Alan Weiss’s Monday Morning Memo® – 05/13/2024
While in high school, I worked two summers at the local A&P for about $1.25 an hour. The Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company operated from 1859 to 2015, and for 60 of those years it was the largest grocery retailer in the United States. The chain folded ten years ago because the stores were hopelessly outdated and the operating costs were excessive.
They were tiny by today’s supermarket standards, but huge back then, though the aisles were narrower than the ones in our current kitchen and the carts looked like miniatures from a theme park.
One of my jobs was to grind coffee for customers (100% women) but I often forgot to put the bag at the bottom of the machine after dumping the contents in the top, and the ground coffee fell on the floor. Another was to pack at the register, where I often had to break the container of a dozen eggs at the perforation for women who wanted only a half-dozen. You can guess what happened with that.
The women I thusly wronged would scream at me for being incompetent (I was16) and the manager, a huge man named “Red,” presumably because he once had red hair, would scream from his platform, “WEISS, ARE YOU SCREWING UP AGAIN??!!”
On top of that, there was Tom, a very nice guy and the full-time floor clerk, who had a horrible habit: He was perfect. The store workers would tell me as I unloaded boxes, “Tom would have had that done already,” or as I cleaned a floor where a woman had dropped eggs herself, “Tom could have cleaned all eight aisles by now.” (“Oh, yeah, well have Tom come over and do this while I take a break!”)
But what doesn’t kill us makes us stronger, and I learned a great deal about suffering unfair calumny, being underappreciated, and working hard to make a few bucks.
And I will point out with no small pride, that I’ve done quite well for myself, I’m still here, and the A&P is not.
Your attitude, not your aptitude, will determine your altitude. —Zig Ziglar
We don’t develop courage by being happy every day. We develop it by surviving difficult times and challenging adversity. —Barbara De Angelis
Reject your sense of injury and the injury itself disappears. —Marcus Aurelius
The harder I work, the luckier I get. —Samuel Goldwyn
NEW!! The Spontaneous Session
People laugh today when I tell them I’ve “prepared” for a Zoom or live session. They know my speeches are mainly riffs, and that I never change a word or phrase when I’m writing my books. (My all-time best-seller, Million Dollar Consulting, through six editions, has had exactly one paragraph changed by the publisher.)
What I want to do on Halloween is give you a treat by showing the tricks of my trade. I will actually demonstrate how you can be spontaneous and also highly impressive, controlled, and effective. You will walk out of the morning able to use spontaneity in business meetings, social and civic settings, in speeches and presentations, and in conflict. If you stay for the afternoon, you’ll be able to practice this with your colleagues and then with me. If you can do this with me, you can do it with anyone!
If anyone else is providing this kind of help, I don’t know about it. If you stay for the afternoon, I’m buying lunch. And at the end of the day we’ll vote as a group on the best extemporaneous performance of those remaining and I’ll provide a credit for your entire fee to use for any of my future programs.
Stop saying, “I wish I had said….” or, “Next time what I’ll do is….” You don’t have to risk $200,000+ (as I once did) and I guarantee you won’t be risking this tiny investment either in freeing yourself to be even more successful immediately.
October 31, 2024. Las Vegas, venue TBD 9 am to 4 pm (afternoon optional) Full day $1,250, Half day $950 Lunch included with full day. https://alanweiss.com/growth-
Thought Leadership 2024
I’m hosting a tenth Thought Leadership Conference, and our first such session post-pandemic, in Delray, Florida area on September 10-12, 2024. This will probably be the last such “live” event of its kind since my future plans are to create a quarterly Zoom subscription for this endeavor in 2025 and beyond. We will focus on:
• The No Normal® of the workplace and how to market and succeed in continually turbulent times. • What the impending US presidential election will mean for professional services. • How to create weekly, relevant, dramatic IP. • Staying ahead of the innovation curve using your own past and continuing “body of work.” • Passive, global income generation—creation and sustainability. • Options for successful use of discretionary time. • Financial realities and metrics for safety and security (and prudent risk). • Topics raised in the prep work sent to participants.
My newest book, Building Dynamic Communities: creating an evergreen client ecosystem, to be released later this year, will be personalized as my gift to you when it’s available, and the morning of the third day of the 2.5-day event will be optional and included in the fee. I’ll be “riffing” on that day on politics, society, education, personal wealth, and so forth.
The fee is $15,000, which includes rooms, breakfasts, lunches, and a cocktail reception. Finally, if you attend this session you may join the quarterly Zoom sessions next year for free, a $2,000 value.
My very special guest is the leadership guru, Hall of Fame speaker, and great wit Lou Heckler, who will be with us throughout the workshop.
Register here, please: https://alanweiss.com/
In the Buyer’s Office I’ve been asked to elaborate on the extremely popular “In the Buyer’s Office” videos on a regular basis. So I’m going to stop whining about doing it, and do it. I’m offering a 1.5-day, live session in Rhode Island during which everyone will get the chance to sell to the buyer and to be the buyer. You may record this if you like. You’ll learn how to, and apply how to:
- Open the meeting gracefully and move quickly to your objective.
- Handle distractions.
- Overcome objections.
- Reframe and pivot the conversation.
- Create trust, find key issues, create conceptual agreement, and “pour cement.”
- Create a resultant proposal with over an 80% probability of acceptance of options 2 or 3.
https://alanweiss.com/growth-
Million Dollar Consulting® for the World: I’ve provided 14 modules with videos from me, from your colleagues globally, slides, and text. They include everything from launch to self-esteem, proposals to fees, closing business to creating a brand. No upsells! It’s only $115. What do you think about a 10,000:1 ROI? We have over 500 people from 47 countries. https://
Million Dollar Consulting® for the World ADVANCED: The new program contains over 60 videos and has 15 modules focusing on what to do in the buyer’s office, overcoming crises, financial planning, and much, much more. https://alanweiss.com/
Sentient Strategy Certification: My new book on the topic (above) has been released, so this is an ideal time to market Sentient Strategy. Write me to apply, join over 70 people certified in six countries. One-time fee of $12,000, includes 90 days of my support, free admission to all future certifications, and admission to a private web board with other Sentient facilitators. In a recent program a participant sold a $100,000 strategy program within 48 hours. Write me at [email protected]
NOTE: I’ve reinstated my inexpensive, limited coaching program I last used during Covid because I’ve found people who need help right now growing their practices. I’ve offered it to past coaching participants, but I can handle several more people at this point. Five calls at your desire: review proposals, prepare for meetings, create passive income, etc. $2,024. You simply have to use them before the end of the year, 30 minutes each. Should pay for itself 20 times over. You can write to discuss ([email protected]) or sign up by paying here: https://alanweiss.com/
Want to join me for my Book Sprint? In 60 days complete a proposal for an agent or an acquisitions editor (or the outline and marketing plan for a self-published book). We have an 80%+ “hit rate” for obtaining book contracts, complete with my introductions. The schedule is flexible and I’ll create one around the first people to register. The fee is $4,500—we meet weekly by Zoom with assignments in between and a common Drop Box to review each other’s work. Write me at [email protected].
