Beware of exaggeration – it could cost you business.

I've read 40 biographies, advertising and marketing blurbs from speakers. In every one of them I believe they overstate their case. I see things like, "I've transformed thousands of lives"; "Spoken to more than a million people"; "I'm a best-selling author (in South Africa, a best-selling author sells 4000+ books and those are paid for books … not workbooks that you hand out at your course)"; "After my course you'll make thousands of dollars" and so on.
 
How do these speakers know that they have influenced millions, spoken to 100s of thousands?
 
It's a big thumb suck, isn't it? And, of course, they'll get away with it because who will ever ask them to produce their invoice book?
 
But, do they really get away with it? Because when it comes to influencing and persuading people to buy, hyperbole and guessing doesn't cut the mustard.
 
When people are seen to be rounding up or averaging out, especially in multiples of 10 (thousands, hundreds of thousands, millions …), they are seen to be lying. This could have a serious impact on the sale, couldn't it?
 
When it comes to persuasion, it is better to be precise or to under state your case. People who are precise are seen to be credible and trustworthy.
 
Examples:
I've spoken to 98 audiences since starting my speaking career in 2001.
Based on research, you should increase your sales by 21.5% over the next three months if you attend my course.
I've spoken to 47 568 people in the last five years.
I've spoken in four countries and 12 states in America.
Currently, I've sold 3 257 books.
 
Go on, get real and cut down on the hyperbole and watch your business soar through the stratosphere. Mmm, I meant to say, "… watch your business increase by 3%".

The Business Generator, Jacques de Villiers is a motivational speaker, sales trainer and writer.

Recently, the Dali Lama's Visa application was rejected for a peace conference in 2010. The reason was that he could take the focus off the World Cup 2010. We all know that China screwed us on this one.

Surely, then, the same argument should be used for King Mswati III and Robert Mugabe. With the public outcry to their presence at the Presidential inauguration, surely it would detract from this auspicious occasion, wouldn't it? Or is it just me being difficult?

Jacques de Villiers is a business generator, motivational speaker and writer in South Africa.

A strange thing happened to me in October. Actually, a lot of strange things. I've been having a number of synchronous events:

1. I was reading an article by Glynnis Horing in the latest Cosmopolitan. 20 minutes later I get a phone call from Glynnis Horing asking me questions for an article she's writing. I've never spoken to Glynnis before.
2. As I walked into Truworths to pay my account, I got an sms from Truworths asking me to pay my account.
3. A girl by the name of Elena phoned me in the evening trying to set up a time for me to meet her and her partner to discuss a business venture. I couldn't hear properly and didn't know who was on the line. So, I asked her to send me an email so that I could figure out who I was speaking to. The next morning I was having a coffee at House of Coffees in Sandton City. This girl taps me on the shoulder and says, "It's Elena, we spoke last night."

Too many coincidences to be flukes, don't you think?

Jacques de Villiers runs public sales training seminars in South Africa.

China’s latest heavy-handedness on Tibetan demonstrators (at last count 80 dead) has barely caused a whisper amongst the nations of the world. South Africa’s silence is deafening. You’d think that more than 1-million deaths in Tibet at the hands of the Chinese would get people on their hind legs baying for this oppressive regime to stop (by my count 1-million people dead … that’s genocide, isn’t it?)

It seems that nobody wants to upset the Chinese and/or the Olympics. I suppose that’s because China has systematically invested heavily in almost every country, including South Africa. So, nobody wants to bite the hand that feeds it. The USA is also quiet – I suppose its afraid that China will nuke it (they have 20 or so nuclear silos in uranium-rich Tibet, alone).

I think it’s a crying shame and a serious blot on the world’s copybook.

Don’t Expect Appreciation

Have you ever done something good for someone and not received any appreciation? How does it make you feel? Peeved, I’ll bet. In my other life I have a professional speakers agency, Motivators International. Going through my figures I realised that the company placed two speakers consistently in 2007. The value of their combined business was in the region of R280 000 in 2007 (one of them has been getting bookings from our company since 2002).

I’ve yet to receive a thank you letter, card, phone call, birthday card, Christmas card from either of them. Of course, their invoices land on my desk instantly.

So, basically I feel unappreciated. Whenever I start feeling sorry for myself when it comes to the failing human condition of gratitude, I revert to my Dale Carnegie training.

One of the Dale Carnegie principles is, "Don’t expect appreciation." This is an outstanding principle because when you do get appreciation for something you’ve done, it’s like a "wow" moment. It can make your day. However, if you’re always expecting appreciation for what you’ve done, you’re setting yourself up for disappointment every day.

You know the saying, "take the log out of your eye before you take the splinter out of mine". Well, if I go back in my history, I also haven’t always shown my clients the appreciation they deserve. So what is it – as human beings are we all just bloody rude and ungrateful? Or, are we well meaning, wanting to say thanks, but not getting around to it because we’re busy?

My feeling is that most of us would like to do the right thing, but our busy lives keep us from doing it.

So, what’s the solution?

My suggestion is that we need to create systems for our lives and our businesses. The book that is in my opinion the best for this is The E-Myth Revisited by Michael Gerber. Basically, one would create a checklist for every aspect of one’s business and life.

Let’s take manners for example. Here’s a possible checklist for you to use when you acquire a new client.

1. Put client details into CRM system (ACT, Goldmine, Maximizer and the like).
2. Send "Thank you for the business" template letter via post
3. Find out when client and other role players birthdays are
4. Put birth date into sms and email autoresponder (clients automatically get birthday message on the right date).
5. If client is worth over a certain amount to company, send a gift as well.
6. After contract is finished send a "thank you and appreciation" template letter via post

Jacques de Villiers is a sales trainer and Internet marketing specialist

Some sales people are almost robotic when it comes to keeping to a script. They’ve been taught in a certain way and will stick to it, come hell or high water. Unfortunately, their EQ (emotional quotent) is not always up to scratch. Here’s the story:
Walking into my local Wimpy in Sandton for breakfast the a while back, the manager asks me, “Smoking or non-smoking?”
Hey, I’m all for choice. However, I have 3-year-old Margaret and 7-month-old Rebecca with me. I’m not sure if it’s wise to give me a choice of this nature (particularly, since the two babies can’t speak for themselves). If I were more militant, I’d say it was bordering on criminal. Of course, you may be thinking that it’s criminal to take your kids to a fast food outlet anyway. And, I’d probably agree with you

read more | digg story

We’ve got 16 days of activism for abuse against women and children. Find out why women allow themselves to be beaten by their husbands and boyfriends.

read more | digg story

I’ve got to be honest, I’ve always felt that this EQ (emotional quotent) fed to us by Daniel Goleman and his acolytes was just another way of ripping money out of our pockets. But with the recent events in the ANC, Nick Dennis and the bread fixing debacle and the Glen Aglioti saga, maybe there’s more to this emotional intelligence thing than meets the eye.

President Mbeki

Let’s explore why President Thabo Mbeki grip on power is slipping.

There’s no doubt that he is firmly in the intellectual, left brained camp. He’s more comfortable in the realm of theory than in the reality on the ground. I’d suspect, like most intellectuals, he has a snobbish, aloof air about him. He’s more likely to be turned on sparring intellectually with Joel Netshittenzhe than having a hot-blooded woman casting her eye on him. He reminds me of a Dr. Niles Crane (of Frasier fame) – prim, proper, paedantic and untouchable.

(Why, just the other day in a training session, I recommended the Dale Carnegie course and the manager who was a Rhodes graduate said that he believed the course was for losers. Of course, he had the emotional acuity of Dr. Spock’s mother.)

That may just be Mbeki’s downfall. Most of the children of this South African soil aren’t intellectuals. They’re earthy, feeling beings that need to be recognised. He’s done a piss-poor job of that, hasn’t he? Ignoring the plight of those suffering of AIDS. What’s the figure now … 1000 dying a day in South Africa. With his intellectual bent you’d think education would be his priority, wouldn’t you? As it turns out our Education Department is churning out the dumbest kids in the world at the moment. And of course, covering up and defeating the ends of justice for his mates, Manto, Jackie and others lurking in the shadows. His unwavering support for Mugabe is not endearing him to the masses either. Did he think he’d get away with it forever? Clearly not. The masses are speaking against him. I’m not sure they’re voting for Jacob Zuma so much as voting against Thabo Mbeki. Why? Mbeki hasn’t got his finger on the pulse of the nation. He hasn’t had it on for a while because he has a cabal of ‘Yes men and women’ who won’t let him see the truth. Or maybe he doesn’t want to hear the truth.

The bottom line is that he doesn’t appear to care for the majority. And they don’t care for him because as the saying goes, "I don’t care how much you know, until I know how much you care".

He is emotionally inept when it comes to the so-called Connection Economy where relationships are the new vital.

I suppose the reality is that most people don’t like people to be too smart … they want to take them down a peg or two, don’t they? Isn’t that why many females ‘dumb-down’ when dealing with males. If they’re ‘too clever’ they’re seen as a threat and get put in their place (this if for another discussion

Nick Dennis

Recently, Nick Dennis, CEO of Tiger Brands fell on his sword and went into early retirement because his company violated the basic human rights of the majority of this country when they decided to fix the price of bread. He claims he wasn’t aware of this happening. Come on, Nick, after 25-odd years at the company, you should be tuned into the company telegraph system. If he’d been at the millstone and had his ear to the ground, he would’t have been caught offsides.

I suppose the lesson for business leaders is that they have to get out of their ivory tower, forgo the comforts of their fancy Mercedes, Jaguars and Range Rovers and get off the golf greens, put on their Green Cross shoes and walkabout to get a feel of what is happening in reality in their business. Hook into the current climate of your business. Connect!

Glen Aglioti

Glen Aglioti seems to have the emotional intelligence of a Vulcan. Don’t come off a plea bargain saying that you’ve been vindicated. You’ve been saved by a screwed up and totally inept justice system and buddies that are scared you’re going to shop them. But your soul has been measured by the world (if the hatred directed to him on Radio 702 was anything to go by), in the crack houses and by a higher power and you have been found wanting. An emotionally aware being would have apologised for the tragedy his ‘bit playing’ has caused to countless souls in this country and tried to make some kind of restitution. (Read Buddha by Deepak Chopra – there might still be hope for you).

So, I suppose Daniel Goleman is right. The emotionally aware and connected will do ok in the long run.

Jacques de Villiers is a specialist sales trainer and conference speaker

Found this on the menu at my local watering hole in Sandton. Talk about a mixed message