Forward this to all your Blackhawk friends! Celebrate Chicago’s Stanley Cup and annoy all those Flyer and Canuck fans!

Download audio file (BlackHawks_Goal_Horn.mp3)

Download Blackhawks Win Ringtone Here! (right click and save)

You can read all about my experience on Yelp! But better yet, why don’t you join me tomorrow, June 5 from 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM for their Grand Opening.  Newk’s has agreed to let me offer you a special treat for coming! (Make sure you print this out and bring it with you).

See you there!

Steve

Update!

Wow!  What a show! We really dug deep into exploring how to bring innovation into the workplace.  There were so many great examples, that I ended up promising a free digital copy of my book Big Bad Home Sale to all of the listeners.

You can get your free copy of Big Bad Home Sale too, by listening to the the show archive at http://bit.ly/9aMKcP.

Spicy Parrott, in Lakeway, TX is the type of place that I love to tell the world about.

You can read all about our outstanding dinner on Yelp! But here is where I share best of class practices that I experience from business owners that set them apart from the competition.

We found Spicy Parrott the way we find a lot of new places, using Restaurant.com. There is no way we would have known about it otherwise.  It’s not real close, and it’s hard to see from the road.

When we pulled up, we immediately knew we found a unique place with friendly service.  We were welcomed by the owner, Garrett, who was casually relaxing, enjoying a smoke on the Jimmy Buffett inspired Adirondack chairs in front of the restaurant.  You could tell from his demeanor that he was proud of his joint.  A slight smirk of confidence suggested he knew that we would find what we came for and make the journey worth while!

And we were not disappointed… The food was very good, by the service, attention and atmosphere made it taste even better. Our server, Sonya was excellent and made us feel that we were her only table.

But then Garrett came by to see us.   In fact, he paid a visit to every table.  He thanked us for coming, and took great interest in our experience.

As you know, I couldn’t let the opportunity slip by to ask him some quick questions about his business.

“Tell me about Restaurant.com,” I asked.  “Does it work for you?”

“It’s expensive… and worth it,” he replied.  “In fact, I’m thinking about improving my offer next month.”

Garrett knows that his place is not easy to find, physically or virtually.  He is tucked in the corner of strip center, not easily seen from the road, and off the beaten path for a lot of people.   His website needs a lot of work and is not SEO friendly at all.

But, he made the wise choice to invest in an “Influencer” that could get the word out to a ton of traffic.   Instead of competing with thousands of restaurants on the web, he is prominently featured alongside a few dozen high quality establishments on one of the highest traffic sites for his target audience, Restaurant.com.

And then, most importantly,  Garrett backs it up by offering a creative menu, fun place and excellent service. The result: rave reviews on Yelp! and Urbanspoon (which feeds Google).

This is Guerilla Marketing at it’s finest! Great job to Garrett and the Spicy Parrott crew.

Now I have to check out their breakfast… I hear that’s what they’re known for!

I can’t blame the guy.  In fact this might be the first thing we agree on.  Mrs. Wilkes is something special, and should be visited by everybody at least once in their life.

The problem is, it is definitely not the place to go if you’re watching it.  Heck, I went there in 1993, and take a look at how I look now!

“I don’t want any lectures about my cholesterol,” said the President as he piled on the fried chicken, smoked meats, beans and ambrosia.   “Don’t tell Michelle!”

Don’t worry, Barack.  Your secret’s safe with me!

It was great to see Mrs. Wilkes in the news.  I used to live in Savannah, and it was the first place we ate at when we moved there.  In fact, I had thought it closed down when the original Mrs. Wilkes passed away.

Michelle, give the guy a break… you can’t expect him to go to Savannah and pass up a legendary eatery like Mrs. Wilkes.  The good news is he’ll soon have a health care program to sand blast his arteries!

See the Video at Bobalu's

Jeff from Bobalu’s leads the life I dream of!  He just spent the past couple of weeks selling cigars down at Daytona Bike Week.

Babes, Bikes and Bobalu’s! (Jeff’s site is going to be the highest traffic site of all my clients!)

Fortunately, Jeff is doing a great job using sales automation software to convert those wet t-shirt contest video leads into clients.

You have to check out the videos Jeff took down at Bike Week (WARNING: wait until the kids go to bed!).

Btw… while you’re there make sure to get on Jeff’s newsletter. You’re going to want to see the updates!

What a great night!

The Bernhardt Winery is one of the best kept secrets.  If you are anywhere near Austin, Houston, East Texas, etc. you need to check it out.  Jerri, Jerry, and Barre Bernhardt are very gracious hosts.  The place is beautiful! Beautiful rolling hills.  The Loft, the guest room where we stayed, is so comfortable, warm and cozy.  And the wine is absolutely delicious!

They also have fantastic events, great music and a lot of fun.  I put up a video of us feeling good, tasting wine, and a couple of pictures on my facebook page.  Make sure to check out Davin, Richard and Puffabelly’s too!

Thank you Jerri, Jerry, Barre, Davin, Richard, Shannon and Seth for a great evening!

Rudy's BBQ

Rudy’s Gets It! Great Food, Great Service and Social Media

Rudy’s Country Store and Texas Bar-B-Q is legendary in these parts. They do an unbelievable business. People line up out the door at all of their locations for breakfast, lunch and dinner. (Yes, breakfast… they have the my absolute favorite breakfast taco’s!, and they sell them by the bushel load!).

Why is it that other restaurants and businesses struggle so much, while every Rudy’s is busting at the seams?

I can only speak for myself, but what I’ll tell you is very simple:

Rudy’s Gets It!!!

The food is very good (but there are lot’s of excellent BBQ places here). But Rudy’s sets themselves apart with outstanding customer service. Those lines move quickly. There is a manager greeting people and making sure they are happy.

And now I’ve come to find that Rudy’s uses Social Media to take that customer experience to a new level.

A couple of days ago, I stopped into Rudy’s for a breakfast taco and to do some quick computer work. I checked in using Foursquare. Later, I had a pleasant Twitter direct message from Rudy’s thanking me for coming in.

I replied: “Are you a bot or a person?”

Quick Response: “No bots here… thank you for being a fan, couldn’t do it without y’all”

Wow! How cool is that?

So, I checked their @Rudysbbq twitter stream, and found dozens of such examples. I even found Rudy’s helping somebody figure out a recipe for hamburgers using their special Rudy’s Sauce!

The owners of the local Rudy’s are now applying their success formula to the new Mighty Fine Burger chain. They have boomed from 1 to 3 locations and are even busier than the Rudy’s stores.

My advice to business owners trying to get their arms around how to use Social Media to improve their business:

Watch Rudy’s. They Get It!

I want to thank each and every one of you for accepting me into
your lives and following my messages.  It is truly my desire that
we all grow together and benefit from the wonderful technology that
we have been blessed with.  I have been very fortunate to have
found some wonderful people to show me paths to greater success.
My hope is that I do the same for you.

I am very excited about 2010.  I have some wonderful things planned
on the horizon, and we’ll get off to a big start with Virtual Real
Estate Barcamp.

But for now, please enjoy the last week of 2009 with your family
and friends.  Take the time to refuel… We’ll have plenty of time
to “Hit it out of the park” when we return!

Wishing all of you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Thank you,

Steve Rosenbaum

Pipsqueak and Bandit were both a mess… 12 pounds of dogs and 20 pounds of fur between them!

Nedda came to my house, brought her equipment and did an awesome job. Check the video, it’s very cute and lot of fun!

P.S. If you live in the Austin area, give Nedda a call. You won’t find a nicer person and better value. Nedda Galvan, Doggie Detail, 512-695-8110, neddagalvan@hotmail.com.