August 2008 Archives

There is nothing better than a good fight, and
we may just have another thriller on the way.
John McCain showed just minutes ago that
he isn't some doddering old fool as the
Obamaniacs want to portray him.

He just might have stolen Obama's thunder
right out from underneath him, less than
twenty four hours after Barack wowed the
Temple.

This race is beginning to resemble that old
story about the turtle and the hare. McCain
was given up for dead last fall, but he kept
plodding on, and became the nominee. He
was considered roadkill in the early summer,
and he has steadiliy gained ground.

And this morning he may have let the air out
of Obama's bouncing ball.

And if the first response from the Obama
campaign is any indication of how they intend
to treat his vice presidential nominee, all bets
may be off.

McCain has been to a battle before, been
knocked down, and risen to fight another day.
His opponent still has a clean uniform, and
doesn't really look like he can take a champions
punch.

McCain may be 72 years old, but he reminds
of the father of one of my good friends, who
built a multimillion dollar brokerage business.
His dad had a fifth grade education, but he
was as tough as they come, and extremely
savvy. The union goons showed up on his dock
one day, and tried pushing him around. He
grabbed a near by two by four, and within
minutes 5 union tough guys were down and
bleeding. "Go back and tell your boss that
Johnny O doesn't play games when it comes
to his business," he told the goons. They never
showed up again.

Johnny O was 73 years old when that incident
took place. He continued to run the brokerage until
he was 86, and he commanded the respect of
everyone he did business with. McCain is cut from
the same cloth, and all the fast talking hipsters on
the other side better get ready to feel what a real
punch feels like.

From the big saddle,

Jim Whelan
The Chairman of the Board

P.S. Isn't it funny that when people come back from
Asia they always talk about how much reverence
there is for the elderly, and then they want to send
their own elders out to pasture as soon as possible?

thejamesrwhelanagency.com
206 407 3124

Like a sale at Macy's, it seems this political
season just goes on and on. Tonights speech
by the Obamaman is likely to be much like the
after Christmas sales at the mall, with everybody
looking to see if that bargain is still there, or
returning the choices others have made for them.

I'm in the second camp becuase I feel like the
media has already made the choice for us,
and I don't like it, and really don't care if I have
to stand in line to get rid of it.

Obamaman will be speaking from Invesco Field,
named after some of those Wall Street Bandits,
(I can't help but smile), and he'll be speaking in
front of Greek or Roman Columns as if he were
Cicero himself. (Socrates would be better.)

He'll be in front of 75,000 roaring fans, and maybe
they've all been outfitted with orange hankies. Maybe
the Orange Crush will magically change to Obama
Crush as he passes his hand over the fawning crowd.

There is pleny of rock and roll lined up to appeal
to all those youngsters who will forget to vote,
like they do in every election. They would do
well remember what happens after the election
...when in Springsteens words..."all the promises
will be broken."

Listening to Democratic operatives today was
like listening to your drunken uncle tell you he
only gets pie eyed at family events, and is a saint
all his other days. Your ears get tired,
and then they just shut down.

Your only reprieve from tonights sonorous oratory
will be to go to a movie, or watch reruns of Law and
Order. I'd sit outside naked in the rain as long as I
didn't have to hear Keith Olberman or Chris Matthews.
Since Matthews has felt that tingle in his legs every
time he hears Obama speak, lets hope he brought a
change of clothes for tonights spectacular, just in
case he is overcome, and loses complete muscular
control.

It's possible I'm just being cranky, but the Obamaman
strikes me as an empty suit with a shorter track record
than a one hit wonder.

Fake Greek or Roman columns only reinforce the issue.

The only real question is, if Obama loses, does Hillary
start campaigning the next day?

From the big saddle,

Jim Whelan
The Chairman of the Board

P.S. One more question. Again, if Obama loses, does
he get the same deal Fat Al got from Google?

thejamesrwhelanagency.com
206 407 3124

In Washington there is an inkling of fall in the air,
which means that the election of a new President
is getting closer.

Last night I watched Hillary say all the right things
in a mercifully short speech. Hillary says Barack
is her man. That's what she said, but if I was a
buyer I wouldn't have written a check, or handed
her a credit card for payment.

Because she really didn't mean it.

Buyers are a savvy bunch. You can sell them
most anything when you're sincere, and almost
nothing when you are just spinning the words.

And believe me, last night Hillary was just spinning.

Her body language didn't match the message.

In sales, if you don't believe in your product
you aren't going to sell much of it. Oh, you'll
sell some, because their are folks out there
who'll buy anything. But you'll never get to be
a good salesman by faking it.

Genuine enthusiasm will sell a lot of products.
I have a friend who makes all kinds of technical
errors in his presentations, and not only that,
he butchers language in a way that would make
Norm Crosby laugh out loud.

But it isn't an act in any way. What you see is
a real person who happens to be very funny
without trying, and who truly believes you can
solve almost any problem with one of his products.
He is the leading salesman in his company and
no one else is even close.

He is beloved by customers, and especially by
staff, because he knows the name of every last
person in the building. He doesn't have it written
down anywhere either. He also has an uncanny
memory for telephone numbers, which he only
has to hear once. I've seen him make 20 or more
calls and never look up a number.

The thing about him is that you know he means
what he says, no matter how it comes out of his
mouth. If he told you he was for Barack, you
wouldn't think twice about it.

Others could say the same thing, but you
wouldn't pay any attention, just like Hillary.
It's very hard to convince people that you
believe in something when you don't. They
can sense something is amiss.

And if you can't believe in what you're selling,
you're really in the wrong business.

From the big saddle,

Jim Whelan
The Chairman of the Board

P.S.
Watch Bill Clinton speak tonight.
You'll see exactly what I mean.

thejamesrwhelanagency.com
206 407 3124

I did a consulting job with a sales company
recently, and it didn't take me long to figure
out the main problem. I met with management
a couple of times, and then with different
groups of salespeople.

They all pointed fingers at each other, and
at products, and process. It was always
someone, or something to blame.

This was a group that needed to take a
serious look at themselves. Management
blamed salespeople, salespeople blamed
management, yada yada, yada.

My advice to them was short and to the point.

Look in the mirror for answers, and stop l
ooking for someone to blame.

Take responsibility for your own actions.

You need to ask yourself, am I doing the
best I can to make this situation work?

As far as this company was concerned,
the answer was no.

I set some short term goals for everyone
involved. Managers have goals, and
salespeople have goals. The goals involve
increasing sales, and improving communication.

There are no excuses. Meet the goals and
you stay. Fail to meet the goals and you leave.
The bar was set at a reasonable level for
everyone involved in the process. Each and
every person had a chance for input, and
everyone felt the goals fair and equitable.
They signed a contract to that effect, so the
responsibility is theirs, and theirs alone.

So far everyone in the organization is on
target. Sales are up, and complaints are down.

The question is whether they can maintain
the increase.

It should be easy if they continue taking responsibility.

The problem is that too often it's easier
not to take responsibility. Show me an
organization that is pointing fingers and
I'll show you a company in decline.

From the big saddle,

Jim Whelan
The Chairman of the Board

P.S. Congratulation the the USA Mens
Basketball Team. Well done.

thejoanrandallagency.com
206 407 3124

Most salespeople are really lousy at asking
questions, and so they fall prey to the old
adage, "Ask a stupid question, get a stupid
answer."

Making sales decisions based on stupid
answers to your stupid questions is stupid to
the tenth power. Stupid to the tenth power
usually results in:

No Sale.

Not today, not yesterday, not tomorrow.

Many years back I was working with a guy
who sold chemicals. I should probably rephrase
that. What he really did was convince people
never to buy his companies products, which was
a shame, because they were actually good
products, available at a very reasonable price.

I remember walking into a large hotel with him,
and he spent at least ten minutes trying to
decide what to show the purchasing agent.
He decided on a degreaser, which really isn't
a product you can demonstrate in an office,
at least without some risk.

His opening question was, "What kind of degreaser
y'all use here?"

If he had been even somewhat observant, he
would have known the answer to his question.
There was degreaser on several of the hotel
cleaning carts we passed on the way to the
purchasers office.

The purchasers answer was, "Same one
we've always used." Now there was some
information you could use.

My guy followed that up with, "How long is that?"

"Ever since I been here," said the purchaser.

"So it works okay, does it?" says my guy.

"I don't know," says the purchaser, "I don't do
no scrubbin."

"Huh," says my guy. "Well...okey dokey."

And off we went.

I spent an entire day with him, and he didn't
sell anything.

Finally I couldn't stand it anymore, and told him
I would handle his last two calls. He didn't object.

We walked into a diner, and the place smelled like
it had just been fumigated. In fact, my eyes were
watering. I found the owner, and said, "Do you have
a problem with flies?"

"Yes," he said. "Do you think your customers will
appreciate the smell of whatever you are using?"

"I can't stand it myself," he said.

"If I could show you a product that kill flies...and
smells like cherries, would you buy it?"

"Hell yes," he said.

I pulled the fly killer out and sprayed it in a corner.
He walked over and smelled it.

"Damn," he said, "that smells good."

"I'm running a special on that this week," I said.
"1 case is $79.99. 5 cases is $64.99. You buy 5,
you save $75.00, you kill flies, and your place
smells like cherries."

"Send it in," he says.

At the last call, another hotel, I sold over $2000.00
of cleaning products, and made the schmuck I was
with over $500.00 dollars, all by asking the right
questions.

I started by asking if I could show them how to cut
the cost of their cleaning products in half, would
they buy from me today?

I showed them a very simple way to insure that
employees followed the dilution ratios on the box,
and they were hooked. Dilution ratios are on every
box of chemicals, no matter who sells them. But
simple systems for usage are not.

So it's all in how you ask.

The better the question, the more control you have.

The more control you have, the better chance you have
of selling.

From the big saddle,

Jim Whelan

P.S. If The Joan Randall Agency could cut your
advertising budget substantially, and get you better
placement, would you consider working with us?

Contact us at: thejoanrandallagency.com, or call us at 206 407 3124.

Back in the day, when I used to go out on sales
calls, I always carried a big stack of yellow legal
pads. My back seat was full of them, and they
were distinguished only by the date on the front.
I usually used about three quarters of a pad per
day, writing down the things prospects told me.

Occassionly I would use more than one pad,
usually if the client had very technical information.
Sometimes I would hold up a meeting to make
sure what I had written was correct.

One time this paid off for me in a huge way. I
was dealing with a very large company, and I
in particular I was dealing with a group of
engineers who needed to make a very large
purchase to start, and would require several
large purchases in the future.

I got a phone call to come to a meeting, and I
carried in all my notes from the previous meetings,
which amounted to eight or nine legal pads. I sat
down at the table and the gentleman who served
as the spokesman launched into a long speech
about the meeting process with contenders for the
job. To say it was long was an understatement,
and I thought this was their way of telling me I
didn't get the job.

Then the speech wrapped up, and they awarded
me the job. I was stunned, and I asked them why
they picked me. A guy on the other end of table said
that though I would make a really poor engineer, the
fact that I took such great pains to understand them
won me the job. He told me that none of the other
competitors took any notes at all on what they
considered a very important job.

In other words...I earned their respect by taking
meticulous notes...and made a visible effort to
try and understand what they were doing. (Even
though it was their opinion that I would make a
poor engineer.)

Hells bells, I knew that, which is why I'm in sales.

Winning that contract meant I could play a lot
of golf that summer when everybody else was on
the rockpile, and it was all because I really did
care what the prospect said.

I still take notes when talking to prospects today,
and it still pays off when I'm trying to wrap up a
deal. It lets them know that I was really listening
to what they had to say, and felt it was important
enough to write down.

There just might be a lesson there.

From the big saddle,

Jim Whelan
The Chairman of the Board

P.S. How about the U.S. womens soccer team? Bravo!!

thejoanrandallagency.com
206 407 3124

I'll be the first to admit that I don't read enough,
and I make all kinds of excuses for it, like I'm very
busy, it's time to work out, I have to catch a plane,
and so on and such forth.

I have a friend that recommends books to me,
and every now and then I take him up on it. He
recommended ""The Kite Runner" and "Requiem
For An Assasin", both of which I enjoyed.

A couple of weeks ago he recommended
"Lone Survivor" which I just finished. Now I don't
get all misty eyed very often, but this book had
me in tears, and I had to put it down a few times,
collect myself, and move on.

It's the story of a Navy SEAL, his training, and
a mission in the mountains of Afghanistan with
his SEAL team. I'm not going to tell you the story
except to say that all the men involved in this
mission were certified American heroes. I would
go further by saying that everyone around these
men was a hero in his or her own right too.

Not only should all adults read this, but kids should
read it too. It would give them a real good idea of
what it means to defend our freedom, and our way
of life.

They'll also learn about courage, selflessness,
honor, and achievement; somethings that seem
like they are short supply these days.

Navy SEALS are a very special breed of men.
Many apply, but few, very few survive the training
required. They are ready to go anywhere at any
time to defend this great country, on the most
risky and truly terrifying missions you can
comprehend.

What we need in this country is a lot more SEALS,
and a lot less lawyers and media types.

I've never met a Navy SEAL, and I'll bet most of
you haven't either. But after reading "Lone Survivor"
I'll be thanking them every night for what they do in
the shadows to keep the American Dream alive.

From the Big Saddle,

Jim Whelan
The Chairman of the Board

P.S. This is a five star recommendation. Go out
and buy this book and make sure the whole family
reads it.

thejamesrwhelanagency.com
206 407 3124

Some salespeople like to change things up
all the time and often refer to it as "keeping
it fresh." They get tired of repeating the same
old things and often change how they present
their products.

Sometimes this works, and at other times it
doesn't, so they change again and again.
While all this change is going on their sales
are usually dropping.

The reason is this: They are changing for
the sake of change, and not to improve their
presentation.

Once you find what works, you need to lock
in, and repeat it over and over and over
again. Winners in the sales game aren't
afraid to repeat what works. They find ways
to keep things fresh too, but not during the
game.

A sales manager, and one of the few good
managers I ever met told me this story once
when I asked him whether he did the same
old thing every time out.

"Thompson hit the ripe old age of seventy,
and decided to change his lifestyle completely
so he could live longer. He went on a strict
diet, he jogged, he swam, and he took sunbaths.

In just three months time Thompson lost thirty
pounds, reduced his waist by six inches, and
expanded his chest by five inches. Svelte and
tan, he decided to top it all off with a sporty new
haircut. Afterward, stepping out of the barbershop,
he was hit by a bus.

As he lay dying, he cried out,
"God, how could you do this to me?"

A voice from the heavens responded,
"To tell you the truth Thompson, I didn't
recognize you."

When you get in a groove, stay there. It may not be flashy, or least bit exciting, but it will make you a winner.

You can then go to Spain, and run with the bulls.

From the big saddle,

Jim Whelan
The Chairman of the Board

P.S. The question is, who is better, the 1992 Dream Team, or the 2008 Redeem Team?

thejamesrwhelanagency.com
206 407 3124

One of my salesmen has been struggling
lately after a very strong start. This is a
fairly common occurrence in the sales
game. There is the thrill of a new job, new
things to learn, new customers, and then
it becomes routine...if you let it.

While there are benefits to routine, there
are also drawbacks, and particularly in sales,
where you need to keep it fresh, even if it's
the same old product.

The newbie in my office is suffering from
doing the same old thing too many times.
Back in another lifetime I sold chemicals,
and I made a lot of money doing it while
other salesman sold about the same
amount all the time. While they would sell
cases, I would sell 55 gallon drums. I would
often sell more in a couple days than they
did in a month.

The company asked me to go out with other
salesman and see why they weren't selling.
I took a few ride-alongs. After going out with
5 different salesmen I knew what was wrong.

They were boring. Watching them make a
presentation was like watching paint peel.
They were lucky anybody bought anything
from them. I made my report to management.
The VP of sales said,
"Jim, chemicals aren't exciting."

Well...that's true, but it's not the point.
Chemicals in and of themselves aren't exciting.
But what they can do is. When I visited the
factory that made most of our chemicals, I
spent hours talking to people in the plant. I
had them show me what all the chemicals
did, and what was the best way to demonstrate
their effect on the customer.

Apparently no one had ever asked them
these questions. They lit up and showed me
dozens of ways to demonstrate the effectiveness
of the products, and some of them were very good.

I stayed in touch with one of the guys in the
plant, and whenever he had a new idea for
a demo we would talk. Every time I visited a
customer I had a new demo. I would show
the decision makers how the chemical worked,
and what it could do. Then I would show
them what it cost, and how it was more cost
effective than what they were using.

Now the truth is that they never saved any
money. The reason was because they failed to
monitor how their employees used the product,
which is very important. But that was their job,
not mine.

My job was to sell the product, which I did, by
making it fun, and interesting. Buyers would
always say to me, "What have you got to show
me today?" And I always had something, even
if it only lasted a minute or two. Sometimes all I
did was show them a new way to use an old
product.

Back to my newbie.

I had him give me his presentation. Just as
I suspected, he had lost some of his pop. He
was not the least bit entertaining, and he
bored me quickly.

I stopped him cold, and told him he was
putting me to sleep. I told him it wasn't that
the customer wasn't interested in what he
had to sell, it was that the customer wasn't
interested in him.

People don't buy products, they buy the guy
selling them.

A good product helps, but I have sold many
mediocre products. And believe me, being
enthusiastic about your product helps.
Enthusiasm can overwhelm a superior product
because it's contagious.

Sometimes, customers really are not interested
in your product. No one product will fix everything.
But more often than not, not interested means not
interested in you.

From the big saddle,

Jim Whelan
The Chairman of the Board

P.S. One more thing, the Whelan Credo is that
"not interested" only means "not interested at this
moment." Tomorrow is another story altogether.

thejamesrwhelanagency.com
206 407 3124

Eight year old Tallan "T-Man" Latz is what is
called a gee tar prodigy. He's jammed with
Jackson Browne and the legendary Les Paul.
He's already played Chicago's House of Blues,
and a ho bunch of the midwest club scene.

He can rip 30 or 40 songs, and has two bands,
T-Man's Blues Project with older musicians,
and a sixteen and under band called Tallan
"The T-Man" Latz and the Young Guns.

He also sings, plays the drums, harmonica, bass,
and piano.

According to industry insiders a kid like this
doesn't come along all that often, and it's
considered very unusual. People say the
T-Man has a 70 year old blues player inside
his young body.

But get this, there are actually people who don't
want a kid with this kind of talent to play. And it
isn't who you might think it is.

Most of the opposition is from older musicians,
who have never been averse to bending or
breaking the laws themselves. These are the
same folks who think nothing of sparking up
some weed whenever they see fit, or drinking
way past bedtime with a jailbait assistant. We're
just sposed to look the other way on all that.

But they are the ones running a cowardly
anonymous campaign to stop the T-Man playing
in clubs. They have made the state aware that
an eight year playing gee tar in a club is a violation
of stste labor law. They have also threatened
clubs and booking agents, and have tried to lure
business away from the venues where the T-Man
has played.

What a bunch of hypocrites these so called ar teests
are turning out to be.

I propose we shake down every musician playing
in a club. I'm betting at least half of them would end
up in the can for drug violations.Add another quarter
of them for illegal stuff on the tour bus, and that would
give the T-Man a lot of gigs, since the ar teests would
all be in the can.

Let The T-Man play you Bozo's! He has every right
to make a living doing what he does better than you
do, made obvious by his packing the house.

I can hear the T-Man now...

"The eagle flies on Friday
Now Saturday I'll go out to play
Oh...the eagle flies on Friday
Saturday I'll go out and play
The T-Man will rock the house baby
And be home by Sunday..."

Let T-Man play!

From the big saddle,

Jim Whelan
The Chairman of the Board

P.S. Maybe the T-Man can play the Super Bowl!

thejamesrwhelanagency.com
206 407 3124

I have just started reading a mumber of stories
now being leaked to the press about the Clinton
campaign, and why it failed. The stories form a
classic "How Not To Run A Successful
Presendential Campaign."

Months ago I remember the usual pundit suspects
trashing Clinton campaign strategist Mark Penn
as not up to the job of running a campaign. They
had all kinds of reasons for Hillary's failures, and
blamed most of them on Penn.

As it turns out Penn actually had a winning strategy
for going after Obama and beating him, but Hillary
vetoed it.

Hillary claimed that she was ready to govern
"right now." She had the "experience" to take the
bull by the horns and wrestle it into submission.

Campaign insiders tell the story of an indecisive
leader who wouldn't, or couldn't, control her own
staff, who bickered and backstabbed each other
at every opportunity.

In one explosive encounter with her staff, Hillary
asked all the questions and answered them all
herself because no one on the staff had the
courage to answer.

Staffers actually admit that the best moments of
the campaign were actually designed by Clinton
herself, so you have to wonder about all the high
powered talent she was supposed to be surrounded
with.

I'll tell you why she lost.

Unlike her husband Bill, Hillary didn't have the killer
instinct, and presedential politics ain't dodgeball.
Not only did Bill have the killer instinct, he had damn
good thugs and muggers on his staff, and he used them.

James Carville, Paul Begala, and George Stephanopoulus
knew how to play rough and tumble politics. They would
have put your mother in jail if it meant getting a few more
votes.

Hillary wasn't Bill, and she didn't have his team. Her
team had the strategy, but no real general, and divisions
among the staff.

That's a recipe for disaster. Or losing.

Obama might not be ready, but Hillary wasn't either.

From the big saddle,

Jim Whelan
The Chairman of the Board

P.S. A big hello from all my new friends in South Africa.

thejamesrwhelanagency.com
206 407 3124

Back when I started my sales career I worked
for a distributor that had 10,000 products. In
the years I was there I probably sold 1500 of
them at most, because it's just impossible to
have a working knowledge of that many products.

When I started out I would pitch the same 150
products as everyone else, and buyers would
do there best to get rid of me fast, because they
had five guys pitching them the same thing.

About two years into my selling career an older
salesman told me that what I really needed to sell
was what everybody else found troublesome, or
didn't carry. The great thing about that approach
was that you could charge whatever you wanted
for your service.

So I tried this out. I would go in and ask buyers
what they were having trouble getting, or
couldn't get at all. I was stunned by the response.
One buyer gave me a list a couple of pages long.

I quickly became an expert on all these hard to
get items, and formed relationships with companies
who supplied them. I worked out special freight prices,
and quick shipment policies. I went back to the buyers
and gave them quotes including shipping and handling.

Soon I was being flooded with orders for these
products, and I was selling them at very good
margins.Nobody ever asked me about my prices f
or these items.

The other thing that happened was that I became
known as "the go to guy." If buyers sensed a deal
that had to be handled quickly, and efficiently with a
minimum of problems, I would get the order, which
usually would include staple items that normally
went to competitors at a lower price.

I also got "emergency" orders. Sometimes this type
of order was stressful, but I managed to pull them off
most of the time. This also paid dividends, because
these emergency orders were often placed by guys
in the big chair. When I pulled off some of these deals,
they often asked me how they could return the favor,
and I wasn't shy about telling them. This got me a couple
of very sweet exclusive deals, where I became a sole
supplier.

I acquired a Fortune 500 account by getting a test
from the CEO. He wanted 500 leather chairs made
with a very special leather. He thought that only he
had a source for this distictive leather, and that I
couldn't find it. If I couldn't find the leather there was
no way I could bid.

I searched high and low for three weeks and was
about to admit failure when I bumped into a competitor
at lunch. We would see each other now and then and
had a friendly relationship. I told him I needed a leather
expert, and he said he knew one, and would take me
there. Here I was looking all over the country, and the
guy was just blocks away.

We went in, I told him what I needed, and without batting
an eye he said, "How many skins do you need?"

I said, "500." He said, "Where do you need them shipped to?"

I went back to the CEO with a bid. He looked at it, sat up i
n his chair, signed the order, and said, "I was told no one
else could get that particular leather, but you found another
source. Good for you, and bad for the guy who told me he
had an exclusive."

That account was worth hundreds of thousands a year at
premium prices, and several wonderful referrals.

If you want to be mediocre, do what everybody else does.

If you want to be a sales star, walk where others won't.

From the big saddle,

Jim Whelan
The Chairman of the Board

P.S. Michael Phelps has three golds, with five to go.
He is the greatest Olympian of all time.

thejamesrwhelanagency.com
206 407 3124

I was speaking with a friend of mine in Richmond,
Virginia, over the weekend. He's a physician, and
a lifelong Democrat, and actually voted for John
Kerry. As we all know, Kerry snatched defeat right
out of the hands of victory, so I can't hold my friends
vote against him.

What surprised me was that my friend is
supporting John McCain this time around, and
he told me rather unequivocaly that there is no
doubt in his mind McCain is going to win.

This response left me somewhat startled,
so I probed a little.

"What about change?" I said.

"Change?" he said, "What change? Name a
change Obama is going to make, other than
tax the rich, which goes back to the 1950's."

"He has no plan on energy that he can implement
right away, and anybody who says gas prices are
going to go down is just nuts. We are just now
catching up with the rest of the world."

"What about windfall taxes on the oil companies?"
I said.

"That's just stupid," he replied. "It betrays a total
understanding of economics. You have to look deeper
than just profits. Record profits is not an indicator of
solid fundamentals. Many other companies make much,
much more money than Exxon, who makes about eight
cents on the dollar. There are companies out there who
make thirty five cents on the dollar, and no one is
complaining about that. But all this windfall talk just makes
investment want to go elsewhere."

"And another thing," he said, "when Exxon has a
record year, so does the government. Tax revenue
from oil has never been higher.And millions of
Americans get more money in their retirement funds
when American companies set records."

My friend was pretty close to being a socialist a
couple of decades ago. But he has always had
an open mind, giving credit where credit is due,
and has been critical of mistakes on the right
side of the aisle.

What surprises me is that he said that no one he
knows is for Obama. They think he gives a nice
speech, but they aren't sure he's the medicine for
what ails them.

From the big saddle,

Jim Whelan
Chairman of the Board

P.S. If you want your business to get well in a
hurry, give us a call.

thejamesrwhelanagency.com
206 407 3124

I'm somewhere in South Africa today, exactly
where I don't know since I was never very good
at geography. This much I can tell you, you
wouldn't want to be sleeping outside in a tent
at night. You also wouldn't be able to get the
Big Breakfast at Mickey D's from your car window.

I do have a number of breakfast companions
this morning, and they are just slightly less
evolved than I am. If I take off my shirt maybe
some of the will recognize me, and I can meet
some long long lost relatives.

You see I'm eating breakfast this morning with
monkeys, and there are gorillas to be found later
in this trip. The monkeys were up with the sun,
and they have been quite entertaining as they
swing and climb in the tree tops within what for
them is just a hop, skip, and jump. These monkeys
range in size from about 15 to 30 pounds, and
belive it not they could put a whuppin' on you like
nobody's business.

The jungle life is one of constant exercise, and
everything they do requires a physical effort that
we stop getting after we are about 5 or six years
old. They run, they jump, they pull themselves up,
they swing, they hang, and there was even some
wrestling going on earlier.

All this activity makes them incredibly strong for
their size, and you would never want to make them
angry with you, because they could do a monstrous
amount of damage.

With all that being said I started thinkin about
their cousins, who I'll get to see later. The guide
has told me that we'll see a number of gorillas
that can weigh up to 800 pounds, and they can
execute many of the same moves as monkeys.
So basically a gorilla has the strength of 20
monkeys. If they should happen to grab you,
it would take a very large caliber shell to save
you, and it would have to be fired very fast.

Hence I was thinking about that old joke, "What
does an 800 pound gorilla eat for breakfast?"

"Anything it wants."

Luckily for us homo sapiens, gorillas stick pretty
much to plants.

I wonder if they suffer from high cholesterol, and
whether an 800 pound gorilla would be considered
obese? They certainly couldn't smell any worse
than the guy seated across from me on the last flight.

Well, the monkeys have moved on, probably
looking for a nice place to take a nap. The guide
is giving us the high sign to head to the vehicles
to continue this journey.

The good thing is I haven't seen any snakes,
because they creep me out. I hope that I don't
have to borrow the tour guides machete because
if I see one, he's going down, and I don't care what
list he might be on.

From the big saddle,

Jim Whelan
World Traveler and Chairman of the Board

P.S. Just passed a river and saw a couple of
crocs bigger than a car. Funny there's no sign.
What kind of government are they running here?

thejamesrwhelanagency.com
206 407 3124

While I was packing for my trip to the Lion's
Den I threw in a couple of packages of beef
jerky I had bought at a trade show a couple
of months back. I bought about a dozen
packages at the time and just told the guy
to mix and match. I had forgotten all about
this stash of jerky until I was packing a few
days ago and just grabbed a handful and
tossed it in my bag.

I remembered that I had it when I arrived at
the hotel and just grabbed a bag, opened it
and started gnawing away. A few minutes later
I was on fire. I was was sweating like a hog
farmer at a free dance, and I swore I could
ignite anything in my path with a mere breath.
I ordered up some ice cream from room service,
and about 30 minutes later I had cooled down.

Then I read the label, which is what I should
have done first.

The jerky bag that I opened was called NITRO,
and was a double habinero version of what I would
call the regular stuff. Believe it or not, they have an
even hotter version than the one that almost melted
me, and it's called CHERNOBYL, which I'm sure I
don't have to explain.

I found another bag, read the label, which said
COWBOY SOFT CHEW, which is smoked and mild,
and popped a piece of that into my mouth. I found
that version most agreeable, and polished off about
half the bag. I'll save the NITRO version to use as
medicine in an emergency, like when I neeed to melt
a deep skin wound and don't want to leave any stitch
marks.

It's nice being away from it all here in South Africa.
I haven't heard anything about Obama, McCain, or
Bret Favre for a couple of days, and I'm surviving.
Gasoline costs more here than in the U.S., and food
ain't cheap either. And of course, they have a real
Lion's Den, not some Disney version.

From the big saddle,

Jim Whelan
World Traveler and Chairman of the Board

P.S. Anybody kmow what a loo is?

thejamesrwhelanagency.com
206 407 3124

Yesterday I was eating lunch in a diner, and
"Hound Dog" was playing on the jukebox. Now
I'm an Elvis fan, and always enjoy listening to
him whenever I hear him on the radio or
television.

But yesterday something caught my ear that
I have never heard, and I have heard
"Hound Dog" hundreds of times. I was floored
when I heard this, and got out my computer to
check this out.

The lyric that I always heard went like this this:

"You ain't nothin' but a hound dog
Cryin' all the time
You ain't nothin' but a hound dog
Cryin' all the time
Well, you ain't never caught a rabbit
And you ain't no friend of mine

Well, they said you was high classed
Well, that was just a lie
Well, they said you was high classed
Well, that was just a lie
Well, you ain't never caught a rabbit
And you ain't no friend of mine

But here is what I heard yesterday for the
first time, and it isn't listed on any of the lyric
websites. When the King gets to the second
verse he sings:

"Well, you ain't never bought a record
And you ain't no friend of mine"

And it repeats three times.

Ole Elvis was slapping his critics, and of
all the times I heard that song, I never heard
that line. I'm not sure where the diner got
that version, but it ain't the one on the album.

Now I know that Big E was no saint, and had
enough flaws for at least a hundred people
combined. But that recording had to come fairly
early, when he was getting a ton of criticism
for just singing in his own style.

He was telling his critics to shut up. And that
was a pretty brave thing to do in those days.

Telling your critics to shut their pie hole,
(including your inner critic), is something we all
need to do from time to time. As my friend Dr.
Bill Stillwell put it in his column the other day,
"Just because you have an opinion doesn't
mean it's credible, or that anybody needs to
listen to it." Amen, brother!

If you want to be successful, you need to turn
your critics into water, and just let what they have
to say roll down the drain. Eventually their opinion
will reach the sewer, which is where it belongs.

Meanwhile keep singing.

"You ain't nothing but a hound dog...

From the big saddle,

Jim Whelan
The Chairman of the Board

P.S. Stayed tuned for my big game adventures
as I visit South Africa in search of the Lion King.

thejamesrwhelanagency.com
206 407 3124

I have sat through many a sales presentation in
my day, and to tell you the truth, watching paint
peel off an old pipe was more interesting. There
was one company in particular that I hated, and
they were a preferred vendor, so they gave quite
a number of presentations. I would have rather
endured torture than sit through one of their
presentations.

They spent all their time, and mine, going over
endless features and benefits, and they used this
same act in the field. But they never asked for the
sale, and as far as I was concerned any time they
spent on your behalf was wasted.

There are people that believe in this approach,
of using features and benefits ad nauseum, but
count me out. I believe that on a good day, a
very good day, that the customeer will retain
three or less benefits. And I believe this also;
that if your try and hammer more than three
benefits into the customers mind at one time
he or she will become confused, and not buy.

And getting them to buy is the name of the game.

In one of my sales jobs the pitch was two hours
long. I actually had people fall asleep during the
presentation, and I knew I had to make changes,
or I would never sell anything. I boiled it down to
a shade over twenty minutes, and I didn't leave
anything out.

I made an opening statement that went like this.
"I know the company asked you to schedule two
hours for this presentation, but I have what you
might call The Intelligent Persons Guide To...and
it only takes a shade over twenty minutes. You'll
have all the information you need to make an
informed decision right away, and you'll have this
matter solved so that you can scratch it off your
list. Should I begin?"

The answer was always yes.

Twenty minutes later I was asking for the sale,
or handling objections. I would complete many
sales, including the contract,
in less than an hour.

Then customers would thank me for not wasting
their time with an endless presentation. They
would tell me of sitting through even longer
presentations than two hours, and how excrutiating
those sessions were.

The lesson here is simple. Keep it simple, keep it short,
and ask for the sale. And ask again, and again. Close
the deal, and get out. Thank the customer for making
a good decision. And get out. Don't hang around, don't
have a beer, don't eat any pie, get out.

File the contract under CLOSED.

Start preparing for the next call.

From the big saddle,

Jim Whelan
The Chairman of the Board

P.S. And don't forget to ask for a referral.

thejamesrwhelanagency.com
206 407 3124

I took a liitle trip a couple of weeks ago and
stopped in to visit a very successful friend of
mine while I was there. He ushered me right
into his office while in the middle of a phone
call. He was talking to a friend in San Fransisco
that had 1500 42 inch Plasma TV's he wanted
to sell right away.

My friend hung up with him and said, "We'll
go to lunch, but first I have to sell these televisions."

He pulled down a Rolodex, and it was huge,
maybe the biggest I have ever seen. He
laughed, and said, "I have four of these, and
over 23,000 contacts. I have a card or
information on every person I have ever
dealt with, and I make a quarter million in
mundo on the side just referring, or selling
stuff like this without ever touching the
merchandise. This deal should take about
five minutes."

He pulled out a card, laid it on the desk, and
started dialing. "I haven't talked to this guy in
3 years," he said.

"Mr.Chang please," he said.

"Whose is calling please?" came the reply.

"Mr.Bean Sprouts."

"One moment please."

"Chang."

"Two order stir fry pork and tofu with black
bean sauce, and make it snappy!"

Then there was a lot of laughter, how you
beens, and then, "What you got?"

"1500 Plasma screen TV's. All or nothing. Here's
the price, including shipping. Still using American
Express? Okay. They ship today. Always a pleasure
to do business with you. And work on the eggrolls
will you, they were a little greasy. Sayonara."

"Now that's what I like," he said. "Now I can take
you somewhere nice, and maybe we'll get a
massage after."

Over lunch he told me that in his first sales job
he was taught by a 76 year old veteran of door
to door sales. One of the things he taught him
was to make a friend of everyone he ever talked
to, and get their contact information, even if he
didn't make a sale. The old guy taught him that
if he made a friend, he would be able to sell them
something else down the road.

Over the last 20 years, my friend estimates
that that piece of advice, which he implemented
and took to heart has made him over $4 million
dollars. This money is over and above what he
makes in his job, which is considerable.

He calls it his slush fund, which he uses however
he wants to. All his job money goes to the family.
This is his fun bucket, and he uses it for recreation,
like our lunch and massage. And by the way the
massage was great! I need to do that more often
myself.

This fun bucket was created solely out of
networking. Not to mention all the regular income
it helps generate.

Contacts are like good blood cells. The more
you have, the more you make. Lose your
contacts, or fail to develop some, and you
won't be in the sales game long.

Somebody always needs something. And sooner rather than later.

From the big saddle,

Jim Whelan
The Chairman of the Board

P.S. Football kicked off last night, and not a minute too soon.

thejamesrwhelanagency.com
206 407 3124

Ever since I can remember I have had trouble
"fitting in." I'm sure that most of you know what
I'm talking about. In school I wasn't part of any
cool group. I wasn't athletic, couldn't sing, and
wasn't particularly interested in anything being taught.

I went in the army and found out I wasn't suited
for that very quickly. Then I had some jobs that
weren't exactly suited for me.

I sort of fell into the sales business, which I liked.
At some of the companies I worked for they had
what was called a selling system. There was a
written script that you memorized, and you gave
canned answers to questions that popped up.
Sometimes it worked, and sometimes it didn't.
It surely got to be boring after a while.

Then I started my first company, wearing all the
hats, and let me tell you, it was anything but boring.
I had success, and I had failures, and luckily I had
more successes than failures. After seven years I
sold that operation and moved on to other challenges.

I started my second company a little over four
years ago, and it has become very successful. Do
I have a system? Yes, and no.

In the beginning of this company I instituted certain
financial systems that I follow to the letter. I have a
filing system. But as far as sales are concerned I
have no canned pitch, and no list of canned
situational replies.

In sales I follow my instincts, and the principle of
harmony. I don't have anything written down, and
just speak what's on my mind. After listening to my
prospect reply, I just try to harmonize our points of
agreement, and ask for the sale.

Then I make sure I complete the sale, which is
important. You aren't finished until you have
completed all the paperwork, and collected the check.

As soon as I have the check in hand I start
"The Service."

The Chinese say, "To serve is to rule." And
believe me, when it comes to service, I rule.

That is the key to my success. Not some silly selling system.

From the big saddle,

Jim Whelan
The Chairman of the Board

P.S. "Serve your clients well, and they will serve you."

thejamesrwhelanagency.com
206 407 3124