The Medium is Not the MessageMarshall McLuhan’s famous line, “The medium is the message,” is at best a Japanese koan (ko-ahn.) You know, “What is the sound of one hand clapping,” and all that? I’m sure I’ll get a thousand ranting emails about this, but I’ve always felt koans to be a silly attempt to sound profound.McLuhan’s koan is at the top of my list. It was originally published in his 1964 book, Understanding Media. Nearly half a century later later, his disciples are still trying to explain what he meant.Enough.The medium is the medium.The message is the message.Ad campaigns don’t fail because someone chose the wrong media. Ad campaigns fail because someone chose the wrong message.The job of the media is to deliver your message.Your job is to give the media a message worth delivering.Each media has its own strengths and weaknesses. And because I’ve spent the last 20 years talking about message, today we’ll glance at media:Signage: Expensive signage at an intrusively visible business location is often the cheapest advertising your money can buy. Intrusive visibility is the quality that separates landmarks from scenery. You’re intrusively visible when the public sees you without looking for you. Do you have an intrusive location? Have you maximized your signage?Outdoor: Billboards reach more people for a dollar than any other media and they’re geographically targetable. In other words, you can reach specific pockets of your city with them. Their weakness is that they become invisible after just a few sightings in the same location, so be sure to move your boards every 30 days. Additionally, the average driver is unwilling to look away from the road for longer than eight words. So if you can’t sing your song in eight words or less, billboards aren’t your best bet.Direct Mail: Like billboards, direct mail lets you target geographically and in theory, psychographically as well, assuming the right member of the household sorts the mail. The problem with direct mail is that most of it gets thrown away unopened. And the costs of printing and delivery have skyrocketed.Television: Television delivers the highest impact of any media, but unpredictable viewer habits make it difficult to reach the same viewer a second or third time within seven nights sleep. If your message needs repetition, television is even trickier to schedule than radio. And the cost of production is extremely high for an ad that won’t embarrass you. But if you’ve got the cash and it’s not the off-season (summertime,) TV can be a powerful ally.Radio: Sound is neurologically intrusive and radio feels like a friend. The problem with radio is that most ads are written in such a way that they’re easily ignored, so your ad will need to be presented repeatedly to the same listener. This need for repetition makes scheduling easily botched. Most campaigns are scheduled to reach the largest possible number of people. Consequently, these schedules deliver too little repetition. Be careful you don’t make this mistake. The good news is that radio is the great equalizer. Unlike magazines, television and direct mail, radio ads don’t require a big budget to be world class; radio requires nothing but word skills and imagination.Newspaper: Newspaper ads need a visual trigger, a picture of your product. This trigger will attract the attention of customers who are consciously in the market for your product, but those who aren’t in the market will fail to see your ad. Consequently, newspaper ads...

MAY 14, 1990 – The cover of Sports Illustrated showed a pistol being shoved into the back of a high school kid. Those were the days when an alarming trend swept this land of purple mountains, majesties, above the fruited plains.Kids were killing for tennis shoes. Remember?JUNE, 2008 – Retail in America is changing.We could blame it on the current recession, but the truth is much more interesting:Today’s young adults (18-34) spent their childhoods marinating in hype. The noise of Vegematic commercials and limited-time offers for Ginsu knives were the soundtrack of their lives. Cable TV was a friendly babysitter, shouting, “BUT WAIT! THERE’S MORE!” Upward mobility was the dominant religion. Out-of-control commercialism was an ocean that threatened to suffocate their souls.Britney Spears glittered when she walked.My sons were 7 and 10 years old when that issue of Sports Illustrated hit the newstand. Today they’re like a lot of other young men and women who grew up during the days of conspicuous consumption. They’ve quietly decided thatcheap is the new chic.Buying used clothing at a Goodwill thrift store is cool.Underpowered cars are cool.Craig’s List is cool.IKEA is cool.The new status…is not how much you spend, but how much you don't.– CBS Evening NewsCan this new trend toward minimalism and the conservation of resources be harnessed to make you money? Of course it can.But not in the way you think.You’ll find the answers you need in Austin. (Attend classes at Wizard Academy or book a day of private consulting with the Wizards of Ads.) Come.Was today's message a thinly-disguised ad for America's 21st Century Business School?Yes, it was. But doesn't the fact that I admit it make it a little easier to take?(The perceptive reader will realize that last sentence was the whole point of today's memo.)Understated fashion and transparent language are on the rise.THIS IS THE CONCLUSION OF LESSON ONERoy H. Williams

Time travel is fun.Want to learn to do it?Follow me.The year is 1608. England buzzes with William Shakespeare.Hamlet, Macbeth, and King Lear are performed to rave reviews while 44 year-old William grieves the death of his mother.A team of 47 translators works on an English translation of the Bible. Not one of them suspects their translation will remain in use 400 years into the future. In 1611 their Bible will be released as the authorized version of King James.The novel by Miguel de Cervantes, Don Quixote de La Mancha hasn't been translated into English but it’s all the rage in Spain. No one suspects that in exactly 8 years – on April 23, 1616 – Cervantes and Shakespeare will die simultaneously at twilight. No one knows each man will forever be remembered as the most celebrated voice in his language.Baltasar Gracian is a 7-year-old boy in Belmonte, Spain. He’ll grow up to become a Jesuit scholar, troublemaker and philosopher. His book, The Art of Worldly Wisdom, will sweep Europe in much the same way Benjamin Franklin’s Poor Richard’s Almanac will sweep another continent 150 years later. In 1992, Baltasar’s book will be rediscovered and spend 18 weeks on the bestseller list of a country that didn’t exist while he lived. But no one has an inkling of this. Today young Baltasar is a just a 7-year old boy playing in the dust in Spain.It’s been exactly 116 years since Christopher Columbus sailed for Queen Isabella and walked the soil of a whole new world. Today that new world is a place where conquistadors search for gold and tell tales of the Seven Cities of Cibola.No one cares about a shipload of English weirdoes and misfits who sailed over the horizon a few months ago to set up a colony in the wilderness. They’re probably dead by now anyway. And even if they’re not, nothing will ever come of it. I think someone said they decided to call their colony “Jamestown.”In exactly 361 years Neal Armstrong will do that Columbus thing again and a poet named James Dickey will complain, “There's no moon goddess now. But when men believed there was, then the moon was more important, maybe not scientifically, but more important emotionally. It was something a man had a personal relationship to, instead of its simply being a dead stone, a great ruined stone in the sky.” – Self Interviews, p. 67Are you beginning to see what I mean by Time Travel? It’s a delightful way to play. And frankly, you don’t play enough. I hope you don’t mind me saying.The key to time travel is:1.   Learn the details of a day that is past. Meet the people. Feel the buzz. Be part of their society. Become one of them.2.   From that distant vantage point, what do you imagine about our current day, knowing you will never see it?3.   Now return happily to 2008 and see how things actually turned out.If you want to take an even trippier trip:1.   Imagine yourself 20 years from now. What are your circumstances?2.   Now look back at 2008 and think about what you wish you’d done differently.You’ll be surprised how much this “Time Travel” exercise will change your priorities and alter your actions.Free the Beagle.Aroo!Roy H. Williams

When Samuel Langhorne Clemens began to write, he adopted the pen name Mark Twain, a common shout among riverboat pilots on the Mississippi river.When Sholem Rabinovich began to write, he adopted the pen name Sholem Aleichem, a common Yiddish greeting whose most accurate translation would be, “Peace be unto ya’ll” or “Peace be unto youse.”Mark Twain gave us Huckleberry Finn and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, a celebration of everyday river life in 1800s America.Sholem Aleichem gave us Tevye the Milkman and Fiddler on the Roof, a celebration of everyday Jewish life in 1800s Russia.Both men had similar styles of writing and both were known for their audacious wit. Either might have said, “A bachelor is a man who comes to work each morning from a different direction.” (But in this case it was Sholem Aleichem.)One might assume the Russian writer adopted the trademarks of the American Mark Twain to become an East European version of that famous humorist and philosopher but that assumption would be incorrect. When Sholem Aleichem came to the United States in 1905, Twain sought him out and confessed that he considered himself to be “the American Sholem Aleichem.”When Sholem Aleichem died in New York in 1916, 100,000 mourners gathered at his funeral.Instructions were left for his family and friends to “select one of my stories, one of the very merry ones, and recite it in whatever language is most intelligible to you.” “Let my name be recalled with laughter,” he added, “or not at all.” These annual readings of the wit, audacity and rich philosophy of Sholem Aleichem have continued each May to the present day, and in recent years have become open to the public.Sholem Aleichem said things few men dared to say.And he made a difference in the culture of his day.Leonard Pitts is another man like Sholem Aleichem.A columnist syndicated by the Miami Herald, Leonard Pitts first came to my attention on July 12, 2001, when Pennie handed me our newspaper and pointed to a scathing review of the just-released movie, Baby Boy. Midway through the review, Pitts began firing word bullets aimed with the precision of a champion marksman:Everybody should have a white man. Even white men should have a white man.Because when you have a white man, nothing is ever your fault. You're never required to account for your own failings or take the reins of your own destiny. The boss says, “Why haven’t you finished those reports, Bob?” and you say, “Because of the white man, sir.”I'm not here to sell you some naive nonsense that racism no longer exists. One has only to look around with open eyes to see that it continues to diminish the fiscal, physical and emotional health of African-American people. All of us are obligated to raise our voices in protest of this awful reality.But black folks are also obligated to live the fullest lives possible in the face of that reality. To live without excuses.Leonard Pitts works hard to understand the perspective of America's white majority. Are you willing to work to understand the perspectives of America's Black and Brown minorities? Are you willing, as a white person, to speak up to your white friends as boldly as Leonard Pitts spoke to the black community?Will you, as part of a cultural minority, work to understand the actions of those who frustrate you?Will you listen and contemplate and use wit and humor to open the eyes of those who don't see clearly?If so, I want you to apply for a scholarship to become one of Wizard Academy's World...

American education teaches a subject vertically, narrow and deep. And the deeper one plunges into the subject, the narrower it gets. Specialization.1a. Liberal Arts1b. Literature1c. Spanish Literature1d. Spanish Literature of 1492-16811e. Miguel de Cervantes (1547-1616)1f. Don Quixote de La Mancha by Cervantes (1605)1g. Symbolism in Don QuixoteAnd then you write your master’s thesis:1h. Sancho Panza as a Figurative Symbol in Don Quixote de La ManchaOur educational system has taught us to value vertical, deductive reasoning. This is why our logic is so often binary: if-then, either-or, right-wrong. This is the logic of technology.But vertical thinking is most powerful when augmented by a horizontal viewpoint since the lateral perspective will often spy answers that lie outside the vertical path.Horizontal thinking will recognize a pattern it has seen, even when that pattern was observed in a completely unrelated field. (The cognoscenti will remember this technique as Business Problem Topology.) This “pattern recognition” often allows the horizontal thinker to correctly predict an outcome from what appears to be too little information.Intuition is unconscious, horizontal thinking.“Some people are unhappy about lateral [horizontal] thinking because they feel it threatens the validity of vertical thinking. This is not so at all. The two processes are complementary, not antagonistic. Lateral thinking enhances the effectiveness of vertical thinking by offering it more to select from. Vertical thinking multiplies the effectiveness of lateral thinking by making good use of the ideas generated.”– Edward DeBono, author of 62 books on creative thought.Purely horizontal thinking is known as daydreaming. Fantasy. Mysticism. The purely horizontal thinker has a thousand ideas but puts none of them into action. He or she sees the big picture and all its possibilities but has little interest in linear, step-by-step implementation.Purely vertical thinking leads to compliance, conformity, and a false sense of knowledge. (False because it’s often just memorization in disguise. The student knows what to do without understanding why.) The purely vertical thinker is a nit-picker, a legalist, a tight-ass.The healthy mind is capable of switching from vertical to horizontal thought and back again.Problem solving is horizontal thinking adjusted by vertical analysis. But the implementation of that solution will require step-by-step, vertical action modified by horizontal adjustments as the need arises.Read his books and you’ll recognize Lee Iacocca as a horizontal thinker who implements his ideas vertically.Iacocca sees patterns, then takes sequential action to accomplish what he has seen in his mind.“When you stop to think about it, most of the great companies of our times began as upstarts – little Davids taking on big Goliaths.” – Lee Iacocca, Where Have All the Leaders Gone? p. 159   Horizontal thought is how Iacocca rescued Chrysler from the brink of disaster. It's how Peter Ueberroth organized the wildly successful Los Angeles Olympics and generated a surplus of 250 million dollars. It's how Amazon.com and eBay came to be. It's how the Prius and the iPod were born.Wizard Academy teaches you how to see the answers that lie outside the vertical perspective.Are you a little David? Do you want to learn the techniques of the great innovators?Come to Wizard Academy and we’ll teach you how to defeat the Goliath in your life.Yours,Roy H. Williams

I’ve never seen a business fail due to reaching the wrong people. But if you listen to advertising sales reps, “reaching the right people” will solve all your problems.And guess who has exactly the right people for you?The conversation usually goes something like this: the sales rep says, “Tell me, who is your customer?”“Blah, blah, blah.”“Really? That’s exactly who we reach! What a fit! It’s like a hand in glove, a marriage made in heaven! We reach your exact customer profile!”Here’s an idea. Call every advertising sales office in your city and tell them you want to advertise with them. Let’s see how many of them say, “Sorry, your customer isn’t who we reach.”The myth of “the right people” is a myth every business owner wants to believe because it keeps them from having to make uncomfortable changes. “Our selection isn’t off-target, we’re just reaching the wrong people.” “Our prices aren’t too high, we’re just reaching the wrong people.” Traffic isn’t down because our ads are flaccid, we’re just reaching the wrong people.”In truth, “the right people” are easy to find.They’re everywhere.And they know each other.And they talk.The right message works regardless of which media delivers it.The wrong message disappoints you and your customer alike.When I travel and speak publicly, business owners often grab my arm to tell me the demographic profiles of their customers. They say things like, “My customer is an upper-middle income female between 35 and 54.”This is useful information for an ad writer. But what these business owners hope I’ll be able to tell them is which media will work best for their business. “Is it cable TV? Network TV? Newspaper? Billboards? Huh? What do you think about PR? Is it the internet? Is internet the key? What about radio? Does anyone listen to the radio anymore? Which media should I buy?”My answer never changes. “They call it mass media for a reason; it reaches the masses. The successful use of mass media requires a message that matters to a large percentage of the public. Tell me your message and I’ll tell you which media is best suited to deliver it for you.”Is there such a thing as targeted media? Of course there is. If you sell a specialized product like dental supplies, I never suggest mass media. There are a variety of ways you can target dentists:1. Letters and catalogs mailed to dentists.2. Dental industry trade magazines.3. Salespeople calling dentists on the phone.4. Participation in trade shows and other events to which dentists are invited.5. Banner ads on dental websites.6. Keyword purchases of jargon relevant only to dentists.7. Search engine optimization of your dental supplies website.8. Free samples of your product shipped to dentists.9. Logo-emblazoned gifts that might be used by the staff each day in the typical dental office.But if your product is less highly specialized than dental supplies, airplane parts or industrial glue, you’ll do well to craft a message for the masses and deliver it through mass media.Media salespeople are mistaken however, when they use such terms as “our reader,” “our viewer” and “our listener” since these terms make it seem as though that reader, listener or viewer can be reached through them and them alone. In truth, every reader, listener or viewer is available to you through any of several different media outlets. None of us are reached through only a single media outlet.As I write this, one of my media buyers is wrapping up a 52-week, citywide radio schedule in a medium-sized city. This year he...

Here's the Pattern: When times are tough and customers are scarce, business owners buckle down and try to become even better at the things they do well. They do this because they trust the Guide pattern, “This has always worked in the past.”Perhaps you're doing the same.But following the Guide pattern in a declining market won’t take you where want to go, since staying who you are won’t expand your customer base.To grow your sales volume you must increase your market share. You must attract those customers who, in the past, have chosen not to do business with you. But those customers won’t make a new decision about your business until you give them new information. As long as you keep doing what you’ve always done (and saying what you've always said,) they’ll keep making the decision they’ve always made.They’ll keep buying somewhere else.To grow, you must expand your identity. Add to your message. Appeal to additional customers.The Challenge pattern of new circumstances demands that you choose a new Guide pattern.Leaders usually cling to old Guide patterns in times of stress. This is why challengers often overtake leaders during times of upheaval. The leaders were reluctant to reinvent themselves.For more than a quarter century I’ve made my living dethroning market leaders and setting my clients in their places. And in all those years I’ve never seen a category leader do anything but what they do best. This predictability makes them easy to defeat.The successful challenger is always willing to adopt a new guide pattern and stretch beyond the comfort zone.A few weeks ago I wrote, “If you dominate your business category and you’re struggling to stay on top, my experience tells me you probably don’t have the courage to make the necessary changes that would allow you to move to the next level. So you might be wasting a plane ticket to Austin.”Now you know why I wrote it.If You Feel It's Time to Reinvent Your Business:Step 1: Do exactly what you fear a competitor might do. Be your own competition.Step 2: Evaluate your advertising. If your messages have been transactional (full of facts and details) build a relational offering for your customer. If your messages have been relational (service and commitment based) create a transactional package.Step 3: Ignore those well-meaning friends who will accuse you of having lost your focus.Step 4: Release unhappy team members to go where they can be happy or they'll torpedo your plan with half-hearted implementation.Step 5: Advertise aggressively. “Aggressive” doesn’t require a big budget. It requires a big message. In the words of Robert Stephens, “Advertising is a tax you pay for being unremarkable.”The more unremarkable your message, the more ad money you have to spend. Embrace a remarkable message and you'll be surprised how little money is required to spread the word.If you need some help crafting a remarkable message, come to Austin.We're good at it.Roy H. Williams

Half your brain sees a hierarchy.Deductive reasoning is a product of this.Vertical. Sequential. Objective. Scientific. Hard facts. Details.“Be for what is.”The other half sees connectedness.Intuition is a direct result.Horizontal. Chaotic. Subjective. Relevant. Relationships. Big picture.“Recognize the pattern.”Intuition is a form of pattern recognition. Wordlessly it whispers, “I’ve seen this behavior before. I know what happens next.”We call these whispers “hunches,” “gut feelings”, “premonitions.”Obsessive Compulsive Disorder is what happens when these whispers get too loud.We are pleased when a mystery is solved.Another way of saying this is, “We are pleased when the Challenge pattern resolves into the Guide pattern.”That’s when things come together and “make sense.”The pieces of a jigsaw puzzle can be interlocked to form a rectangle. The correct assembly of these uniquely shaped pieces is the Challenge pattern.The photograph on the front of the box is the Guide pattern. Consequently, the image fragment on the face of each puzzle piece gives us a clue where that piece belongs.The challenge pattern is what we’re trying to solve.The guide pattern tells us where things belong.Imagine how much harder it would be to solve a jigsaw puzzle if you had never seen the completed picture on the box.The choices you face each day are your Challenge pattern.Your Guide pattern in life – the picture on the box – is your schema, your worldview, your expectations. Your Guide pattern is influenced by your culture and customs, training and religion. Your Guide pattern is influenced by what you read, how you play, and whom you admire.As your life unfolds across the tapestry of time, your desires are simply your life’s attempt to satisfy the Guide pattern.Change the guide pattern and you change your desires. Change the guide pattern and you change your life.Here’s another example. In any scientific experiment, there's a Guide pattern called the “control” group. The challenge pattern is represented by the “experimental” group.(I fear you won’t find much else written about Challenge patterns and Guide patterns because I made these terms up to explain some things in my mind.)Challenge patterns and Guide patterns, the calm before the storm and the morning after, labyrinths and fractals are all expressions of Archetypal Patterns.Archetypal patterns are the Guide patterns of every happy moment. Learn to employ these patterns and you'll have the ability to create greater and more frequent success. But beware. When an archetypal pattern becomes obvious, it becomes a cliché.Next week I'll tell you how to discover archetypal patterns you can use as Guide patterns to launch yourself to new heights in business and the arts.Roy H. Williams

Ten years ago, Eric Rhoads asked me to appear on the cover of Radio Ink in a suit of armor. Since Eric is one of my closest friends and a major supporter of Wizard Academy, I agreed to do it for him.Since 1998, my Wizard of Ads column has appeared in every issue of Radio Ink, more than 200 in all. The columns I write for Eric are never released to another outlet.Today I’m making an exception to that rule because I believe 2008 will be a major growing-up year for radio and readers of the Monday Morning Memo need to understand what’s going on.The following is an excerpt from my column in the current issue:Syndication came to television 50 years ago. Networks like ABC, CBS and NBC offered local TV stations better shows than they were able to produce themselves. And these better shows were cheaper than local productions. The viewers won. The stations won. Television became much more profitable. National advertisers loved placing ads in hot, national shows.In the past, national shows have been the exception in radio, rather than the rule.They’re about to be the rule.I predict that half of America’s morning drive jocks will soon be replaced by 10 or 12 syndicated morning shows beamed in from somewhere else. This will happen in other dayparts as well.Frankly, I’m in favor of it.Wait! I hear the voices of broadcasters clamoring, “But radio is local. Our listeners want local. Syndication is anti-radio.”I respond, “Listen to the people of your town. Are they saying, 'We don’t want Desperate Housewives, Grey’s Anatomy, American Idol, and Lost! We want the local TV shows?'”“Are they saying, 'We don’t want Spiderman, Pirates of the Caribbean, and Lord of the Rings in our theaters! We want the local movies?'”“Are they saying, 'We don’t want Rush Limbaugh and Howard Stern, we want a local political pundit and a local shock jock?'”Ten years ago, radio’s consolidators cut costs by cutting the fat. Then, when pressured for more profits, they did the only thing they knew to do; they cut deeper, but this time into muscle. Radio was crippled. Occasionally they cut arteries and radio stations began dying. Wall Street prices dropped cold and hard, icy hail on a barren landscape.There were plenty of heroic efforts in the emergency room. Not all radio group heads were selfish. Not all were shortsighted and stupid. I’ve watched from the sidelines as good men and women did the best they could under impossible circumstances.Now radio is going private again. Deconsolidation has begun. The age of syndication is upon us.Don’t be afraid of it.   #   #   #   #Now I hear the voices of Monday Memo readers, asking, “What about satellite radio? What about the iPod? Aren't these eroding radio's audience?”Sure, these new technologies, along with online attractions like youtube, myspace and facebook, and video game platforms like the Sony Playstation and the Nintendo Wii have added to the list of attention-gobbling gadgets that began with CDs, DVDs and cell phones back in the dark ages. In short, Americans have too many gadgets and too little time to play with them all.The net result is that media is getting trickier to buy. But make no mistake, broadcast radio remains a powerful tool for local business. As soon as I find a better value, I'll let you know.Keep in mind that(1.) my consulting...

Socrates was right, “The unexamined life is not worth living.”Most of us have moments when we ask, “Am I happy? Is this what I want to do? Am I making a difference? Would I be missed if I were gone?”Introspection is like medicine. It’s beneficial in small doses but an overdose will leave you self-absorbed and depressed.My policy to write about you, not me.My goal is to give you interesting things to think about.My hope is that your life will be made better because of me.People who perceive these things through my writings assume I’m a sensitive person who will look deep into their eyes and say profound things. They’re always disappointed when they meet me. In truth, I am introverted, vain, vulgar, and socially awkward.But God likes me anyway.Strangely, I’m a powerful public speaker. This is due to what psychologists call my auxiliary personality, a hidden part of me that walks on stage when it’s show time. The bigger the crowd, the taller my auxiliary. The real me always watches from offstage. “Gosh, he seems to be doing pretty well. Let’s hope he doesn’t say something I’ll regret.”Obviously, I’ve set my policy aside today.I risk not achieving my goal.But I haven’t given up my hope,I want your life to be better.That’s why I write books.That’s why I founded a *business school.That’s why I’m teaching a free, 2-day class for small business owners.If your dreams are bigger than you areand you have the courage of a lion,the ferocity of a tiger,and the determination of a turtle,send an email to [email protected] her your city, your business category, and your current, annual sales volume. Tell her what you believe to be holding you back. We can seat no more than 99 business owners in Tuscan Hall and I want to give these seats to the men and women I believe will benefit the most.If you dominate your business category and you’re struggling to stay on top, my experience tells me you probably don’t have the courage to make the necessary changes that would allow you to move to the next level. So you might be wasting a plane ticket to Austin.But if you’re currently doing less than 10 percent of the business in your product or service category, I have a long and happy track record of helping people just like you.I’m going to see 99 people enjoy blazing growth in this soggy, wet economy because I gave them a day and a half of my life. The workshop is called, How to Make Business Good When Times are Bad.I’m charging nothing for it. Lunch will be provided but you’ll have to be in Austin, Texas, April 14 and 15. And you’ll have to be invited. The first step toward getting invited is to email Tamara.Remember what Socrates said about the unexamined life? He could just as easily have said, “The unexamined business isn’t worth owning.”Come to Austin and examine your business.Socrates also said, “Education is the kindling of a flame, not the filling of a vessel.”I don’t plan to fill your head in Austin. I plan to set you on fire.I think Socrates would be proud.Roy H. Williams

“What will he write of us, Cissy, this young man who has taken it upon himself to tell our stories?”“I’m not a mind reader, Alice.”“He never met us. He didn’t know us. He has seen us only through the lens of books he little more than scanned.”“He will write what he will write.”“But I’m so tired of it all, these writers who remember only the scandals.”“I don’t think he’s like that. His book will be historical fiction.”“That’s even worse.”“Perhaps.”“Historical fiction. What does that mean?”“He plans to tell the tale we hid from the world, Alice, not the tales that have been told before.”“Good god, you don’t mean…”“Yes. You, me and Ellie. Cal, Willie and Nick.”“Please tell me you’re only being mean.”“Alice, it’s happening. Face it. He pieced it all together.”“You and I were friends once, Cissy.”“Yes.”“But not anymore.”“No, not anymore.”–   Alice Roosevelt Longworth (1884 – 1980)–   Eleanor Medill “Cissy” Patterson (1884 – 1948)AAs I write the words of Cissy and Alice, they step from an unchanging past into a myriad of possible futures. They step tentatively at first, testing the waters of time with pointed toes as though the temperature might be unkind.Then they rush laughing into life, dancing on the waters as they understand the opportunity they've been given.I’m writing the chaotic story of the intersecting lives of six persons. Dozens of books have been written about five of the six, though no author has ever noticed that all five were actors in a single play.The sixth invididual, Cal Carrington, was also real and his relationship with the five was exactly as I will describe.My novel begins in 1884 and ends in 1948. Teddy Roosevelt makes an occasional appearance, although he is not a principal character.The encounters and relationships I've woven together were sucked from the dark archives of Time Magazine, the diaries of neighbors, books written by other authors and my own imagination. I've been researching the sacred six since February, 2001.I believe their story would have been told long ago except that Alice Roosevelt would have sued for slander. And since Alice outlived the other five, their amazing story died with her.Until now.Roy H. Williams

2008 is shaping up to be an unhappy year for most product and service categories. If your year-to-date numbers are trending ahead of 2007, I salute you.Today’s Monday Morning Memo is for the remaining 96 percent of American business owners.Here’s what I want you to do:1. Write in a vertical list the names of every competitor you face in your chosen product/service category. If you need help remembering them, look in the Yellow Pages. This should take no more than 10 to 12 minutes. Don’t leave anyone out.2. Write next to each name an estimate of that company’s sales volume in the category in which you compete.3. Add your own name and sales volume to the list.4. Total the dollars that you’ve estimated will be spent in your product/service category this year in your trade area. This is your Market Potential.5. Tell us the name of your city or trade area and its approximate population.6. Email all this information to [email protected] for the “Treasure” part:1.   I’m going to ask my market research department to verify or modify the snapshot you’ve given us of your Market Potential. You'll receive the results by email.2.   Ninety-nine of you will be invited to be my guests in Austin April 14-15 for the unveiling of an all-new presentation and workshop: How to Make Business Good When Times are Bad.  3.   This is a session I’ll soon be presenting to business owners from coast to coast at $25,000 per market visit. But 99 of you will get to experience it in Austin for free.You’ll learn to identify your Limiting Factors, the things that've been holding you back.You’ll learn to evaluate your Competitive Environment, the key to good strategy.You’ll learn to develop Unifying Principles, the secret of esprit de corps.You’ll learn to leverage your Defining Characteristics, the essence of persuasive ads.You’ll learn Wanek’s Ways to significantly increase the believability of your advertising, your sales presentations, positioning statements, tag lines and slogans. (There are only 6 things you can do. I'll teach you all 6, courtesy of my partner, Tom Wanek.*)You’ll return home equipped to take your place among that happy 4 percent of business owners who are trending ahead of last year.Interested?Get started on your list of competitors and sales volumes. Be sure to tell us the name of your trade area and its population. We need to have this information as soon as possible.Have a great week.Yours,Roy H. Williams

Answer: If you knew, it wouldn't be a blind spot.Accelerate the performance of your business in 2008. Find your blind spot and fix it.There are 7 common blind spots with 4 common causes.The most common blind spots have to do with…1. customer profiling.What traits do your customers have in common other than the fact they all buy from you? Are you seeing your customers as they really are, or are you seeing them as you wish them to be? False profiling leads to expensive mistakes.2. reputation.Consider the people who don’t buy from you. Are they buying elsewhere because they haven’t heard about your company, or is it because they have? I’ve never met a business owner willing to believe their company had a bad reputation.3. relevance.Most “unique selling propositions” are irrelevant to the customer. Are your ads answering questions no one was asking?4. location.Yesterday’s right location is tomorrow’s wrong one. Has the future arrived and left you behind in a weird part of town? Or did you fall into the happy trap of cheap rent only to find yourself invisible?5. staff.How consistently is your staff delivering the experience you’ve crafted for your customer? The fact that your staff is perky and happy doesn’t always mean they’re doing their jobs. Have you been confusing attitude with performance? Are you one of those big-hearted bosses who will excuse incompetence as long as the employee seems loyal and sincere?6. price credibility.Do you know the prices of your competitors in your product or service category? Or do your customers know more than you? If you say to me, “I don’t worry about what the competition is doing, I just worry about what we’re doing,” I swear I’ll slap you.7. media myths.Are you anxious to find a more effective media? If so, you’ve got really bad ads. I’ve never seen a company fail because they were using the wrong media or reaching the wrong people. But I’ve seen thousands fail because they were saying the wrong things. A powerful message will produce results in any media.The most common causes of blind spots are…1. entitlement.Do you believe your business deserves to grow each year simply because it’s had another birthday?2. preference and denial.Do you mistakenly believe that other peope think like you do? Are you so focused on your goals that you can’t see reality? Have you attended one-too-many positive thinking seminars? If so, you’re on dangerous ground, amigo. “Well, that can’t be true because, well, it just can’t.” Is this really your answer?3. misinformation.Do you usually believe what you’re told? A dinner companion says to you, “The food here is terrible. I’m never coming back.” But when the smiling manager arrives at the table and asks, “How was everything?” your companion replies, “It was great.” Are the people around you telling you what you want to hear? Are you part of a group of business friends who telephone each other for false reassurance?4. risk aversion.Did you work hard to “build up your business” and now you’re taking it easy a little, enjoying the fruits of your labor? Congratulations. That warm glow you’re feeling means you’re about to be toast. If you’re not acutely aware of your competitive environment, you’re coasting, losing momentum and in danger of being overtaken. You became a self-made man or woman because you took big chances when you had little to lose, right? But now that life is good, you abandoned this aggressive behavior and expect good things to happen because “you earned it.” Remember the tired old elephant whose butt you kicked to get where you are today? The new elephant is you.Am I your enemy or your friend?This was a dangerous memo for me to write because folks tend to be sensitive about their weaknesses. So if at any time you felt belittled, insulted or offended...

Courage… Curiosity… Intuition.In the biggest news since Tiger Woods won the U.S. Open a beagle has taken top honors at Westminster for the first time in history. Arooo! Aroo-Aroooooo!In the happy little village where I spend a lot of time, beagles are the symbol of curiosity and intuition, reliable guides to success in 2008.Haven’t you heard? Maintaining the status quo will yield a decline in 2008 for most business categories.The February 8 issue of the Wall Street Journal had this to say:“Retailers turned in their worst monthly sales results in nearly five years, and big chains appeared to be girding themselves for a prolonged slowdown in consumer spending by announcing plans to close hundreds of stores and cut thousands of jobs.”“Even gift-card redemptions, which were expected to give January sales figures a bigger lift, instead offered a glimpse at just how strapped consumers are. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. yesterday noted that redemptions were below its expectations, and said consumers were holding onto the cards longer — or using them to buy groceries rather than treats like electronics.”The beagle called Intuition might seem to be a chaser of rabbits, a rowdy without decorum, a runaway balloon on a windy day, but the joy of the beagle is neither random nor reckless. Her path connects the dots of an image too big to see, a pattern you’ll recognize when you’ve climbed higher than where you stand.Do you want to climb higher? Follow your beagle. She'll lead you to success.2008 will be a grand adventure if you'll raise an intuitive ear and listen to what's blowing on the wind.Do you plan to run with the beagles or stay on the porch?Arooo! Aroo-Arooooooo!Roy H. Williams

1. See your destination in your mind.“When you don’t know where you’re going, any road will get you there.”– White Rabbit2. Start walking.“The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”– Lao Tzu (604 BC – 531 BC)3. Think ahead as you walk.“It’s like driving a car at night. You can see only as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.” – E.L. Doctorow    4. Don’t quit walking.“Don't wait. Where do you expect to get by waiting? Doing is what teaches you. Doing is what leads to inspiration. Doing is what generates ideas. Nothing else, and nothing less.” – Daniel Quinn5. Make no deadlines.“Patience is the best remedy for every trouble.”– Titus Maccius Plautus (254 BC – 184 BC)“I am extraordinarily patient, provided I get my own way in the end.”– Margaret Thatcher, April 4, 19896. Look back at the progress you made each day.“God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning – the sixth day.” Genesis 1:317. If evening finds you at the same place you were this morning, take a step before you lay down.The magic isn’t in the size of your actions, but in the relentlessness of them. “It is better to burn the candle at both ends, and in the middle, too, than to put it away in the closet and let the mice eat it.” – Henry Van Dyke    Never let a day pass without making, at the very least, a tiny bit of progress. Do NOT tell yourself you’ll make up for it tomorrow. (That seductive lie is the kiss of death.) Make a phone call. Lick a stamp. Correct a misspelled word. Something. Anything.You realize I'm talking about business, not hiking, right?A second common mistake is to get these steps out of order. If you skip Step 1, “See your destination,” and go straight to step 2, “Start walking,” you’ll be a wanderer, a drifter on the ocean of life, sadly on your way to lying beneath a tombstone that says, “He Had Potential.”Even more dangerous is to go from Step 1, “See your destination,” directly to Step 3, “Think ahead,” without ever doing Step 2, “Start walking.” These are the people who never get started. Analysis paralysis. Lots of anxiety and plans and meetings and revisions and studies and evaluation and research can make you think you're getting somewhere when you're not.Gen. George S. Patton said it best, “A good plan today is better than a perfect plan tomorrow.” In other words, there is no perfect plan. Shut up and get started.Visitors to Tuscan Hall will recall a beautiful stairway that leads into a wall, then does a 180 halfway up to finish in exactly the opposite direction. At the top of those stairs a magnificent catwalk runs the entire length of the building to a gallery of fine art overlooking the floor below.This is the Journey of Life.If you find yourself headed in the wrong direction, you can always correct your way.But only if you know your destination.Have a great week.Roy H. Williams

I was freshly married to Pennie and barely old enough to see over the dash of a car but I wanted to show her the magical places of my childhood, so we saved up enough money for 3 tanks of gas and made the 200-mile drive from Broken Arrow to Ardmore, Oklahoma.I never knew my father’s father. A couple of photographs and a pocket watch are all that remain of the original Roy H. Williams. But my mother’s dad I knew. Roy Pylant (PIE-lant) was the iceman in Ardmore for more than half a century.My career as an iceman began one afternoon when I was five. A restaurant called for 100 pounds of crushed ice and I went with Daddy Py to deliver it. I watched him dump the ice into the restaurant’s icemaker and then I carried the empty canvas bag back to the truck. I wasn’t big enough to do much else.As I walked away I heard, “Looks like you got you a new helper.”“That’s my grans-ton Little Roy. He saves me a lotta steps.”Daddy Py couldn’t say “grandson” without putting a T in it.Daddy Py’s house had chickens and a little stone washhouse and a garage from which you could see the edge of the world if you climbed up onto its flat tar roof.Once, when I was nine, Daddy Py and I took a break from crushing ice to go with Larkin from Larkin’s Bait Shop. He needed to check his trot lines and asked if we wanted to go along. Trot lines were illegal, of course, but Larkin knew how to hide them so he never got caught. He got a big catfish that day and I got my first ride in a motorboat. I also saw Tucker Tower. It was even cooler than the garage at Daddy Py’s house.Summer after summer, Daddy Py and I would roll out of bed early, drive to the ice plant and slide 300-pound blocks of ice onto his ‘65 Chevy long-narrow pickup. Roll the tarp over the ice, drive to Lake Murray, crush and bag the ice, toss it quick onto the truck, cover it again with the tarp and deliver it to the convenience stores.I was good at it.As a child, it never occurred to me that my family spent summer vacations at Daddy Py’s because we didn’t have the money to go anywhere else. I figured we went there because it was the grandest place on earth. And Mama Py took care of us all.Back then they didn’t let you become a grandmother unless you could cook and Mama Py was a grandmother of five. Her food glowed like the sword Excalibur. Dopers would give up drugs for it. Ministers praised it from the pulpit. Shakespeare wrote sonnets about it.Mama Py had a vegetable garden. Bright rays of color would shine from her kitchen windows as she prepared tomatoes, okra and corn on the cob with bowls of beans and fried potatoes. Her kitchen table glimmered like a leprechaun’s pot of gold.Then Daddy Py would arrive with a tinfoil bundle and 2 mysterious jars of liquid. The quart Pepsi bottle with the screw-on cap contained a thin, grey-brown au jus, redolent with course black pepper. The baby food jar contained an equally thin, red liquid that sparkled with what appeared to be cayenne. The tinfoil contained sliced brisket. Airplanes buzzed the house to get a sniff of it. This was Lieutenant McKerson’s barbecue.We delivered ice to him every morning.The sidewalk in front of McKerson's was broken. The building had no air conditioner. A tightly sprung screen door traded magical aromas for outside air. There was a hole worn in the linoleum in front of the serving counter, its edges smooth, tapering down to a mirror of grey cement, the silent work of a million shoes standing, twisting, turning to leave with their tinfoil treasures and sparkling jars. I looked into that mirror and saw the soul of America.And it was beautiful.Rich men had tried for decades to get McKerson’s recipe by offering to franchise his little place, but McKerson had no interest. He cooked for the tired, the poor, the huddled masses yearning to breathe free.Each morning I’d hold open the screen...

In the language of academics:The central executive of working memory is the new battleground for marketers. Writers are successfully surprising Broca, thereby gaining the momentary attention of the public, but an absence of salience remains.In the language of newscasters:Are your ads gaining the attention of the public but failing to get results? Find out why and learn exactly what you can do about it. Stay tuned for complete details. (Insert commercial break here.)In the language of the street:Ads have gotten more creative, but they haven’t gotten more convincing. This sucks for advertisers and the public isn’t helped by it, either.In the language of clarity:Can your product be differentiated?Can you point out that difference quickly?Can you explain why the difference matters?This is effective marketing.To differentiate your product powerfully and clearly:1.   See it though the eyes of the public. (Insiders have too much knowledge.)2.   Ignore everything that doesn’t matter.3.   Focus on what the public actually cares about.4.   Say it in the fewest possible words.5.   Close the loopholes by anticipating the customer’s unspoken questions.Have a great week.Roy H. Williams

January 28, 2008John and Jane Doe4321 Happily Thereafter Ave.Everytown, USATo the Companies Who Want Our Money,Yesterday’s selling techniques aren’t working so good. Have you noticed?We’re betting that your traffic has been trending downward for the past few months. Are we right? (If we’re wrong, keep up the good work. You’re doing all the right things.)But if your traffic has, in fact, been trending downward, here are some things for you to think about:Today’s customer expects easy access to information.And that information includes the price.Quit trying to romance everything. Cut the hype. Just say it clean and tight, shoulders back, looking us directly in the eye.Give us the truth with clarity. Transparency. Openhanded disclosure. Nothing hidden behind your back.If you tell us about a product or service online and we wonder what it costs and we learn the only way you’ll tell us the price is if we give up our contact information, we think: 1.   you’re charging too much and you know it.2.   you want an opportunity to “overcome our objections” or3.   you’re planning to contact us and control the conversation with rigged questions       under the pretense that you’re “consulting” us for our own good.4.   you want us to give you a credit card number,5.   but what you really need is a clue.Sorry, we don’t mean to be rude.You seem to be sincere in your confusion about why traffic is down and we’re just trying to tell you the truth you need to hear.Yes, it’s partly the economy.But you’ve also lost touch with the times.You’ve got reasons for not disclosing your prices. We understand that. You don’t want to give your competitors “the edge” or something or other. But companies with good prices aren’t afraid to share them. In their ads. Over the phone. On their websites. From the housetops.Or at least that’s how it seems to us.Have a great 2008.John and Jane Doe

In January of 2004 I launched a public presentation:&nbsp;Society’s 40-year Pendulum.&nbsp;Audiences from Stockholm to Sydney to Vancouver to Myrtle Beach will recall my statement, “2003 was the first year in a 6-year transition from the Idealist perspective to the Civic.”2008 will be the sixth and final year of that transition.Labels like Baby Boomer and Gen-X and Soccer Mom assume a person’s outlook is determined by when they were born. This is a very foolish assumption.Look around and you’ll see that Baby Boomers aren’t Boomers anymore. Most have adopted an entirely new outlook and are becoming part of what’s happening now. By the end of 2008 there won’t be a Baby Boomer left in America. The last, reluctant holdout will finally admit that Woodstock is over, Kennedy is dead, and the Idealism of the 60’s was a wistful dream.In their 1993 book,&nbsp;Generations,&nbsp;Strauss and Howe asserted that western society swings from an Idealist outlook to a Civic perspective and back again with the precision of pendulum. And at the bottom of each arc, the new views introduced by that generation's youth will be adopted by the adults within 6 years of the tipping point.1963 introduced the Idealist outlook we associate with “Baby Boomers.” 1968 was the final year of that transition. By 1969, everyone in America, regardless of their age, was seeing through rose colored lenses.2003 was 1963 all over again,&nbsp;but this time we're headed in the opposite direction.2008 will be the last year of our transition to a Civic perspective.Here’s what to remember when selling in 2008:1. Efficiency is the new Service.Your customer is saying, “Quality and price and quick, please. I’ve got things to do. Thanks.” Service and selection still matter, but not nearly so much as they once did. Inefficient organizations built on high-touch “relationship” selling will decline.&nbsp;Today’s customer is magnetically drawn to efficiency. This attraction will increase over the next few years.2. Authenticity is essential.Listen to the street. “Being cool” has become “Keepin’ it real.”Naiveté is rare today. Your customer is equipped with a bullshit detector that is highly sensitive and amazingly accurate. And the younger the customer, the more accurate their bullshit detector.When selling, remember: If you don’t admit the downside, they won’t believe the upside.Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Leonard Pitts gave us an example of “keepin’ it real” when he opened his syndicated column recently with the following lines:I’ve got nothing against fame. I’m famous myself. Sort of.OK, not Will Smith famous, or Ellen DeGeneres famous. All right, not even Marilu Henner famous.I’m the kind of famous where you fly into some town to give a speech before that shrinking subset of Americans who still read newspapers and, for that hour, they treat you like a rock star, applauding, crowding around, asking for autographs.Then it’s over. You walk through the airport the next day and no one gives a second glance. You are nobody again.Dave Barry told me this story about Mark Russell, the political satirist. It seems Russell gave this performance where he packed the hall, got a standing O. He was The Man. Later, at the hotel, The Man gets hungry, but the only place to eat is a McDonald’s across the road. The front door is locked, but the drive-through is still open. So he stands in it. A car pulls in behind him. The driver honks and yells, “Great show, Mark!”For the record, I consider Leonard Pitts to be one of the greatest living writers in the world today.&nbsp;<a...

Every business that tries to rise to its full height will bump its head on a glass ceiling they didn’t realize was there.That glass ceiling is created by the business owner’s core beliefs about the customer.Traditionally, 5 out of 10 customers will be in transactional shopping mode. The other 5 will be in relational shopping mode.Shoppers in transactional mode are looking for information, facts, details, prices. Their thoughts revolve around the product itself, not the purchase experience.Relational-mode shoppers are looking for a pleasant experience. They want to find the right place, the right person from whom to buy, an expert they can trust.&nbsp;Meanwhile, the transactional shopper is gathering the information that will allow them to be their own expert.A customer can be a relational shopper in one category and a transactional shopper in another. The labels don’t define the customer. They describe only the mode of shopping, the momentary mindset of the decision maker, the type of ad to which he or she will respond.Here’s what’s currently happening in America:One of the 5 relational shoppers has begun to think&nbsp;transactionally.The reasons are:(1.)&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;concerns about the economy,(2.)&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;access to information via search engines.Americans spent $29.7 billion online at Christmas (Nov. 1 to Dec 31,) approximately $100 for every man, woman and child in the nation, up 19% from the previous year. In other words, there was&nbsp;$100 fewer dollars per person&nbsp;spent in brick-and-mortar stores in your town&nbsp;than was being spent just a few years ago at Christmastime.And for the first time in the history of Starbucks, traffic is in decline.Starbucks has always sold relationally. We pay for the atmosphere of the café with its half-lit earthtones and iconic logo – the&nbsp;idea&nbsp;of affordable luxury – as much as we pay for the coffee. But some of us have begun to compare the quality and price of the coffee itself to the quality and price available from other providers.Beginning to get the picture?Starbucks has found the glass ceiling.&nbsp;In other words, they’re selling as much coffee as can be sold relationally.I’m sure you have your own idea about how Starbucks should respond to their decline in traffic, but the point of today’s memo is this: A glass ceiling exists when you overestimate the number of people who prefer to buy&nbsp;the way you prefer to sell.People never really change their mind. They merely make new decisions based on new information. Will Starbucks give us new information, a new perspective in 2008, or will they just whine at their marketing department for the inexplicable decline in traffic?More importantly, what new information will you deliver in 2008? (You realize this memo isn’t really about Starbucks, right? I don’t care about Starbucks. I care about you.)The Tiny Giant&nbsp;is that 1 relational shopper in 5 who is moving to a transactional perspective. This effectively shifts the marketing balance from 5/5 to 6/4. This doesn’t sound like a big thing until you realize that 6 is 50% more than 4.Do you have the clear answers that 6 in 10 shoppers demand? Are you willing to provide the growing tribe of transactional shoppers with the information, facts, details and prices they expect?Or will you simply demand that your marketing team deliver more customers in relational shopping mode? (Please, I’m begging you for your own sake, don’t fall into the trap of believing the answer is to “target” relational shoppers though some magical mailing list, email list, or sponsorship package.)Think about it, won’t you?Your financial future hangs in the balance.Roy H. Williams

America split into 3 camps last year.Those camps came sharply into focus at Christmas.1.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The Hunker-Down crowd cut back their purchases, uneasy about dwindling dollars and rising debt. Traffic in non-discount retail stores was sluggish as a result.2.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The Full-Speed-Ahead crowd did business as usual. God bless’em. “Damn the torpedoes! I choose not to participate in a recession! The only thing to fear is fear itself!”3.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The I’m-Too-Rich-To-Worry crowd spent somewhat more on Christmas than last year, almost enough to offset the penury of the Hunker Downs. While the total number of transactions was down for December, the average sale was slightly up, due to the largesse of this group.Here’s what to expect in 2008:We’re going to see an increasing number of purchases influenced by the head instead of the heart. Service and selection are taking a back seat to quality and price. In the language of Myers-Briggs, we’re shifting from an F (feeling) mindset to a T (thinking) perspective.In Advertising, both the Hunker Downs and the Full Speed Aheads are looking for clear statements of benefit. The I’m-Too-Rich-To-Worries are looking for exclusive brands.Efficiency providers like Sam’s Club and Costco will continue to thrive. As will sellers of prestige brands that are never discounted. Retailers who have built their businesses on service and selection will feel pressure to reinvent themselves. It’s going to be a very good year for consultants.How about you? Would you like to&nbsp;gain some insight&nbsp;about what to do next?Wizard Academy is a 21st Century Business School.Your goals are your own business.Helping you reach them is ours.Q:&nbsp;How is a 21st century business school different than a 20th century business school?A:&nbsp;We recognize the value of intuition. Traditional business schools teach that decisions should wait until all the data is available. But intuitive innovators who know the right answer&nbsp;before all the data is available&nbsp;are now leapfrogging businesses who continue to follow the old-school logic. The big fish are no longer eating the little fish. The fast fish are eating the slow.Which fish will you be?Begin 2008 with&nbsp;a visit to Wizard Academy&nbsp;and see if it doesn't brighten your future.We'll see you when you get here.Roy H. Williams

Whether it exists in the public consciousness or only in my mind, I can't be sure, but there’s an anxiousness about 2008 that gives me pause. We seem to be pushing our way to the edge.Presidency, economy, war.What will happen?I take a breath and close my eyes and remember the words of&nbsp;Marcus Aurelius Antoninus&nbsp;published 1800 years ago,&nbsp;“Never let the future disturb you. You will meet it, if you have to, with the same weapons of reason which today arm you against the present.”Anthony Hopkins&nbsp;shared a similar thought with&nbsp;James Lipton&nbsp;during a recent interview on&nbsp;Inside the Actor's Studio,&nbsp;“Today is the tomorrow I was so worried about yesterday.”A client recently shared with me&nbsp;one of those amazing “weapons of reason” Marcus Aurelius spoke about:I asked, “How is traffic trending? Are we ahead of last year?”“Roy, I don’t measure traffic.”“You’re kidding.”“Last week one of my salespeople made 63 sales presentations and closed only 24 of them.&nbsp;That tells me 39 people bought somewhere else. And right now they’re telling all their friends why they bought where they did. They’re showing off their purchases and explaining why they didn’t buy from us.”“Good point.”“That salesperson is no longer with us.”“You’re really serious about this.”“Today’s close rate is the most reliable indicator of tomorrow’s traffic. When close rate is high, traffic increases. When close rate begins to slide, traffic soon begins to slide as well.”Does it surprise you&nbsp;that this client keeps better records than any we’ve ever served and that he’s currently our fastest growing client in North America? Thankfully, he knows what information can be correlated and what cannot. He doesn’t let his statistics lead him to ridiculous conclusions.But the part of our conversation that jerked my eyebrows upward was that&nbsp;he was aware of the weekly close rate of each of his nearly 100 salespeople.Wow.You can’t improve what you don’t measure.What are you measuring?“When you can measure what you are speaking about, and express it in numbers, you know something about it; but when you cannot measure it, when you cannot express it in numbers, your knowledge is of a meager and unsatisfactory kind; it may be the beginning of knowledge, but you have scarcely in your thoughts advanced to the state of Science, whatever the matter may be.”–&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Sir William Thomson, Lord Kelvin,&nbsp;Electrical Units of Measurement,&nbsp;1883There are lots of things business owners are secretly trying to achieve. And usually these goals are secret, even to themselves.In a couple of weeks&nbsp;I’ll begin 3 intensive days of planning&nbsp;for 11 different companies. We’ll all sit in a circle on the first morning and I’ll ask each of them separately, “How will we measure success? What do you want me to help you make happen?”I’ve been asking that question of business owners for nearly 30 years. It’s never easy to get an answer.But it’s a whole lot easier to win the game when you’re clear on how points are scored.Are you playing to win in 2008?Your goals are your own business.Helping you reach them is mine.Roy H. Williams

I’m a big believer in the power of words. But when words aren’t backed by corresponding actions, talk is cheap.Have you ever felt a disconnection between what a company promised you in their ads and what they actually delivered?I carry a list of companies in my head called the “Never Again As Long As I Live” list. I’ll bet you have one, too.Was it the advertising of these companies that put them on our lists? Of course not.&nbsp;It was their actions.One dumb decision can undo years of good advertising.What decisions have you made that send signals to your customers?“Who you are speaks so loudly I can’t hear what you’re saying.”– Ralph Waldo Emerson1. What are you saying in your ads?2. Who are you being in your store?3. Is there a disconnect?AA dog doesn’t have to growl to let me know it’s dangerous.&nbsp;Just bare you teeth, doggie. I’ll understand.&nbsp;This small, direct signal from the dog overrides all the assurances of its owner: “He won’t bite, he’s a friendly dog. I’ve had him for 10 years. His breed never bites. It’s been proven. Here, watch this. See, he didn’t bite me and he won’t bite you either. What are you afraid of? Here are some testimonials from other people who have petted him. Did you know this dog was voted Most Pettable Dog of 2007? He won’t bite you, he likes you. Trust me. We care about our customers.”What is advertising but the assurances of a dog owner?Talk, when it costs you nothing, is cheap.“Here are ten, hundred-dollar bills. Put them in your pocket. If this dog so much as snaps at you, they’re yours. He wasn’t baring his teeth to scare you. He was smiling at you.”Wow. A smiling dog. I think I’ll pet him.Actions are powerful signals when they agree with your words.These action-signals gain credibility to the degree they cost you one or more of the following:1. Material Wealth2. Time &amp; Energy3. Opportunity4. Power &amp; Control5. Reputation &amp; Prestige6. Safety &amp; Well BeingWhat do your signals cost you? What are you risking?Words that cost you little have little meaning.Tom Wanek is an authority on how to use signals and counter-signals in business. Tom has agreed to speak for one very special hour on the subject during the next&nbsp;Free Public Seminar&nbsp;in Austin, Texas.Prepare to be amazed.Roy H. Williams

Concorde&nbsp;was a child of the 60s. Flying 11 miles above the earth at twice the speed of sound, this jet was literally faster than a rifle bullet.&nbsp;London to New York in 2 hours and 53 minutes.The Concorde isn’t flown anymore.During a routine take-off in July, 2000, Concorde blew a tire after hitting a small piece of metal on a runway in Paris. A chunk of the tire knocked a hole in the wing, spilling fuel down the side of the plane just as it was lifting off. Ninety seconds later, the plane exploded in the air.The public was terrified. The Concorde fleet was grounded.After reinforcing the wings with bulletproof Kevlar and installing puncture-proof tires, the senior executives of Concorde’s parent company boarded the plane in September, 2001 and flew halfway across the Atlantic and back to demonstrate their confidence in the plane’s safety. While they were in the air, terrorists flew commercial jets into the World Trade Center.Now everyone was afraid to travel.Having already been out of operation for 14 months, Concorde was unable to recover from this second financial whammy.Solomon,&nbsp;known for his good advice, said, “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might.”Then he followed this eye-of-the-tiger pitch by saying in the next verse,“I have seen something else under the sun:The race is not to the swiftor the battle to the strong,&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;nor does food come to the wise&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;or wealth to the brilliant&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;or favor to the learned;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;but&nbsp;time and chance&nbsp;happen to them all.”– Ecclesiastes chapter 9Robbie Burns agreed with Solomon’s assessment of time and chance. Apologizing&nbsp;to a mouse&nbsp;whose burrow he accidentally uncovered while plowing his field, he said most famously in 1785: “The best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry.”I share&nbsp;these things with you because I know some of you are facing failure. Don’t let it bother you. Failure, like success, is a temporary condition. Tomorrow is a brand new day.FAILURE: Because sometimes your very best&nbsp;just isn’t good enough.Amen. Now we’re done with it. Turn your face to the rising sun.Tigers&nbsp;are happiest when they’re chasing their dinner.Even when they fail to catch it, the chase is fun.Let your tiger run.Roy H. Williams

These are the noises companies makeas they’re going down the tubes:1. “Our only problem is traffic.”Slow traffic is a symptom, not a disease. Look for its cause. WHY is traffic slow? Is it because the public doesn’t know about you, or is it because they do?&nbsp;Is the problem with your advertising, or is there something wrong inside your business?2. “That’s not our customer.”The businessperson who says things like, “Our customer doesn’t care about price,” is usually surprised by how quickly he runs out of prospects. Are there customers out there who don’t care about price? Sure there are. But what percentage of the population do you think it is?3. “Our advertising is reaching the wrong people.”I’ve never seen a company fail because they were reaching the wrong people, but I’ve seen hundreds fail because they were saying the wrong things. Do your ads speak to the felt needs of your customers, or are you answering questions no one was asking?4. “I don’t worry about what the competition is doing.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;I only worry about what we’re doing.”Is there a game that rewards a player for ignoring the moves of his opponent? If there is, I’ve never heard of it. Business is competitive and you’re not the only player in the game. Like it or not, you’re being compared to competitors in the mind of your customer.5. “There's enough business out there for all of us.”A limited number of dollars are going to be spent in your business category this year. Are your competitors going to make sure you get your fair share?6. “We can’t compete with the internet.”The idea that the internet is a low-overhead business environment is a myth. Other than the cost of occupancy (rent,) the costs of doing business online are essentially the same as for brick-and-mortar businesses. The average brick-and-mortar store spends about 5 percent of its annual sales on rent. If online companies had no offices, no shipping facilities, no warehouses or other physical presence, they could still offer only a 5 percent price advantage to your customer. If you’re not competitive with the internet, you need to take a close look at how you’re buying. You need to comb through your payroll, your miscellaneous expenses and your G&amp;A. Your problem is inside your own house.7. “Our secret is our people.No one provides as warm a customer experience as we do.”In 30 years as a consultant, I’ve known dozens of business owners who have convinced themselves that having “better people” was their store’s primary advantage. In every instance, the store’s prices were high, their merchandise was unremarkable and their people were average. (Even if your staff is exceptional, the worst thing to advertise is remarkable customer service. The expectations of the public will be raised to impossible levels. Promise it and you’ll hear nothing but endless complaints. I’ve made the mistake more than once.)How Did You Score?You’re Average&nbsp;if you’ve heard yourself say just one or two of these things. Hopefully, you’ve recovered from your wrong-headed thinking and are on the road to right action.You’ve Got a Problem&nbsp;if you’re guilty of saying three or four of these things. If you want to recover, you need to start associating with people who will smack you when you start talking nonsense. Surround yourself with friends who won’t let you slide sideways into delusional excuses.You’re in Real Trouble&nbsp;if you're saying five of these things. It’s like a drug habit. You say these things to reduce your anxiety and ease the pain of failure much like an addict takes a perspective-altering pill to help him make it through the day. Rehab is going to be tough, but you can survive if you dig deep and awaken the tiger in you. Clean out the closets of your mind, throw out the trash and gain a clean perspective. Fight to...

Some people say a recession is coming.Others say it’s already here.Experts say the best way to start a recession is to predict one’s on the way. So hey, I’m not predicting a recession, okay? REMEMBER! If a recession sneaks up on us in 2008, do NOT blame it on me.Did your elementary school have fire drills?Step 1. Get in a straight line.Step 2. Walk orderly down the hallway and out the door.Step 3. Don’t stop until you get to the far edge of the playground.In my elementary school, we also practiced what to do in case of nuclear attack:Step 1. Crawl under your desk.Step 2. Put your head between your knees.Then in High School we learned Step 3 when we saw it on a poster. You remember Step 3, don't you?&nbsp;“Kiss your ass goodbye.”A recession is like a fire, a regular run-of-the-mill, garden variety, five-and-dime fire. Nothing special. Nothing nucular.*So here’s what to do if a recession happens: (And I’m definitely NOT saying one’s coming, remember? Let’s be clear about that.)1.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Evaluate&nbsp;your risk orientation. “Got guts?”2.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Summon&nbsp;your staying power. “Got tenacity?”3.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Think&nbsp;forward, into the future. Ask, “What will I wish I had done?”(Answer: You’ll wish you would’ve grabbed market share while it was lying unprotected for the taking.)4.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Return&nbsp;in your mind to the present time.5.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Do&nbsp;what you wish you’d have done. Grab that unguarded market share while everyone else sits on their hands and waits for Good Times to come home.Market share is easily won&nbsp;when your competitors are cutting expenses. The big frustration comes when you learn that growing your market share doesn’t mean an immediate increase in revenues. Here’s an example:10 million dollars change hands each year in your market category.The category contains 10 competitors.The Big Gorilla does 2 million.The Principal Challenger does 1.5.The remaining 8 of you split 6.5 million.You’re a slightly taller-than-average midget doing a smooth 1 million. (The other 7 midgets do about $800,000 apiece.)You come alive during the recession and double your market share.But the market has shrunk from 10 million dollars to just 5 million.Congratulations. You now control 20 percent of the market.&nbsp;But you’re still doing just 1 million.Doesn’t quite feel like a victory, does it? Be patient. When money begins to flow again – and it will – you’ll find you’ve become a major force in your category. And you've got momentum.When times are good and money is abundant, it’s easy to coast on yesterday’s reputation. You’ve seen it happen. But when there’s not enough business to go around, the rules revert to survival of the fittest. This is when courageous little companies leapfrog their traditional masters and leave them on the trail behind.My elementary school never had a fire.But it seemed prudent to have a plan regarding how to behave should a fire occur.Roy H. Williams

In the Land of the Way Things Ought to BeI’m handsome and wealthy and strong and free.But in the Land of the Way Things Really AreI’m struggling and awkward, a bit bizarre.I threw a party, invited my friendsFrom the Land of the Way It Might Have Been.They were heartbroken. A man named RegretSaid they had gotten all they would get.An Ambassador came, toupee in handFrom nostalgic Way-It-Used-to-Be Land,Whose sad power comes from cellophane tapeOn the box from which we try to escape.War was declared by the Land of Who CaresOn the Used-to-Be, and all that is theirs.“You don’t matter at all!” the Who-Cares cried,“You said we had to, but we found you lied!”Then there came from the Way It’s Always BeenTen clones who bellowed, “Transgression and sin!”They put their strength on the Used-to-Be side,Shouting as one, “By these rules we abide!”Onto the scene from the Land of Up YoursRan ten independents into the warsWhose only concern was not being heldTo standards imposed by heads that are swelled.And all of this caused a deeper chagrinAmong those of the Way It Might Have Been.“Can’t we all be friends?” they asked with big eyes,Amidst the Up-Yours shouts and the Who-Cares cries.But their pleas were drowned by the blood and noiseOf the late-arriving Gonna-Be boysWhose only agenda was loud and longDismissal of those who said they were wrong.And into the darkness the sparks did flyAnd lifted like prayers into the sky‘Til God stuck his fingers into his earsAnd from his mouth flowed the music of spheres:The sound of planets in orbit whirling,The sound of lavender sunsets swirling,The sound of smoke from a campfire curling,The sound of a wondrous truth unfurling.But none hears the music as they collideShouting “Beauty Herself is on our side!”None hears the music. Not one of these KingsSees beauty in what the other one brings.And the battle does rage, bubble and fizzIn the Land of the Way It Always Is.&nbsp;Are you a cartoonist, sketch artist or illustrator? A water colorist, oil painter or photographer?Wizard Academy Press is creating an online gallery of images inspired by the whimsical new poem,&nbsp;Wrong Turn Taken on the Straight and Narrow&nbsp;by Roy H. Williams. You can submit a single image or a series of images to illustrate the story. The truly ambitious might even illustrate each of&nbsp;the 23 scenes&nbsp;as though they were the text of a Dr. Seuss-type children’s book for children over the age of 30.Who knows? Maybe it will someday be published like that.Each entrant will be rewarded with a gift from Wizard Academy Press chosen specifically for them by Roy H. Williams. There's even an outside chance you might win a full...

America’s Thanksgiving holiday originated when the Pilgrims gave thanks to God for sending them an Indian friend named Squanto. This much you already knew. What you didn’t know is that long before the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock, this same Squanto had been captured by two English sea captains, George Weymouth and John Hunt, and abused as a slave for fourteen years. Squanto had been free less than five years when Capt. John Bradford’s Pilgrims arrived on the good ship&nbsp;Mayflower.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Squanto had every reason to organize a killing party and wipe out the pale-skinned invaders, but he chose to help them instead. Gazing with pity at Bradford’s pathetic band of would-be settlers as they huddled around Plymouth Rock, Squanto thought, “If I don’t help these silly white men, they’re all going to die in the coming winter.” And with that, he walked out of the woods and introduced himself.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Squanto died two years later of a disease contracted from these same Europeans.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;When I was a boy, all the movies were about heroic cowboys and evil Indians.&nbsp;And in virtually every one of them, courageous settlers had to circle the wagons to defend themselves against unprovoked attacks from ape-like savages who said things like, “Ugh. Me want’um whiskey.”&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Would you like to know how Indians actually spoke back then? Consider the musings of Ispwo Mukika Crowfoot, a Blackfoot Indian who was twenty years old in 1803, the same year that Lewis and Clark launched their famous expedition.&nbsp;As he lay dying, Ispwo left us with these last words: “What is life? It is the flash of a firefly in the night. It is the breath of a buffalo in the wintertime. It is the little shadow which runs across the grass and loses itself in the sunset.”&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Was Ispwo Crowfoot a particularly eloquent Indian? Not at all.&nbsp;Fifty-nine years earlier, when George Washington was just a twelve-year-old boy, the Collected Chiefs of the Indian Nations met to discuss a letter from the College of William &amp; Mary suggesting that they “send twelve of their young men to the college, that they might be taught to read and write.” The Chiefs sent the following reply:Sirs,&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;We know that you highly esteem the kind of learning taught in Colleges, and that the Maintenance of our young Men, while with you, would be very expensive to you.&nbsp;We are convinc’d, therefore, that you mean to do us Good by your Proposal; and we thank you heartily. But you, who are wise, must know that different Nations have different Conceptions of things; and you will therefore not take it amiss, if our Ideas of this kind of Education happen not to be the same with yours. We have some experience of it. Several of our Young People were formerly brought up at the colleges of the Northern Provinces; they were instructed in all your sciences; but, when they came back to us they were bad Runners, ignorant of every means of living in the Woods, unable to bear either Cold or Hunger, knew neither how to build a cabin, take a Deer, or kill an Enemy, spoke our Language imperfectly, were therefore neither fit for Hunters, Warriors, nor Counselors; they were totally good for nothing. We are, however, not the less oblig’d by your kind Offer, tho’ we decline accepting it; and, to show our grateful Sense of it, if the Gentlemen of Virginia will send us a Dozen of their Sons, we will take care of their Education; instruct them in all we know, and make Men of them.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;I wish I could have met the collected chiefs who wrote that letter. I wish I could have known Ispwo Crowfoot.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;I’m really glad they don’t make cowboy and Indian movies anymore.Roy H. Williams

TIGER ONE:Are you trying to Grow a business, Build a career, Overcome an obstacle?“Those who expect moments of change to be comfortable and free of conflict have not learned their history.” – Joan Wallach ScottFerocity is a wondrous tool.STOP. Read no further1.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;if you are proud of your passivity,2.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;if you are offended by reading a vulgar word (as opposed to seeing it represented by a first letter and a series of dashes,)3.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;if you are angered by your own mortality.TIGER TWO:“When the stars threw down their spears and watered heaven with their tears, did he smile his work to see? Did he who made the lamb make thee? Tyger! Tyger! burning bright in the forests of the night, what immortal hand or eye dare frame thy fearful symmetry?” – William Blake, (1757-1827)Yes, Blake was right. He who gently made the lamb made the tiger also.Ah, ferocity is a wondrous tool.Pursue your goals with ferocity and singularity of purpose.TIGER THREE:When you choose a goal to pursue, do you ask, “Is this a mountain I’m willing to die on?”You should. For we begin to die the day we are born.“I used to stop for a long time in front of the tiger’s cage to see him pacing back and forth. I liked his natural beauty, his black stripes and his golden stripes. And now that I am blind, one single color remains for me, and it is precisely the color of the tiger, the color yellow.” – Jorge Luis BorgesWith every exhalation, we die a little. A moment is gone, a precious grain of sand from the tiny hourglass of life.Each of us chooses the path we will walk, the mountain on which we will die. Have you chosen yours?TIGER FOUR:“When a man wants to murder a tiger he calls it sport; when a tiger wants to murder him he calls it ferocity.” – George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950)&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;A man kills a tiger from a distance.&nbsp;But a tiger kills a man face to face, looking into his eyes, saddened by what must be done to survive.I used a shotgun to kill a little bird on a snowy day when I was eleven. Then, as I looked down from Mount Olympus at the shattered angel in his crystal tomb, I covered him with a tear and swore that I would hunt no more until little birds were given shotguns.Yes, Tiger, you will make mistakes and have regrets.But you will also make a family and have a life.TIGER FIVE:“Time is the substance I am made of. Time is a river that carries me away, but I am the river; it is a tiger that mangles me, but I am the tiger; it is a fire that consumes me, but I am the fire. The world, alas, is real; I, alas, am Borges.” – Jorge Luis BorgesWith every step we take we reach a point of no return, and wonder what might have been.Am I trying to bring you down? No, I’m trying to stimulate you, wake you up, raise you from your stupor.The grains of sand are falling, friend.TIGER SIX:“There’s a tendency today to absolve individuals of moral responsibility and treat them as victims of social circumstance. You buy that; you pay with your soul. What limits people is lack of character. What limits people is that they don’t have the nerve to star in their own fucking movie, let alone direct it.” – Tom Robbins&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;TIGER SEVEN:Carpe Diem. Seize the day.&nbsp;It is yours.Roy H. Williams

I thought Bill Clinton was a good president for the same reason I thought Ronald Reagan was good; both were excellent head cheerleaders.Their politics, personalities and characters were different, but each had a similar ability to keep things from spinning out of control.Every organization has a head cheerleader.Their business card usually says “manager.”The head cheerleader’s job is to keep talented hotheads, sycophantic suck-ups, whining excuse-makers, moon-eyed lunatics and plodding paranoids all headed in the same general direction. They have to make everyone feel like everything is going to be all right.&nbsp;Are there really people who can do this job?Thrown into the deep water at 26, I was possibly the worst manager ever to assume the position. But over the years I’ve had a chance to observe the great ones, and I’ve noticed an unusual but recurrent characteristic:&nbsp;Great managers are rarely excellent at any of the things they manage.Great coaches are great, not because they were superstars,&nbsp;but because they know how to awaken the star that sleeps in each of the players around them.Great managers don’t show you photos from their own vacation, they ask to see the photos from yours. And it makes them happy to see you had a wonderful time.Great managers look for things to praise in their people, knowing that it takes 7 positive strokes to recover from each negative reprimand. Think about it. If seven out of eight encounters we receive an authentic, affirming comment, a bit of happy news or a piece of valuable insight from our boss, we love to see them coming down the hall. But if the typical encounter leaves us deflated, discouraged or scared, our hearts sink when we see the manager coming.Do your people love to see you coming? If not, begin looking for things to praise. Keep your ratio of positive comments 7 times higher than your negative ones and they’ll soon begin to smile when they see you appear. Their newfound attitude and confidence will bring new levels of productivity. And all because you believed they could do it and made them believe it, too.Great managers are never afraid to hire people better than themselves.Each of the 217 times David Ogilvy opened a new office for Ogilvy &amp; Mather, he left a set of Russian nesting dolls on the desk of the incoming manager. When the manager removed the top half from the largest of these bowling pin-shaped dolls, he or she found a slightly smaller doll inside. This continued until the manager came to the tiniest doll and retrieved from its interior what looked to be the note from a fortune cookie:&nbsp;“If each of us hires people smaller than ourselves, we shall become a company of midgets. But if each of us hires people bigger than ourselves, we shall become a company of giants.&nbsp;– David Ogilvy.”Now walk down the hall and find a sleeping superstar disguised as a plodding paranoid. For each of the next 21 days, compliment that person every time you see them take a right action.Then prepare to meet a whole new employee on the 22nd day. Don’t be surprised if they have the same name as the plodding paranoid that used to stink up the place.Go. The hallway awaits you.Roy H. Williams

When&nbsp;The Cluetrain Manifesto&nbsp;was published in 1999, it smacked of silly futurism, like Maxwell Smart’s shoe-phone and Dick Tracey’s TV-wristwatch.Both of which are now possible.Likewise, the societal shift predicted by&nbsp;The Cluetrain&nbsp;is already happening. Can you feel it?Here’s a look at a few of the&nbsp;95 Theses&nbsp;of&nbsp;The Cluetrain Manifesto.&nbsp;These statements were laughed at when they first appeared 8 years ago, but no one's laughing anymore:1. Markets are conversations.Are your ads a conversation with your customer, or are they a pompous lecture?2. Markets consist of human beings, not demographic sectors.Are you marketing to people with names and faces and favorite places, or are you marketing to a “target”?3. Conversations among human beings sound human. They are conducted in a human voice.Are your ads written the way people talk, or the way ads talk?4. Whether delivering information, opinions, perspectives, dissenting arguments or humorous asides, the human voice is typically open, natural, uncontrived.Would the public describe your ads as “open, natural and uncontrived”?15. In just a few more years, the current homogenized “voice” of business – the sound of mission statements and brochures – will seem as contrived and artificial as the language of the 18th century French court.Wow. That's already happening. You've noticed it, haven't you?22. Getting a sense of humor does not mean putting some jokes on the corporate web site. Rather, it requires big values, a little humility, straight talk, and a genuine point of view.What are your values? Do you admit your mistakes? Do you talk straight, or go sideways? Are you willing to say what you really think?23. Companies attempting to “position” themselves need to take a position. Optimally, it should relate to something their market actually cares about.I've said it often: “Most ads aren't written to persuade. They're written not to offend.” Do you have the courage to take a position and suffer the wrath of those who disagree? Will you choose who to lose?24. Bombastic boasts – “We are positioned to become the preeminent provider of XYZ” – do not constitute a position.In my 1998 book,&nbsp;The Wizard of Ads,&nbsp;the fourth of my Twelve Most Common Mistakes in Advertising&nbsp;(chapter 35) was:&nbsp;“Unsubstantiated Claims.&nbsp;Advertisers often claim to have what the customer wants, such as 'highest quality at the lowest price,' but fail to offer any evidence. An unsubstantiated claim is nothing more than a cliché the prospect is tired of hearing. You must prove what you say in every ad. Do your ads give the prospect new information? Do they provide a new perspective? If not, be prepared to be disappointed with the results.”Is your business in step with the fast-coming future?2007 is winding to a close. We’re only Thanksgiving and Christmas away from a sparkling New Year’s Day.Then, Bang! 2008.You need to&nbsp;be in Austin December 12-14&nbsp;if you want to make 2008 the best year your business has ever had.The internet has become our phone book, dictionary, encyclopedia, sales brochure, research vehicle and back fence for gossip. Like it or not, you're going to have to do a better job online if you want to flex your muscles in 2008.Come. We’ll give you exactly the tools you need. In just 3 days you’ll learn the new rules of communication and we’ll demonstrate specific techniques that will allow you to apply these new rules to your own...

Procedural Memory&nbsp;is the key to your brand being automatically remembered.Accomplish this through Relevance x Repetition.Symbolic Thought&nbsp;is how to make a brand meaningful.Access this by linking the unknown to the known.Particle Conflict&nbsp;is the way to make a brand interesting.Achieve this by adding an element that doesn’t belong, but fits.There’s a trend in marketing today to make brands “fully integrated” and “seamless.” In other words, to eliminate all incongruity and surprise.Shallow blands are fully integrated and seamless. To be deep and attractive, a brand must have incongruent characteristics that make it interesting.Just like a person.Francis Bacon said it 400 years ago: “There is no excellent beauty that hath not some strangeness in the proportion.”The most boring person in your life is the one “fully integrated and seamless.” Such people are painfully predictable.Delight is built on surprise. Comedy requires it. Predictability is death to the imagination, strangulation to the soul, a suffocation of the spirit.What is interestingly incongruent in your ads, your sermons, your sales pitches, your songs?Don’t listen to your friends and neighbors. They can tell you only what kinds of ads, sermons, pitches and songs they prefer to see and hear. They cannot tell you what will actually work.Young people in advertising have enthusiasm, theories, and fresh ideas. Old coots have experience and answers.&nbsp;It takes years of experiments and mountains of money to discover what will and will not work.Do you want to spend your own years and mountains? Or would you prefer to&nbsp;listen to a coot?Roy H. Williams

“I’m a surfer,” she said as she extended her hand.It almost broke my heart.Her husband had moved her into a tiny fixer-upper on the tear-stained cheek of an Oklahoma town. With a young child dangling from each of her arms and a third one on the way, she needed us to see her as she had been.“I’m a surfer.”Please understand that in my heart I’m reckless and free under an open sky. Please. I need this.“I’m Roy and this is my wife, Pennie. Welcome to the neighborhood.”Show me what a person admires and I’ll tell you everything about them that matters.And then you’ll know how to connect with them.You’ll know how to cheer up your new neighbor when you understand what she admires.You’ll know how to sell the man looking into your face when you understand what he admires.You’ll know how to attract future customers through your ads when you understand what they admire.Have you ever peeked into the childish dreams of the people who would buy from you? If so, you’ve got the essence of a powerful, persona-based ad campaign. But never assume you can learn of your customer’s dreams by asking.Dreams are hidden in dark closets of the heart because our truest motives often embarrass us. So we craft logical, comfortable lies to justify what our childlike hearts have chosen. And then we tell these lies and believe we’re telling the truth:“I bought it for the gas mileage.”The prestige of owning a new car had nothing to do with it?“I read it for the articles.”You’ve never noticed the photos of the naked girls?“I’m only doing this job until something better comes along.”It scares you to believe this is as good as it gets?Learn the common hungers of your customers and you’ll know the words to use in your ads.“Freedom” is a magnetic word to a person who is feeling trapped.“Familiar” is a comforting word to a person who feels life is spinning out of control.“Defiant” is an attractive word to a person who’s angry.“Together” is a magical word to a person who feels alone.“Meaningful” is a powerful word to a person feeling empty.All of us are broken a little. And the most badly broken are those who feel they are not.I’m always hesitant to pull back the curtain and show you the realities of effective marketing.&nbsp;Robert Louis Stevenson&nbsp;said it best:“There is nothing more disenchanting to man than to be shown the springs and mechanism of any art. All our arts and occupations lie wholly on the surface; it is on the surface that we perceive their beauty, fitness, and significance; and to pry below is to be appalled by their emptiness and shocked by the coarseness of the strings and pulleys.”I think that’s all I’m going to say today.Roy H. Williams

Think too deeply about customer profiling and you’ll soon fall into niche marketing.And the problem with niches is they’re not created equal.Have you chosen a niche too small?Reis and Trout inadvertently popularized niches in their extraordinary 1981 book,&nbsp;Positioning: the Battle for Your Mind.&nbsp;That book taught us to consider the strengths of our competitors and the “positions” they occupy in the customer’s mind before embarking on our own journeys of self-identification. But many who read&nbsp;Positioning&nbsp;saw it only as a treatise on niche marketing. They were wrong.Chris Anderson openly celebrated niches in last year’s book,&nbsp;The Long Tail,&nbsp;which was likewise misunderstood.Tragically, the seductive logic of niche marketing makes perfect sense even when it does not apply.Here’s a classic example:A dentist in a small town came to me for consultation. He no longer wanted to see 6 or 7 patients a day who required only a thousand dollars worth of dentistry apiece. He had chosen a niche and wanted me to create a marketing strategy whereby he would see only 1 or 2 patients a day who required 10 thousand to 30 thousand dollars worth of dentistry each. “And make sure that all of them have the money. Lots of people need that much dental work, but most of them don’t have the money.”I fear he left disappointed. There just aren’t enough rich people with bad teeth in the average small town. My friend had chosen a niche too small.Some of my clients serve larger populations that allow us to successfully target a niche. But when onlookers see this success and assume the same strategy will work in their own small towns, the niche-devil shows his horns.Considering a niche? Do the math.Be detached and objective. This isn’t a time for wishful thinking.If your marketplace isn’t big enough for niche marketing, you can still embrace (1.)&nbsp;positioning,&nbsp;and (2.)&nbsp;persona-based ad writing,&nbsp;a technique that speaks to personality type and appeals to a significant percentage of readers even when those readers are randomly chosen.Persona-based writing&nbsp;is built upon&nbsp;a customer’s preferred style of buying.Niche marketing&nbsp;is built upon&nbsp;your own preferred style of selling.Positioning&nbsp;is built around&nbsp;the strengths of your competitors.Each of these is a decision-making technique, a perspective we bring to the creative process.Persona-based writing&nbsp;is about&nbsp;your customer’s personality,&nbsp;not their demographic profile. To what personality types are your ads currently written?Positioning&nbsp;is about&nbsp;the realities of the marketplace.&nbsp;Your competitors occupy positions in the mind of your customer. Do you recognize these positions, or are you navigating with your eyes closed?Niche marketing&nbsp;is about specialization, focused inventories, narrow training,&nbsp;becoming the king of an available kingdom.&nbsp;But before you plop your heinie on the throne, be sure the kingdom you’ve selected has enough subjects to provide you the living you desire.Advertising cannot create population.Please don’t let anyone tell you that it can.Roy H. Williams

People are more interesting than non people.Mingle a bit of wood, paint and cloth, then drench the pile in sparkling imagination and a new person leaps onto the stage.Few techniques in communication are as powerful – or as often overlooked – as personification:&nbsp;ascribing human characteristics to inanimate objects.It turns dead corporate brands into living persons. Who are the Keebler Elves, the Jolly Green Giant, Mr. Clean and Ronald McDonald if not&nbsp;personifications&nbsp;of the brands they represent?This memo isn’t about clumsy corporate cartoon characters. Personification is much bigger and more elegant than mere mascots and logos. When conceived in words, lively words, personification summons the imagination and triggers the emotions.Listen to how Robert Frost gives human characteristics to inanimate objects in his storm poem,&nbsp;Once by the Pacific:The shattered water made a misty din.Great waves looked over others coming in,And thought of doing something to the shoreThat water never did to land before.The clouds were low and hairy in the skies,Like locks blown forward in the gleam of eyes.You could not tell, and yet it looked as ifThe shore was lucky in being backed by cliff,The cliff in being backed by continent;It looked as if a night of dark intentWas coming, and not only a night, an age.Someone had better be prepared for rage.There would be more than ocean-water brokenBefore God's last 'Put out the Light' was spoken.Waves&nbsp;looked over&nbsp;others and&nbsp;thought&nbsp;of doing something to the shore, which&nbsp;was lucky&nbsp;in being backed by cliff?Personification.&nbsp;Can you do it? Can you speak a person into existence?Herman Melville did it 156 years ago in 3 short words, “Call me Ishmael.”I did it 12 years ago in 5 words for Rolex and Everest, “…the world’s most angry mountain.”Apple is doing it in 7 words right now. “I’m a Mac.” “And I’m a PC.”(Did it ever occur to you that the audio track from these ads would work even better on radio than it does on TV? Evidently, it’s never occurred to anyone who sells radio airtime, either.)We gaze longer at pictures that have people in them than at pictures that have no people. I believe the same is true of words. We pay more attention to words that tell us of people than to words that don’t.That’s enough rambling for one Monday morning. Now go look Today in the eyes, smile sweetly and say, “I own you. You’re mine. You’re happy and warm and comforting and good and if you think for one second that I’m going to let you be otherwise, you’re sadly mistaken.”Be firm. Days can become unruly if you let them.Roy H. Williams

Most of us are out of balance and suffering for it. We’re either too pragmatic or too romantic.The pragmatist never stops to smell the roses. “What’s the use? Just get the job done, move onward and upward. Winners never quit and quitters never win.”The romantic smells the roses and gets misty-eyed. “Roses are so meaningful. Let’s sit down and talk about our feelings and listen to some music and understand.”You realize I’m not talking about actual flowers, right? I’m talking about the pitfalls of a too-flowery life and the emptiness of a life without them. I’m talking about the dangers of a lopsided perspective.Good things come into conflict. And there is no choice so difficult as the choice between two good things.Justice or mercy?Honesty or loyalty?Inspiration or accuracy?Time or money?Science or romance?Which way do you lean?A weak student will choose one side of a duality and disparage the other side while a brilliant student will stand between the poles and feel the energy that passes between them.F. Scott Fitzgerald put it this way, “The test of a first rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function.”Life is a tightrope.Leaning is dangerous.Balance is what you need.“In fact, romanticism and science are good for each other. The scientist keeps the romantic honest and the romantic keeps the scientist human.” – Tom Robbins,&nbsp;Another Roadside Attraction,&nbsp;1971I’m not suggesting that you seek watery compromise, that mind-numbing “happy medium” cherished by the frightened and the weak. I’m suggesting you find the electricity that flows when two poles of a duality are brought into close proximity.Electricity is not a compromise. It is an altogether third, new thing that emerges from two potentials.&nbsp;“And so I will tell them one of the greatest, perhaps the greatest story of all – the story of good and evil, of strength and weakness, of love and hate, of beauty and ugliness. I shall try to demonstrate to them how these doubles are inseparable – how neither can exist without the other and how out of their groupings creativeness is born.” – John Steinbeck,&nbsp;East of Eden,&nbsp;1952Can you see the truth in opposite possibilities?Your opponent isn't always an idiot.Your adversary isn't always evil.Learn to love your enemy and feel fully alive.Reach for the electricity.Roy H. Williams

At first glance it would appear that Vince Poscente and I stand for exactly opposite things.Vince is all about speed. His mantra seems to be,&nbsp;“You don’t have to choose; you can have it all. And you don’t have to wait, you can have it now.”Yes, at first glance it would be easy to write Poscente off as just another preacher of gimmicks and hype. But that would be a mistake.Vince challenges the fable of the Tortoise and the Hare in chapter six,&nbsp;Naughty, Naughty Speed.&nbsp;“The hare doesn’t lose because he’s fast – speed does not work against him in any way. And the tortoise doesn’t win because he is slow. The hare loses because he makes a ridiculous choice about how to spend his time.”Time. Focus. Purpose. Clarity. Commitment. These are the things Vince Poscente talks about. I like him.You and I know the world is changing at an unprecedented rate. The big fish are no longer eating the little fish. The fast fish are eating the slow.Lee Iacocca, in his just-released book,&nbsp;Where Have All the Leaders Gone?&nbsp;says, “When you stop to think about it, most of the great companies of our times began as upstarts – Little Davids taking on big Goliaths. When I first heard about Fred Smith, the guy who created Federal Express, I thought the idea was crazy. I remember thinking, He’s going to take on the&nbsp;post office?&nbsp;Today Federal Express does such a huge business that even the U.S. Postal Service hires it to move a billion dollars in packages every year.”My problem with the rabbit in the fable is the problem I have with all traditional preachers of speed:&nbsp;they almost always lack commitment.&nbsp;They’re all huzzah and high-fives until Adversity rears his ugly wolf-snout and then the twitchy little bastards scatter like the rabbits they are.Vince Poscente is not a twitchy little rabbit. He’s an Olympic speed skier who loves the feeling of standing still at 200 kilometers per hour.My favorite chapter in his book is number twenty-nine,&nbsp;Racing Across a Tightrope.&nbsp;“One after another, each of us started across the tightrope, believing we could win. And one after another, each of us failed. No one won the race because no one could stay on the rope. We’d hold our arms out to our sides, keep our eyes on the rope, and carefully place one foot in front of the other. We’d concentrate all our energy on going fast and not falling – but then we’d fall. Again. And again. Once we had accumulated enough bruising and humiliation, the coach let us in on a little secret: to go fast, stop focusing on the rope and start focusing on the destination.”It reminded me of what Peter learned in that famous walking-on-water&nbsp;incident.Gosh, I’ve already written 478 words, yet I’ve barely scratched the surface of what Poscente has to say.Let me accelerate for you: The book is about using speed to reduce the stress in your life.I hate stress. If you do too,&nbsp;read the book.&nbsp;It just hit the&nbsp;New York Times&nbsp;bestseller list.Now for some fun:&nbsp;Vince has created an insightful, online survey exclusively for readers of The Monday Morning Memo of the Wizard of Ads. You’ll enjoy the questions; it’s a fun survey to take. Even better, Vince is going to calculate our answers as a group and then let us see how similar, or dissimilar, we are to the general population.<a href="http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=vWOSgtrSu_2b6Plj7AHGBOmA_3d_3d" rel="noopener noreferrer"...

I learned last week why I’m no good at making small talk. The realization blew my mind.Pennie and I were sitting in the sun room looking at our computers when she asked, “Did you get the email from Janet?”“Yes.”“Should I answer it or will you?”“You, please. I have no idea how to respond.”Pennie smiled her knowing smile and began to type for both of us. Our friend Janet had sent us an email “just to stay in touch.” I enjoyed reading it, was glad she had sent it, but when it came to typing a response I was paralyzed.“How’s this?” Pennie asked.I looked at what she had written and was flabbergasted, “Princess, you are the smartest person in the world.”Pennie smiled, then looked curiously concerned. Closing her computer, she asked, “Why is it so hard for you to make small talk?”She knows that chitchatting with people is hell for me. Friends who know us casually think of me as quiet and mousy, “the guy who never says anything,” or ferociously unfriendly, “the guy with the giant ego.”I looked at Pennie’s face and saw she expected an answer.“Well,” I began slowly, “when a person says something like, “How about this day we’re having!” or asks one of those filler questions like,&nbsp;“How have you been?” every response that pops into my head strikes me as being utterly irrelevant or makes me look completely self absorbed.”That was the Eureka moment.&nbsp;I think I may have actually gasped a little. With giant eyes I whispered,&nbsp;“It’s from all the years of ad writing!”People who’ve seen me speak from a platform know I’m the king of forceful statements, persuasive arguments and ribald ripostes.&nbsp;But social situations require low-impact statements, the kind I guard against every day. I’m the bounty hunter who looks for words without impact and makes them disappear. My job is to keep my clients from making irrelevant statements in their advertising and make sure they never seem self-absorbed.I’m less embarrassed by my awkwardness now.&nbsp;I think of it almost like a war wound, “Gather ‘round, children, and I’ll tell you how I got these scars.” How’s that for putting a spin on it?Somewhere in this world is the most extraordinary ad writer on earth. I have no idea who he is.The only thing I can tell you for sure is that he is socially very awkward.Roy H. Williams

A check arrives in my office and a one-day meeting is scheduled. The business owner arrives on the appointed day.This is going to be tough. It always is.To earn my money, I must take the client through 5 steps that are easy to understand but hard to do. This is the process my staff and I use to grow little companies into big ones. But our magic can’t happen until we’ve extracted these answers from our client.1. Focus.What are we trying to make happen? How will we measure success? See it clearly. Say it plainly.2. Evaluate.What is the competitive environment? Do we understand the felt needs of our prospective customer? What is holding us back? Name the limiting factors.3. Prioritize.When two of our goals come into conflict, which one bows the knee? Prioritize our objectives.4. Strategize.What would be the shortest route to our primary goal? What levers might we use to dislodge impediments? How might we nullify other limiting factors? Are we willing to modify the business model? This is the moment when the future is won or lost.5. Implement.Are we willing to pull the trigger? Lets quit talking and DO something. Nothing changes until action is taken.Seventy-five or eighty percent of the time&nbsp;we can tell business owners how to get to the next level&nbsp;and they’re happy with us. But about 1 in 5 business owners will fixate on a symptom and refuse to see the root disease. Here’s what it can look like:I ask, “What are we trying to make happen?”“Traffic is flat. We need more traffic.”After evaluating the limiting factors, I say, “Your media plan indicates that you’re already reaching more than enough people to achieve your goal. You’ll have more traffic when you have a stronger message. What new message are you willing to give me?”“Can’t we just say more strongly what we’ve been saying all along?”“No. The limitation isn’t the language; it’s the message itself.“I don’t think we need a new message. We just need to use a different media. Which one do you recommend?”When the client’s self-analysis is wrong, they often grow frustrated when I refuse to join them in their delusion.&nbsp;“But Roy I don’t think you fully understand our essence. We truly love the customer. We treat them far better than any of our competitors. We greet them at the door with a smile, get them a cup of coffee or a soft drink and then listen attentively as they tell us about their problem. We provide a far superior experience. If only you could capture this and communicate it with a really great ad or through a more effective media, I just know our company would grow.”In the old days, I would accommodate these people by telling them that they weren’t on the right track and in my professional opinion their message plan couldn’t be made to work, “but if you insist, we’ll go ahead and do the best we can.”I no longer do this because I got tired of hearing the report, “Roy, we did exactly what you said and it didn’t work.”I’d rather be the jerk who refused to believe in your dream than the jerk whose ads didn’t work.There is no benefit in the perfect execution of a bad plan.Occasionally the client doesn’t have a marketing problem at all, but is limited by something else entirely. Here’s what happened during a recent session of&nbsp;Ocean’s 11 – Build Your Business.The client was&nbsp;Scott Fraser,&nbsp;one of my partners in Wizard of Ads, Inc. [Note: Scott paid the same price as every other participant in the class, even though he is a partner and a friend.]Aside from being a talented marketing consultant, Scott owns Milne...

“When Death snatches your friend you walk into the darkness a little,calling his name, waiting to hear his voice in answer. It is a lonely and quiet time.”– Roy H. Williams, October 29, 2011, 5 days after the death of Woody Justice2007:&nbsp;I’m sitting in the grand ballroom of the Mandarin Oriental hotel in New York, surrounded by hundreds of people in tuxedoes and evening gowns. So this is a five star hotel, huh? Seven hundred dollars a night. Wow.The tuxes are jewelers from across America, gathered to witness this year’s induction of two luminaries into the Jewelers Hall of Fame. This year’s inductees were selected from more than 30,000 jewelers. The first honoree is Michael J. Kowalski, CEO of Tiffany.During his acceptance speech, Kowalski mentioned that although his company did more than 641 million dollars last quarter, “It’s really not that difficult to take a 200 year-old legendary brand to the next level. What I’ve done is nothing compared to my fellow honoree. Woody Justice is a man who started with nothing and built a jewelry store that’s known across America. And he did it in just 25 years.” The walls shook with thunderous applause as Woody Justice stepped up to the microphone. This was a man known to everyone in the room. His success in selling diamonds is the envy of jewelers everywhere.I was there with my wife, Pennie, because Woody has been a client and friend of ours for 20 years. Last year his Springfield, Missouri jewelry store did 35 times the sales volume it did in 1987. His current volume is 10 times the national jewelry store average and growing every year.Ninety percent of his ad budget goes to radio.&nbsp;For many years it was 100 percent, but then he began mailing personal invitations to customers for special events. He also supports the local arts community by purchasing ads in their programs and publications. He doesn’t buy these print ads because he thinks it’s an efficient use of ad dollars. He buys them because he’s a good guy and good guys support the community.Woody’s rise to the top began the day he realized that jewelry isn’t a visual product, it’s an emotional one.&nbsp;It’s a product of personal identity. It speaks of relationship and effort and commitment and achievement.And the best jewelry ads speak of precisely these same things.Here’s one of Woody’s most recent sixties:“Antwerp, Belgium, is no longer the diamond capitol of the world. Thirty-four hours on an airplane.&nbsp;One&nbsp;way.&nbsp;Thirty. Four. Hours. That’s how long it took me to get to where&nbsp;eighty percent&nbsp;of the world’s diamonds are now being cut. After 34 hours I looked bad. I smelled bad. I wanted to go to sleep.&nbsp;But then I saw the diamonds.&nbsp;Unbelievable. They told me I was the first retailer from North America ever to be in that office. Only the biggest wholesalers are allowed through those doors. Fortunately, I had one of ’em with me, a lifelong friend who was doing me a favor. Now pay attention, because what I’m about to say is really important: As of this moment, Justice Jewelers has the lowest diamond prices in America, and I’m including&nbsp;all&nbsp;the online diamond sellers in that statement. Now you and I both know that talk is cheap. So put it to the test. Go online. Find your best deal. Not only will Justice Jewelers give you a better&nbsp;diamond, we’ll give you a better&nbsp;price,&nbsp;as well. I’m Woody Justice, and I’m working really,&nbsp;really&nbsp;hard to be your jeweler. Thirty-four hours of hard travel,&nbsp;one way.&nbsp;I think you’ll be glad I did it.”Woody rarely runs ads that talk about having lower prices....

Are You Willing to Look Inside Yourself, Friend?Do you ever&nbsp;ask yourself hard-to-answer questions like, “What am I trying to make happen?” “How will I measure success?” “What is holding me back?”Rarely do we question our own objectives.Even more rarely do we question our emotions.People whose feelings ride close to the surface are quick to use words like “passion.” My good friend Marley said it one time too many the other day, so I interrupted, “Define passion for me please, but accurately, not poetically.”“What do you mean?”“Name the ingredients of passion.”I listened to my buddy ramble and fumble for a minute, then interrupted him by holding up a finger and saying, “One ingredient would be desire, don’t you think?”“Yes, desire is part of passion.”“What would be the second part?” I asked.Marley looked at me blankly for a moment, then raised his eyebrows and turned both his palms upward.I held up a second finger, “Commitment.”When Marley speaks of passion, he’s referring to desire with commitment. Unlike most people, Marley is willing to pay the price, suffer the consequences, live up to the obligations of the things he loves. But most people who say “passion” refer only to a desire that provides them escape from boredom.Have you chosen a purpose?&nbsp;Is your commitment to your purpose higher than your desire for personal comfort?Most people drift across the surface of life without ever seeing the guiding beacon of purpose.&nbsp;They fail to see it because they’re not looking for it.Purpose is more often chosen than appointed.Do you want to experience the joys and pains of it?Be careful what you wish for.You just might get it.Roy H. Williams

Advertising begins only after you win the attention of your target, a difficult thing to do in this overcommunicated world.May I suggest you do it like the Great Ones?When you’re ready to tell your story,&nbsp;choose an angle&nbsp;of approach.Then&nbsp;frame the scene.&nbsp;Decide what to include, what to&nbsp;leave out:Specifically, leave out:1.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;anything the listener already knows or can easily figure out for themselves.2.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;the name of the business anywhere it would not appear in normal conversation.3.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;unsubstantiated claims.4.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;clichés.5.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;complicated ideas.6.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;comparisons.7.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;self-congratulatory pronouncements, such as “We’re the number one…”8.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;statements that reflect your awareness of a competitor.9.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;any promise you might fall short of delivering.10.&nbsp;adjectives that are not essential to the clarity of the message. The strongest ads use simple nouns and verbs with a minimum of modifiers.Choosing an angle&nbsp;is a bit trickier. You must find a perspective to introduce a new reality. Don’t just add incremental knowledge to what's already known. Introduce a thought that will stand taller than any other figure on the horizon of the mind. It's like setting the stage for a Broadway production, and it can always be done in a single sentence.Here’s a glimpse of how it’s done by the Great Ones:“It came down to this: if I had not been arrested by the Turkish police, I would have been arrested by the Greek police.”&nbsp;– Eric Ambler, the opening line of&nbsp;The Light of Day“My first act on entering this world was to kill my mother.”&nbsp;– William Boyd, the opening line of&nbsp;The New Confession“The schoolmaster was leaving the village, and everybody seemed sorry.” – Thomas Hardy, the opening line of&nbsp;Jude the Obscure“There was a boy called Eustace Clarence Scrubb, and he almost deserved it.” – C. S. Lewis, opening line from&nbsp;The Voyage of the Dawn Treader“He was one hundred and seventy days dying and not yet dead.” – Alfred Bester, the opening line of&nbsp;The Stars My Destination“You are standing in the snow, five and one-half miles above sea level, gazing at a horizon hundreds of miles away.” – Roy H. Williams, the opening line of&nbsp;a radio ad written for Rolex“I can’t believe I ate the whole thing.” – Unknown, the opening line of&nbsp;a TV ad written for Alka-SeltzerDid you notice&nbsp;how I slipped myself into that list of the Great Ones? I wouldn’t usually have done it but this is Monday and on Mondays I’m ebullient. It’s only on Tuesdays that I’m modest.Most people like me better on Tuesdays.Here are some typical opening lines&nbsp;from average ads. Compare them to the lines that come from unusual angles and better frame the the new perspective:Typical:&nbsp;McMorris Ford is having a Clearance Event!Unusual:&nbsp;We want to get rid of this new truck even more than you want to own it.Typical:&nbsp;Harvey Chevrolet is Going Out for Business!Unusual:&nbsp;Here at Harvey Chevrolet we’re tired of being average, so here’s what we’ve decided to do.Typical:&nbsp;Save up to 70 percent at Neederman Optical!Unusual:&nbsp;New eyeglasses cost like stink. You know it. We know it, too.Typical:&nbsp;Leroy’s Lawn Service has served the people of this city since 1972.Unusual:&nbsp;Life is too short and wonderful to...

The mind is full of clever ideas. But few of them will actually work.My friend John Young says, “A smart man makes a mistake, learns from it, and never makes that mistake again. A wise man&nbsp;finds a smart man&nbsp;and learns from him how to avoid that mistake altogether.”But not everyone who makes a mistake gains useful knowledge from the experience. The average person explains away their failure, forever unwilling to stare into the light and see that their sacred cow was just a cow.Are you strong enough to see the truth and name it? Are you willing to identify the substance of your own mistakes? This humility is the key to progress.This week a man told me the story of Betty Crocker cake mixes, the kind of story that marketing people love to tell: “Betty Crocker failed at first because all you had to do was add milk. Women didn’t buy it because they felt they would be cheating their families. So the company took the powdered egg out of the mix. Then, when women had to add both milk&nbsp;and&nbsp;egg, they felt like they were ‘cooking’ and the product began to sell.”That person you see at the back of the room is me, holding up a little sign that says, “Piffle and Pooh.”Assuming that the basic facts are true, what probably happened is that the original mix produced a bad cake; powdered eggs are never as good as real ones. The explanation that “women didn’t feel like they were baking” is a romantic misinterpretation of the data.People make these excuses because it’s hard to say, “Our product fell below the customer’s expectations.” It’s easier to say, “we ran into unforeseeable circumstances.” A cardboard weasel will go so far as to paint his failure the color of success by claiming, “we were ahead of our time.”The problem with making excuses is that we convince ourselves they’re true, and in so doing, learn nothing.&nbsp;What we might have learned from the mistake is lost forever, buried under a pile of lies. And now history must repeat itself one more time.The weasel who announced the cake mix failed because “women are mysterious creatures” was not the last of his breed. This tendency to save face is why so few people who hold a job for ten years get ten years of experience. The average blame-shifter gets one year’s experience ten times. Don’t let this be you.To learn things most people will never know, you must:1.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Summon courage2.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;See clearly3.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Swallow your pride.4.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Speak the truth.And be sure to run with the pacesetters, the risk-takers, the possibility thinkers, people who will try what’s never been done, hitters who keep their eye on the ball.And never forget: Stay at the plate until you get a hit. You’re not out until you quit trying. (The three-strike rule applies only to baseball. This is the game of life.)I’ve got a bat that will fit your hands perfectly.Think you can find your way to Wizard Academy?See you soon.Roy H. Williams

Brad Lawrence has been a client of my firm for 12 years. During that time, he’s grown his business beyond all expectations.Mostly because he’s got guts.Recently, Brad was looking at a sort of charm bracelet for his jewelry store. He could buy the base bracelets for 6 dollars apiece if he ordered at least 500. That would be $3,000. But his real investment would be another $30,000 for the countless beads and charms with which women could personalize their bracelets.His friends gave him lots of advice:“Charm bracelets are dead. That trend has come and gone.”“They’ll bring in the wrong customer. You’ll lose your reputation for upscale sophistication.”“It would cost more to advertise the charm bracelets than you could make on them.”What did Brad decide?He decided to order 500 bracelets and give them all away.My staff and I said “Hooray!”Here’s what his friends said:“People won’t value the bracelet if they get it for free.”“People will take the bracelets, then sell them on eBay.”“Giving away jewelry will make you look desperate.”But Brad knew the story of K.C. Gillette, the man who gave away 90,884 razor handles in 1904 in the hope of selling disposable blades. By 1910 he was one of the richest men in America. Last year his company did more than $9 billion.How did it work out for Brad?The 500 free bracelets were gone in less than a week.And within 6 weeks Brad had sold more than $100,000 worth of beads and charms. Only 28 people who took a bracelet failed to buy any ornaments for it.This week Brad told me, “Groups of women are coming into the store during their lunch hour to shop for ornaments, beads and charms. Every day is like a party. The traffic is amazing. We're making lots of new friends and winning lots of new customers. It was one of the smartest things we’ve ever done.”Brad Lawrence had the courage of his convictions. Do you?Life is more fun on the edge.And the view is better, too.Roy H. Williams

When I was in high school, it was considered a big deal if you could control a steel ball under a piece of glass with a couple of buttons that flipped little flippers. The steel ball would bounce from side to side and bells would ring and lights would light up. I could never quite see the point. There must be something wrong with me.I’ve since learned that it’s fashionable to be skilled at something pointless: carry a pointed ball across a white line on a field. Toss an orange ball through an iron ring. Drive a car in circles really fast.If I were normal, I would have favorite pointy-ball people, orange-ball people and circle-drivers. This is where I fall short. This is where I’m broken.I’ve never been quite sure where I went wrong.AWhen Did Macaroni Become “Pasta?”David Freeman asked the question. It seemed to emerge from nowhere.Tuscan Hall was filled with executives from the largest food companies in the world. He was in the midst of unveiling&nbsp;2 new methods for accelerated branding&nbsp;when he stopped in mid-sentence and asked, “When did Macaroni become ‘Pasta?’”Then, without waiting for an answer, he continued what he’d been saying. The audience, absorbed in what David was teaching, forgot his&nbsp;non sequitur&nbsp;within the span of 3 adrenaline-fueled heartbeats.For me, it was just another glimpse into the inner dialogue of a strange and wonderful friend.I answered David in my mind. “Macaroni became ‘pasta’ on the same day the hobo became ‘the homeless,’ the trailer house became the ‘mobile home’ and stock-car racing became ‘NASCAR.’”It would appear we’ve chosen to celebrate the mundane, elevate the ordinary and idolize the average.I guess struggling for excellence was just too hard.A Defense of Intellectual RigorYes, I believe that all men are created equal.But that doesn’t mean that all men&nbsp;remain&nbsp;equal.Some are givers, some are takers.&nbsp;Some create&nbsp;while others destroy. A few people work for the benefit of others, but most work only to benefit themselves.People are not equal. Their motives, choices and actions make them large or small.Are you being large today? Please do.May I confess something to you?Do you promise not to tell?I admire people who work hard to make things better for everyone.&nbsp;My heroes are the men and women who struggle to create a brighter tomorrow.&nbsp;I know this makes me a misfit, but I don't care anymore.Are you a misfit, too?There's work to be done. Much of our world is in pain. Pointy balls, orange balls, balls under glass and going in circles be damned.Sometimes it just makes me sad.Does it make you sad, too?Wizard Academy&nbsp;is a group of strange and wonderful misfits like David Freeman, Corrine Taylor, Shaun Courbat, Jodie Gateman, Oz Jaxxon, Michele Miller, Mark Fox, Jeff and Bryan Eisenberg and You.Thanks for coming, friend.I no longer feel alone.Roy H. Williams

I’ve said many times, “Most ads aren’t written to persuade, they’re written not to offend.”This goes back to chapter one, “Nine Secret Words” in my first book,&nbsp;The Wizard of Ads.&nbsp;Do you remember the nine secret words? “The Risk of Insult is the Price of Clarity.”Clarity.&nbsp;Ah, there we have it.Rare is the ad that makes its point clearly.The customers who cost you money are the ones you never see; the ones who don’t come in because your ads never got their attention.I was writing an ad this week&nbsp;and decided to insert a word flag. I chose a phrase of declarative rebuttal; “And to that, we say, ‘Piffle and Pooh.’”Obviously, ‘Piffle and Pooh’ is just a whimsical way of saying “Poppycock.”My client was worried that people might be offended, so he asked me to change it to something else. I hung up the phone and yelled at the walls. If you’re curious what I said, just walk into my office. I’m pretty sure it’s still echoing in there.Would you like to know the&nbsp;4 Biggest Mistakes&nbsp;made by advertisers?Mistake 1: Demanding “Polished and Professional” AdsIf you insist that your ads “sound right,” you force them to be predictable.Predictable ads do not surprise Broca’s Area of the brain. They do not open the door to conscious awareness. They fail to gain the attention of your prospective customer. This is bad.Mistake 2: Informing without PersuadingStudy journalism and you’ll create ads that present information without:(A.) substantiating their claims,“Lowest prices guaranteed!” (Or what, you apologize?)(B.) explaining the benefit to the customer.“We use the Synchro-static method!” (Which means…?)“It’s Truck Month at Ramsey Ford!” (Come to the party, bring my truck?)Mistake 3: Entertaining without PersuadingStudy creative writing and you’ll draft ads that deliver entertainment without:(A.)&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;delivering a clear message.“Yo Quiero Taco Bell” (Dogs like our food, you will, too?)(B.)&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;causing the customer to imagine themselves taking the desired action.“Yo Quiero Taco Bell” (I should buy a taco for my Chihuahua?)The best ads cause customers to see themselves taking the action you desire. These ads deliver:INVOLVEMENT: Watch a dancing silhouette ad for the iPod and mirror neurons in your brain will cause part of you to dance, as well. This is good advertising.CLARITY: The white earphone cords leading into the ears of the dancing silhouette make it clear that the white iPod is a personal music machine.Mistake 4: Decorating without PersuadingGraphic artists will often create a visual style and call it “branding.” This is fine if your product is fashion, a fragrance, an attitude or a lifestyle, but God help you if you sell a service or a product that’s meant to perform.“Do you like the ad?” asks the graphic artist.“Yes, it’s perfect,” replies the client, “the colors create the right mood and the images feel exactly right. I think it represents us well.”Sorry, but your banker disagrees.Hey, I’ve got an idea; why don’t you and Artsy go home and redecorate the living room at your house? Me? I’ll stay here and ruffle some feathers and sell some stuff. I hope you don’t mind.But you probably will.&nbsp;Because you worry needlessly when people don't like your ads.Ninety-eight point nine percent of all the customers who hate your ads will still come to your store and buy from you when they need what you sell. These customers don’t cost you money; they just complain to the cashier as they’re handing over their cash.Do you believe the public has to like an ad for the ad to be effective? You do?To that I say...

I wish I could remember who gave me the book by Howard Rheingold:&nbsp;They Have a Word for It: A Lighthearted Lexicon of Untranslatable Words and Phrases.(Sigh.) If you ever give me a book, please write me a note in the front of it so I don’t sit scratching my head wondering where I got it.But thank you, friend,&nbsp;it’s an interesting book.Here’s what I found on page 249:“Gestalten –&nbsp;(German noun)&nbsp;Little wholes that make up larger wholes.The methodology of every respectable science is to analyze the subject matter of chemistry, physics, or biology until the 'fundamental particles' of that system are known.&nbsp;The payoff is very high for those who can see the world as a collection of different parts, so those of us who inhabit industrialized, science-based cultures tend to develop acute perceptions for parts,&nbsp;while neglecting the skill of seeing webs of interactions between the parts.&nbsp;&nbsp;However, a subtle shift has recently come to the world of scientific knowledge: The notion of&nbsp;whole&nbsp;systems has become fashionable.”I agree with Rheingold,&nbsp;especially when it comes to business. The tendency of business has always been to look at the “pieces” separately. As an example, most businesses treat advertising and sales training as separate departments – pieces – when they’re really just the beginning and end of a single effort at persuasion. Do you distribute copies of your ads to your salespeople on the day the ads are released? If not, why not? Do you really want your customers to know more about what’s going on than your sales team?Compartmentalization is likewise a problem in medicine, causing doctors to treat symptoms instead of the root disease.In advertising and medicine we need to step back and look at a bigger picture.But I believe the opposite is true in the realm of Thought.If you want to craft a message that transfers a thought – whether your thought-carrier be visual, verbal, musical, tactile, olfactory or gustatory – don’t pull back for an overview, but break each element of your message into its constituent components.EXAMPLE:&nbsp;The science of chemistry is a systematic understanding of all the possible combinations of positively charged protons, negatively charged electrons and neutral neutrons. Only after we had deconstructed matter into its constituent components did we learn to design substances with the specific characteristics we desired.Likewise, if we want to1.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;craft a thought2.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;make an accurate statement3.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;transfer a feeling4.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;capture a mood5.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;paint a picture6.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;send a signal or7.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;persuade a person, we must create a message with specific characteristics.The lens that revealed the mysteries of chemical composition wasn’t a pull-back, big-picture lens but a zoom-into-the-heart-of-it, detail lens. We had to answer the question, “What is the smallest unit of matter?”Likewise, the emerging science of&nbsp;Thought Particles&nbsp;is built upon the question, “What is the smallest unit of Thought?”At present, I’m convinced there are 12 basic languages of the mind and 12 shadow languages.Think of the first 12 with a plus sign (+) next to them. Think of the second 12 followed by a minus sign (-).Now think of coming to Austin for the&nbsp;Advanced Thought Particles...

I had the great good fortune to be raised by a single mother who was in extremely difficult circumstances: she had no education, no money, and received no monthly child support checks. And these were the June Cleaver/Leave It To Beaver years when it was socially unacceptable to be a “divorcée.”I say it was good fortune because it was by watching my mother that I learned it’s always too soon to panic, life is what you make it, nothing worth having comes easy. You know the Winston Churchill speech, “Never give in. Never give in. Never, never, never–in nothing, great or small, large or petty–never give in, except to convictions of honor and good sense. Never yield to force. Never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.”I’m pretty sure Churchill got all that from my mom.Those who know me casually assume I’m a sexist pig because I say things like, “You hit like a girl.” But those who know me better will tell you the big decisions are usually made by Pennie, my wife and partner of 30+ years, and another woman, Corrine Taylor, manages the daily operation of all our enterprises.We men tend to be impatient and short-sighted.&nbsp;And we show it by what we write.The male voice in literature is hungry. Climb that mountain. Reach for those stars. Conquer. Subdue. Reproduce. Win.But the literary voice of a woman is quieter, as though she has eyes that see from a greater distance.“What is sure, predictable, inevitable – the one certain thing you know concerning your future, and mine?”“That we shall die.”“Yes, there's really only one question that can be answered, Genry, and we already know the answer… The only thing that makes life possible is permanent, intolerable uncertainty; not knowing what comes next.” –&nbsp;Ursula K. Le Guin,&nbsp;from chapter 5 of&nbsp;The Left Hand of Darkness&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;You might also recall the following passage from a memo I sent you in February:We had come home.We had discussed whether to go out for dinner or eat in.I said I would build a fire, we could eat in.I built the fire, I started dinner, I asked John if he wanted a drink.I got him a Scotch and gave it to him in the living room, where he was reading in the chair by the fire where he habitually sat….I finished getting dinner, I set the table in the living room where, when we were home alone, we could eat within sight of the fire. I find myself stressing the fire because fires were important to us. I grew up in California, John and I lived there together for twenty-four years, in California we heated our houses by building fires. We built fires even on summer evenings, because the fog came in. Fires said we were home, we had drawn the circle, we were safe through the night. I lit the candles. John asked for a second drink before sitting down. I gave it to him. We sat down. My attention was on mixing the salad.John was talking, then he wasn't.–&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;excerpted from&nbsp;The Year of Magical Thinking&nbsp;(2005),&nbsp;Joan Didion's&nbsp;attempt to comprehend her husband's sudden death after 40 years of marriage.The challenge of a woman&nbsp;is that she's expected to take care of everybody. But who takes care of her?“Woman's life today is tending more and more toward the state William James describes so well in the German word, 'Zerrissenheit: torn-to-pieces-hood.' She cannot live perpetually in 'Zerrissenheit.' She will be shattered into a thousand pieces. On the contrary, she must consciously encourage those pursuits which oppose the centrifugal forces of today…. Solitude, says the moon shell. Center-down, say the Quaker saints. To the possession of the self the way is inward, says Plotinus. The cell of self-knowledge is the stall in which the pilgrim must be reborn, says...