Update: I just returned from my first Dime Stories Live event held at UCSD's The Loft, a performance lounge commingling a genre of artists pushing new boundaries with modern design and artistic connections. It's the place where the Cool Cats of today hang out, minus the smoke-filled room. And it was nothing short of intriguing.

The 3-minute stories with titles like Kelly Girl, Arm Farts Story and Bobby Kennedy & Lorenza told by their creators showed me the absolute in-depth resourcefulness of the human experience. From listening to these ink slingers telling their tales I couldn't help but be touched by the magnitude of stories we all have within us. The stuff nobody can take away.

Dime Stories is a growing movement that crosses, connects and contributes — to and through — all cultural barriers. Get involved today. Join the movement.

Feature Article: Biggest Business Loser was Herself

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Brand Pollution...

According to the Associated Press Starbucks has announced their new value-meals. In their attempt to raise their sales figures Starbucks has polluted their premium brand consistent with that of an upscale McDonalds. I can't see mom and pop bringing the kids over to Starbucks for a family meal. Where would the kids play?

History repeats itself: when companies begin losing market share they begin trimming away the excess and adding "something new." This "something new" begins to infect and affect the marketplace. The question they should have asked is: Why create the excess in the first place?

My friend Barbara has always been a staunch Starbucks loyalist. I'd be shocked if she wasn't a shareholder. In recent times she surprised me by sipping the house coffee. This certainly shifts her image as she is now holding a downsized plain paper cup nary a lid.

Will the value-meals work? Let's hope so. If not, Starbucks will continue to downscale their premium products to a point where upscale loyalists may not return.

Biggest Business Loser was Herself

Dear Associate,

A colleague of mine sent a promotion to her e-mail list. She captures names for her list through networking, business alliance groups and monthly mixers that she organizes. Her latest promotion was called Cinch Biggest Loser Contest.

This contest was an exciting way to help contestants lose weight and win $25,000 (Biggest Loser), $10,000 (next five Biggest Losers), and $5,000 (the very next five Biggest Losers). These are great incentives. With obesity rising to epic proportions you'd expect there'd be more than enough eager participants.

This contest was also a means to introduce new members into her network marketing business. She belongs to one of the biggest name, environmentally conscious, and legitimate network marketing companies. In fact, they call what they do Social Marketing™ to distinguish their company from others.

Here's what happened...

She sent her promotion out a second time because surprisingly the first got zero responses. Then she repeated this for a third and final time because no one responded to the second message. Are those on her list who want to shed a few pounds in denial, or is there something else that's in play?

Let's examine a few psychological reasons why people would not respond and how you can avoid a similar loss from her "gaining by losing" proposition...

1) Congruence. Using the Biggest Loser theme is brilliant because it builds on the popular reality TV show airing to a worldwide audience. The contestant is paired with a personal trainer to lose as much weight as possible.

But in reality, most people don't want to work that hard. It's not programmed in our DNA. We would rather watch people dance than put on our dance shoes. As long as munching on lettuce and intense cardio is incongruent with our beliefs, we probably won't enter the contest.

To counter this she could have painted the picture of what a contestant gets by winning. Perhaps tell a compelling story of the joy, abundant life and new opportunities from one of the winners from that TV show. Painting this winning picture will turn more spectators into contestants.

2) Anonymity. I'm speaking for myself, but I don't want to advertise that I'm heavier than I should be. I have this sneaky suspicion most people don't either. It's equivalent to admitting you've failed at something.

With a contest like this your name, face and before-and-after pictures will probably circulate. Maybe on a company website, newsletter or magazine. Consider asking about privacy rights before entering this contest. This could save you from unwanted exposure.

To get people with these concerns to participate, you may suggest only using their first name paired with their city. You respect their right to privacy. That means no photo if that's their request. It's more important to get a customer through the door than pushing them away. This is something my colleague should have explained.

3) Membership. "Membership has its rewards," claims one company. But not this membership. The phrase in her promo "This is available for new members only" conjures up all sorts of images... especially for those on the outside looking in.

A candidate for this contest may want to lose the weight and win one of the prizes, but not at the expense of going to business opportunity meetings and buying monthly supplies of nutritional products. It seems like exchanging one vice for another.

Although the part about membership can be reworded, she used the sneak attack approach. Without any building up or any benefit-driven copy, she casually snuck the part about being members in there as if hoping you'd miss it. But instead of missing it, people probably saw that as a red flag and decided not to participate. Solution: tell the whole story and be proud of your company, your products and your results.

Sending out a promotion can give you the greatest joy when the phone calls, e-mails and orders start pouring in. It can also zap the life out of you when nothing happens. Avoid my colleague's three mistakes in her promo and you can become the biggest gainer in yours.

Warm regards,