There is an old phrase Irish Diplomacy. Short definition means, the ability to tell someone to go to hell and make them look forward to the trip. In the long form one must realize that to get away with telling someone to go to hell you must use words and phrase those words in such a way as to appear innocent. It's sort of like the true southern phrase, "Bless his Heart", which to most in the north seems endearing. Actually, when you get down to it, the true intent is that they think you're an awful person and they hope God will invoke change. But back to the article.
Take for example the quote of Candace Corlett, who is the president of W.S.L. Strategic Retail.
This is a damning quote because it speaks to how Sears looked at the people who frequented their stores. Work clothes were taken out of the store not because of sales but due to the impression they had of the people who wanted the clothes. After all, we can't have working people in the store when we're trying to cater to the upper end of middle class! Ewww. But listening to words can make you money.They wanted a better customer… Frequently, when retail goes off the rails, it has to do with not liking the shopper you have.
Take for example my birthday in July of 2001. I was sitting in Fostoria, Ohio, with a friend watching trains. On any given days there will be 80 to 100 go by on the NS and CSX tracks. My friend was the first to notice a lot of stacked container cars and commented on how BNSF (Burlington Northern - Santa Fe) was struggling to find enough engines to pull 100+ container cars from the west coast to the east Another comment was made by another railfan that he's seeing more of these "stack trains" in the past month. That got me to thinking and I did some research. Sure enough, BNSF had lines up a contract with ports on the west coast to send goods to the east coast. After a day or so I purchased 100 shares of their stock at $27.05 a share.
By my birthday in 2004 BNI was $34.15, and listening to the railfans it was obvious this trend was not slowing. In fact, their words spoke of the excitement of seeing 5 or even 6 larger engines on the lead pulling 125+ cars. 5 or 6 GE Dash 9-40CW engines is an indicator of pulling a hell of a lot of weight, which translates to goods, which means the railroad is making money. It was then I really invested in BNI stocks. In February 2010 I sold out at $99.97 a share. So words, and reading between the lines was very profitable to me. I will say that I did have a few duds. JCP in 2005 was a dud, and listening to Jim Cramer's rants about NASDAQ was like taking advice from Obama. The losses however were in the low 4% of my total investments. Lesson learned.
Then there is my daughter who makes her investments from listening and watching young people. She will watch the younger crowd to see what they buy, and what they like. Most of all she listens to their words. When I visit her and we go for coffee, I have to take my paper with me and read as she doesn't like to talk. Instead she is listening to the adjacent tables to see what people are interested in. From this she has got in on the start of companies like Skechers, Vans, and others. Being young with no kids has an advantage as you can roll your funds over while living light.
The place I worked at had a fellow in engineering who would listen carefully to technology people wanted, such as GoPro, FitBit, and others. He got in with several drone manufacturers years ago and finally sold that stock at 7x what he paid.
The purpose of this post is not to crow about money, but to point out that by carefully listening and watching we can pick up clues which can benefit US. The words people use, albeit guarded at the time, lend clues to what they really mean. Just like watching someone's body language, or their eyes as they speak, you find information which most people ignore. Not being observant means you lose the true meaning. You get caught up in the passion and don't hear the truth. You miss opportunity.
In this political year it's even more important not only for the choice of a candidate, but to hear what the other branches of government are thinking. And if you want to make a buck, watch and listen to those around you.
