Have I Got Some Swamp Land in Florida For You!

We've had a wonderfully successful week, topped off by one of our readers mobilizing his colleagues to participate in fundraising efforts for Melanie.  His suggestion of giving 5 people $20.00 and then seeing which of us could "grow" our money the most was not only creative, but also generous.  Thank you to all of you who are really playing along and engaging with the blog.  I think we're creating something pretty special.  I seem to think there is some time left to claim one of the $20.00 bills if you are up for the challenge.  Just post your interest in today's comments.

Now the business of the day... 

We finish this week with the last of the three kinds of people who play a KEY roles in spreading our creative ideas.  Early in the week we talked about CONNECTORS - people who simply have a lot of friends and acquaintances and are therefore able to get spread the word far and wide. Then we talked about MAVENS.  These are people who love information and who take the business of sharing information very seriously.  They are important, because should they like the idea you are pursuing, MAVENS will not be able to resist telling others.  Finally, today we will introduce the third type of person... SALESMEN. 

 

Salesmen make everything seem fun and compelling.  They are the ones able to convince you that purchasing swamp land in Florida is a must have... the investment of a life time... the Park Place of the Sunshine State.  I've spent a lot of time working on a college campus and it doesn't take long to realize you must have access to salesmen if you hope to have any students show up to a University-sponsored event.  Salesmen can take a movie night in the lobby of a residence hall, shown on the 20" t.v, and make you feel like you're attending a movie premiere with the cast.  When salesmen speak people listen, but more importantly they have influence because they have a way of giving everything appeal.

My sister is a salesmen.  One summer I worked with her at a 9-West shoe store in the South Street Seaport of Manhattan.  She made buying a pair of shoes sound like the most important, most technical purchase of your lifetime.  She pointed out features on shoes (durability and give of leather, pattern, color, design, quality of soles, heels, functionality, versatility) that most people just don't take into consideration (and certainly not all at once).  By the time you walked out the door with a pair of shoes that Ann sold you, you were convinced you made the smartest, best, and most timely decision of your lifetime - and you bought the shoes in three different colors.  Ann is a salesmen. She is convincing in her enthusiasm for whatever she is promoting and she makes you want to jump on the bandwagon.

Salesmen are going to help make my blog tip.  They are going to talk about the blog and peak people's curiosity.  They will make the blog sound like such fun people will have to check it out, because they can't stand the idea of missing out.  Slowly, but surely each time they relay a story about something they read, posted, or participated in while visiting my blog, the people around them will be left wanting to join in.  Salesmen are compelling.

So, how about you and your idea?  Do you know the salesmen you have access to?  Have you shared with them the value of your project?  Do they buy in to the idea?  It's worth getting salesmen on your side.  While connectors know a lot of people and mavens love information, it is the salesmen who will actually influence people's behavior.

If I have any salesmen in me whatsoever then maybe, just maybe, you have begun to believe in the value of the book, The Tipping Point.  Your curiosity is peaked about what lies in the other hundred some odd pages that I haven't referenced and you're wondering what it could possibly say that I would still be talking about more than 10 years later.  You're saying to yourself... "shoot if there's even a single new idea or morsel of information that can help me successfully execute my life's dream" then it has to be worth the $15.00 or so that it costs.  If the concepts in this book could have increased Claudia's readership by 25% in five short days (and still two to go), then what can it do for me? 

 

Have I mentioned you get an additional 10% off if you're registered for the Barnes & Noble Member Program?  If you're not registered for the program, let me tell you why you ought to make a note in your new and ULTIMATE Planner Pad Calendar and sign up today....

Just kidding.  Signing off until... tomorrow (!) when our most faithful readers tune in for the special-one-day-only-giveaway-secret-message.

P.S.  Today's letters are: (you snooze you lose - though you got an extra couple of hours.. oops).  If you have no idea what I am talking about then see Wednesday's post (4/9).   

Signing off until tomorrow at 4:16 (CST) when I post a particular word - for ONE HOUR ONLY. Post that same word on Monday and you're automatically in the drawing for a care package from me.