When SWAG becomes SWAGGER:
What I learned from two casino chips and Justin Bieber

The first time I heard the word "SWAG," it was from my former colleague and friend, Sandra Humphries. She always planned the best sales meetings and gave the greatest SWAG! After any given meeting, she'd have our hotel-room nightstands packed with delectable objects of desire. It got so that if Sandra was involved, we were as trained as Pavlov's dog to check our nightstands for our rewards.

One time in Puerto Rico, we were staying at a casino hotel. On the final night, I discovered two $100 gambling chips on my nightstand. I thought, "I'm not a gambler, so what difference does it make if I gamble these away or if I cash them in?"

The next morning that's just what I did. Standing in front of the cashier's cage in the ultra-posh casino, I laid down my $100.00 chips and asked that they be converted into cash.

The cashier eyed me slowly and said with a straight face, "You know, there's a surprise in our playing chips."

"There is?"

"Yes, go ahead and open one."

As soon as I started to do so, I discovered, much to my embarrassment, that I was opening a piece of CHOCOLATE!!!! The hotel's turn-down service chocolates were so incredibly authentic looking, I'd mistaken them for Sandra's SWAG.

I wanted to die. Apparently, he was used to this and chose compassion. "It's ok Madame," he said soothingly, "People do it all the time."

Needless to say, I did not leave with a SWAGGER.

Celebrities receive amazing SWAG bags when they visit the VIP suites at pre-award parties. Their bags are gorged with every conceivable and highly desirable gadget, cosmetic, service offering and designer gear, and they're worth a fortune.

I'm sure you've had your own experiences when you've attended charity events. Most likely, you've carried home a SWAG bag filled with donated products from shampoo to nail clippers, Zagat's directories to Q-tips. They vary from the sublime to the ridiculous….but they're fun to receive-when they don't deceive.

As though it would help me avoid future faux pas, I looked up the online definition of SWAG:
*Several objects or a quantity of material gathered or bound together
*A number of things considered together

Okay.

I haven't thought of SWAG for a while. Then, last week, I was talking to my niece, Shannon LeMintier, and she mentioned that an 8th grade friend of hers had written on her Facebook Wall that she wanted a SWAGGER COACH.

This was a completely new concept for me, so I did what I always do when I don't understand something…..I Googled it. I'd assumed it had to do with someone who's connected with giving or receiving SWAG. Guess again.

Teen heart-throb Justin Bieber.

A SWAGGER COACH is a creative title recently given to Ryan Good, who's the road manager for teen heartthrob, Justin Bieber. Evidently, what a SWAGGER COACH does is train Justin to embody SWAGGER – to boast and brag, to bring drive and force…
to walk with confidence.

SWAG and SWAGGER made me think of you. In reality, you're SWAGGER COACHES for your clients everyday. You are the ones who use and recommend SWAG: several objects-in your case, specific products-gathered and bound, considered together to be what's needed for your clients to feel confident enough to boast and brag about how much they love their hair.

That confidence gives them drive and force to propel their own accomplishments and successes…and to walk with a SWAGGER. With your SWAG and their new-found SWAGGER, your clients can go home and reproduce the look you created for them. They have all the products and the training they need to get their SWAGGER on.

Or do they????

Is 2010 the year you become a renowned SWAGGER COACH? How cool would that be?

If you're attending Orlando Premiere, please come to my program, and I'll guide you. The Professional Beauty Association has named it "The Business of Beauty Report: The Client Experience." I now think of it as helping you be the best SWAGGER COACH you can be.

You'll discover what really happens in your clients' bathrooms the day after their appointments. I'll give you glimpse of your clients' lives (and mine, too) when the SWAG goes from your salon retail center to their (or my) bathroom shelves. Once you experience what really happens, you'll be able to turn SWAG into SWAGGER every time.

See you in Orlando on Sunday, June 6th, 2010. Please consult the Premiere Program agenda for the classroom and time.

I'll see you there….when you SWAGGER on in!

About Ann Mincey
For 35 years, Ann Mincey's training programs have helped beauty professionals reduce stress, refuel creativity, open their hearts and enrich their lives. As one of the first women to teach motivation, inspiration, confidence and well-being, Ann worked for Redken 5th Avenue NYC, where she advanced to Vice President of Global Communications before recently retiring. She remains a spokesperson for the brand, in addition to developing her own speaking and enrichment business. Having been recognized with numerous leadership awards and philanthropic honors, Ann is a sought-after public speaker and author of "Get Glowing! You are a Star Right Where You Are!". She can be booked through Equanimity, Inc. speakers' agency (equanimity.com). Salon industry inquiries should be made to amincey@redken.com.