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100 Ways to Succeed #73
Written by: Tom PetersArticle Overview: "Ms/Mr Ambassador"
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Free Download - I Hate MBAs/Redux By Tom Peters |
100 Ways to Succeed #73
"Ms/Mr Ambassador"
While walking in Manchester Center (VT) I saw a couple of folks, middle aged, pulled over on the side of the road—looking at a map. Went up and asked if I could help. Turns out they were hunting for an old family homestead, built in the early 1800s, that they weren't even sure was still around. I could have given them directions, as they roughly knew where it was, but I (running gear & sweat) told them that if they wanted to give me a short lift, we could see if a nearby pal of mine was in who is a local history buff (nut, actually). They were keen, and he was around. I went on my way, and last I saw of them he and they had headed for his prodigious in-home library.
I don't recount this tale in pursuit of your brownie points. But I did get thinking, and without dislocating my shoulder patting myself on the back, I realized I had been one hell of an Ambassador for my more or less home town—and indeed Vermont.
Which in turn got me thinking about the word AMBASSADOR per se. Among other things, my Rodale's Synonym Finder (Bonus tip: Rodale's is by far the pick of the litter—and William Safire agrees with me) gives us "herald" and "proclaimer" among the synonymous picks.
What if we used the word "Ambassador" in lieu of "receptionist," "customer service rep," or even "salesperson"? I was doing my all+ to represent Manchester-VT as a wonderful place with wonderful people. Moreover, I am very, very conscious of my "ambassadorial" role (didn't use the word per se 'til day before yesterday) when I'm out of the U.S.A.—especially these days and especially when I'm in the likes of Botswana, Siberia, or Dubai or Oman. I am a full-scale representative of my country as much as if I had the Black Passport.
My point here, if we thought of ourselves as "ambassadors" when in contact with customers in particular, maybe it would make us think much harder about what we were doing and how we were doing it. While we'd still be in the "sales mode" (and I do understand that! I'm an "ideas-attitudes traveling salesman"!), we'd also be thinking more about our demeanor.
Just an idea.
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Article Tags: ambassador, early 1800s, family homestead, manchester center vt, map, middle aged, running gear
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Thanks for sharing your favorite business book with us!
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Could you guys give us a recap of your entire business idea as it stands now. Seems like it morped a bit. Let us know:
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Pitch Like A Girl: How a Woman Can Be Herself and Still Succ
- Pitch Like A Girl: How a Woman Can Be Herself and Still Succeed
Ronna Lichtenberg
2005
From the inside cover:
"As a woman, you probably feel uncomfortable when it comes to promoting yourself and asking for what you want."
WHAT IN THE HECK IS THIS, I asked myself when I read that. Women are the fastest growing business owners in the US and Canada, there are t housands of women executives and CEOs - though not as many as might be expected, admittedly, yet the book opens with this surely out of date stereotype.
However, as she continued to give examples of women who had high paying jobs but were routinely not paid as much as men because it hadn't occurred to them to ask for raises, etc., I decided it was probably true for a majority of businesswomen...
Anyway, more of the info from the jacket:
"Other books have told you how to get what you want by being more like a guy. Pitch Like A Girl tells you why its an advantage to be who you are and how to do better by bringing more of yourself to work."
The TOC:
1. Pink and Blue
2. The Quck-dry Chapter
3. What's In your head that's not in his
4. The Me, Inc Mindset
5. Visioning: Discover What You Really Want
6. Identifying Prospects
7. Pre-pitch homework and heartwork
8. Crafting the pitch
9. Pricing the pitch
10. Packaging the pitch
11. Delivering the pitch
12. Closing
Conclusion
A Word to the guys
The Empathy Quotient
The Systemizing Quotient
Bibliography
And on a side note - non-fiction books without indexes - of which this is one, annoy me.
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