We all remember the movie Jaws, and whenever there’s
a shark scare, sales managers at waterfront resorts all over
the world find themselves drowning in questions from potential
guests. And not just questions but cancellations, often large
numbers of cancellations.
I’m a swimmer. And I speak at a lot of conferences and
conventions. I spend far more time than most people padding
around in the waters off one resort or another. So the recent
feeding frenzy - the media feeding frenzy - on shark attacks
made me paranoid enough to do some checking. As William Burroughs
said, “Paranoia is simply having all the facts.”
Here are the facts, the reality of the situation, which I
offer gratis to hotel marketing and sales people everywhere.
No need to thank me. Just send me a fruit plate, next time
I’m booked into your resort.
Do people get killed by sharks? Of course, they do. No one
apparently has any idea how many billions of times swimmers
went into the ocean last year, but out of all of those swimmers,
sharks killed exactly 10 of then. Ten. Worldwide. Even if
all ten had been killed on the same beach in the same day,
if you happened to be swimming on that beach sometime that
day - assuming an average beach on an hot summer day - there
wouldn’t be one chance in a hundred that you’d be
one of the chosen few. Even with your luck. But we’re
not talking one day on one beach. We’re talking all the
days of the year and all the beaches in the world. Ten people.
Perspective
Fifty thousand dollars is a fortune. Or is it? It’s a
fortune for a second hand Yugo. It’s dirt cheap for a
brand new Rolls Royce. Five gallons is a huge amount of dishwashing
detergent. Unless you were considering - or someone got you
considering - a 200 gallon drum. Then five gallons is barely
a starter order, a sample.
Perspective is everything. Great business leaders, great marketers
and great salespeople determine the perspective - the context,
the scale - in which both positives and potential negatives
are considered.
Truth: It’s never about how big it is. It’s
about how big it seems.
And framing your issues in the proper perspective is what
business communications is all about.
Worldwide last year, 10 people were killed by sharks. In that
same year, in New York City alone, 11,000 people were bitten
by humans. Worldwide, 150 people a year are killed by coconuts
falling out of trees. One hundred and fifty! Coconuts are
15 times as deadly as sharks. And bathtubs and showers are
hundreds of times more deadly than coconuts. If you really
want to live dangerously, don’t go swimming, take a shower.
Forget Jaws. Remember Janet Leigh.
Barry Maher is a top speaker and writer on communications,
motivation, management and sales. His books include “Filling
the Glass,” honored as “[One of] The Seven Essential
Popular Business Books” and “No Lie: Truth Is the
Ultimate Sales Tool.” Contact him and/or sign up for
his newsletter at http://www.barrymaher.com/
or call him at 760-962-9872.
