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I’ve been a fan of Susan Keane Baker since we first met at an NSA-NY Chapter meeting in NYC at least 15 years ago. Class acts have a way of being class acts from the get-go. Susan’s brand experience is excellence, depth and connection and she’s delivered that consistently in our friendship and professional relationship since day one.

It was from Susan that I learned how important the personal touch is. She’s been sending out a print newsletter for over a decade. She mails several thousand at a time and hand writes a message to each recipient. Who does that anymore?!

Every newsletter I receive from Susan is packed with valuable content on her subject: improving the patient/health care practitioner relationship. Of course, substitute the word “client” for patient and “service provider” for health care practitioner and her advice resonates loud and clear.

Each time I open one of Susan’s mailings, and they come quarterly, I think to myself, will there be a message in this one? Is it really possible for her to do this repeatedly?

I was not surprised then, but ever delighted, when I opened up her most recently mailed newsletter and found not “Happy Fall!” or “Hope to see you soon!” but a truly personal, hand-written note acknowledging my new webinar launch. That’s the Susan experience.

What’s your brand experience, and when was the last time your client/patient/customer had a taste of it?

I was looking forward to meeting Susan this morning for an hour-long walk/talk at the old Norwalk High School track. We’ve previously met and walked on downtown streets, but knowing how deeply intense and focused our conversations are, I suggested that we just walk in an endless loop and move our legs along with our mouths without concern for cars and curbs.

I was not disappointed. We covered at least 10 categories in depth during our time together, never breaking stride. Business issues, household stuff and relationships were the first order of business, but where we covered the most territory was technology. We both attend the classes at the Apple Store (their $99 for unlimited 1:1 instruction) is unbeatable.

“Are you using two fingers to scroll?”
“Have you discovered control T?”
“What about the anagram slide transition in Keynote?”
“What are you doing about converting from ACT?”

I gave my “21 Results Driven Strategies” (aka Things I’d Wished I’d Known When I Started My Business) talk for the South Shore Women’s Business Network yesterday. In it I recommend that business owners embrace technology and stretch themselves quarterly or more often to keep up with the trends–adding a blog, getting on facebook or LinkedIn for example.

After our inspirational walk this morning, I am committing to moving all of my contacts over to my MacBook. I’ve got 3000 in my database now along with complete histories and groupings. Give me till March to fully transition. Then, I’ll get one of those cool iPhones and be PC-free.

Anyone out there want to commit?

P.S. My greatest technological achievement, with a big nod to the help received from the guys at the Stamford Apple Store, is the website I created for my upcoming program with Brad Isaacs. Please take a look. I’d also love it if you’d come…and bring a friend.

Susan Keane Baker and I have been friends and colleagues for over 10 years. She’s in a completely different industry–health care–so our paths would never have crossed, but for our mutual passion for speaking professionally about what we love. We met through the National Speakers Association.

I receive Susan’s print newsletter, Exceptional Patient Care, and read every word. What makes Susan so compelling is the universality of her message. Even though it’s directed to the medical community, it applies to me as well.

In her latest issue she addresses burnout with a quote from Albert Schweitzer: “In everybody’s life, at some time, our inner fire goes out. It is then burst into flame by an encounter with another human being. We should all be thankful for those people who rekindle the inner spirit.”

My flame wasn’t even flickering when I read that, but I felt an enormous glow reading Susan’s inspirational writing. Makes me want to give more of myself today.

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