Funny situation. I was part of a team that was consulting to a large group. We each had responsibility for a section of the large group. I had grown to like the people in my section a lot. The people were visiting our town and were wondering what nooks and crannies to explore. So a few of us had a light-hearted and fun idea: for each of us consultants to write down our favorite, personal recommendations about the city, and to hand it out to the people we were working with.
There was just one problem.
Not everyone got the memo.
Not a literal memo. There was no literal memo. Not everyone heard the idea. So one person who volunteered to collect all the information and print it out to give to our people did something funny. She removed each of our identifying names. So instead of –
“Senia recommends this bakery on the corner of X and Y, and says “make sure to go to the chocolate shop on Z Street and ask for a chocolate-covered strawberry to go.” ” …
Instead of that, we got this –
FOODS:
Bakery – Corner of X and Y
Chocolate Shop – Z Street
Ladies and gentlemen, these two are not the same.
One had a heartbeat. The other didn’t.
How to Give Good Recommendations (for Places, People, Things)
RULE NUMBER 1: Make the recommendations personal. Why is this your FAVORITE place? Why is it the BEST chocolate? What does this place have the MOST of? (Try using the first-best-most language).
RULE NUMBER 2: Ask them how it was. That way you can taylor your next recommendation to them.