Professor Harold Hill is a sort of a hero to me. Although he might have been a con man and he might have had other flaws, nevertheless, he was one heck of a salesman. In wooing Marion, the librarian, he made a strong effort to persuade Marion to meet him at the old bridge in fifteen minutes. She replies, “Oh no. I can’t. Please, some other time. Maybe tomorrow.” And he responds, “Oh my dear little librarian, you pile up enough tomorrows and you’ll find you’ve collected nothing but a lot of empty yesterdays. I don’t know about you but I’d like to make today worth remembering.” And she sighs, “Oooh, so would I.” And he says, “The footbridge in fifteen minutes.” And she says softly, “Fifteen minutes.”
Now that, my friend is selling.
Right now in my life I am endeavoring to make today worth remembering. I am working on a fifteen minute presentation a lot harder than I used to put into an all day seminar. With the seminar it would be just pulling a lot of stuff together. With the fifteen minute Almost Andy appearance I am creating some brand new material and honing, honing, honing some special comedy material. I guess it was Winston Churchill who when asked how long it would take for him to prepare a five minute talk replied, “About a month. I could do an hour right now.” Honing is not an easy chore. I just bet Professor Harold Hill had honed that sales performance he used with Marion the Librarian down and improved it time and again as he traveled from town to town. Let me ask you a question? Do you work constantly at improving your communication skills?
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