A few months ago the doorbell rang after 11 PM. My daughter ran to open it and started screaming.
Assuming a murderer had politely rung first, I leaped from bed grabbing a samurai sword, shotgun, and silly putty (in case I needed to make a bouncy ball or do some fingerprinting).
Ella screamed because she had a gift waiting on the doorstep – not a flaming bag of doggy doo-doo, not a bouquet of flowers, but even crazier: She was asked to PROM for the first time!
To make matters better, she was asked by her friend who was born in the home down the street, a lifelong pal who had taken extreme efforts to ask her in a creative, cute, hilarious way, utilizing photos of them together from their youth.
Well done, young Luke, I said to myself, as I sheathed my weapon and began taking photos of my daughter gawking over photos of their photos.
This was a night to remember.
Here is the ASK:
Here’s a close-up of Luke drawing abs on his photo, with Ella in the background, at our family ranch swimming hole from when they were quite young:
Ella, determined to respond in an even more creative and dramatic way, did what every evil, beautiful, silly teenage girl does to the boy awaiting a response from his hopeful Prom Date ask – She finally finished her poster after 3 weeks!
Yes, this is the definition of teenaged angst torture, and Ella, along with Super-Mommy, searched and scoured hard drives and scrapbooks over 16 years to put together the EPIC poster in reply, ensuring every single photo included BOTH of them from years past, as seen below:
Why does this constitute the Perfect Prom Ask & Response?
Because the thought and actions count!
This is The Promise in full force.
The Promise to be traditionally gentlemanly and be creative in the ASK.
The Promise to offer a suspense-filled WAIT TIME in RESPONSE from my daughter.
The Promise to customize the RESPONSE to such a degree that it would be UNFORGETTABLE in every way.
And yes, The Promise to have a great time at Prom, which they did and stole the show as friends having fun, not as young lovebirds, but, as Luke said, “I wanted to go with Ella because I wanted to have a good time, laugh, and have fun at Prom, not take it so serious.”
Luke wins, Ella wins, we as parents & dear friends win, and it was a great experience for everyone!
~
Now, imagine Sales, or Customer Service, or Engagement with your Customer.
How are you doing something similar in your ASK, RESPONSE, and making it UNFORGETTABLE for those you engage with?
My PROMISE FORMULA upon taking a sales call is to:
- Actually ANSWER the PHONE and talk with the person calling me (it’s a new invention called humanity);
- Open up LinkedIn and Google, searching the heck out of the person on the other line so I can see if there’s any kind of connection I can create;
- RESPOND as fast as possible to every inquiry, question, or need…UNLESS it demands customization, in which case, I will take my time to make it special for the Buyer – and that touch is noticed and appreciated once they receive the custom video, connection, or deal they are seeking.
I LOVE what I have learned from my daughter and her friend in the Sales Experience that is Prom.
I had forgotten all of the work I had put into it in my youth, whether asking or responding to dances in high school…although I was homeschooled and only my Mom was my date, but that’s for another blog.
I’m kidding!
However, I’m curious as to how you follow my formula above, be it sales calls, customer experiences, or even if you just want to reminisce about THE BEST DANCE invite and response you ever saw. Put your comments below.
All of it matters, because all of it is The Promise to share your unique Signature Moves and be UNFORGETTABLE in every interaction with those you engage with.
And special thanks to Ella and Luke for making this blog possible. I’m sure they’ll Google their names someday and see this post…as there’s no way I was about to ask if I could share this, since they are teens and would have said no.
~ Jason Hewlett
Husband, Father, Writer, Mentor, Hiker
- Speaker Hall of Fame * Award-Winning Entertainer * Promise Legacy Project Coach
- World’s Only Keynote Speaker utilizing entertainment, musical impressions, and comedy to Create Legendary Leadership through the Power of Commitment
- Author of “The Promise To The One”
14 Responses
Love it!
I love it, too, my friend. Thank you Tom!
FUN!
Ella is BEAUTIFUL!!!!
Thank you so much Louise, she really is beautiful.
This is beyond awesome! I love that Luke started (the ask) with old photos and Ella and Super-Mommy took it (the response) to a whole new level. The thought of going to prom, for fun, with a lifelong friend, is priceless! All that, and you get to save your silly putty for another day. Perfection!
Hahaha! You are right. And yes, this was quite a fun family experience for all of us. Thank you Heidi for reading and all you do for JHE.
This was an epic ask. Glad that she said yes!
Thank you Barbara! It was fun to see.
Best way ever to attend Prom and cherish the memories…with a lifelong trusted friend. Sure removes the pressure that we create for ourselves! Thanks for sharing this!
That’s so true, thank you Cindy. You are awesome.
She’s beautiful…on the inside and out! I’m glad they had a fun time – I always loved the dances where I went with my ‘friends’ instead of ‘boyfriends’. No pressure, just a great time! Your family is beautiful and growing up – well, all growing up except for you and Tami! 🙂
Ann, you are so right, it’s much more fun as friends! Thank you for the kind words, she is a beautiful girl inside and out. And yes, Tami and I are working on not growing too much on the outside! hahahah!
That was fun to read. Thanks for sharing. I am going to share this with my leadership students tomorrow.
Thank you very much Don! I’m interested to know what they think of it.