The Loudest Man in the Room

An excerpt from my book, Always Go to Sleep Fully Dressed, by me, Arthur T. Peterson.

You know when you are attending a networking event, building crucial business and social contacts to enhance the success of your company and of your life, and you hear a voice in the room? Not the voice of the man standing right next to you, or the man whose leg you just sat on. A man far across the room, a speck in the sea of innovative minds who somehow manages to make himself heard above the crowd? That man, reader, is the loudest man in the room.

The loudest man in the room doesn’t need a flashy red tie to command his audience’s attention. He doesn’t need to work hard at winning his companions over, by making steady eye contact with them or by listening when they talk. He doesn’t need to have parted his hair on the right side of his head or trimmed his nose hair before coming out. I’ll tell you, he doesn’t even need to make any sense when he speaks. Because that man has a special gift, shared by no one else in the room: the gift of volume.

The loudest man in the room can say anything he pleases, because when he speaks in a booming voice, he inspires belief in the power of his opinions. “MARMALADE IS THE BEST THING TO SPREAD ON TOAST,” he’ll say. “A MAN WHO USES GRAPE JELLY WILL NEVER AMOUNT TO ANYTHING IN LIFE.” And when he says it, he doesn’t say it to anyone in particular. He lifts up his head and announces it to the crowd. Whether or not anyone in the room was aware of his presence before, the force in his voice compels everyone to suddenly take note. “Who is this man with such strong convictions?” they say. “He speaks his words so loudly, they must be the truth!”

The loudest man in the room makes more networking contacts than his colleagues, and signs more deals. He makes more sales, and manages more employees at his company. He lights up each meeting with his enthusiasm, letting his every idea be known. And when a coworker offers up an inferior idea, he voices his concern to every attendee at the table. The loudest man in the room knows the meeting’s agenda, but also knows when his opinions are too good to wait for the appointed time.

In short, the loudest man in the room gets things done.

Do you have what it takes to embrace the power of loud speech in your business dealings? Try this: shut the door to your office and pull the shade down over your window. Now stand up on your chair so that you’re close to the ceiling, and turn your face up. Take a deep breath, and shout, “AHHH!” Wasn’t that refreshing? I’ll bet you could almost see the energy of your ideas spout out through your mouth, ones that had been trapped deep inside your belly. Now take another deep breath, and use your diaphragm this time to call out, “OAAAAAAAWWWWW!” Now you’re really getting somewhere! Feel the confidence that comes with volume! Soon you may be ready to try out your new skill around the office. Make a visit to the kitchen. Try telling the secretaries something like, “I FIND MAXWELL HOUSE TO BE THE SUPERIOR BRAND OF COFFEE,” and see how they react. You may find them all nodding in agreement, and one could even offer to brew you a fresh pot. Next you can test out your ability on the waiter at your next business lunch. “STEAK MUST ALWAYS BE TOPPED WITH MAYONNAISE.” And before you know it you’ll be speaking loudly at your dining companion as well: “I SAY WE TAKE ALL OF THE COMMAS OUT OF THE CONTRACT.” I will bet my pension on the fact that your steak will come smothered in mayonnaise and your contract will be written as a twenty-page sentence. Because you see, reader, a man who believes in the sound of his voice expressing an opinion is a man who can make a believer out of everyone he meets.

Everyone knows that one of the essential qualities of good leadership is a loud voice. So be like me, Arthur T. Peterson, and put yours to work. I guarantee you’ll watch your business grow today!

The Importance of Following Up

How humorous, dear readers, it is for me to write you a memo on the IMPORTANCE OF FOLLOWING UP when I, Arthur T. Peterson, the man, the plan, the canal himself, have failed to FOLLOW UP with you for two full months! Please don’t think I’m neglecting you. I care more than ever about providing you with a VALUABLE RESOURCE for INSIDER TIPS. After all, my absence was not due to any IDLENESS or LOAFING on my part, but rather due to approaching deadlines for the manuscript of my next book, Even Your Grandmother is a Networking Opportunity. Stay tuned for updates on its upcoming publication, and in the meantime pick up my current manual for success, Always Go to Sleep Fully Dressed!

Today, I must emphasize for you all this nugget of streetwise smarts: always follow up. This simple activity is guaranteed to double, maybe triple, possibly quadruple, and wait a minute, is that a QUINTUPLE I see off there in the distant sun?, the efficaciousness of your BUSINESS strategy. Think about it: If you ask someone to do something, will he do it? Could be. Depends on how hot and smooth you are in your selling tactic. And now, get this, imagine if you ask him TWICE. Now we’re getting somewhere! You have at least DOUBLED the odds that he’s going to do it. Possibly more than doubled, because in addition to the question’s double reinforcement, the recipient’s dread of hearing the question asked a THIRD time could additionally increase your chances. Now if you haven’t heard that beautiful Y-word yet, imagine if BLAMMO! You ask him to do it a third time, just as he feared! By now the odds are DEFINITELY in your favor that it’ll be done for you. Now no matter how thoroughly opposed the person may be to doing what you want him to do, his terror of being asked a fourth time by far outweighs his opposition. And there you go! That person will nail his daughter’s horse into the floor of your conference room and spray-paint it gold to give you the living statue you always wanted. Following up will expand business productivity in one simple step!

Following up can help you in all aspects of your day-to-day activities. For instance, once, at the beginning of a week, my wife told me that we’d be having corn with dinner on Thursday. “Corn?” I said. “Do we have any corn in the house?” No, she told me. We were all out. “Well,” I told her, “if you’re planning to serve corn with dinner in just four days, and we’re all out of it, you’d better be sure to order more from your vendor, and get a rush delivery!” She would pick some up at the supermarket that week, she told me. “My good woman,” I replied, “How can you be sure that this ‘supermarket’ is currently stocking corn, and how do you know that they have enough for your needs?” So you know what I asked her to do? I asked her to FOLLOW UP, to call this supermarket place and ask them how much corn they currently carry, and to put at least two cans of it on reserve for her purchase that week. She sort of just walked away after I asked her, so I didn’t get a very solid confirmation that she would do this. Know what I did next? In the office the next day, I FOLLOWED UP with HER. I dropped her a quick email, flagged urgent, and wrote,

Mrs. Peterson,
Good morning, I do hope you are well. This is your husband from the head office. I’m writing to follow up with you on our discussion last night about corn. I just wanted to check and see if you’ve spoken with your vendor yet about the number of cans that they have in stock. And do remember to have them put at least full two cans of corn on hold for your purchase. If you already have an account with their company, see if they can invoice you; it may streamline the process. I’d recommend picking up those cans a day in advance, on Wednesday morning, so that if there is a problem with the order you’ll have twenty-four hours to fix it. Write me back or leave a message with my assistant as soon as you have an update on the situation.
Please advise,
Arthur T.

In the early afternoon, when I returned from a meeting with the regional marketing director, my assistant relayed to me a message from my wife, the gist of which was that yes, she had contacted the supermarket that morning and they assured her that there was plenty of corn on hand.

Now, readers, a novice might rest after hearing this update, but a man with PROVEN KNOW-HOW will say to himself, “She tells me they have corn, but she DIDN’T tell me that she had two cans held, nor did she tell me whether they will be able to invoice her!” So you know what I did? I FOLLOWED UP again:

Mrs. Peterson,
Thank you for your prompt reply. Please advise: has the vendor held any cans for you? Have you set up an appointment to pick up the supply? Also, I’d like an update on the invoice situation by close of business today.
Thanks,
Arthur T.

After a couple of dynamic follow-up emails like those, you’d better believe our family had corn on the table that Thursday night. And I’ll tell you, it was a satisfying meal.

I hope this story has proven helpful to you in your BUSINESS endeavors as well as in your everyday life. Take my INSIDER TIPS to heart, and make sure you Always Go to Sleep Fully Dressed!

Want to Get Ahead in YOUR Career TODAY?

So you’re wearing your best suit, snoring away, and you think you’re on to the SECRET KEY to SUCCESS IN BUSINESS? You’re on your way, son, but there’s still so much more to learn!

In my book, Always Go to Sleep Fully Dressed, you’ll find a million clues to building a PROVEN TRACK RECORD of success. One of these clues is the BUSINESS LUNCH.

Would you believe that in over 20 years, I haven’t eaten a single lunch that wasn’t a BUSINESS lunch? Even if you can’t believe it, I sure can! After all, why bother eating lunch at all if the meal won’t accelerate your career and improve your crucial network of associates? A lunch without productivity is just a snack, as I always say.

Always make your lunch appointment at least one week in advance, as these precious eating hours get booked quick, and you don’t want to miss the express train to prosperity! Anyone working in any office will do as your partner, no matter what the company. Bring the finance folks, the publicity pals, the ad sales amigos. In a pinch, I’ve found that even dining out with a filing cabinet has led to some great BUSINESS discussion. One time, I went out to a local steakhouse with the most fascinating swivel chair, and to this day I find plenty of occasions to pull up that chair’s phone number in my Rolodex.

Don’t desert your ambitions on the weekend, either! Do you see your top CEOs slacking on the weekend? No, you don’t. That’s why I book lunch meetings every Saturday and Sunday in addition to the weekdays. You know what I say to my wife and my dear five year old son every Saturday? I say to them, “Quit complaining! It’s bad for morale! Do either of you work in an office? No? Then I’m off to find someone who does!” Sure, they pester me sometimes about not being home very often, but that’s because they’re not TEAM PLAYERS. They could never learn the first thing about succeeding in the BUSINESS world. I’ll tell you, it’s the great shame of my life that I’ve raised a five year old boy with no career potential. One of these days I may just have to auction him off at the company picnic. Push him off on one of the receptionists! Hah! Just kidding, of course. I’ll get him into BUSINESS school simply by having him read my new book, Always Go to Sleep Fully Dressed, every man’s bible for achievement.

Now, getting back on topic, what do you eat when you’re on your BUSINESS lunch? Here’s your INSIDER TIP from my book, Always Go to Sleep Fully Dressed: black coffee and a steak. I know you’re wondering, “What about a martini?” And I know the martini lunch sounds both traditional and tempting, but that drink will blur your focus and throw you off track from your career goals! You’ve got to keep your energy up, and nothing says, “I’m a self-starter” more than a solid cup of black coffee.

The steak is equally important. If you’re not eating steak at your BUSINESS lunch, then what are you doing in today’s fast-paced globalized society to begin with? I’ll tell you this, a vegetarian will never have what it takes to get ahead in BUSINESS. I dare you to guess why. Is it because a vegetarian is less of a man? Is it because if Jesus hadn’t meant for us to eat meat, he wouldn’t have let me suffocate that possum in my backyard with a plastic bag so I could eat him raw and bleeding in the cover of night? Sure, both of those things are true, but the answer is much simpler:

IRON.

Without a hearty dose of iron in your daily diet, you may never have the strength to pull off major deals and sign hot contracts with your colleagues in BUSINESS. Why, every morning I eat a twelve-inch iron pipe for breakfast, fried up on the stove and served with a strong cup of coffee. It gives me the energy to make all of my morning cold calls when I get to the office. Steak is high in iron, and it’s much more readily available on a restaurant’s lunch menu than any iron pipe, so that’s got to be your top plan for your daily networking meal.

I hope these INSIDER TIPS help you as much as they’ve helped me. Follow my lead, and pick up your copy of Always Go to Sleep Fully Dressed, and before you know it you’ll be shooting like a rocket to the top of your profession!

Welcome!

Good afternoon, blogosphere! My name is Arthur T. Peterson, and for weeks now my executive assistants have been telling me that these internet weblog sites are big news out in the world. Therefore, here I am, leveraging my years of proven MARKETING KNOW-HOW to bring you a blog that I call The High-Stakes World of Arthur T. Peterson.

The foremost intent of this blog is to promote my newly self-published book, Always Go to Sleep Fully Dressed. But in addition, I hope to titillate you with some hefty nuggets of career wisdom, all fiber and no water!

I’m sure you noticed that I picked an awfully irreverent (some might accuse it of being downright snappy!) title for my book. The title, again, is Always Go to Sleep Fully Dressed. Well, I’ll let you in on an INSIDER TIP from the publishing industry. When you write your book, you can funnel your creativity into one of two sorts of titles to ENSURE TOP SALES.

1) Create a BUZZWORD. Give it some pep! All you’ve got to do is find two words that are already in the dictionary (try www.dictionary.com! That’s where I find new words every day!), and marry them together into a newer, longer word that succeeds in CREATING BUZZ for you and your product. The creative types in the movie biz have been doing it for years! Where do you think “smell-o-vision” came from? My close friend and colleague, Leroy Fawn, patented such a buzzword just five years ago with his book, Fraternestate. See, what he sold to the public was the notion of the real estate business as a fraternity, which is Greek for brotherhood. He wrote about the realtor community as just that, a community of dedicated sellers who can help each other to SUCCEED.

2) Make an outrageous proclamation to your reader. The kind of order that will make an average consumer stop short in the bookstore and put his hands on his hips. “Who is this man to tell me how to live my life?” he’ll ask, possibly aloud! (Wouldn’t that be a hoot!) The consumer will be so fully struck by your nerve, he’ll pick up your book just to see what it’s all about. The next thing you know, he’ll have brought the book home, read three chapters, and he’ll be writing you a letter telling you that your bold cover statement turned his life around. How about that!

Reader, I chose option #2 for my book, Always Go to Sleep Fully Dressed. I’ll bet you were shocked when you read the title. “Mr. Peterson,” you probably said, “why would I want to sleep in my clothes? By God, I’ll sleep in footy pajamas and a nightcap if I damn well feel like it!” And you’re right, kid, you’re right. You CAN sleep in whatever you please. But let me ask you this: WOULD YOU WEAR FOOTY PAJAMAS AND A NIGHTCAP TO THE OFFICE?

Of course you wouldn’t! But what you’ll learn from my book, Always Go to Sleep Fully Dressed, is that if you want REAL SUCCESS in YOUR LIFETIME, you’d better sleep in your best suit every night, complete with a vest, a tie, a blue AND a red pen in your front pocket, and a fedora. Because while you may go to bed for a few hours, BUSINESS NEVER SLEEPS.

It’s true. BUSINESS can call you at any time. BUSINESS can wake you up at 4:00 in the morning. BUSINESS is so sneaky, it can book you an appointment in your dreams. Why, just last month I held a conference call with the VP of Regional Sales in a dream! And I’ll tell you, it may have been our most productive call yet. But reader, would we have written such an effective proposal together if I hadn’t had a good pair of wool slacks on my legs? My God, it would have been an embarrassment! I could’ve lost my job!

What you’ll understand after reading my book, Always Go to Sleep Fully Dressed, is that BUSINESS is a 24/7 operation. It’s always awake, always alert. If you don’t make BUSINESS your top priority, you’ll find yourself a very unsatisfied man, my friend.

The facts are these:
1) Friends come and go.
2) Family members die every day.
3) But BUSINESS is forever.

Remember this, and you may be on the path to something terrific. Check back in later for more INSIDER TIPS, and more information on my book, Always Go to Sleep Fully Dressed!