Skiing | A Sales Guy

Vail Crushes It, Throws Down the Social Media Gauntlet

Most of you know I am an instructor at Vail. I love vail. It’s my favorite mountain and has been since 1989 when I moved from Boston.

Last year I wrote my opinion on why I thought Vail and other ski resorts were missing the boat in social media. You can read it here. I gave a specific example on how resorts could improve the ski school guest experience. Ski resorts have been slow to adopt social media and social networking and it frustrated me.

I am passionate about skiing and passionate about my home mountains (Vail and Beaver Creek.) I wanted to see the industry become a bit more progressive and was frustrated they weren’t moving faster . . . that is until today.

Vail crushed it today with the announcement of their new social networking application EpicMix. Epic Mix uses Vails RF scanner technology (which I’ve also written about here), to track where you are on the mountain, the total vertical you’ves skied, number of days on the mountain and it allows you to share it all with your friends via Facebook, and Twitter. It’s frickin’ awesome!

Vail just threw down the social media guantlet for the ski industry with this move. It combines Foursquare like checkins and accomplishment badges called “pins,” with personalized skier data, with the ability to track friends on the mountain, with the ability to share it all on Facebook and Twitter. It changes the game.

Vail’s EpicMix changes the on mountain experience. This is why I think it’s so killer. Vail didn’t just create a me too social media app. They built something specific to the skiing experience and I love it. I ski 20 plus days a year over and above the days I teach. EpicMix will be my homebase for skiing. The idea that I can now know how much I skied, where I skied, how to find my friends who are skiing and share it all, is exactly what social media and social networking are all about

Vail rocks, it has always rocked. Vail lured me to Colorado in 1989. It enticed me into buying a mountain home near its slopes. It introduced me to ski instruction and now Vail has just given me a new mountain experience. Thanks Vail. You continue to reward me and all your guests for their loyalty. I can’t wait for ski season now!

A year ago I challenged Vail to “get engaged.” This year they did, in ways far more impressive than could have been imagined. EpicMix has set the bar for social media in the ski industry and it’s high bar! – Well done Vail Resorts!

(EpicMix will work at all Vail Resort Mountains Keystone, Vail, Breckenridge, Heavenly, and BeaverCreek.)

August 30, 2010 | Filed under: Technology and Products,Web 2.0/Social Networking | View Comments |

Ski Lesson’s – “Big Time”

I’m doing this in two weeks. (not the skateboarding, but the ski jump pit) I just booked a 4 hour lesson at Woodward Copper.

“AIR” has changed a lot since I was a kid. We’d try to build kickers in out of the way places and ski patrol would always find them and knock them down. Now, resorts build 50 ft kickers with giant table tops in designated terrain parks. Boy has the worm turned.

I’ve hit these big kickers before, but it’s been 7 years and it wasn’t pretty. I figure a lesson can’t hurt. Wiping out at 42 hurts a whole lot more than than at 22.

My goal; some sick air this year. Can’t wait!

August 28, 2010 | Filed under: Skiing | View Comments |

Gone Skiing

Gone skiing. This blog will be closed today. All comments and pearls of wisdom will be returned tomorrow. Sorry for any inconveniences this may cause. It’s snowing in Vail!

February 22, 2010 | Filed under: Skiing | View Comments |

Is There A Glen Plake of the Business World?

Glen Plake is a free spirit. He is a guy who has been changing the world of skiing from the inside out. He’s done it, not by winning gold medals, or Winter X games, but by traveling from ski hill to ski hill hanging out with the people that make them run; not the CEO’s, but the dishwashers, and the busboys; the best skiers on the hill that no one knows about.

I remember watching his first big movie; Greg Stumps, Blizzard of Ahhs! It was in stark contrast to the mainstream, conventional ski videos by Warren Miller. They pushed the limits. They were rough, no frills, extreme skiing movies, that got to the raw essence of what its like to strap two wooden boards to your feet and ski the ungroomed, untamed, natural terrain provided by mother nature.

The Glen Plakes of the world force us to remember what it is we do and why we do it. They don’t allow the conventional to anchor us in the mundane. They push the envelope and challenge what we accept as the norm. They remind us that it’s the dishwashers; not those in the big offices that make our world run and in many cases they know a lot more about our business than we do.

Is there a Glen Plake in the world of business? I can think of a few, but I think there need to be more. They keep us honest and this is exactly the kind of leadership we need.

Film Maker Greg Stump talks about filming Willie Nelson, and hoping to film Lukas Nelson (stillisstillmoving.com)

February 21, 2010 | Filed under: Business Performance,Leadership,Personal Brand,Skiing | View Comments |

Something Different

I did something different today. I did something I almost never do. I took a day off. I didn’t go on vacation. I just took the day off. I never do this. I am too busy and just don’t feel comfortable putting it all on hold for a day.

Today, I did.

I woke up at 5:30 a.m. I drove up to Vail and skied all day. I took a bump clinic from a former World Cup mogul skier and thought of nothing else but skiing.

The weather was beautiful. I met a bunch of cool, fun people who could shred. We spent the day ripping the mountain, coaching each other, and critiquing each others bump skiing. It was awesome!

Finding the time to do this is hard for me. But, this year I made a New Years commitment to 4 theme’s; complete/finish, learn/grow, organize and fun. Today definitely fell into the fun category. It’s not often I get to ski at the level we did today and I remember how much I enjoy it.

When I was a kid my dad used to let us take day off from school everyone once in a while for no reason. He called them “mental health” days. I loved them as a kid. Today was exactly that. It was a “mental health” day.

What about work? It was exactly where I left it. No deals were lost. No buildings burned down. No customers upset. The world didn’t come to an end.

The work is still there, but I feel great and that always makes the work that much more fun.

February 10, 2010 | Filed under: Personal Development,Random,Uncategorized | View Comments |

On The Slopes

I’m teaching skiing this week. I am booked in a private lesson with the same family all week.

I like these kind of bookings. You get to know the people you work with. When you spend 6 hours a day for 6 days with the same people they become more than just clients. They becone friends. A relationship is built.

I still talk to clients I had 3 years ago. (my first season teaching). We text, and email staying in touch throughout the year. It’s been great. I’ve made some great friends.

There aren’t any businesses that I can think of where you spend this much personal time with your customers as ski instruction. They are on vacation. They are paying to have me add to their vacation experience and this is what I love most about being a ski instructor.

Every year at this time, I spend a week a part of someone elses vacation. I take this very seriously. I do everything I can to ensure my clients walk away feeling there vacation in Vail was better because of me.

I’ll let you know if I succeed this year too. I hope so. This is one thing I don’t ever want to fail at.

December 26, 2009 | Filed under: Customer Service,Skiing | View Comments |

What’s #TheBestSkiResort in North America and Why?

Ski Magazine’s October edition announced the top 50 Ski Resorts in North America. Deer Valley Utah was number one, Whistler Blackcomb was number two and Vail was number 3.

Almost 7000 Ski Magazine subscribers participated in the survey. Seven thousand people doesn’t seem like a lot to me. Skiing is over a 10 Billion dollar a year industry. There are millions of skier visits each year. Yet, only seven thousand people determine North Americas Top 50 resorts.

I’m surprised companies still do surveys. At least I’m surprised they still do them in the old traditional way. Is there a way to get to bigger audiences via Twitter, Facebook, and other Social Media outlets to gauge peoples opinions? I think there is.

I thought I’d try a hashtag #TheBestSkiResort to get the conversation going. It’s a simple question. What’s the best ski resort in North America and why?

Twitter your thoughts and follow along. I’ll report back what I find. Maybe we’ll find something to share with Ski Magazine.

November 21, 2009 | Filed under: Random,Uncategorized | View Comments |

Get Your Head Back

There were 15 inches of fresh new snow at Vail today. It’s April 4th, yet the snow was at your thighs. It was like skiing in January.

It was an epic day, yet I wasn’t enjoying it. My skiing was terrible. I couldn’t make a turn. Old habits were creeping in. It was a mess. My head just wasn’t in it.

Getting my head back

About noon time, it hit me. This was most likely my last day on skis until next season. I’ve got 15 inches fresh powder under my feet, and I’m in Vail Back Bowls; time to get my head back. In Blue Sky Basin skiing the trees, we came to a cliff. Ten to twelve foot drop. After a little quiet self discussion, I launched. POOF! I land in the softest 3 feet of snow. I got my head back!

In sales it’s easy to get out of it. The brutal sales call can sneak up on us. We’ve all experienced a pipeline beating. When these things happen it’s usually cause we’ve lost our head. When you lose your head stop, think about it and do what you need to get it back.

What do you do to get your head back . . . if there isn’t a cliff near by.

April 4, 2009 | Filed under: Personal Development,The Chase,Uncategorized,What I Think! | View Comments |