A Great Speech Makes A Pickle Memorable

by | Jul 27, 2011

Have you ever seen a speech or presentation that you remembered long after it was over?

Now, that’s a great speech.

The one that stuck with me was actually a training video.

In a Pickle

My company held a customer service week. At the beginning of the week, we were all given a pickle pin to wear on our shirts.

Yes, you read that right – a pickle.

On the last day of our week-long observation, we were called into a conference room for a training video.

  • It started as a speech
  • The speaker was Bob Farrell
  • Bob was the founder of Farrell’s Ice Cream Parlour restaurants
  • The speech has become the calling card for customer service

I don’t have the training video, but here is a short video of the speech that became famous.

Take a few minutes and review it and then come back and we’ll talk.

What Makes a Great Speech?

The one I saw was a video of the full speech, but I think this one gives you the idea.

Great speeches have a few things in common.

  • They tell a story
  • The audience relates to the story
  • The message is simple, clear and unique

Simple, clear and unique? Where have we heard that before?

Mr. Farrell captured all of that in one line –

“Give ’em the pickle.”

We finally had the answer to why we were walking around all week with a pickle pin.

My pickle pin is long gone, but the message has always stuck with me.

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Idea #3 Speaker

In a recent post, 10 business blog ideas were sitting right in front of my face. I looked at 10 items sitting on my desk and used them for blog post ideas.

To demonstrate that I practice what I preach I decided to do a 10-part series, using each one of the 10 main ideas. This post is #3 in the 10-part series.

The 3rd item from my desk was a speaker for my computer. Who knew a speaker would inspire memories of a pickle?

  • How about you?
  • Have you seen a great speech?
  • What made it special?

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Helping you Keep it simple, clear & uniquely yours – contact me for help with your business writing needs.

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BigStock Photo credit


2 Comments

  1. Nicky Parry

    Hehe! This gave me a smile, Cathy. Now I’ll be thinking of that pickle for a long time too. A simple message indeed. Loving this series of inspired posts.

    Reply
    • Cathy

      Hi Nicky-It definitely was one of my favorite. I’ve always been pretty passionate about customer service so that made it even more memorable for me.

      I’m glad you’re enjoying the series. I am, too. It’s about time I practiced what I preach-LOL! 😀

      Thanks for all your support, Nicky. I do appreciate it.

      Reply

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