Getting a live person on the phone these days is an extraordinary amount of work. I am amazed at the number of people and BUSINESSES that hide behind ever-prevalent voice mail systems. Whether I call a business, cell number, or home, I seem to end up in voice mail. It’s ridiculous. People are screening like never before with caller-ID.

If you want to help your business, have a live person answer the phone. Your stock will immediately go up with new callers. Think about how difficult it is to get new customers. If a customer calls you, it’s a godsend—even if they’re calling with a complaint. Consider every incoming call as potential new business. Complaint calls are only a drag if you view them negatively. Instead, view them as opportunities. A customer who cares enough to call with a gripe presents an opportunity to fix a problem in your company. Imagine how much future lost business could be averted because you nipped a problem in the bud.

A complaint call is also an opportunity for an up sell. You’ve heard the saying, “No one cares how much you know until they know how much you care.” Take time to listen to your customers, engage them, and offer them solutions, and then see if your ROI isn’t doubled quickly.

To me, it’s a no-brainer, yet so many companies have no one answering their phones. My favorite is the automated answering system that prompts you to type in the last name of the person you want to reach. Key the wrong letter and you either get dumped into the wrong person’s voice mail or you have to begin the whole process over again. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve pressed 0, only to find no operator, or have pressed the pound or asterisk key, also to no avail. It’s an exercise in utter frustration.

One company I know of has 55 employees, and I know they are all on the premises during business hours. I pay them for a service yet I can’t get through on the phone. Their phone system offers the typical menu options: press 2 for accounting, 3 for sales, 4 for customer service, 5 for billing, etc. I’d press any of these options only to be led to another litany of options. Once, I called three times in a row trying to navigate to a live person. By the time I got someone on the other end I was exploding. The first comment out of my mouth was, “How the hell to do you people stay in business?”

I can recall several instances where I’d be standing at a receptionist’s desk when the phone would ring. I’d pause and say, “Aren’t you going to get that?” Time after time, the secretary would say something like, “Oh, it can go to voice mail.” I would cringe!

I make it a habit to get two or three numbers from everyone I speak with or do business with because I value my time, too. I can’t be bothered trying repeatedly to get through. I even make it a point to ask specifically, “How do I get to you when I need you?”  I do not want to play the voice mail game.

Customer service is a big deal. Being able to get to a person with a company you’re spending your hard earned money on is very important, especially given the inability to reach people.

What I’m “subtly” saying here is if you are in a small struggling business up against a lot of competition, there is always room for you. So, turn up the volume on your phone and cancel the call forwarding. It’s time to talk—person to person!

“Let’s put tax cuts in terms everyone can understand. Suppose that every day, ten men go out for dinner. The bill for all ten comes to $100. If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something like this:

Let’s put tax cuts in terms everyone can understand“The first four men — the poorest — would pay nothing; the fifth would pay $1, the sixth would pay $3, the seventh $7, the eighth $12, the ninth $18, and the tenth man — the richest — would pay $59.

“That’s what they decided to do. The ten men ate dinner in the restaurant every day and seemed quite happy with the arrangement — until one day, the owner threw them a curve (in tax language a tax cut).

“‘Since you are all such good customers,’ he said, ‘I’m going to reduce the cost of your daily meal by $20.’ So now dinner for the ten only cost $80.00.

“The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes. So the first four men were unaffected. They would still eat for free. But what about the other six — the paying customers? How could they divvy up the $20 windfall so that everyone would get his “fair share”?

“The six men realized that $20 divided by six is $3.33. But if they subtracted that from everybody’s share, Then the fifth man and the sixth man would end up being PAID to eat their meal. So the restaurant owner suggested that it would be fair to reduce each man’s bill by roughly the same amount, and he proceeded to work out the amounts each should pay.

“And so the fifth man paid nothing, the sixth pitched in $2, the seventh paid $5, the eighth paid $9, the ninth paid $12, leaving the tenth man with a bill of $52 instead of his earlier $59. Each of the six was better off than before. And the first four continued to eat for free.

“But once outside the restaurant, the men began to compare their savings. ‘I only got a dollar out of the $20,’ declared the sixth man who pointed to the tenth. ‘But he got $7!’

“‘Yeah, that’s right,’ exclaimed the fifth man, ‘I only saved a dollar, too . . . It’s unfair that he got seven times more than me!’

“‘That’s true!’ shouted the seventh man, ‘why should he get $7 back when I got only $2? The wealthy get all the breaks!’

“‘Wait a minute,’ yelled the first four men in unison, ‘We didn’t get anything at all. The system exploits the poor!’

“The nine men surrounded the tenth and beat him up. The next night he didn’t show up for dinner, so the nine sat down and ate without him. But when it came time to pay the bill, they discovered, a little late what was very important. They were FIFTY-TWO DOLLARS short of paying the bill! Imagine that!

“And that, boys and girls, journalists and college instructors, is how the tax system works. The people who pay the highest taxes get the most benefit from a tax reduction. Tax them too much, attack them for being wealthy, and they just may not show up at the table anymore.

“Where would that leave the rest? Unfortunately, most taxing authorities anywhere cannot seem to grasp this rather straightforward logic!”

How true! Sad, but true.

Remind your elected leaders that free enterprise, not the government, pays the bills in this country.

“This way to the cashier’s window… but remember, money isn’t all there is to happiness. Success in life is knowing how to laugh, learn and love. If you have the affection of others and respect for yourself, you have true wealth. If you can take criticism and dispense tolerance you will enrich everyone. A rich man who gives becomes richer still. And he who enjoys beauty, does a job well and plants hope in others, has his own reward. For the greatest wealth is found in the heart, not in the purse, and the brightest treasure is to be remembered with love.”

With a horrified look on his face, Sarge says, “How can you DO this?” Private Plato responds nonchalantly, “Momentum.”

When I first read this, it dawned on me that I had always tried to approach my sales career, and life in general, from this perspective but I had never seen it expressed so poignantly. And in a cartoon of all places! I cut it out of the newspaper, framed it, and hung it on the wall in my office. Years later, I reprinted it in my book because it is so spot on. When this perspective permeates every aspect of life, how can happiness be avoided?

Seeing this in writing brought me to a new level of understanding. This is what happens with age—we reach new levels of understanding. We call that “wisdom” (the term makes us feel better). We become “seasoned veterans.”

If you can instill hope in others simply because they’ve met you, then you have done your job—in a nice way, without pontificating.

It all comes down to momentum. Once you get the ball rolling in sales, or any career, you have to be careful that you don’t sabotage yourself. Don’t let the fears of success or failure, or exhaustion stop you before you get the brass ring. It is very difficult to maintain momentum. So accept that going in and set your mind on momentum.If you can instill hope in others simply because they’ve met you, then you have done your job

At every sales job I held, the pictures of the top ten reps from previous years were proudly displayed on the walls of the home offices. I noticed a recurring theme at each company. Almost half the reps from the prior year had already left the company and virtually none of the reps from as recently as four years prior were around. What happened to them? What happened to their drive, their desire to excel, their winning attitude?

I began to focus on momentum because once you get it it helps to push you over the rough spots, those times when you hit the wall. Months after you develop momentum, it will help carry you through your low times.

How do you get momentum? I think you have to get mad. You have to get angry at your current situation. Take a cue from the guy in the movie Network who told everyone to go to a window, open it, and yell out, “I’m not gonna take it anymore.”

Once you reach the point of utter disgust, you either force a change in your situation or become a curmudgeon. None of us wants to be the latter. So, force yourself to grow. Otherwise, you’ll find yourself pushing papers around the desk, convincing yourself that you are doing your job when you are actually accomplishing very little.

Like I always tell people in sales, if by Wednesday you haven’t told your story to somebody new, get out there, find someone to listen, and then close the deal. It’s all about momentum.

I dedicated my book Going In Cold to my wife, June. The dedication reads: “For my lovely wife, June, who supported me and maintained our home while I went out every day to slay the dragon.”

I cannot begin to impress upon you the importance of a stable home life, especially to the mental stability of busy sales people who are out in the field hustling day in and day out. Returning to a house in chaos with toys all over the place, a sink full of dishes, messed up suppers, and so on, will not help you get into the mental zone necessary to rejuvenate you. A regular diet of chaos at your home, your sanctuary, could cause you to crash and burn fast. It’s vital that your spouse keeps the home life stable and relatively chaos-free.

Often, I would hit the house at about 6:30 in the evening with my mind doing 200 mph and find the activity in my home going about 5 mph. That tranquility tremendously minimized the impact of my blow. It allowed me to quickly slow down to around 20 mph and avoid a major collision. Stability, happiness, and contentment defined our home. Despite the fact that supper was late because I got in late, my wife and kids were happy to see me. That’s why I dedicated my book to my wife.

In the field I was not only slaying sales dragons but also my personal dragons of fear and anxiety—the worry that I wasn’t going to make it, that I would not succeed. The little world of my home allowed me to feel successful and allowed me to recharge, to go out again the next day, refreshed and anew.

Speaking before a few dozen sales people at a convention I asked, “What do you do when you are going a hundred miles an hour and your home is doing about ten?” A guy in the front row said, “how ‘bout five?” So we talked about ways to slow down before walking through the threshold. Ideas included picking up flowers, sending a heartfelt “thank you” card, calling in advance to say, “Skip cooking, I’m bringing home pizza.”

Show appreciation because your spouse is taking care of the kids, doing their homework, bathing them, making sure their teeth are brushed, taxiing to sports and music and clubs, doing laundry, taking care of the house, taking care of all sorts of necessities so that you are free to hit the bricks day after day. You have to show appreciation for this no matter how bad your day was.

I always took my wife out on Fridays. I’d call her and tell her to get a sitter so we could go out. Whether it was for a couple glasses of wine or one drink, we got out. The week was over and whatever happened, happened. If it was a good week we cheered. If it was a lousy week we consoled ourselves and said we’d do better next week. Either way, she was right there with me.

I always took my wife out on FridaysAt a black tie business conference I attended with my wife years ago, the host had just handed out a laundry list of recognitions and was about to wrap up his presentation when I interrupted. I realized that he either forgot or simply failed to recognize the spouses of the honorees. Some 700 entrepreneurs and their spouses were present. The host looked a bit scared when I walked jumped up on the stage and said, “I have something to add.” He motioned toward the mic and I said, “I’d like all the spouses of these fine entrepreneurs to stand.” Immediately, the place broke into resounding applause followed by a “Hip, Hip, Hooray!” The cheers were twice as loud as any previous applause.

Being so caught up in business, we tend to discount the value of our spouses until we experience the chaos that occurs when our spouses aren’t maintaining the peace and picking up all the slack.

So this one is for the husbands and wives who maintain the home. Hip, Hip, Hooray! Hip, Hip, Hooray! Hip, Hip, Hooray!

Between working in two family businesses while growing up, learning to be prepared through my involvement in the Boy Scouts for five years (Incidentally, the Boy Scouts are celebrating their 100th anniversary this year. Hooray!), earning degrees in Philosophy and History that led me to a heightened awareness of the how and why of things, and then working sales job after sales job learning new things about selling, I was preparing. I may not have realized it at the time but those experiences paved the way for me to see and seize opportunity when it presented itself.

This will happen to you if you never give up on your dreams and if you keep striving to improve. Again, luck is where preparation meets opportunity.

Yesterday I picked up “Think and Grow Rich” again for the first time in a while. Because I have ADD, I can’t just sit and read, read, read. I’m better at snippets. As a matter of fact, I’m real good at snippets. On page 81 of my copy Napoleon Hill says:

The ‘break’ consisted of my good fortune in meeting and gaining the cooperation of Andrew Carnegie. …Carnegie planted in my mind the idea of organizing the principles of achievement into a philosophy of success.”

This took twenty-five years of preparation. Hill’s opportunity came when he met Carnegie and luck was in the crosshairs. Wow! This is great. Now stop and think for a minute. In your journey, what have you been doing to prepare so that when opportunity presents itself you are ready to seize the moment? Don’t kid yourself—your experiences are groundwork. Thomas Edison said, Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.

I broke into sales years ago by selling advertising. When I was at a low point, an old pro sent me a tape that he had made just for me. In it he said, “Don’t despair, everything you are learning is going in the bank and you will use it some day. Right now some of this stuff may not be relevant to you but you will use it.”

When we started our company, we didn’t have a lot of money. So, I developed our first brochure to mirror our sales presentation. It was simple and inexpensive. It served two purposes: a terrific leave-behind ad piece and a great training guide for new sales reps. Drawing on the knowledge I gained from selling advertising, we used sexy colors to simply say who we were and what we could offer our customers.

I had a stint as a headhunter once. I hated the job but I learned how to make phone calls and get people interested in employment opportunities. Years later when we started our company, I had to recruit some of the best sales people in the industry, so I drew from my headhunter experience. Wasn’t that a bit of luck?

You can do the same thing. You just have to want it.

In Napoleon Hill’s case, the break came through Carnegie but, as he illustrates in “Think and Grow Rich”:

“What about the determination, definiteness of purpose, and the desire to attain the goal, and the persistent effort of twenty-five years? It was no ordinary desire that survived disappointment, discouragement, temporary defeat, criticism, and the constant reminding of ‘waste of time.’ It was a burning desire! An obsession!”

Boy I heard that a lot: “It was a burning desire! An obsession!” And it all starts with an idea. Napoleon Hill wraps up “Imagination,” the chapter describing the fifth of his thirteen steps toward riches, with this example:

“…take the power of Christianity. That began with a simple idea, born in the brain of Christ. Its chief tenet was, “do unto others as you would have others do unto you.” Christ has gone back to the source from whence He came, but His idea goes marching on. Some day, it may grow up, and come into its own, then it will have fulfilled Christ’s deepest desire. The idea has been developing only two thousand years. Give it time! Success requires no explanations. Failure permits no alibis.”

Wow! Good stuff.

From the moment you walk through a prospect’s doorway and begin laying the groundwork that we all know as the warm-up, we are selling trust. Remember, your prospect has been reared by his/her parents, and by society in general, to never trust a salesperson because “they are out to get you.”

This reality is ironic because no company could survive without salespeople. I find it ironic, too, that this “never trust a salesperson” attitude is promulgated by fear. Just look at the state of our government. Citizens trust it less and less at every level. The tea party phenomenon is a manifestation of this. I constantly hear people say things like: “I don’t trust anything they [government] do”; “I don’t trust anything they [government] say.” “Get it in writing.” The problem is that you can’t get it in writing.

The Sarbanes–Oxley Act was passed because of a mistrust of business. Our government’s answer to the Enron debacle was to force businesses to ramp up extraordinary measures in their accounting procedures. Because Enron, with the “help” of their accounting firm, hid their real numbers, a lot of people lost money and Enron failed. Our government’s solution to the resulting mistrust of business is to create massive legislation that cost American corporations millions to implement and create a windfall for the accounting industry. Never mind the fact that 99% of American corporations already spent millions to have clean books; we suddenly don’t trust anyone because of Enron, the bad apple. So, American corporations, which compete with corporations around the world, are burdened with additional costs—all because of trust.

Politics has almost become synonymous with lying.I’m sick and tired of the phrase “its just politics.” Politics has almost become synonymous with lying. “I can say whatever I want, as long as they buy it,” seems to be the adage of the day. Cultures in society collapse when this happens. The framers of our Constitution knew this, which is why they included thorough checks and balances between the three branches of the federal government, and between the state and federal governments. It seems they didn’t anticipate professional, career politicians who would say anything to get re-elected over and over again. Voting has become a choice between the lesser of two evils.

It’s often been said that it takes 13 positives to offset a negative. You could have a great relationship with a client for years but if you let one thing go wrong you may lose that client. If you don’t lose them, it will take 13 positives to offset that one negative and regain the level of trust you had. Your job as a sales person is to make sure the client knows all 13 positives that your company is doing, and doing with sincerity, to keep them.

I used to read up on whatever I was selling all the time. One company I worked with had a terrific sales manual that was loaded with product knowledge—products we had and products the competition had. I read about this stuff weekly.

Most sales people take their sales manuals and toss them in the trunk of their car. Right guys? You stick it in the trunk figuring you’ve extracted all the important info from it and no longer need it. Well, you would be amazed at how much you forget or never really knew in the first place. It’s easy to settle into a pattern of selling that becomes comfortable. And this works, don’t get me wrong. I know it works, but you could be leaving a prospect without the order because you are not suggesting other things.

For example, when I was selling insulation I was the only guy in the company who studied heat loss analysis of a house. I learned how to analyze heat loss relating to the R-factor (resistance factor) of heat and cold. I learned and had an understanding of all the buzzwords; therefore, I was able to talk to a customer not only about insulating their home but also about how much they could save each year in energy costs, both heating and cooling. Then I would show them how long it would take for them to pay for the job with just those savings. In other words, I explained their return on investment.

Because I had acquired specialized knowledge about insulation, I was able to explain how moister tends to accumulate in the attic after an attic floor is insulated. Without proper moisture barriers and ventilation, the roof could rot from the inside. So, I would end up selling attic ventilation, too.

Despite the fact that my company’s estimate was more expensive than all their other quotes, I sold practically every job. The homeowner trusted me because I spoke with conviction, conviction that came from the knowledge I acquired through reading and becoming a master of my product.

I adopted this MO at every company I worked for, with everything I sold. I was a resource for my clients. If you are reading this and you know you should take a look at your sales manual, then go do it right now. Otherwise, you’ll put it off and forget.

If you’re skeptical about your own ROI given the time and energy required to become an authority on your product, then put yourself in the place of the buyer. Are you easily sold on rhetoric or can you sense when someone truly has specialized knowledge of his or her product or service? More importantly, from which would you purchase?

I don’t want to get political now, but I’m amazed at how many politicians know nothing about economics, about who creates jobs, about chronic deficit spending, and the fact that they don’t even read the bills they vote on as our representatives, yet they manage to get elected and reelected. It is scary. You and I know that wouldn’t fly in business. We’d be out of a job.There’s a misconception in this country that the more formal education a person has the better off they are.

There’s a misconception in this country that the more formal education a person has the better off they are. Truth is, nothing replaces experience and drive. As a college professor told me years ago, “Education is not a substitute for wisdom.”

If you think you single-handedly built your company, you are lying to yourself. You are lying to yourself because you did not give credit to the quality people who are dedicated to you, share your vision, and buy into your dream. This type of self-deception is dangerous. It’s like building your company on sand; it won’t survive.

Don’t concern yourself with who is getting credit, even if you start something that an associate couldn’t get off the ground, but then she takes the ball and runs with it. Whether it’s a sale or a project, if you had to come in midway through the process to nudge it along or assist in the goal, in the end it’s her goal. Your job is to give full credit to the employee. Do you need more accolades? Ask yourself, “Is my bottomless pit of success full enough? Can I begin to spin off successes to others?”

When you appropriate credit, your company grows stronger. This requires trust. It requires that you trust the first time and again when someone fails. You must trust that the associate recognizes his mistake, has learned from it, and is ready to handle the next situation.

I remember watching as a trainee almost let a sale die. At the last minute I stepped in to save it. I didn’t take credit. The trainee got the sale, the commission, and the accolades. It was his sale; my assistance didn’t need to be recognized. In the end, we all won because the new guy learned something valuable. He grew and was better able to close the next sale, and the one after that.

There were times when I’d let a trainee fail just so he could learn from his mistakes. We’d return to the car and I’d ask what went wrong and what could be improved upon. There were occasions when I’d say, “Let’s march back in and try over.” We closed some and lost some, but that’s how you cut your teeth in business.

I’ve often said there should be another Beatitude: Blessed are the losers. Look at the twelve apostles. By society’s standards, then and now, each was a loser. They held menial jobs. They were fishermen, tax collectors, law-breakers—none would have been considered the pinnacle of social success.

If you didn’t know the ending would you guess that Peter, who denied Christ three times, would wind up being “The Rock” upon which Christ’s Church was founded? According to a psychological profile of the twelve that I read some time ago, the one apostle who, according to social status, should have been chosen as “the rock” was Judas. Good thing God was calling the shots, huh?

Look at the big picture. Look at what these ordinary men accomplished. They weren’t salesmen. Far from it. They trusted and they did their best. When they fell, they got back up.

So, don’t be afraid to dole out credit. You are beyond worrying who gets credit. Look at the big picture—the whole of your organization. When one person succeeds, the company succeeds.

What’s the purpose of business? To make money, correct? Well the view from 20,000 feet is that you cannot make money unless you advertise. The reason to advertise is threefold: to build a strong business identity, to increase customer flow, and to increase cash flow.

Nothing happens in business without the sale. For the sale to occur, you have to have customers. Yes, this is all very basic but I have met with a countless number of very intelligent people interested in starting a business, and when I look at them and ask, “OK. It’s Monday. What are you going to do?” they are stumped for an answer.

If I say “mustang,” your first thought is not of a horse but a car. How did Ford do it? They did it with a constant barrage of advertising, using a combination of radio, television, print, and direct mail to get their name into the public domain. Eventually, the meaning of the word “Mustang” changed.

How does a small business with limited resources do this? Pens, direct mail, local newspapers, bowling alley scoreboards, church bulletins, social media, matchbooks, t-shirts, calendars, etc. In order for you to establish a strong identity, people have to see your name over and over. This is why companies buy paper clip holders or tape dispensers with their name on it. The pharmaceutical industry has mastered this. The next time you visit a doctor, take note of all the branded items lying around his office. Clocks, clipboards, pens, and even doorstops bear the name and logo of some product or company.

The average small businessman, however, will not even study this methodology. I remember going to a nearby restaurant three years ago to convince the owner to buy a billboard in the outfield of the local athletic association. He resisted until I launched into a speech about market impressions. I got him to visualize the indelible impression a sign bearing his restaurant’s name and logo would have over the summer months as hundreds of parents, coaches, kids—his target customers—sat and watched a baseball game. That ad would be a subconscious reminder to the fans that he is local and committed to his community.

This is identity advertising, a constant subtle reminder that yells out, “Hello. I’m here. Come and see me!” Once you build your identity, you will increase your customer flow, and then your cash flow.

Businesses that hesitate to invest in identity advertising are unsophisticated media buyers. They feel they are wasting their money if they cannot see an immediate and measurable ROI, return on investment. Rarely is this sort of advertising, or Public Relations, measurable.

Small businesses like coupons because as they collect the coupons being used, they can scientifically measure their ROI. But what if the coupon stinks? When I sold direct mail a clothing store I called on insisted, against my recommendation, on distributing his 10% off coupon. As I predicted, his meager 10% off coupon yielded little or no result. Because of this, he concluded that advertising doesn’t work, so he stopped altogether. It came as no surprise when I learned that his clothing store went out of business within a few short years.

Identity advertising is essential for established businesses, too. Case in point: one of my best childhood friends, who took over his father’s auto body repair shop. My whole family knows this guy and his family well. About five years ago, my brother got into a fender-bender. I asked him if our friend did a good job on the repair and his jaw dropped, “Oh my goodness!” he exclaimed, “I completely forgot about him.” My brother had taken his car elsewhere.

So the next time an advertising sales rep shades your doorway, take ten and listen to what he has to say. You might learn something. ]]> http://www.jasonbuck.org/chuckpiola/no-time-to-stop-advertising/feed/ 0 http://www.jasonbuck.org/chuckpiola/no-time-to-stop-advertising/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChuckPiola-TheKingOfColdCalls/~3/pg8OTeTq-Ek/ http://www.jasonbuck.org/chuckpiola/rip-common-sense/#comments Mon, 15 Mar 2010 17:53:08 +0000 Chuck Piola http://www.jasonbuck.org/chuckpiola/?p=120 Philip K. Howard’s early ‘90s book “The Death of Common Sense” sites numerous examples of irrational governmental behavior beginning with the story of Mother Theresa’s attempted conversion of a burned out building in the Bronx to a shelter for homeless men. New York City halted the rehab just before it began because the Missionaries of Charity’s plans did not include an elevator. Mother Theresa explained that her order, accustomed to the bare necessities of life like sleeping on the floor, would not need such luxuries. The city argued that omitting an elevator was a building code violation. Mother Theresa said she couldn’t justify the expense and would sooner care for the needy from the back of a truck. New York City let her walk. The building was boarded up.

Howard also cites the lack of common sense that cost the city of Chicago millions of dollars and put as many people at risk. Recognizing the potential danger posed by a leak in a subway tunnel, the city authorized emergency financing for immediate repairs. The city’s chief engineer, however, didn’t want to risk being criticized for hiring an engineering firm without putting the project out for bid. While bids were being drawn the tunnel wall collapsed flooding several city blocks as well as the basements of skyscrapers.

It’s been fifteen years since I read that book and example after example of illogical politics continues to beat common sense like a dead horse. Just look at the Khalid Sheikh Mohammed trial in New York that’s going to cost at least 150 million dollars. Consider the Gitmo Bay debacle, the arguments about shipping terrorists back to Yemen, and reading Miranda rights to terrorists. How about granting mortgages without a credit check, no money down, and no job? The bailout of banks, and then GM. The trial of three Navy Seals, the fallacy that government provides the only solution to out-of-control healthcare costs, and our country’s debt topping 12-trillion dollars. Are we out of our minds?

It all illustrates the failure of the American Education system. What are we teaching? I used to get a kick out of watching Jay Leno’s man on the street randomly ask passersby basic history questions. Many thought Lincoln fought the British during the American Revolution. They didn’t know that George Washington was our first president. How can we expect our own citizens to understand and respect our Constitution and Declaration of Independence? It’s no wonder confusion over the attribution of quotes by Karl Marx and George Washington goes unchecked.

Small businesses are this country’s economic engine, yet politicians who never ran a business continually take a hammer to the engine and expect it to function.

A college professor once told me Education is not a substitute for wisdom!education is not a substitute for wisdom. Isn’t it ironic that the more we push “higher education” the more elusive wisdom becomes?

Several years ago I read that 25% of Philadelphia school students left the system without being able to read. How can that be when we’re spending more money than ever to educate kids?

Laredo, Texas, a town of nearly a quarter million people, may lose B. Dalton Books, its only bookseller. With an illiteracy rate of nearly 50% in Laredo, the bookstore is finding it difficult to stay in business. If B. Dalton closes, Laredo will be the only city of its size in this country without a bookstore.

Is this the United States of America in 2010?

I was asked to speak to a class on Entrepreneurism at Wharton a few years back. I thought it odd that any institution would attempt a course on entrepreneurism. It was evident to me that academia decided to jump on the marketing gravy train surrounding the word “entrepreneur.” Who are they kidding? If the students don’t know who George Washington is, why waste time and money trying to teach entrepreneurism?

I once read that Brooke Shields graduated from Princeton with a degree in English but had not been required to take one course on Shakespeare. I’m amazed that any English major could graduate any college without a required course in Shakespeare.

Considering the average cost of college today, between $30,000 and $50,000, it makes more sense to give a kid $200,000 to set up a lawn-cutting business and spend winters in Europe touring the greatest museums in the world.

Think about hiring a salesperson as you chew on all this. Someone raised in the environment I laid out is walking into your office right now looking for a job. You want someone to represent your company who is sharp, proactive, sociable, and who has a reasonable degree of knowledge on a variety of subjects.

Good luck.