Winston's e-Newsletter - 6 January 2009

G'day and happy New Year to you! I hope that you had an enjoyable and peaceful Christmas and you're now taking some time to relax, reflect and revive so that you'll be ready to face the New Year. With that in mind, I'm not going to load you with too much commercial stuff but rather some food for the brain. I hope that you enjoy it.

 

Philosophy on Philosophy

Dr Mark Hassed, one of Victoria's top dentists, is a mate of mine and I was interested in this article he wrote sometime ago...

I've been Interested in philosophy for over 15 years. It started a few years after I graduated from University. Prior to graduation I was busy with study as well as working 2 nights a week to earn $45 pocket money. After graduation, I began earning serious money, or at least it seemed like that at the time. With money came a lot of material possessions - car, stereo, house etc. But, in spite of these I was no happier than before. This perplexed me. In a capitalist society it is almost assumed that having lots of material possessions brings happiness. I was finding that owning lots of possessions made me no happier and only fed the desire to buy still more stuff. Around this time I saw an advertisement for the Melbourne School of Philosophy so I went to their introductory course. 15 years later I am still there and now tutor a class. The word "philosophy" comes from the Greek and means "love of wisdom". Wisdom is a bit harder to define but it can be recognised by its hallmarks - contentment, happiness and peace of mind. If you have peace of mind then you have everything but if you don't then no amount of material possessions can make up for its lack. The famous philosopher Plato said that "The unexamined life is not worth living." That is essentially what philosophy is - gaining wisdom through examination of your life and the insight that flows from that.

The School of Philosophy's approach is to bit by bit remove layers of ignorance and self defeating behaviour. This is done by discussion, self-examination and contemplation. The process is like the message that was written above the temple of the Delphic Oracle in ancient Greece: "Know Thyself."

To give you an idea of the self examination process let me give you an example. Most people can recognise 3 predominant modes of existence in their lives. The first and most common in western society is activity or agitation. In this mode you are striving, getting, scheming and planning. If the mind was water it would be swirling and bubbling. If you indulge in too much of this you wind up exhausted and rung out at the end of the day. The next theme is sloth, lethargy and sleep - the water is dark and murky. The final theme is serenity. Where you might experience it is when you are on holiday, awake well rested and go outside and stand on the beach. The mind is clear, bright, fresh and peaceful. The water is like a still pond. Self examination can lead you to recognise these 3 modes of existence and when you are in the sway of each. With awareness most people tend to place greater value on serenity.

When the mind is like a still pond you can have insights into your life. The School of Philosophy teaches many techniques for increasing serenity in you life. Two excellent ones are: o The exercise. Sit quietly in a chair, close your eyes and be aware of your body and the sensations and sounds around you. Each time thoughts intrude (and they will frequently) simply drop them and bring attention back to the body. Done twice a day for 3-4 minutes it will produce more stillness in your life.

The pause between activities. At work or home take a few seconds between each task to fall still. Just let the mind clear, take a quiet breath and then go onto the next task. This stops your day being like a giant snowball rolling down hill, getting bigger and bigger when things pile up, tiredness builds and partly done tasks pile up. Using these practices people often find themselves discovering greater peace and happiness. That's certainly what I found. Thoreau said that "The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation". Prior to studying and practicing philosophy I could certainly agree with that but not now (or at least not very often!).

The School of Philosophy also teaches meditation. I have meditated for over a decade and find it useful. Meditation is now accepted in the mainstream and is no longer viewed as an esoteric eastern practice. Both Tiger Woods and Paul Roos are keen meditators and credit a lot of their success to meditation.

One of the great debates in philosophy is: "Is there such a thing as truth?" On one side people argue that everything is relative. They say that what is true for one person is not necessarily true for another so everything is subjective and open to opinion. On the other side of the argument people say that there is such a thing as absolute truth. That side believes that at a deep level there are underlying principles which govern the universe and which are unchanging. I reckon that I am in the second camp. I certainly don't claim to know everything but rather I have faith that there must be some sense behind what we do. A good friend who lives in Queensland is firmly in the first camp. We often talk about philosophy and if I pose a question he often says "Plato says this, Aristotle says this, Kant says this and Nietsche says this." I then ask him which one is right but he doesn't know.

At the School of Philosophy we try to discover who is right using discussion, contemplation and practical experience. It is possible to test most assertions in your own experience. For example the one I gave above that stillness being a good thing. We could theorise forever and we would get a stack of opinions for and against. Or, we could try it out and know for sure. I hope this has sparked some interest in philosophy and I'd be glad to chat about matters philosophical with any who have an interest.

(Reprinted from "The Bulletin", the Journal of the Rotary Club of Camberwell, Inc.)

 

How to Convert Inquiries into Easy Sales

Ever been bored to death by a salesperson? Has a salesperson ever spent half an hour selling you something then another half an hour buying it back? Or, worse still, had absolutely no idea about what you're looking for or what benefit their product or service will be to you?

A lot of salespeople make the mistake of going into motor-mouth mode whenever someone asks a tentative question about a product. Yak yak yak… until the prospects eyes glaze over and the barriers go up. There's a better way - a way that takes the pressure off both parties. The trick is to ask questions that are aimed at discovering needs. This takes the focus off the prospect's price consciousness and on to an itch that needs to be scratched.

Here are the simple steps to converting an interested inquiry into a satisfied sale. We'll use the sale of a widget as an example.

Step 1: Ask what the present situation is. Ask 'open' or orientating questions to get the background information. (Remember 'open' questions are the sorts that require more than a yes/no answer - questions that bring out a full description of their current situation.) For example: 'What kind of widget do you have now? What do you think of it?' or 'How much do you know about widgets?' This latter question is a beauty because generally the response is "not much, why?" and that puts you into the role of expert as you explain things that they should know before they make a decision.

Step 2: Move into questions about the problem. (These questions tend to be more closed.) The aim is to develop an awareness in the prospects' mind that there is a problem that they need to address. For example: 'How does your present widget cope with your production load?' If you get the question right you are identifying with the prospect and their problems. You build trust as they realise you are interested about them and their problems.

Step 3: Once the problem has been identified you expand. Ask open questions designed to highlight the problem the prospect has and the likely consequences to them. 'Do you need more flexibility to meet deadlines activities? Do you need a widget you can just set and forget?'

Step 4: Offer options and lead the prospect through them so that they create their own solution to their needs.

As you can see, the key to successful sales is to ask questions. When you ask questions, you do a number of things. Firstly, you stay in control. Secondly, you are directing the questions, and you're not creating confrontation by offering solutions the customer may not agree with. Thirdly, because you help them come up with their own solution, they feel they are in charge of the purchase. For example, if you suggest a problem, they may believe that it's one that's merely contrived by you. One the other hand, if they bring it up themselves, then there's no room for doubt.

 

Another commercial

Every edition of this e-zine I include a television or cyberspace commercial that's caught my eye. Sometimes they are just great; sometimes they're just plain funny (whether they get a message across is another thing); sometimes they're in another language but the message is clear; sometimes they're just bold or over the top; sometimes they're ones you just wouldn't see on our screens; and sometimes I reckon they're ones where the client or the agency is having a lend of themselves. I reckon that this is a bewdy but whether people will remember the product is doubtful!

 

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