky asked if I was going to write about them tonight.

Each of them was warm. Each of them was friendly. Why would anyone not want to visit the Talbots at the Solomon Pond Mall?

Trudy, take a look at my wife’s charge account and see how many of your locations we’ve visited over the course of the past year. Not all Talbots locations are created equal. Not all are as welcoming as the Solomon Pond Mall location. My wife loved Jordan Marsh and Filenes. She almost cried when they went away. These are extraordinary times. Have you evaluated your salespeople? Do you know why some succeed and some get by? Here’s my bio. Here’s our process. Use the link at the top of the page to send me an email with your contact info. I’ll call.