THE TEN SUGGESTIONS

BY: Michael A. Aun, FIC, LUTCF, CSP, CPAE Speaker Hall of Fame

One of the great byproducts of being in the speaking profession is you get to meet a lot of great motivational speakers. I've been blessed to be on the platform with many of them over the years including a dear friend and National Speakers Association colleague Zig Ziglar, CPAE Speaker Hall of Fame.

My first recollection of Zig Ziglar was as a small child. "Ziggy" as we called him back then, had just dropped out of college at the University of South Carolina in Columbia to sell pots and pans to feed his young family. In fact, he had to make a sale just to get a brand new infant daughter out of the hospital after the "redhead," a name he affectionately called his wife, gave birth to his first child.

Zig would go into a home and do a cooking demonstration. He would literally feed his client a meal and then leave the pots and pans behind. He later coined a term for this called "the puppy dog close." No one can return a puppy dog.

Zig sold my mom and dad their first set of pots and pans. It took us three years to pay those off. Several decades later, I reminded him of that he pointed out that he actually lost money on the Aun deal. He didn't realize that he would have to feed so many mouths when he came to our house.

I've been on the platform with Zig many times over the years. He is regarded in our profession as Mr. Motivation. His remarkable stories are home spun glimpses into his long and illustrious life as a salesman and a motivational speaker.

"It's your attitude not your aptitude that's going to determine your altitude in life," says Zig. "You were born to win, but to be a winner, you must plan to win, prepare to win, and expect to win."

Zig's story about the pump is legendary in the motivational speaking world. When he hits a knee and starts pumping away you become infatuated with his platform presence and his unique story telling ability. "This I do know beyond any reasonable doubt. Regardless of what you are doing, if you pump long enough, hard enough and enthusiastically enough, sooner or later the effort will bring forth the reward."

Another Zig quote I love: "Failure is an event, not a person."

I once asked Zig if I should refer to the fact that I had won the World Championship of Public Speaking for Toastmasters. His response, "I was a pot and pan salesman. If I can brag about that, surely you can bring up your Toastmasters championship."

Like many of us in the profession, I often question the whole business of motivation. I asked Zig once if he felt that motivational speakers were more fluff than stuff. Zig gave me the most terrific answer I've ever heard on the issue of motivation: "People say motivation doesn't last. Well, neither does bathing; that's why we recommend it daily."

I've learned three irrefutable facts about motivation. First, you can't motivate anybody to do anything they don't want to do. Motivation is an internal thing, not an external thing. I don't think anybody can motivate anyone to do anything. They have to want to do it.

The second thing I learned is that everyone is motivated. Even the guy who is to lazy to go to work in the morning; he's more motivated to lay in bed than he is to work. He might be negatively motivated, but he's nevertheless motivated.

The third thing I've learned is that people do things for their reasons, not for yours. The trick is to figure out what their reasons are. When you ask good questions and give people the chance to respond you can uncover their true motivation. It's rooted in emotion. "People don't buy for logical reasons," says Zig. "They buy for emotional reasons."

My favorite Zig quote of all is this one: "If God would have wanted us to live in a permissive society He would have given us Ten Suggestions and not Ten Commandments."