Assorted Notes – Page 43 – record of an existence

Time is not your friend

TUESDAY, 9 FEBRUARY 2016

Old geezer thinks about his life, and what he sees is a 25-year-old man. Then he looks in the mirror, and a 70-year-old man looks back at him.

“Who the hell are you, and what have you done to me?” the man asks in the direction of the mirror.

“Sorry, old mate,” replies his reflection. “Time is nobody’s friend.”

“The old cobbler” – Francisco Domingo Marqués (1842–1920)

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I spent the last few days reading notes from 2010. One thing that became clear was that I had tried desperately to sell things that year – products, services, anything that I had thought or believed people needed. That I mostly failed is part of a less exciting part of my personal history.

Last night I wondered what I would do if I had to sell something now, since I have more resources at my disposal.

I could not say what I would do.

The idea then pushed up from where all ideas come from that selling may simply not be everyone’s cup of tea.

And then the counter-argument: What is selling? Is it not the same as trying to convince someone of something?

I thought: there is a fundamental difference between trying to sell something to someone and trying to convince someone of something. When you try to sell something, you expect that person to spend money both you and he know will be of benefit to you.

I realised I don’t have a problem with trying to convince anyone of anything. And I don’t have a problem with telling someone something is not for free. To talk about money, especially if someone has to give me money, is definitely not my favourite subject, but I can take care of business. The problem is that trying to convince someone to buy something from me feels to me like a form of begging. And when it comes to begging, my pride kicks in. I would rather be struck dead.

I will therefore rather die than to try and convince someone to buy something from me, if I have to carry the story to its dramatic conclusion.

Of course there are situations where I would not feel the desire to commit suicide on the spot rather than to provide service to a customer. If, for example, I work in a hat shop and a bald guy walks in and asks for a good cap, I will show him some caps. Chances are that he may show a preference for a particular cap, which he may admit is slightly outside his budget. In this situation I can see that it would not be too hard for me to try to convince him that the more expensive cap is indeed the one he should strongly consider. I could point out the higher quality, the shape, how well it fits on his head, and so on.

The difference is that he already wants to buy a cap. He walked into my shop. He asked me for a cap. We both know I will be happier if he buys the more expensive cap, but there is no chance I will feel that I’m begging. I would be doing him a favour. And he knows he will do me a favour by spending more money. But we’d both be happy with the deal.

I strongly suspect that my problem is so-called cold selling – to try and sell something to a complete stranger. Or the internet version where you try to convince visitors to your website to buy something from you. (To be clear, they may be on your website because they are looking for something specific, but not necessarily what you are trying to sell to them.)

Millions of people live out a full existence from birth to death due to old age without trying to sell so much as a glass of water or a new pair of socks to someone else. But if you need to do it, or if you have items that are of no value to you and which you would like to dispense of at a reasonable price, it is always good to keep a few things in mind: It is much easier to sell something to someone if what you are trying to sell provides a solution to a problem, or if what the person is buying from you is something that will provide them great pleasure or satisfaction.

I never thought I would be in a position to offer advice on how to be a more successful salesperson, but I guess if you have paid dearly to learn something you can just as well share it with other people.

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Thursday, 31 December 2015

TUESDAY, 29 DECEMBER 2015

Paul Eddington of Yes, Minister fame said the following a few days before his death in 1995: “A journalist once asked me what I would like my epitaph to be and I said I think I would like it to be ‘He did very little harm’. And that’s not easy. Most people seem to me to do a great deal of harm. If I could be remembered as having done very little, that would suit me.”

THURSDAY, 31 DECEMBER 2015

If you ask me on any day what I would like to do the next day, I’ll be able to mention a few things. What I will not say is that I am just going to wake up and wait and see what happens, because I don’t want to plan anything and then it doesn’t work out.

The same thing applies to the last day of an “old” year and the first day of a “new” year. Some people are of the opinion that you shouldn’t have too many plans, or set too many goals or recite too many fixed dates. This is what I think: I am grateful that I am still here, and if I am still here tomorrow, I am not going to waste my time. I will get busy with things that I want to do, and if things don’t work out as I hope between Friday, 1 January 2016 and Saturday, 31 December 2016, I will accept that.

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Routine check of my beliefs

WEDNESDAY, 23 DECEMBER 2015

Ask yourself whether you’ll still do X, or worry about what Y thinks of you, if you knew you won’t be alive in five years’ time. Then ask the same question about three years, two years, one year …

* * *

Every now and then I have to do a quick check for what I believe in.

Answer: I believe in reason, and being reasonable. And I believe in Civilisation. I believe that people can get along better with each other, and that more people will be able to lead happier lives and perhaps get more done with their lives if more people worked together.

This most recent spot check was done on the sidewalk near a busy intersection in Kaohsiung as I was walking back from where I buy dinner on Wednesday evenings. For the umpteenth time in recent weeks I saw how motorists kept driving even though they could see they were going to get caught by the red light. Of course they ended up, along with a dozen or more other vehicles in the middle of the intersection when the traffic had to start moving in the other direction – and when pedestrians had to start crossing the road.

“Imagine what the world will be like if people are more reasonable,” I murmured in the direction of a motorist who, as could be expected, sat there as stiff as a zombie, looking straight ahead.

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