All posts by Keith Thompson

Simple versus complicated

Career, Life

There are just some things that you want to keep simple and don’t want complicated. Take an alarm clock for example. The old fashion alarm clock with the dials and a switch to turn the alarm on and off is simple, clean, functional and it works. In my line of work I stay in a lot of hotels. Most franchised hotels all have these fancy clock radios about the size of lunch box with a zillion buttons that are Bluetooth equipped and will tell you everything from the music playlist to the weather. They also act as the alarm clock.

I cannot tell you how many times I have stayed in a hotel and had the alarm go off at the same time the previous guest wanted to get up. One time I literally ripped the clock out of the wall at 4am. Now, the very first thing I do when I get to a hotel room is unplug the radio. It just keeps life simple.

There are enough examples of keeping it simple to cover 20 pages. Sometimes you just want what you want and don’t want to learn a new way to do it. The way Microsoft Windows updates work just doesn’t make any sense to me. I can understand upgrading something but why the need to change to change every function so that nothing looks like it used to? Why can’t it look just like the previous version with a few added upgrades? You know why? It is because there is some 23 year old designing the software and he/she thinks everyone likes change as much as he/she does. They don’t. They want to do their work without having to relearn a whole the operating system.

Therefore when I go home I want the gas logs to work off of one switch, up or down. I want the TV to turn on without reprograming the internet, I want the door to open with a knob and the heat to work with a button. I want the water to work with a knob, not a sensor, the microwave to work with the push of one button, brew coffee without using an IPad and turn the lights on with a wall switch not a home control system. I could go on and on here.

If you ask me where I think the next big business wave is, I think it will be people wanting to unplug, disconnect and go back to a simpler time. They will want to actually live life among real humans (not virtual) and have real conversation (not facetime,) put their feet up and enjoy just being off the grid. Taking a step back to simple living? Sounds crazy right? I don’t think so. KT

Imaginary versus actual

Life

I have an old 1988 Jeep Grand Wagoneer that is beautiful. I just love it. A few years ago I saw one on the road and thought to myself, wouldn’t I look good in one of those? Well, after that I had to find one and buy it.

This is the imaginary versus actual part of the story. What I discovered after buying it was that while it was good to look at, it was still just an old vehicle that needs to be fixed and or repaired often. The heater doesn’t work right, the air conditioning is as weak as a cat peeing on bush, and it rattles, drinks gas and wobbles when it drives. Other than that, it is a perfect SUV. Ha. My point is that the imaginary feeling and enjoyment of driving a classic vehicle versus the actual is not the same. It is simply not as fun as I imagined it would be.

The bigger point of this blog is that my silly Wagoneer story is like many areas of our lives. Just to throw out a couple of examples they would be, If I had him/her or if I didn’t have him/her, if I lived in that house, drove that car, had that job, looked like that, then I would be happy in life. This next statement is very important. More times than not, what you currently have is better than what you imagine you want.

So the next time you imagine you would be happier if (whatever), take a step back and really think about what it would be like if you did have it. Like with my old Jeep, if I had really thought it through before buying it, I would have realized that I really like heat, air conditioning, power steering, brakes, a radio that works and a vehicle I feel safe in and would drive my family in.

Think about what you imagine and then think about what you actually have and it is my guess that you will understand what I am talking about. KT

The routine of making sales calls

Career

Making sales calls is a learned habit. Some would think that this comes naturally to a sales person but it doesn’t. I have seen very accomplished and very polished sales people who do very poorly in sales and I have seen very average sales people do great things in sales. It all hinges on this one thing. Planning and making sales calls as part of a daily routine.

Over the past 26 years of selling hotels I have hired and trained many sales people. My success rate is very low. Ha. It is probably because I am poor trainer. That said, I have had very educated sales people that walk the walk and talk the talk and look good doing it. Many of these can’t sell their way out of a wet paper bag. Then,,,, I have hired and trained people that I just knew would not make it in this business. For the most part, these are the ones that make a difference. I suppose it comes down to desire to succeed. Many of the more polished people seem to have a way about them and feel they are “entitled.” It is as though they fully expect to succeed because of their history or education.

I have given up trying to predict if a sales person is successful or not because I am usually wrong. That said, there are some fundamental sale techniques that can be learned that increase the success rate. The first and most important one is to set a routine and habit of making new sales calls each day. It doesn’t have to be 100 calls a day. It can just be 2 calls a day. What many sales people don’t seem to grasp is that making 2 calls a day, gives you 10 more people a week that know your name or 40 more people a month. Much of the success in sales is about being available. I believe the greatest ability, is availability.

In sales, a new client that is interested in hiring you is literally the life blood of an organization. It is the hope of a company that holds it together. If new sale leads cease in a company, it could be the worst thing to happen. Trust me when I tell you that even through you may not think the staff is aware of this subtle change, they are. They know if the company is moving forward to standing still.

Therefore, if you are in a sales organization, making the decision to consistently make new sales calls on a planned, routine basis is the most important decision you can make. It also ensures that you will always have a job. KT

Golden Corral

Life

I left yesterday at 6:30am to go show a hotel in Memphis (6 hour drive), did the showing, met with the investors for a while and then drove to Anniston Alabama (4 hours) before ending the day. I was hungry and beat when I got to Anniston at 9 pm. I did not want to go to a restaurant, wait to be seated, get seated, order food, wait for the food, eat the food, wait for the check and then wait to pay the check. I wanted a 12 minute food experience. Pay in advance, straight to the grub and out the door.

When I was pulling off the exit I looked to the right and saw a Golden Corral restaurant and guess where I chose to dine last night. Yep, the buffet was the ticket for the dining festivities last night. Many choices, lots of vegetables, every kind of meat from Spam to steak and it was quick.

As I was eating my third plate about 8 minutes after I entered the door, I got to thinking about what it would be like to eat at a traditional restaurant and trying to order the same meal I was just eating. It would go like this:

The waitress would come over to the table and ask me if I am ready to order. I would look up and say, well, as a matter of fact I am ready to order. As she is holding the pen and ready to take my order I start to tell her what I would like to have for dinner. I say, on the first plate, I would like some seafood salad, some mandarin Chinese chicken, some spicy grilled chicken, some fried Okra, sliced peaches, cottage cheese and a piece of fried fish. On the second plate, I would like some collard greens, sautéed carrots, black eyed peas, green beans, corn, cabbage and a piece of fried chicken. Then I would say,,,,,, on the third plate, I would like a little more of the sweet mandarin Chinese chicken, some more corn, another big scoop of fried okra and another piece of fried chicken. And for desert, you get the picture. Ha

Can you see the look on the waitress’s face while you are trying to order a Golden Corral dinner at any other restaurant?

Well, it was 12 minutes of any food I wanted, no waiting, no fuss, and no delay. It was the perfect 12 minute dinner. Now I know why Jeff Foxworthy likes it so much. KT

When

Career, Life

As we look at our own lives there are things we just know we need to do but we keep putting off. They could be centered on such topics as relationships, weight loss, education, exercise, religion, writing, hobbies, habits and the list could go on for a full page. The point is to pick the area of your life that you know in your heart you need to change and start the process of doing it.

People often think, I will get around to it one day or in several months or next year. It is more comfortable waiting because it doesn’t force a change today. Zig Ziglar was a renowned public speaker and author who passed away in 2012 at 86 years old. He was one of the most sought after authors and motivational speakers in the country. He and Paul Harvey were the top two speakers of all time. Zig spoke before many top 100 companies, sales organizations and even Presidents.

He authored 14 books and I have a first edition of his first book called See You at the Top. In that very first book Zig did something that had never been done before. It was that book that set his career on the path he enjoyed for many years before his death. When he started writing that book he was overweight and out of shape. In that book he described in advance what his weight, exercise routine and health would be when the book was set to be published. This was before he even started losing the weight. He described in the book how much weight he knew he had to lose each day to reach the stated goal when the book was to be published. Long story short, he lost the weight he described in the book when it went to the publisher. It changed his life and his future career path.

Many times in our lives we fail to start because the task seems so daunting. Zig figured out a very simple question we should all ask ourselves. If we don’t start now, when? KT