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  • From Collector To Commonplace

    From Collector To Commonplace

    The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek.

    Joseph Campbell

    For as long as I can remember, I’ve collected stuff. It first started with Enid Blyton’s Noddy books around 1967. It exhausted my mother because she had to keep reading them to me.

    Around 1973 (I was 10) I collected soft toys, particularly bunnies and bears. My stepfather was deeply troubled by this.

    At 12, I was collecting photos of Paul Newman, and still had the bunnies and bears. This raised alarm bells with my stepfather. “Let’s toughen you up,” he said as we went to his favourite bar. I’m not sure if I should have been given a whiskey then, especially not at 9am. But, now that I think of it, I suppose that’s where my love of whiskey came from.

    I grew out of Paul Newman and the bunnies. Not the bears so much … I still have my teddy bear from my first birthday, (he’s 59 years old).

    That’s me at a year old, and the bear, of course.

    My Biological Father

    In high school I collected The Hardy Boys. I met my biological father around 14 for only the second time in my life. He asked, “So, what are you currently reading my boy?” I answered, “The Hardy Boys. The Missing Chums.” He was deeply troubled by this. I suppose it must have been terrifying for him to have an intellectually-bereft child.

    He probably memorised the entire works of Kierkegaard at 14, the smug prat (not Kierkegaard, my father). Look, there’s no doubt he was smart … with his double doctor’s degrees from Zurich University, both sommer cum louder (I mean summa cum laude) and hanging out with Jung, and all. And, he got a music degree, and a bunch of other things from Stellenbosch University. He played the violin. With all that talent, he decided to become a pastor. There was hardly any money in it in those days (1955 – 1960), so he really must have believed in saving souls. If he was around today, he’d have made a fortune as a pastor, and I wouldn’t have to write for a few pennies every day. Damn you, dad.

    High school (1977 – 1981)

    I was at boarding school for the entirety of my high school journey. Between studies, sport and hiding away from the matriculants and masters, I didn’t have time to collect much. Come to think of it, I did collect some things: Hidings, beatings and insults. In those days, school had a real Lord of the Flies vibe about it. And, at least I was smart enough not to bring any bears and bunnies with me to boarding school. That could have been ugly.

    PW & Sons (1982 – 1984)

    I got out of high school relatively unscathed and probably only needed five years of therapy. But there was no time for that because I ended up working for PW & Sons for the next two years. And, that was a shit show. All I collected were bugs, bullets and bodies. And, one Dear John letter.

    After I turned 21, I started taking an interest in eccentric, intelligent and eclectic things like women. They were fascinating to me then, and are still fascinating to me now. I was woefully unsuccessful as a collector in that regard.

    So, I embraced intellectual pursuits. I’ll show that prat, I thought; not Kierkegaard, my father. Perhaps, I should have considered therapy then, daddy issues and all. At least I didn’t have an Oedipus Complex … I don’t think. Thanks for making that a thing, Sigmund.

    I have a woeful social life, so I read a lot.

    I collected books and read them all. Ironically, I never got into Kierkegaard. But I ate Jung, Plato, Homer, Tolstoy, Hemingway, Homer, Dumas, Greene, Fitzgerald, Hubbard, Breytenbach, Brink, Bosman, Coetzee, Krog, Stein and Smith for breakfast. No, not Wilbur Smith … Topsy Smith, author of Trompie en die Boksombende.

    This is by far my most loved, and read book. It’s always nearby.

    Commonplace Book

    It turns out that I was a collector then, and one now. Over all these years I’ve jotted things that interested me from all the reading and experience into what is known as a commonplace book. It’s a place to jot down anything you find inspiring, thoughtful or interesting.

    I’ve got a bunch of them. These days my musings are quite tame. I write a little about chess, a lot about my man-crush, Carlos Castaneda, some about Sufism, and my favourite subject: me! I think a lot about dying, and how to make the most of my time here. I’m still trying to figure out how to navigate this journey elegantly and eloquently, and failing royally. I worry that I’m a deadbeat dad. I’m still difficult, and despite that, I have some awesome friends who see a spark of something in me, and stay with me.

    From Commonplace Book To Blog Post

    I’m trying to write a book about my father. Turns out he wasn’t only a prat,  smart, and musically-inclined, but also a spy. Some of it is in this suitcase. I don’t think I have it in me to write it.

     

    There’s some interesting things in this suitcase. Like letters to John Voster and his run in with Lang Hendrik van den Berg, Voster’s spy master.

    But, what I do have in me is a modicum of talent to write blog posts. I’ve written over 12 million words since 1996, and some of them come in the form of books, speeches, articles and others in the form of blog posts.

    And, this whole gemors above was leading up to this moment, below.

    Sign Up To Get My Blog Posts

    To receive my eccentric, eclectic, and sometimes interesting writings from my commonplace books, enter your email address under ‘Never Miss A Post’. It’s somewhere on the top right of this post.

    There’s a tool called FeedBlitz that’s like voodoo for me. Evidently, if you put your email address into ‘Never Miss A Post’, then whenever I write a blog post, it magically appears in your inbox.

    By the way, I write a lot about sales and marketing, my real passions in life. I’ve spent 20+ years of my life studying, speaking and writing about these subjects. This may be useful to you because it can actually help you make money.

    How to navigate this life elegantly and eloquently is a tougher nut to crack. And, you’re smart enough to know that only you can figure it out, not someone who likes bunnies and bears.

    So, if you think that’s cool, and you’d like to get more of my commonplace stuff, go and sign up.

    I love you,

    Jacques

  • 7 Carlos Castaneda quotes helping you navigate this existence

    7 Carlos Castaneda quotes helping you navigate this existence

    Knowing that I was a Carlos Castaneda fan, my friend Tiffany Markman took great care to paint this enchanting piece for my 60th birthday. She beautifully incorporated the colour scheme from “Journey to Ixtlan” and “Tales of Power”. I can imagine don Juan Matus (the Yaqui sorcerer and Castaneda’s spiritual teacher) looking into infinity, or as he would put it, “The Active Side Of Infinity.”

    And, of course, Castaneda used the crow to serve as a reminder of the impermanence of life and the constant presence of death. The crow is seen as a guide, urging individuals to live fully and embrace the uncertainty of existence.

    ʜᴇʀᴇ ᴀʀᴇ 7 ᴄᴀꜱᴛᴀɴᴇᴅᴀ Qᴜᴏᴛᴇꜱ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ɪɴꜰᴏʀᴍ ᴛʜᴇ ᴡᴀʏ ɪ ɴᴀᴠɪɢᴀᴛᴇ ᴛʜɪꜱ ʜᴜᴍᴀɴ ᴇxɪꜱᴛᴇɴᴄᴇ (and, the world of that I work in).

    1. Never take a path that has no heart in it. You can’t lose if your heart is in your work, but you can’t win if your heart is not in it.”

    2. “If it does, the path is good; if it doesn’t, it is of no use. Both paths lead nowhere; but one has a heart, the other doesn’t. One makes for a joyful journey…”

    3. “The trick is in what one emphasises. We either make ourselves miserable or we make ourselves happy. The amount of work is the same.” [3]

    4. “The basic difference between an ordinary man and a warrior is that a warrior takes everything as a challenge, while an ordinary man takes everything as a blessing or a curse.”

    5. “A warrior lives by acting, not by thinking about acting.”

    6. “Think about it: what weakens us is feeling offended by the deeds and misdeeds of our fellow men. Our self-importance requires that we spend most of our lives offended by someone.”

    7. “The average man is hooked to his fellow men, while the warrior is hooked only to infinity.”

  • Sales Professional: Are you a victim or a warrior?

    Sales Professional: Are you a victim or a warrior?

    The sales profession is one of the toughest on the planet. Not because it’s inherently difficult, but because it triggers every foible in the human psyche.

    If you’ve ever felt any of these, you’re in the sales profession:

    1. Rejection. The prospect didn’t buy. He doesn’t like me. Just like my father didn’t like me. Nobody likes me. I’m worthless. Daddy, why don’t you love me? I don’t matter.
    2. Imposter syndrome. I closed a big deal. I was just lucky. If he knew the real me he wouldn’t have bought. I’m not good enough. If anyone knew me, they would know I’m a fraud.
    3. Frustration. Another deal lost despite my best efforts. Why are they taking so long to make a decision? Just sign the fucking order.
    4. Despondency. I didn’t hit my target again. I hate seeing my name last on the leaderboard, again. What a loser. Am I going to get fired?
    5. Depression. I can’t deal with another setback. I wonder how many sick days I have left? Am I going to get fired?
    6. Disillusionment. Nobody keeps their word. Humans suck. I suck. My life sucks.
    7. Disgust. I had to exaggerate the features. I didn’t highlight that particular T&C. I don’t really think our product can do that, but it will probably never be put to the test, so we can get away with it. Good grief, I’m a liar. What else do I lie about? I’m a terrible person.
    8. Shame. I couldn’t take the kids camping like I promised because I didn’t get commission this month. We had to go to Wimpy again for our date night. I’m a deadbeat parent and partner.

    Perhaps you’re lucky enough to never have felt any of the above. I can’t say I’ve had that luxury.

    If misery loves company, then take heart that almost every human being goes through these experiences at some stage or another.

    Here’s What Weakens You and Me

    These experiences typically come from our expectations of others. And, in the sales profession, it’s highlighted 1000-fold because we always want something from the other. If we’re a sales leader, we want our team to perform. If we’re a sales person, we want our prospects to buy. And, as a human being, we demand validation from others.

    This is problematic because it always leaves us feeling weak, disillusioned and disappointed because it seldom turns out how we want it to.

    Whenever we want something from another, we put ourselves in a position of weakness. The other can withhold what we want (an order, a promotion, a raise). That puts the other in a position of power. The who can withhold is the one with the power. In sales, prospects and customers always have the power. In work, your boss always has the power (to withhold or give that promotion or raise).

    Petty Tyrants

    This brings me to the concept of the petty tyrant which first appeared in Carlos Castaneda’s book, The Fire From Within.

    He says, “A petty tyrant is a tormentor. Someone who either holds the power of life and death over warriors or simply annoys them to distraction.”

    “We know that nothing can temper the spirit of a warrior as much as the challenge of dealing with impossible people in positions of power. Only under those conditions can warriors acquire the sobriety and serenity to stand the pressure of the unknowable.”

    I think that petty tyrants are marvellous creatures because without them, we’d never grow as human beings, would we?

    And, the sales profession is the best gymnasium in the world to test our mettle in this regard. Petty tyrants (customers, prospects and colleagues) are our gym instructors and drill sergeants. They challenge our comfort zone and test our adaptability and resilience.

    Petty tyrants can be seen as a source of frustration and torment, or as a catalyst for personal growth. If you see the former, you’re a victim, not a warrior. In the sales profession, you always want to be a warrior. Of course, you always have choice: do you react as a victim or respond as a warrior?

    Castaneda wrote, “The warrior who stumbles on a petty tyrant is a lucky one. If you don’t come upon one in your path, you have to go out and look for one.”

    In my experience, the quicker you can find your tormentor, the sooner you toughen up so that you can deal with what life throws at you. As a sales professional, you know that it throws a lot of shit at you, don’t you?

    In sales, it’s easy to find petty tyrants. They are referred to as prospects and customers.

    If you’re a sales manager, they’re called your team.

    Petty tyrants serve as valuable opportunities for growth.

    1. Adaptability. A petty tyrant in sales might be a difficult customer who questions your product’s value or a market trend that threatens your usual sales approach. Instead of resisting change, successful sales professionals adapt their strategies to meet these challenges head-on, ultimately becoming more versatile and resourceful.
    2. Resilience. In the world of sales, facing rejection is a common occurrence. Every rejection can make us feel defeated, but Castaneda’s idea reminds us that these moments are actually opportunities for us to strengthen our emotional resilience. The ability to bounce back and maintain a positive attitude in the face of adversity is a hallmark of successful salespeople.
    3. Continuous Improvement. Sales professionals can use setbacks as opportunities for improvement. Each challenge provides insights into what can be done better, whether it’s refining sales techniques or enhancing product knowledge.
    4. Empathy. Petty tyrants in the form of demanding prospects and customers can teach salespeople to develop greater empathy. Understanding a customer’s pain points and addressing their concerns effectively can turn a challenging situation into a win-win scenario.

    The Endeavour of Selling is a Hero’s Journey

    A career in sales is a metaphor for life. You can live an average life. Or you can heed the call of adventure and heroically try to make your mark on this world. You’re going to need guidance on this journey, so find mentors that can help take you over the finish line.

    You’re going to have a shit ton of challenges, disappointment, and disillusionment. You’re going to get stuffed up, and stuff it up more times than you care to remember. But you get up every time and keep swinging for the bleachers. It’s not in your nature to give up, but to prevail.

    But, there’ll come a time when you’ll want to give it up. A time when you see no hope. This is called the dark night of the soul.

    Any sales professional worth his or her salt has to go through this. If you’ve never been through it, you’re just not playing this sales game hard enough.

    And, you do know that you get out of the hole, don’t you? If you didn’t, you wouldn’t be reading this piece of text now, would you? You’re still in the game, fighting every inch of the way, aren’t you?

    Finally, after all your effort you get the reward you deserve. Of course, it does not always come packaged the way you wanted, hence disillusionment and disappointment.

    However, if you believe that there’s a greater ingenuity than your own running the show, as I do, then the reward might come in a form that’s way better than you expected for yourself.

    Then, as a benevolent and mature human, you take the reward and the lessons learned from the experience, and you share it with your tribe so that they too can benefit. So that they too can deal with their petty tyrants.

    Make Art and Have Fun

    Finally, have some fun. As Castaneda said, “The idea of using a petty tyrant is not only for perfecting the warrior’s spirit, but also for enjoyment and happiness.”

    Like you, I’m an artist, and the joy is in the creating of the art. Crafting a sales pitch, presenting it and using every ounce of skill to convince someone to buy what I have to sell, is joy for me. This makes me happy. Whether my work lands with the prospect or not, it matters not.

    That’s not entirely true, of course; I do need to make a living, after all. As a business owner and sales professional, all I know is that if I fail a lot, I’ll succeed a little. And, that little gives me a life I can be proud of.

    Don’t take yourself too seriously; remember sales can be fun as long as you don’t react like a victim but respond as a warrior.

    If you’re at a crossroads in your sales career (or life for that matter), reframe it as a positive experience. Because it really is … the right and wrong, the good and bad. It’s called being a human.

    So, if you’re a sales professional, give it a real go and embrace those petty tyrants. They’re not doing things to you, but rather for you. They’re the steel that sharpens steel.

    Let’s do this thing together, you and I. Let’s give it a go. Well probably fuck it up. But let’s have fun while doing it.

    Because, as you probably understand by now, in sales at least, the more we fail at this endeavour, the more we succeed at it.

  • Ingratitude is the ultimate discourtesy

    Ingratitude is the ultimate discourtesy

    I recently finished reading Muhammad: A Prophet for Our Time by Karen Armstrong, a renowned author on comparative religion.

    There was a piece about the definition of kafir that piqued my interest. For my South African reader, you know that we have our own distasteful history with the word “kaffir” which we annexed with great gusto from the British writer, H. Rider Haggard (see footnote at the end of this article).

    But today we are talking about kafir >>>

    I’ve always been led to believe that kafir meant a non-believer who has malevolent intentions towards Islam and Muslims. The kafirun (الكافرون) of Mecca were the non-believers who rejected the God of Muhammad.

    According to Armstrong, kafir derives from the root KFR (“ingratitude”), which implies a discourteous refusal of something that is offered with great kindness and generosity.

    I find that definition more preferable.

    I understand that by being invited to this experience is no small thing. That I was chosen to play in this theatre called life is a gift beyond comprehension. One that should be viewed with awe and gratitude.

    Every time I blame and complain, and feel the destructive desolation of self-pity, I’m no better than a kafir.

    I’ve come to learn that self-pity is an operating system. The more I wallow in it, the more I attract that which feeds it.

    Gratitude is an operating system too, the more I revel in it, the more I attract that which feeds it.

    I’m going to start doing more of the latter because gratitude truly is the grammar of success. Do you want to join me?

    Footnote. I love looking for the etymological roots of words. Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock, you’ll know that South Africa has a unique relationship with the k-word. Not that it’s any consolation, but neither the Dutch nor the Afrikaner invented the word. The British writer H. Rider Haggard, who lived in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, often used the word “kaffir” in his novels about Africa. This term was used to refer to black people in the region at that time. We may not have invented the word, but hell, we certainly milked it dry.

  • Meet the mathematician that believes in randomness

    Meet the mathematician that believes in randomness

    I’ve been a fan of networking ever since I joined Business Network International some 15 years ago.

    I never really understood the power of networking until I read the statistical mathematician, Nassim Nicholas Taleb’s book, Antifragile: Things That Gain From Disorder.

    He posed a question around why some entrepreneurs are successful and why others end up in the graveyard of failure.

    He mentioned those individuals who are considered “successful” in society … Gates, Branson et al. There are people that have had more opportunity, are better qualified, are smarter and started with more money than those that we view as the epitome of business success. Yet they never reached the heights of these titans.

    He distilled the difference between success and failure in business (and, perhaps, in life) into one word.

    Randomness.

    For someone like me who used to believe that effort = reward, that was a hard pill to swallow. Seriously, our success hinges on a bit of luck?

    The irony is not lost on me that a mathematician believes in a bit of luck ;-).

    According to Malcolm Gladwell’s book, Outliers: The Story of Success, luck happens when knowledge (specifically, 10,000 hours of it) and opportunity dissect.

    I like that definition of luck. There’s a distinct Fortuna Eruditis Favet vibe to it. Fortune (and randomness) favours the prepared.

    So, if you buy Taleb and Gladwell’s construct (and I do), then you have to see the value of networking.

    It stands to reason that the more people and experiences we expose ourselves to, the more chance we have of getting lucky.

    I’ll unpack the power of networking in a discourse called “Connect For Success” at the Eagle Canyon Golf Estate Business Breakfast in Roodepoort on Wednesday, September 13.

    Come network with business owners and sales professionals just like you, and enjoy a bang-up breakfast. Who knows, this random event may just change the trajectory of your life.

    You can book your spot here.

    You’re the Job.

    Jacques

    PS. Since this is being held at a golf estate, I leave you with this quote which I think is appropriate to this endeavour: “The more I practice, the luckier I get.” Gary Player.

  • Is your LinkedIn profile discourteous?

    Is your LinkedIn profile discourteous?

    If you’re on LinkedIn you’ve probably already seen the green ‘Open to Work’ (OTW) caption underneath a profile photo.

    If you own your own business and choose to put the OTW caption on your photo, that’s your prerogative. I wouldn’t because to me, it looks a bit clingy and desperate. By marketing on LinkedIn, you imply that you’re open for work, don’t you?

    But, I’m not talking about you.

    I’m more curious about the motivation and intent of those who are currently employed and have the OTW caption on their photo.

    What’s with that?

    • You might not be that smart.
    • Or you might be negligent and haven’t checked your profile since 2020. LinkedIn introduced the “Open to Work” feature amidst the Covid-19 pandemic with the aim of providing assistance to individuals.
    • Or maybe you just don’t realise how disrespectful this is towards your current employer.

    You’re Not That Smart

    If you employed someone and found out that they had their CV out looking for another job, how’d you feel? By putting OTW on your profile is the same thing. Let’s forget about the OTW. Even if you don’t have OTW, but your profile looks like a CV, and is not punting the company that feeds you, then you’re not that smart either.

    If you’re going to look for another job, be a bit more discreet about it. Your employer would probably be upset if they knew you were openly searching for another job, since they are providing for you. They might also think that you’re not very intelligent because you don’t seem to realise the potential consequences. And, then, start wondering why they hired you in the first place.

    It’s like having a Tinder profile that’s still active after you’ve found your partner. Staying open to other possibilities is discourteous, and frankly, it’s cheating.

    I remember when I was in advertising and a bunch of us had come back to the office from a boozy lunch, my boss called us in. He said something like this, “Next time you go for lunch don’t drink vodka, drink beer. “I’d rather that the client thinks that you’re drunk and not stupid.” Apparently, Vodka leaves the least odour on one’s breath. .

    You’re Negligent

    This may be an unfair statement because LinkedIn may not be part of your branding or sales acquisition strategy. Or you’re on LinkedIn but not on LinkedIn because you put up a profile right at the beginning, and never went back.

    But, if you are using LinkedIn to attract business, at least be courteous enough to the person you’re selling to, by putting up something worthwhile. This means writing a profile that resonates with your potential clients, engaging with insights i.e. posting articles regularly and connecting with the right people.

    You’re Totally Unaware

    Here I’m going to let you off the hook. Having a shoddy LinkedIn profile might not be your fault. Because when you work for a company, it shouldn’t be up to you. Your marketing department takes the rap for this. It should have identified that there is an opportunity to turn every employee on LinkedIn into a brand ambassador.

    In your company’s induction programme (if you have one of those), there should be a section on branding and marketing (and social media etiquette). You are after all a brand ambassador for your company, aren’t you?

    The marketing department should give you the company branding and message to put on your banner. It should also give you a profile that pushes the company line. And, it should leave some space for you to show your personality.

    This is not what your banner should look like. This is a prime location for marketing purposes. Use it to get your brand and message across.

    As part of your KPIs, it might be an idea for you to be encouraged to connect with your company’s ideal client. LinkedIn allows you to connect with 400 people a month (20 a day).

    Every time the marketing department writes an article, it should pass it onto you so that you can post it (that speaks to engaging with insights). At the least, there should be four articles or posts a month. One a day is better, but probably a Grail quest. You can, of course, use your initiative and share posts from other sources that are valuable to your target market.

    Let’s Do The Maths

    Imagine that you have 50 employees that are on LinkedIn.

    • That’s a golden chance to create 50 branding opportunities.
    • That’s 50 profiles with a single marketing message punting your company.
    • On average, only 20 percent of folks will accept your connection request. Out of 20 that would be four. Out of 400, that would be 80. If we multiply 80 by 50, we can estimate a total of 4000 connections every month. That’s a staggering 48,000 connections made every year.
    • If each of you is sending out four articles per month (48) and they reach your ideal clients, what would that mean for your business?
    • If you had a connection to contact system where you could bring your sales team in to reach out to those who have met the lead scoring criteria. For example, if you have six interactions with your ideal client, that could indicate that it is time that a sales person reached out. How much more business do your efforts could generate for your company?

    Go have a look at your profile. If you’re using it as a CV whilst working for another company … well, that’s just not cool (Remember Tinder). Ask your marketing department to help you set up your LinkedIn profile properly.

  • Soul+Mind+Body&Wealth Summit 22 July 2023

    Soul+Mind+Body&Wealth Summit 22 July 2023

    ꜱᴏᴍᴇ ᴜɴᴋɪɴᴅ ᴘᴇᴏᴘʟᴇ ʜᴀᴠᴇ ᴄᴀʟʟᴇᴅ ᴍᴇ ᴀ ᴘᴏꜱᴇʀ.

    And, I think they’re right.

    Nolan Pillay wants me to speak at his Soul+Mind+Body&Wealth Summit on 22 July. He wants me to fill the ‘soul’ slot.

    *Chortle* ( •̀ᴗ•́ )و ̑̑ If he only knew how under-qualified I am to speak about such matters, he might not have invited me to speak.

    I think that small piece of text I wrote a while back, called What If Hollywood Doesn’t Call. A Fractured Monk’s Guide to Enlightenment gave him some hope that I know what I’m talking about. I don’t, and anyone who puts ‘Enlightenment’ in the title of their book is probably a bit of a poser.

    If you’ve read any of my texts you’ll probably agree … I am a poser. ᕙ(⌣◡⌣”)ᕗ

    A poser of questions that is.

    I ask the hard spiritual and philosophical questions that I wrestle with every day, and these hopefully make people think on something for more than five seconds.

    If you’ve been exposed to any of my writing, you’ll know that I struggle to navigate this life eloquently and elegantly. And, when it comes to life, I’m definitely Hemingway: “I write one page of masterpiece to ninety-one pages of shit. I try to put the shit in the wastebasket.”

    On this journey that I’ve been sent on, every now and again I write one page of masterpiece. And, when I do, for a brief glorious moment, I feel that I’m closer to enlightenment.

    I’d like to share some of these ‘englightened’ perspectives with you at the summit on 22 July.

    I’m going to cover concepts like:

    >>> Reach beyond your grasp.

    >>> Light up a room when you enter it, not when you leave it.

    >>> Love and relationships are the ends, everything else is just means.

    >>> You’re the blink that matters.

    >>> You’re a masterpiece creating a masterwork.

    Some of these ideas may help you navigate your life, both personally and professionally, a lot more elegantly and eloquently.

    And, don’t worry, I’m not the only one presenting at the summit (otherwise it wouldn’t be a summit, now, would it?). There’s an awesome line up of truly exceptional experts who have great insights for you. Check them and the summit out here https://qkt.io/8e6ay2

    You’re the Job

    Jacques

  • Sales training – Get past the gatekeeper with the correspondence technique

    Sales training – Get past the gatekeeper with the correspondence technique

    If you run a sales team, I think you may agree that prospecting over the phone is still one of the biggest challenges for them, isn’t it?

    It has gotten a lot more difficult because many of our prospects can only be reached on their cell phones. If they’re anything like me, they probably don’t answer a number that is unknown to them, and let the message go through to voicemail.

    Getting prospects to answer a voice note is a challenge for another day.

    Let’s imagine, for the sake of today’s exercise, that your sales person phones a prospect’s landline number and a PA/Receptionist answers.

    Over the years I have written many telephone prospecting scripts for my clients. I have found that the Correspondence Technique is the most effective for getting past gatekeepers:

    Me: “Is Mr. Philips in?

    Gatekeeper: “Yes.”

    Me: Would you mind telling him it’s Jacques de Villiers from Mindfluence on the line? I’ll hold, thanks!”

    Gatekeeper: “What’s your call in connection with?”

    Me: “It’s in connection with some correspondence we’ve had together. I’ll hold thanks.”

    That’s it, that’ll get you through more times than not.

    Of course, for it to work, you have to have sent some kind of correspondence to your prospect. It gives context and keeps you honest. Also, the word ‘correspondence’ has more gravitas. It is implied that it is something important.

    If you think this technique is helpful, share this with your team.

  • Is your marketing weaponised?

    Is your marketing weaponised?

    I was rereading Seth Godin’s All Marketers Are Liars the other day. The premise is that we believe whatever we want to believe, and that it’s exactly this trait of ours, which marketers use (and sometimes abuse) to sell their products by infusing them with good stories – whether they’re true or not.

    Some marketing stories are embellished with fibs, and others with downright fraud. 

    When is it a fib and when is it fraud?

    A fib is when you tell your wife that you went to the petrol station when you actually went to the mall to buy her birthday gift. Fraud is when you say that you went to the mall to buy her birthday gift when you were in fact in a hotel with a hooker (don’t do that).

    This fib/fraud dilemma is why I’m such a shocking marketer (ironic for someone who is in the marketing business). I’m always scared that I’ll tell a lie. There’s good reason for that because I lie to myself all the time. I just don’t want to out myself in my marketing copy for the world to see what a fraud I really am. It’s enough that I know. 

    So, generally, I underplay what I can do for my clients. Just in case they see behind the mask.

    Even though I stand sentinel to the lies I could tell, a number of them slipped through … which I’ve tried to rectify.

    Don’t let the facts get in the way of a good story

    I tell people that I’ve written more than 12 million words. Technically, it’s not a lie, but if you interrogate it deeper, it’s taken me 27 years to write those words. This comes to around 1217 words a day. I tout myself as a writer … this is patently untrue. Real writers like Kirsty Coetzee and Tiffany Markman could easily knock up 2739 words a day and produce a million words a year. Most real writers do way more than that a day. I’m not a real writer.

    My favourite fib is one I see in the speaker/trainer fraternity, and it makes me uncomfortable because I think it’s fraud. And, I’ve done it before. You’ll see a list of recognisable clients on their websites: Liberty Life, Standard Bank, Discovery and the list goes on. But it isn’t exactly the truth is it? Having trained six people in a dingy training room in Sasol’s Secunda office doesn’t qualify as ‘Sasol’. I can say that because to my shame that’s what I did, and stuck Sasol’s logo on my website. It’s gone now with all the other puffery.

    Oh, here’s another favourite that people use: “I get 90% of my work off LinkedIn/website/Facebook or whatever. This may be true, but 90% of two deals a month is nothing, really. Technically, it is 90%, but it’s not a real number. If you were getting 10 deals a month, then it is something to crow about.

    Weaponised Marketing

    • 98% fat-free. They don’t tell you that it’s the 2% that’ll kill you.
    • No added sugar. How much was there in the first place? Any diabetics out there that this could impact?
    • Our clothes are the cheapest … because we use enslaved seamstresses who are trapped on a ship that goes from port to port delivering the finished goods.
    • Mass murderers Bush and Blair: “They have weapons of mass destruction”; leading to the death of more than 460 000 Iraqis after the US invasion. And they’re boy scouts compared to some of the shit that has gone down in history (Anyone want to go on a Crusade?).

    You get the picture, I’m sure.

    It sounds like I think all marketers are liars

    I think that all of us lie (mostly to ourselves) because it helps us get along (with ourselves and others). Can you imagine being 100% truthful (Do I look fat in these jeans?), we’d never have any friends, would we?

    If you’re a marketer (if you have your own enterprise then you are) you can fib a little if you think it’s appropriate because it makes a good story, and hopefully doesn’t harm anyone. But, if you want to tell a great story, tell an authentic one.

    That feels more congruent. 

    Attracting clients to me through authenticity rather than through duplicity feels right to me, and I’m sure to you, doesn’t it? 

    I certainly sleep better as a consequence of that choice.

  • Ambush

    Ambush

    My PTSD crawled out of what I thought was my impregnable hurt locker the other day. It was the silliest thing that triggered it. It was the word ‘ambush’ that I used in marketing copy for Hamilton Wende’s Frontline Afghanistan story for the Salon we hosted the other day.

    A quote by Frida Kahlo made me realise, I cannot run from this thing that eats me, I need to deal with it: “I tried to drown my sorrows, but the bastards learned how to swim.”

    1984, somewhere in Namibia (formerly, South West Africa)

    The unmistakable cloyingly sweet smell of fear oozed out of my pores, mixing with the dirt, grime and sweat; a consequence of being unwashed for 15 days.

    All 10 of us stank of fear as we lay flat on the ground in our ambush, our rifles aimed at the kill zone.

    Contact and probably death was imminent. >>>

    At that moment, a romanticised notion popped into my head. Death and fear smell the same. It’s the smell of soul. In death, when the soul is released to go home it’s sweet. When we anticipate death, it’s not fear, but excitement that we feel because the soul finally gets to go home.

    No matter how I try and romanticise fear and death, it’s an unpleasant smell for me, probably because I’ve experienced too much of both.

    >>> The footfalls on the barely discernible path are close, too close. My finger tightens on the trigger, my eyes squint and my breathing slows.

    They appear. Two souls. Time stands still. My brain registers something out of place, and my heart stops.

    A wizened, weather-beaten old man, holding the hand of a young girl-child wearing a ragged faded yellow dress, came into my sights.

    The 10 of us connected to a Hive Mind that has been forged from being together for 17 months, acted as one. Ten fingers removed themselves from their triggers.

    Our haunted eyes welled with tears and our hearts wept with relief. No one died today.

    The old man, a grandfather of the young child as it turned out, looked at us, his smile beaming from ear-to-ear. He said, “Welcome. We saw you come here, and we thought that you might be hungry and thirsty. We brought you food and water.”

    It was more than I could bear, and it still haunts me today.

    In the border war (SWA/Angola – 1966 – 1989) around 20 000 civilians and soldiers from South Africa, SWAPO, ANC, Angola, Cuba and Russia died. Countless others were injured.

    The survivors sit amongst you (some may even be reading this). You’ll know them: they’re your fathers, husbands and grandfathers. They’re anywhere from 55 upwards. But they’re all going on 100, haunted, lost and traumatised.

    Be kind to them because they can never be kind to themselves.