Breaking News: Some Bullshit Happening Somewhere

"[R]esearchers from the University of California, San Diego and Harvard provide the first laboratory evidence that cooperative behavior is contagious and that it spreads from person to person to person."

Read the article here then go forth to spread the disease.

Health care policy analyst, Bob Laszewski, no right-winger he, on the Democrat's push to pass health care reform:

"What the polls don't measure is the anger I hear from people who can't believe what is going on. After the last few recent state elections and all of the polls that overwhelmingly say, 'stop' or 'start over' they just keep plowing along anyway. To defend themselves, the Dems point tot he many times the Republicans have used the legislative tactic of reconciliation before—the Bush tax cuts, Part D, welfare reform.

They are right. But those were popular bills."

Thanks to KA-CHING! for the Pelosi video.

If life is a massive river of information, discernment is the ability of pluck the right things from that river.

Discernment is experiential.  Like wisdom, it builds out of the hits and misses of life.  I love to watch it in action.  Some examples:

• The supervisor who knows who to listen to when and what parts of the story to accept.
• The analyst who sorts through reams of financial data and extracts reality.
• The executive who can hear the lengthy report and zero in on the important stuff.
• The speaker who can take bits and pieces of information and develop them into a clear picture.
• The person who knows whose advice to take and whose to discard.

It is an art developed over years of listening, paying attention, watching, checking and acting.

Execupundit remembers his favorite college classes and the common thread that ran through them.  A great sales lesson.

I've been thinking about a comment that a client made not too long ago.  I was visiting his plant and he asked me if I would like to see the production floor.  I love seeing production lines and hadn't seen his in a while so I jumped at the opportunity.  We walked down the hallway and through the production room doors.  In front of me, to the right was a line with computers and machinery for producing one of their products.  On the left for as far as the eye could see were racks of shelves where three other production lines used to be.

"Where are the other lines," I asked him.  "They're gone," he said.  "That," he added, pointing at the lone line on the right, "is the last line.  We are a distribution center now."  He looked sad.  "We really don't make anything here anymore."

I'm not a pessimist but it seems that we don't make nearly enough stuff anymore.  Other countries make things and distribute them here.  I have heard and understand the economic theories about intellectual production and the supply of necessary services.  After all, I operate in that sector of the economy, but I consider it a bad sign that clients who make things seem to have been hit hardest by the economic downturn. 

I think a thriving economic force needs to make things. 

Thanks, David.

Forbes has combed the job openings in the fastest growing sector of the economy:

"Uncle Sam will hire 600,000 people over the next four years, a 50%increase over the previous four, reports Max Stier of the Washington-based Partnership for Public Service, a group that promotes government jobs. 'In times like these, there's no place where you can make a bigger difference on a broader set of issues than the federal government,' Stier says. 'Whether you're trying to revive the economy or address global warming or improve this country's competitiveness on a global stage, every consequential issue that faces us as a nation begins with the government's response.'"

More at Gapingvoid.

Stefan Einhorns explains why kindness is best:



Thanks, Kreativ Marknadsforing.

An economics professor at a local college made a statement that he had never failed a single student before, but had once failed an entire class.

That class had insisted that Obama's redistributionist policies worked and that no one would be poor and no one would be rich, a great equalizer.

The professor then said, "OK, we will have an experiment in this class on Obama's plan".

All grades would be averaged and everyone would receive the same grade so no one would fail and no one would receive an A....

After the first test, the grades were averaged and everyone got a B.

The students who studied hard were upset and the students who studied little were happy.

As the second test rolled around, the students who studied little had studied even less and the ones who studied hard decided they wanted a free ride too so they studied little.

The second test average was a D!

No one was happy.

When the 3rd test rolled around, the average was an F.

The scores never increased as bickering, blame and name-calling all resulted in hard feelings and no one would study for the benefit of anyone else.

All failed, to their great surprise, and the professor told them that socialism would also ultimately fail because when the reward is great, the effort to succeed is great but when government takes all the reward away, no one will try or want to succeed.

Thanks, Chris.

"Friend: I am going to take off a few days from work and fly down to Bermuda for a quick vacation.

You: But isn't that expensive?  Won't that just add to your growing debts?

Friend: Yes, it is expensive.  But my plan is deficit-neutral.  I have decided to give up that half-caf, extra-shot caramel macchiato I order at Starbucks twice every day.  I really don't need that expensive drink.  And if I give it up for the next three years, it will pay for my Bermuda trip."

Greg Mankiw explains deficit neutrality here.

Banks, automakers, health insurers. . .if I've missed anyone in there, I apologize.  I'm sure that there have been other industry targets.  This is the method of the current administration.  Vilify and pacify.  It is a Faustian bargain.  I've said before that business men and women have missed the mark on this group of people.  They believe that the deal is the deal.  It isn't.  Ask the banks, ask the automakers, ask people who have tried to make deals.  The deal shifts with these people.  It changes on their timeline and on their terms.  The question is:  How long will the learning process take?

Mark Steyn's take here.  Meanwhile, another takeover.

We shall see what we shall see.

Thanks, David.

Anderson Layman's Blog celebrates the Mustang and more.

Field trip departure time:  0 dark thirty.

What would you do if you were given the opportunity to be a fly on the wall at the sales meeting of an organization similar to yours?  How far would you travel?  Would you jump at the opportunity?

I got that chance today.  It started last Thursday evening at dinner.  As I enjoyed my buffalo ribeye, one of our producer partners was talking about his top salesman.  The fellow speaks at conferences around the country and is quite a successful salesman to boot (those two don't always go together).  We talked about some ideas and the fellow's name came up again.  I commented that I would like to hear him if her ever spoke nearby.  "He is running our sales meeting on Monday," our producer said.  "Do you want to come?"  I immediately said yes and this morning, our Sales VP and I drove the three hours to their offices arriving 15 minutes before the meeting started.

The topic was the sales pipeline for the organization and discussion was largely designed to bring along a couple of new sales team members.  Aside from the details of the meeting, I noticed the enthusiasm of the organization.  There was an excitement about selling that permeated the room.  There was no PowerPoint.  Instead, giant paper notes hung from the walls around the room.  Some had prospects' names with information and questions to be answered; others had formulas; still others had messages.

As the lead salesman coached, he walked around the room, referring to the notes, asking questions and waiting for answers.  The pipeline wasn't full enough was his concern.  Not enough suspects and prospects.  Not enough referral sources.  "An organization with an empty pipeline is a bankrupt organization that doesn't know it yet," he quoted to everyone.  Here are my field trip notes:

80/20 - Spend 80 percent of your time of the 20 percent of activities that will make you successful.

Don't hold others back - There is stuff in the other 80 percent of activities that is part of someone else's top 20 percent of activities.  Let them succeed with that.  Do what you do well and let others do what they do well.

You are in control - To get to your goal you have to talk to a lot of prospects.  Want to talk to fewer?  Better qualify those leads and improve your closing ratio.  But until that time, get to work.  There is no magic bullet.

Get on with the failures - Once you have the appointment, there will be two outcomes:  success or failure.  The more failures you experience, the smarter you will get.  The more successes you have, the more money you will make.  Get to the outcome.

Call, meet, get introduced - But get disciplined about getting your prospects qualified.

How are you different? - Make a list.  It is probably the same list of things as every other sales person in your line business.  Now be different.  But don't forget who you are - remember, a magnet has a positive and a negative; one pole will repel but one will attract.  It wouldn't have worked with those you repelled anyway.  Move on.

Discipline, direction and focus - Decide to get disciplined, know your direction and focus on that goal.

90 some minutes later the field trip was over.  We thoroughly enjoyed the experience.  The sales team was ready to go and we were appreciative of an opportunity that doesn't come along very often.  Field trips are important.  Don't miss an opportunity to take one.

Goal-oriented people.

Hell, start every day off right at Nicholas Bate.  Sales and productivity make for a good week.

. . .at KA-CHING!

Henry has been asking about number 6 and my wife has permanently handed number 5 over to me.