Understanding your audience’s motivation is key in finding opportunities to reach them. That point was driven home a while back during dinner at J. Alexander’s in north Atlanta. Our server, Jimmy, did something I haven’t seen done much lately in a restaurant. He assessed the situation and improvised, getting our gratitude as well as up-selling us another course. As I looked at the description for the sea bass special, the words “puddle of brown butter sauce” got my attention. I told Jimmy I was trying to eat clean and if there were an alternative to my butter dilemma. Shortly after our exchange he asked if we wanted an appetizer. Since our options were fried, cheesy, or fried and cheesy, I declined. Thinking on his feet, literally, Jimmy asked, “What about our seared Ahi tuna appetizer?” Interestingly there was not an Ahi tuna appetizer on the menu. “It’s not there, but…

Yesterday I need to see an eye doctor. By the time I made that decision my left eye was in bad shape. It had been swelling since Saturday and by Tuesday the swelling had grown to Quasimodo proportions. At 3:30 in the afternoon I finally decided that I needed to see a doctor. A quick Google search brought up a clinic not far from my office: Primary Eye Care Group . I was prepared for the typical response “we are booked up but might have something available tomorrow afternoon.” That’s not at all what happened. Gwen answered the phone and got my sad story of how bad my eye was doing. “Well, then we need to see you right away. Let’s make sure that eye doesn’t get any worse,” she said with southern charm and care in her voice. “Can you be here in 15 minutes?” And just like that…