Touch Points

MMM for July 18, 2005 by Roy H. Williams

Perceptual Reality

Earth's population reached 1 billion persons in 1804, 2 billion in 1927, 3 billion in ‘59, 4 billion in ‘74 and 5 billion in late ‘86. And on October 12th, 1999, Earth's population surpassed 6 billion.

The number of passengers on Spaceship Earth has doubled (from 3 billion – 1959, to 6 billion – 1999,) in 40 short years. But we're not discussing population growth today, I'm just opening your eyes to perceptual reality.

The cognoscenti of Magical Worlds will remember a brief discussion of perceptual reality at the beginning of class. "Each of you will sit in this room for 3 days and hear the same information presented in precisely the same way. But you'll leave here having had an entirely different experience from the persons on your left and your right. You will connect different dots, have different epiphanies, make different associations. Objective reality will be the same for each of you. But your perceptual realities will be yours alone."

There are 525,948.766 minutes in a year. This means that each minute, the 6 billion of us experience a collective 11,408 years of perceptual reality. And each day we live a collective 16,427,455 years.

Given that we lived nearly sixteen and a half million years yesterday, it seems like one of us would've figured out how to end poverty, crime and war, doesn't it? (Personally, I was really busy, so I was counting on you.)

Today's illustration is an image of the famous mime, Marcel Marceau, superimposed over a photo of Earth with snapshots of women and men on its surface. To the right is the cover of Paul Finley's awesome 14 Windows guitar CD.

You, reader, saw the same image as 30,000 other subscribers, but your perception was yours alone. You may have been confused by the image, amused by it, intrigued by it, or mildly or strongly disturbed by it. Perhaps you even saw a symbolic statement being made. I did not intend one.

Perceptual reality is yours alone.

Every door of opportunity begins as a window in your mind.

Look through that window of imagination and glimpse a world that could be, someday. Keep looking… Be patient… And watch it grow into a door of Opportunity through which you might pass into an entirely different future.

Opportunity never knocks. But it hangs thick in the air all around you. You breathe it unthinking, and dissipate it with your sighs.

Opportunity never knocks. It appears, flickering, like faulty neon at a nondescript fork in the road.

Opportunity never knocks. It whispers, a tickle in your distracted mind.

So what are you going to do? Will you sleep, unaware of the miracles that need your assistance, or will you open your eyes, look through that window, and begin doing what only you can do?

Roy H. Williams

The 2005 Wizard Academy Reunion and Open House will be Saturday, October 15 and you are definitely invited. Our day together will begin at 2:00PM, (no lunch will be provided. But dinner is a different thing. Yes, dinner will be unforgettable. And we've got stuff planned that will take us to at least 10:00 or 11:00PM.) Meet new friends and old and have the time of your life wandering the emerging campus. Three large buildings will be completely finished by then, and Engelbrecht House (the student mansion) should have its foundation laid. Details in the next couple of weeks.

Remember The Little Tree, the Flash-animated video? Well, Peter Nevland and That Bald Guy have teamed up to create another one called Willy the Walrus. Take a look.

6,000,000,000 (persons in the world) divided by 525,948.766 (minutes in a year) = 11,407.9553 years of perceptual reality experienced each minute, x 1,440 (minutes in a day) = 16,427,455.6 (years of perceptual reality in a day.)

Positive Attitude Review Exercises

Want your reps to improve their service attitude? David Freemantle, author of The Buzz, a book on "little things that make a big difference in custome service," offers these end-of-day review practices.

• "At the end of every day, spend five minutes with your colleagues and share stories about how each of you has cared for customers in the last 24 hours."
• "Sit down for five minutes or so every evening to reflect on the positive choices you make at work that day. List them if it helps, and revie them with your teammates the next morning."
• "Be curious about things you don't know and don't understand. Ask 10 new questions every day and put the answers to good use."

Contact: David Freemantle, Nicholas Brealey Publishing, www.nbrealey-books.com

This is from the ICSA Fun Facts website http://www.icsa.com/news/FunFacts.cfm as is this tidbit:

What Demotivates Service Staff

There are a number of ways in which you can demotivate your customer service staff without even realizing it, says Peggy Morrow, author of Customer Service: How to Do It Right! (Southern Mountain Press). They include:

• Rewarding the wrong things. For instance, when you say you want behavior that pleases customers, yet give promotions and bonuses to those who push through the greatest number of customers regardless of service.
• Signaling right and turning left. That is, when you say you want to put the customer first and then create workplace rules and procedures that make it difficult to follow precept.
• Implementing unnecessary rules, processes, and procedures. In general, when a service rep doesn't understand why a rule is in place, it will get in the way of good service to customers.
• Introducing constant change. If there's constant downsizing, reorganization, or reengineering, reps will quickly turn off their discretionary effort and begin to deliver the minimum performance to do their jobs.

Contact: Peggy Morrow, Peggy Morrow & Associates, www.peggymorrow.com

MMM for July 4, 2005 by Roy H. Williams

Will He Read The Art of War?

If you want to glimpse the inner forces that drive an organization, you need only observe their methods and listen to their words. Especially when they're not paying attention.

Words and methods reveal motives. Listen to a person carefully and you will hear the beating of their heart. Do what they do and you'll become who they are. So be careful whose advice you take and whose methods you adopt.

You cannot use the tools of another without placing your hands where their hands have been. Desire their outcome, adopt their methods, and you embrace the values that are hidden beneath.

Advertising in America got twisted and bent when it became fashionable to read The Art of War.

The most commonly used words in marketing today are "target" and "objective." Strange ideas for retailers, don't you think, when their goals are to attract and serve? Let's replace those two words, then, and see how it affects the heart.

Advertising consultants, instead of asking, "Who is your target?" why not ask, "Who are we hoping to attract?" Instead of asking "What is our objective? ask, "How are we hoping to serve?" Prepare yourself for strange and revealing reactions to these questions because while it's fashionable to spout about having "great service," few want to truly serve.

Business people, do you want to attract multitudes? Develop the heart of a servant – one who truly loves – and you will quickly become beloved. The world has masters aplenty; it is servants who are in short supply.

I'm not the first to note how words and actions reveal the heart. Luke tells of a dawn two thousand years ago when Jesus walked grass still wet with dew. After choosing from among a great crowd of followers the twelve who would accompany him to the end, Jesus stepped forward and spoke to the waiting throng, "The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks."

Now let's look at Jesus' actions - beginning with his choosing of the twelve - and see if they reveal his motives: The fact that none of them were leaders in the business community indicates that he wasn't planning to measure membership or attendance numbers, build a bank account or launch a political action committee. "Minister" was more of a verb in his day.

Flash forward to his final day in John 13: "… so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples' feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him." The twelve were aghast. Foot washing was like scrubbing a public toilet or scraping gum off the bottom of bus benches. "Do you understand what I have done for you?" Jesus asked them. "I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you."

Consciously or unconsciously, each of us follows a hero. We model our actions after their actions and measure our success according to their values. Are you consciously aware of whose example you are following? Look quietly to your daily actions and you'll find your hero vividly revealed.

Sun Tzu wrote The Art of War five hundred years before Jesus felt the morning grass beneath his feet.

Somehow I doubt he ever read it.

Roy H. Williams

PS - After proofreading this memo, my son Rex sent me an email saying that in the movie Batman Begins, a childhood friend says to Bruce Wayne in a pivotal scene, "It's not who you are inside, but what you do that defines you." Isn't it funny how we find wisdom in the strangest of places?

PPS - Bryan and Jeffrey Eisenberg's proven, practical advice is based on the principle of serving the online customer in the way the customer prefers to be served. Have you reserved your seat for their Sept. 8-9 one-time-only seminar at Wizard Academy? You really don't want to miss it.

Likewise, Steve Clark's New School Selling is based on serving rather than "handling." Salespeople trained in New School methods have less stress, a better self image, and higher sales than their old school counterparts. I'm not sure when the next class is scheduled, but it's definitely a life-changing experience.