A reminder that our first Professional Development Series event is coming up NEXT Wednesday. Kick starting 2012 and Making this Your Best Year Ever! For more information and registration, go to www.TheEisenAgency.com/PDS. 9 a.m. Wed, Jan 11 at The Eisen Agency in Newport.
Friday, January 6, 2012
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
The Prescriptive Salesperson/Consultant
Since working with Aurora, reading ConnectingDirectors.com has become a guilty pleasure of mine (no joke, I can get lost in this content). Guest writer Alan Creedy posted the article at the following link (http://connectingdirectors.com/articles/2093-are-funeral-directors-wired-to-lose-in-the-new-normal-part-1) and below.
To summarize, the most effective sales personalities are "Challengers" those that do not lay out every option and follow the client/customer's lead but make recommendations based on their expertise and the research they have conducted. Even though this article is tailored to the funeral industry, the overarching theme is applicable to anyone interested in driving sales and delivering the best customer service they possibly can. I think what is interesting is how these two personalities are seen in the health care industry. According to consulting expert Peter Block, there is evolving a more consultative approach yet I believe patients will be more satisfied with the Challenger than the Relationship Builder, as mentioned in this article. To prove a point, my mother suffers from trigger finger. When one doctor offered surgery as an option and made no clear recommendation of what would be in her best interest (whether to go under the knife or not), she much preferred a different doctor who recommended surgery as being her best option, not in an effort to make more money but as a way to best alleviate the pain she was experiencing. For consultants and salesman alike (and the many who naturally serve both functions), I believe the Challenger approach will be the most effective in the future and leave both the salesperson/consultant and client/customer the most satisfied.
Guess article by: Alan Creedy
DeathCare has been losing ground relative to consumers for almost 30 years. Now comes research that may explain why and what to do about it.
To many observers (myself among them) what we sell seems well on the road to becoming a commodity. As a means of moving market share, differentiation based on price seems more effective and faster than differentiation on quality of service. This downward spiral threatens all of us as the loss of margin also leads to loss of value. The industry reaction to this phenomenon is to overserve customers; but it doesn’t appear this strategy is experiencing widespread success. At least as far as moving market share or average sale.
I recently was exposed to some non-industry research that I feel might explain the challenge we are failing to adequately address. It’s conclusions made me wonder if we aren’t wired by our predispositions as caregivers to respond ineffectively to the challenges we are facing.
What Changed?: Funerals are no longer simple
There is little doubt that the funeral and cemetery businesses have become more complex in the last 30 years. This is true in many ways but none more so than the complexity of our product. For the most part the days of simply choosing a casket are gone. We have entered the era of “The Complex Sale”. I believe it is this single issue that could produce the leverage point we need to begin turning the downward spiral around. The term complex sale is usually used in the context of B2B selling, but i think it is an appropriate application here as complex sales are defined as follows:
they are expensive
they have a technical component
they involve multiple roles from both seller and buyer sides
they require that you build and sell value
they include “why buy at all?”, as opposed to “why buy from me?”
they involve buyer side resistance
They often involve multiple decision makers and a consensus approach
Why we Fail:
For, literally, generations it has been believed that the best performing sales people were relationship builders. It is likely that this was true when products and services were simple. But in the 1970′s many industries discovered that sales was increasingly more complex. Investments were made in research and, subsequently, retraining entire sales forces to “Master the Complex Sale.” Successful Funeral Directors are consummate relationship builders. In fact, I believe DeathCare in general is a “relationship industry.” Personally, I love that about it.
But, recent research by the Sales Executive Council across 6,000 sales reps in every major industry uncovered a surprising fact about how personality traits influence effectiveness in a complex selling environment. They found that personality types tended to cluster into 5 different types. Among these are Relationship Builders and Challengers. More interesting yet was the discovery that, in a complex environment, Relationship Builders and Challengers are at opposite ends of a continuum. Relationship Builders represent only 4% of high performers while Challengers accounted for 54%.
It is easy to confuse the word challenger with a confrontative personality and while there is an element of that, Challengers are no jerks.
Relationship Builder ChallengerGets along with others Teaches
Is likable Tailors
Generous with time Asserts control
In other words Relationship Builders are accommodating and judge their effectiveness by how much they are liked and appreciated. Challengers adopt a teaching and tailoring style to guide the customer to the best solution.
The Good News:
Challenger skills can be taught. More to the point they fit better with the new role I have been preaching that funeral directors need to adopt:
Expert
An expert teaches. Challengers teach for differentiation. An expert tailors their solution for each client so that their proposal will resonate. Finally, they take control of the process because they know so much about their area of expertise they believe they can help the client make a better decision. The most common metaphor used for the process of mastering the complex sale is that of a physician. A physician doesn’t give you an array of all he offers for treatment and let you decide. If he did we might pick an antibiotic to treat cancer so we could avoid the pain of the real solution. Instead, he carefully explores the patient’s entire history and symptoms and even tests before he makes a recommendation.
In the coming weeks I will get more specific on how you can learn how to be a challenger and stop overserving and start helping your clients.
P.S. Many funeral directors believe they don’t sell. Hogwash! Everyone sells every day! It is the passive selling system that so perfectly fits our relationship builder’s hearts that we cling to with our deathgrip that is preventing us from building what has been for millenia a valuable and meaningful contribution to society.
You can read more articles by Alan Creedy at his website: AlanCreedy.org. Warning: You will be asked to login to read the article on Alan's site. It is free to register, once you complete the simple registration you will be granted access to the article.
To summarize, the most effective sales personalities are "Challengers" those that do not lay out every option and follow the client/customer's lead but make recommendations based on their expertise and the research they have conducted. Even though this article is tailored to the funeral industry, the overarching theme is applicable to anyone interested in driving sales and delivering the best customer service they possibly can. I think what is interesting is how these two personalities are seen in the health care industry. According to consulting expert Peter Block, there is evolving a more consultative approach yet I believe patients will be more satisfied with the Challenger than the Relationship Builder, as mentioned in this article. To prove a point, my mother suffers from trigger finger. When one doctor offered surgery as an option and made no clear recommendation of what would be in her best interest (whether to go under the knife or not), she much preferred a different doctor who recommended surgery as being her best option, not in an effort to make more money but as a way to best alleviate the pain she was experiencing. For consultants and salesman alike (and the many who naturally serve both functions), I believe the Challenger approach will be the most effective in the future and leave both the salesperson/consultant and client/customer the most satisfied.
Are Funeral Directors “Wired” To Lose In the “New Normal”? Part 1
Guess article by: Alan Creedy
DeathCare has been losing ground relative to consumers for almost 30 years. Now comes research that may explain why and what to do about it.
To many observers (myself among them) what we sell seems well on the road to becoming a commodity. As a means of moving market share, differentiation based on price seems more effective and faster than differentiation on quality of service. This downward spiral threatens all of us as the loss of margin also leads to loss of value. The industry reaction to this phenomenon is to overserve customers; but it doesn’t appear this strategy is experiencing widespread success. At least as far as moving market share or average sale.
I recently was exposed to some non-industry research that I feel might explain the challenge we are failing to adequately address. It’s conclusions made me wonder if we aren’t wired by our predispositions as caregivers to respond ineffectively to the challenges we are facing.
What Changed?: Funerals are no longer simple
There is little doubt that the funeral and cemetery businesses have become more complex in the last 30 years. This is true in many ways but none more so than the complexity of our product. For the most part the days of simply choosing a casket are gone. We have entered the era of “The Complex Sale”. I believe it is this single issue that could produce the leverage point we need to begin turning the downward spiral around. The term complex sale is usually used in the context of B2B selling, but i think it is an appropriate application here as complex sales are defined as follows:
Why we Fail:
For, literally, generations it has been believed that the best performing sales people were relationship builders. It is likely that this was true when products and services were simple. But in the 1970′s many industries discovered that sales was increasingly more complex. Investments were made in research and, subsequently, retraining entire sales forces to “Master the Complex Sale.” Successful Funeral Directors are consummate relationship builders. In fact, I believe DeathCare in general is a “relationship industry.” Personally, I love that about it.
But, recent research by the Sales Executive Council across 6,000 sales reps in every major industry uncovered a surprising fact about how personality traits influence effectiveness in a complex selling environment. They found that personality types tended to cluster into 5 different types. Among these are Relationship Builders and Challengers. More interesting yet was the discovery that, in a complex environment, Relationship Builders and Challengers are at opposite ends of a continuum. Relationship Builders represent only 4% of high performers while Challengers accounted for 54%.
It is easy to confuse the word challenger with a confrontative personality and while there is an element of that, Challengers are no jerks.
Relationship Builder ChallengerGets along with others Teaches
Is likable Tailors
Generous with time Asserts control
In other words Relationship Builders are accommodating and judge their effectiveness by how much they are liked and appreciated. Challengers adopt a teaching and tailoring style to guide the customer to the best solution.
The Good News:
Challenger skills can be taught. More to the point they fit better with the new role I have been preaching that funeral directors need to adopt:
Expert
An expert teaches. Challengers teach for differentiation. An expert tailors their solution for each client so that their proposal will resonate. Finally, they take control of the process because they know so much about their area of expertise they believe they can help the client make a better decision. The most common metaphor used for the process of mastering the complex sale is that of a physician. A physician doesn’t give you an array of all he offers for treatment and let you decide. If he did we might pick an antibiotic to treat cancer so we could avoid the pain of the real solution. Instead, he carefully explores the patient’s entire history and symptoms and even tests before he makes a recommendation.
In the coming weeks I will get more specific on how you can learn how to be a challenger and stop overserving and start helping your clients.
P.S. Many funeral directors believe they don’t sell. Hogwash! Everyone sells every day! It is the passive selling system that so perfectly fits our relationship builder’s hearts that we cling to with our deathgrip that is preventing us from building what has been for millenia a valuable and meaningful contribution to society.
You can read more articles by Alan Creedy at his website: AlanCreedy.org. Warning: You will be asked to login to read the article on Alan's site. It is free to register, once you complete the simple registration you will be granted access to the article.
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
Most Overused Jargon Phrases
As compiled by a CareerBuilder survey and reported by PR Daily (original article at: http://www.prdaily.com/Main/Articles/10433.aspx)
- Outside the box (31 percent)
- Low-hanging fruit (24 percent)
- Synergy (23 percent)
- Loop me in (22 percent)
- Best of breed (19 percent)
- Incentivize (19 percent)
- Mission-critical (19 percent)
- Bring to the table (18 percent)
- Value-add (17 percent)
- Elevator pitch (16 percent)
- Actionable items (15 percent)
- Proactive (15 percent)
- Circle back (13 percent)
- Bandwidth (13 percent)
- High level (10 percent)
- Learnings (9 percent)
- Next steps (6 percent)
My personal pet peeve: "innovative." It was a great word; now I fear it's being so overused that it means nothing.
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
Back to the Basics: The Writing Process
Such a good, good reminder as the perfectionist in me has a tendency to over-edit and over-research, stalling the progress of the first draft. The following NPR article reminds me of Anne Lamott's "Shitty First Drafts" piece. Both are available at the following links:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=9620861
http://www.orcutt.net/othercontent/sfds.pdf
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=9620861
http://www.orcutt.net/othercontent/sfds.pdf
Excerpt: 'This Year You Write Your Novel'
3. Where to Begin
First words
Probably the highest hurdle for the novice novelist (and many seasoned veterans) is writing the first few words. That beginning is a very emotional moment for most of us.
There are all kinds of ways for people to cajole themselves into starting their book. Some get a special pen or a particular desk set at a window looking out on something beautiful. Others play a favorite piece of music, light a candle, burn incense, or set up some other ritual that makes them feel empowered and optimistic. If this is what you find you must do to write — well... okay. Rituals frighten me. I worry that if I need a special pen or desk or scent to start me out, what will happen when I lose that pen or I'm on vacation or a business trip and my window looks out on the city dump?
My only ritual for writing is that I do it every morning. I wake up and get to work. If I'm in a motel in Mobile — so be it. If I am up all night, and morning is two o'clock in the afternoon, well, that's okay too.
The only thing that matters is that you write, write, write. It doesn't have to be good writing. As a matter of fact, almost all first drafts are pretty bad. What matters is that you get down the words on the page or the screen — or into the tape recorder, if you work like that.
Your first sentence will start you out, but don't let it trip you up.
If you are the intuitive type, just sit down and start writing the novel:
Lamont had only enough cash to buy half a pint of whiskey at Bob's Liquor Emporium, but he knew it wouldn't be enough. Ragman was dead, and that was at least a quart's worth of mourning.
What does it mean? How should I know? Those were the first words that came out. I'm not going to worry about it; I'm just going to keep on writing until either something clicks or I lose momentum. If it doesn't seem to be working, I'll start with a new first sentence. I'll keep on like that until something strikes my fancy and I have enough of a handle on the story to continue.
The next morning I read what I wrote the day before, making only the most superficial changes, and then continue on my way. This is all you have to do. Sit down once a day to the novel and start working without internal criticism, without debilitating expectations, without the need to look at your words as if they were already printed and bound.
The beginning is only a draft. Drafts are imperfect by definition.
If you are the structured kind of writer, you might start by getting the outline of your novel down on paper. You know the story already, but now you have to get it down scene after scene, chapter after chapter.
Every day, you sit down, just like the intuitive writer, writing what it is you think your story is about. You discover new characters, add little thumbnail sketches of them; you make notes about the feeling you want to get here and there. You create the whole book out of bulleted phrases and sentences, paragraphs and maybe even flowcharts.
Finally the day will arrive when you come to the end of the outline. The story is set, at least theoretically, and now you must follow the road that the intuitive writer takes. You sit down with your outline somewhere in the room and start writing the prose. You begin with a sentence and keep on going. Maybe you will follow the plan assiduously; maybe you will be diverted onto another path that will lead you far from your original ideas.
Whatever the case, the work is the same. Some days will be rough, unbearable; some will be sublime. Pay no attention to these feelings. All you have to do is write your novel this year. Happy or sad, the story has to come out.
Stick to your schedule. Try to write a certain amount every day — let's say somewhere between 600 and 1,200 words. Do not labor over what's been written. Go over yesterday's work cursorily to reorient yourself, then move on. If you find at some point that you have lost the thread of your story, take a few days to reread all you have written, not with the intention of rewriting (though a little editing is unavoidable) but with the intention of refamiliarizing yourself with the entire work.
Using this method, you should have a first draft of the novel in about three months. It won't be publishable. It won't be pretty. It probably won't make logical sense. But none of that matters. What you will have in front of you is the heart of the book that you wish to write.
There is no greater moment in the true writer's life.
Your first draft is like a rich uncultivated field for the farmer: it is waiting for you to bring it into full bloom.
The midlands of the novel
The beginning of the novel is hard, but it's only a few sentences and you're off on your tale. The end is also difficult because it has to make sense out of all that's gone before. In the rewriting phase of your process, you may spend weeks worrying over a satisfying end point.
But despite all this, it is the middle of your novel, that great expanse of storytelling, that is the most difficult part. How, you ask yourself, do I keep the story going for all those hundreds of pages?
What you have to remember is that a novel is the one and the many. There is an overarching story, and then there are all the smaller narratives that come together to make up that larger tale.
So in the case of Bob, Ramona, and Lyle, we have many bases to cover before we can come to a satisfying conclusion. Ramona must come into sync (through conflict) with Bob and Lyle: the same is true for Lyle and his father. We also have the police, the criminals, the judicial system, and Bob's in-laws to understand. Each character and element involved in the circumstances of this tragedy must be plumbed for us to understand and feel the evolution of that character — especially Bob's.
Keeping these notions in mind, you will find that the novel in some important way writes itself. You know the characters; you know the circumstances — now you must make sure that the reader is aware of every factor that makes up the tale.
You will find yourself in the cell with more than one murderer. You will find yourself in Bob's and Lyle's memories of their lost family members. You will experience the police officer's exasperation with Bob's apparent cowardice. You will come to understand Bob's loveless life, and then you will see how, in a very different way, Ramona has always sought after love.
And with each one of these substories, more of the larger tale will be revealed. Is it a story of forgiveness or retribution, a slow death or a rebirth?
The midlands of your novel can be treacherous, but the map is in the beginning of your story, where the characters are introduced and the conflict occurs. How this conflict is resolved is the content of your tale. There are many strands that must come together into a whole cloth — this is your novel.
Research
There will be moments when you will want to dally over details. Do Georgia geese fly south in April or June? Is it physically possible for Bob Millar to hear the cult leader yelling from a mile away — even in a desert? Would the police arrest Trip if the women were allowed into the bar and were served by the owner?
All of these questions are valid. Before the book gets into print, you should have the answers. But many writers allow questions like these to help them procrastinate. They tell themselves that they can't go on until these questions are answered.
Nonsense. Put a red question mark next to the place where you have questions and get back to it later.
I almost always do the research for my books toward the end of the last draft. By that time I know the book is written and that my creative energies will not be sapped by needless fretting.
I have to admit that I'm not the best source when it comes to research. It's not one of my strong suits. I write books about places I've been and people I like to think I understand.
I've known writers who have spent years in libraries and foreign lands researching the topics of their novels. There's nothing I can say about that. If you need to go to South Africa for a month (or five years) to get the feeling for your book, then do it. When you come back and you're ready to write, my little how-to book will be waiting for you.
From the book This Year You Write Your Novel by Walter Mosley. © 2007 by Walter Mosley. Reprinted by permission of Little, Brown and Company, New York, NY. All rights reserved.
Thursday, December 15, 2011
Aurora Casket Tops Industry Survey of Funeral Service Suppliers
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Contact: Beth Parker
859.291.4302
Facebook @ Aurora Casket Company
LinkedIn @ Aurora Casket Company
Twitter @ AuroraCasket
Aurora Casket Tops Industry Survey of Funeral Service Suppliers
Nation’s largest family-owned casket manufacturer receives highest marks in build quality and client service
December 15, 2011 – Aurora, IN – In survey results recently published in Funeral Service Insider, a weekly subscription-based newsletter produced by Kates-Boylston Publications, Aurora Casket Company received the highest scores among casket manufacturers in categories of build quality and service.
“We have made huge investments and advancements in all of our manufacturing and logistics,” said Tim Dugan, Aurora’s senior vice president of sales and marketing. “It’s nice to see that our customers notice and value this. And the credit goes to our hard-working team that creates this ‘Aurora Difference’ every day.”
Aurora operates six manufacturing facilities in the United States and Canada with more than 60 distribution centers located throughout the country, serving family-owned solution-seeking funeral homes.
“For funeral professionals, quality and service continue to be the most important factors when choosing a supplier,” Dugan added. “We measure what we call a ‘perfect order,’ -- perfect quality, perfect service, perfect delivery. It is our goal to meet every customer commitment perfectly – we will continue to keep this measurement as a differentiation for Aurora .”
Gathered from 100 subscribers to the newsletter, Funeral Service Insider’s annual casket survey covers topics such as consumer expectations and attitudes, cremation and supplier rankings. Kates-Boylston also publishes American Funeral Director, American Cemetery and Funeral Service Extra, all dedicated to providing the latest industry news to funeral and cemetery professionals. To subscribe to a Kates-Boylston publication, visit www.KatesBoylston.com. For a free sample issue of Funeral Service Insider, email Thomas Parmalee at tparmalee@katesboylston.com.
###
About Aurora
Aurora Casket is the largest family-owned funeral supplier in America. Founded in 1890, the company operates six manufacturing facilities in the U.S. and Canada, and provides a full range of burial, cremation, memorialization and technology products to funeral home clients across America. Aurora is a fifth-generation family business, owned and operated by the Barrott and Backman families. For more information, visit www.AuroraCasket.com.
Friday, December 2, 2011
Top Casket Manufacturer Wins Honors for Marketing
Top Casket Manufacturer Wins Honors for Marketing
Aurora Casket Company Earns Gold MarCom Honors and Wins NFDA Convention Booth Contest
Aurora, IN – December 2, 2011 – Aurora Casket Company, the largest privately owned casket manufacturer in the country, was awarded a 2011 Gold MarCom Award for Best Employee Publication. The glossy magazine, the Aurora Report, features news and information regarding the people, products and services offered by the leading funeral services provider. Less than 18 percent out of thousands of award entries from agencies, businesses and organizations internationally earned a Gold MarCom Award. The awards recognize outstanding creative achievement by marketing and communication professionals. There were more than 6,000 entries from throughout the United States, Canada and several other countries in the 2011 competition.
“While we are proud to receive this recognition what has been even more exciting is having a means of uncovering and sharing the stories of the people of our company,” Director of Creative Marketing Marty Strohofer said. “The Aurora Report has been incredibly effective in that it combines beautiful design with interesting, worthwhile content about how our employees are working to best serve our clients and their families.”
Aurora also “made an impression” at the National Funeral Directors Association’s 2011 International Convention & Expo as the organization recognized the funeral service supplier as having the best booth that was more than 400 square feet, a distinction determined by attendees who judged booths based on categories such as creativity, design, friendliness, giveaways and overall appearance. The company encouraged those in the industry to “make an impression,” particularly in relation to its debut of Advisor, an online platform designed to foster better communication with families and internal employees.For more information about Aurora Casket Company, visit www.AuroraCasket.com. More information about the MarCom awards is available at www.MarComAwards.com and information about NFDA’s booth contest is available at www.nfda.org.
###
About Aurora
Founded in 1890, Aurora is the largest family-owned funeral service supplier. Aurora caskets are proudly made in the United States and Canada, with headquarters based in Aurora, Indiana. For more information about Aurora products and services, visit www.auroracasket.com.
Friday, November 18, 2011
Back to the Basics: Writing 101
Regardless of your opinion of hipsters, you have to love this author's writing style. The piece is masterfully written with clear imagery and vivid details yet he doesn't fall into the trap of overwriting. Thanks to MuckRack for sharing! The original article is accessible at: http://www.npr.org/2011/11/16/142387490/the-hipsterfication-of-america
Sale racks near the front desk display chargers for iPods and BlackBerrys and a variety of snacks, including Cocoa Puffs and Red Bulls. Every room features a media box for digital video and music.
Welcome to Aloft, a hipster hotel on the outskirts of Nashville.
Nearby are Plato's Closet, a recycled-clothing store where hipsters shop, and Which Wich, a sandwich shop — touting its "edgy, magnetic environment" — where hipsters eat.
On the streets of Franklin and Nashville and almost every town throughout America now, hipsters scuttle by on scooters, zip around in Zipcars or Smart cars, roll by on fixed-gear bikes or walk about in snazzy high-top sneakers and longboard shorts. They snap Instagram photos of each other — in black skinny jeans and T-shirts with funky epigrams like "If You Deny It, You Are A Hipster" — and turn the pix into iPhone cases. They buy cool-cat snuggle clothes at American Eagle and down-market monkey boots at Urban Outfitters. They drink cheap beer, listen to music on vinyl records and decorate their lairs with upcycled furniture.
They follow indie bands and camp out at Occupy movements. They work as programmers and shop clerks, baristas and bartenders. They are gamers and volunteers, savvy entrepreneurs and out-of-work basement dwellers.
In case you haven't noticed, hipsters — and those who cater to them — are everywhere. And that really galls some hipsters.
The Ironic Hipster
"Hipster culture is omnipresent," says Peter Furia, a founder of Seedwell Digital Creative Studio in San Francisco. "It dominates fashion, music and lifestyle. It crosses borders of ethnicity, socio-economic status and sexual preference — something that we haven't seen since the boom of hip-hop culture."
Furia's studio is producing a documentary-style Web series, American Hipster — for its nascent YouTube channel — that will debut in April 2012. "What's funny is that people who aren't hipsters generally express distaste for them and those who appear to be hipsters hate to be identified as such. Everybody hates hipsters ... especially hipsters. And the ironic part is that hipsters' opposition to pop culture has become pop culture."
You might think that as hipsterism ripples out, in concentric (and eccentric) circles farther and farther from its big-city epicenters, the ultra-coolitude would lose its authenticity, Furia says, "but the opposite may be true. Cities are known for setting trends; hipsterism is about anti-trends. It sounds funny, but hipsters in Omaha may actually be cooler than hipsters in New York City — everyone knows about New York City."
American society, Furia says, often thinks of hipsters as "posers who appropriate an image of cool individuality but lack authenticity, but we think there may be real substance beneath it all."
He points to social waves such as urban farming, the Do It Yourself initiatives and the Occupy movement. "There are lots of hipsters in all of these movements," he says, "who are authentic in their passions."
Revenge Of The Hipster
To many the American hipster represents more than ironic graphic T's and gourmet grilled cheese sandwiches. "I like to believe there's something smarter lurking within our romance with hip ... an idea of enlightenment and awareness," says John Leland, a New York Times reporter and author of the 2004 book Hip: The History.
America does have a long love affair with being hip — not only up to date and au courant, but ahead of the curve. The Urban Dictionary defines hipsters as "a subculture of men and women typically in their 20s and 30s who value independent thinking, counter-culture, progressive politics, an appreciation of art and indie-rock, creativity, intelligence, and witty banter."
The greatest concentrations of hipsters, the hiptionary definition continues, "can be found living in the Williamsburg, Wicker Park and Mission District neighborhoods of major cosmopolitan centers such as New York, Chicago, and San Francisco respectively."
Sure enough, just a couple of years ago everyone was writing about discrete hipster enclaves. A 2009 essay in Time magazine focused on the Brooklyn neighborhood of Williamsburg, noting that because of a lagging economy and neighborhood gentrification, "Hipsterdom's largest natural habitat, it seems, is under threat."
But in fact, the opposite happened. In the past couple of years, Hipsterdom has entered — and in some cases, dominated — dominant culture. Hipsters, after all, know how to adapt: how to make the cheap chic, the disheveled dishy, the peripheral preferable. A shaky, shabby economy is the perfect breeding ground for hipsters.
A New Hipsterdom
Modern historians trace the term "hip" at least back to the Jazz Age. The word's origins are in dispute. Some believe it came from "hop," a street word for opium; or the hip flask carried by clandestine drinkers, or "hepi," an African word meaning "open-eyed awareness."
The hipster's ancestry no doubt involves hepcats and beatniks and hippies. Today some hipsters are so hip they refuse to use the word self-referentially and believe that anyone who does so is, well, hip-o-critical.
As long as hipsters were confined to cool urban corrals, they were easy to deride. Robert Lanham's 2003 The Hipster Handbook poked fun at them. A hipster, he wrote, is someone who has one Republican friend whom the hipster always describes as his "one Republican friend."
But with the hipsterfication of America, today's hipsters come in all stripes and all political persuasions. Rachel Maddow and S.E. Cupp to courtesy phones, please.
And all ages: Not everyone who is hip is young, and not everyone who is young is hip. Hipsterishness is a state of mind.
We are seeing the dawn of a new hipsterdom. The subculture has become an omniculture and its denizens can be found outside Nashville and in Grinnell, Iowa, and in Omaha, Neb. Visit the Little River Coffee Bar in Spartanburg, S.C., the Busted Lift in Dubuque, Iowa, or the Bikini Lounge in Phoenix.
And hipsterfication is happening at hyperspeed. "Hip used to have a lag time," the Times' Leland explains. "Weirdos and creative people fled their intolerant small town for the city, where they could be anonymous and find other weirdos. Together they combined their knowledge — of style or wisdom, of outsider lore, black and white — to produce hip."
The expression of hipness, Leland says, "had to be private to be distinct, understood only by the inner circle."
Eventually the hip sensibility was adopted by bigger and bigger circles until it boomeranged back to the small towns, Leland says. "Now there's no lag time. Those syntheses and exchanges take place not in physical spaces but metaphorical ones — in cyberspace, in the marketplace, in the media. So stuff that looks like hip is everywhere."
The Hipsterfication Of America
EnlargeMike Blake/Reuters /LandovConcertgoers move in a spray of cooling mist as they dance amid the heat of the desert at the hipster Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival in Indio, Calif., in April.
November 17, 2011
The hotel lobby in Franklin, Tenn., has an ultra-urban loft-esque feel — exposed air ducts, austere furniture and fixtures, music videos projected onto a flat panel. Everywhere there is lava-lampish aqua and amber lighting.Sale racks near the front desk display chargers for iPods and BlackBerrys and a variety of snacks, including Cocoa Puffs and Red Bulls. Every room features a media box for digital video and music.
Welcome to Aloft, a hipster hotel on the outskirts of Nashville.
Nearby are Plato's Closet, a recycled-clothing store where hipsters shop, and Which Wich, a sandwich shop — touting its "edgy, magnetic environment" — where hipsters eat.
On the streets of Franklin and Nashville and almost every town throughout America now, hipsters scuttle by on scooters, zip around in Zipcars or Smart cars, roll by on fixed-gear bikes or walk about in snazzy high-top sneakers and longboard shorts. They snap Instagram photos of each other — in black skinny jeans and T-shirts with funky epigrams like "If You Deny It, You Are A Hipster" — and turn the pix into iPhone cases. They buy cool-cat snuggle clothes at American Eagle and down-market monkey boots at Urban Outfitters. They drink cheap beer, listen to music on vinyl records and decorate their lairs with upcycled furniture.
"What's funny is that people who aren't hipsters generally express distaste for them and those who appear to be hipsters hate to be identified as such. Everybody hates hipsters ... especially hipsters."
In case you haven't noticed, hipsters — and those who cater to them — are everywhere. And that really galls some hipsters.
The Ironic Hipster
"Hipster culture is omnipresent," says Peter Furia, a founder of Seedwell Digital Creative Studio in San Francisco. "It dominates fashion, music and lifestyle. It crosses borders of ethnicity, socio-economic status and sexual preference — something that we haven't seen since the boom of hip-hop culture."
Furia's studio is producing a documentary-style Web series, American Hipster — for its nascent YouTube channel — that will debut in April 2012. "What's funny is that people who aren't hipsters generally express distaste for them and those who appear to be hipsters hate to be identified as such. Everybody hates hipsters ... especially hipsters. And the ironic part is that hipsters' opposition to pop culture has become pop culture."
You might think that as hipsterism ripples out, in concentric (and eccentric) circles farther and farther from its big-city epicenters, the ultra-coolitude would lose its authenticity, Furia says, "but the opposite may be true. Cities are known for setting trends; hipsterism is about anti-trends. It sounds funny, but hipsters in Omaha may actually be cooler than hipsters in New York City — everyone knows about New York City."
Sam Swett/Flickr
Hipsters like these urban dwellers in the Wicker Park neighborhood of Chicago have now spread to the farthest reaches of small-town America.
He points to social waves such as urban farming, the Do It Yourself initiatives and the Occupy movement. "There are lots of hipsters in all of these movements," he says, "who are authentic in their passions."
Revenge Of The Hipster
To many the American hipster represents more than ironic graphic T's and gourmet grilled cheese sandwiches. "I like to believe there's something smarter lurking within our romance with hip ... an idea of enlightenment and awareness," says John Leland, a New York Times reporter and author of the 2004 book Hip: The History.
America does have a long love affair with being hip — not only up to date and au courant, but ahead of the curve. The Urban Dictionary defines hipsters as "a subculture of men and women typically in their 20s and 30s who value independent thinking, counter-culture, progressive politics, an appreciation of art and indie-rock, creativity, intelligence, and witty banter."
The Wide World Of Hipsters
Sure enough, just a couple of years ago everyone was writing about discrete hipster enclaves. A 2009 essay in Time magazine focused on the Brooklyn neighborhood of Williamsburg, noting that because of a lagging economy and neighborhood gentrification, "Hipsterdom's largest natural habitat, it seems, is under threat."
But in fact, the opposite happened. In the past couple of years, Hipsterdom has entered — and in some cases, dominated — dominant culture. Hipsters, after all, know how to adapt: how to make the cheap chic, the disheveled dishy, the peripheral preferable. A shaky, shabby economy is the perfect breeding ground for hipsters.
A New Hipsterdom
Modern historians trace the term "hip" at least back to the Jazz Age. The word's origins are in dispute. Some believe it came from "hop," a street word for opium; or the hip flask carried by clandestine drinkers, or "hepi," an African word meaning "open-eyed awareness."
The hipster's ancestry no doubt involves hepcats and beatniks and hippies. Today some hipsters are so hip they refuse to use the word self-referentially and believe that anyone who does so is, well, hip-o-critical.
As long as hipsters were confined to cool urban corrals, they were easy to deride. Robert Lanham's 2003 The Hipster Handbook poked fun at them. A hipster, he wrote, is someone who has one Republican friend whom the hipster always describes as his "one Republican friend."
Seth Wenig/AP
Known online as the "Hipster Cop," Detective Rick Lee (center) walks with protesters in New York in October. The plainclothes officer has been doing community affairs work at the Occupy Wall Street protest.
And all ages: Not everyone who is hip is young, and not everyone who is young is hip. Hipsterishness is a state of mind.
We are seeing the dawn of a new hipsterdom. The subculture has become an omniculture and its denizens can be found outside Nashville and in Grinnell, Iowa, and in Omaha, Neb. Visit the Little River Coffee Bar in Spartanburg, S.C., the Busted Lift in Dubuque, Iowa, or the Bikini Lounge in Phoenix.
And hipsterfication is happening at hyperspeed. "Hip used to have a lag time," the Times' Leland explains. "Weirdos and creative people fled their intolerant small town for the city, where they could be anonymous and find other weirdos. Together they combined their knowledge — of style or wisdom, of outsider lore, black and white — to produce hip."
The expression of hipness, Leland says, "had to be private to be distinct, understood only by the inner circle."
Eventually the hip sensibility was adopted by bigger and bigger circles until it boomeranged back to the small towns, Leland says. "Now there's no lag time. Those syntheses and exchanges take place not in physical spaces but metaphorical ones — in cyberspace, in the marketplace, in the media. So stuff that looks like hip is everywhere."
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