Even though the show ran until Saturday, I was only available in the afternoons for the first 2 days of the Expo (Thursday & Friday) due to prior engagements. I used the techniques of my mentor, Joel Bauer, that I had learnt during my ‘Infotainer’-training in Los Angeles in 2007.

Although Saturday proved to be the busiest day of the show, my  6 presentations assisted my clients in collecting, on average, 2½ times more leads than the day I was unable to appear. As you can see from the photographs, I managed to block the aisle as more & more prospects wanted to find out about the offer.  After each presentation, the prospects eagerly provided their contact details to receive further information at a later date, at which point many of them will make a purchase of the product.

One of my clients told me that the director of the Expo approached her after I had left; she was a little concerned, because the area we were in did get blocked during the presentation.  However, she was told by him: “We’ve never seen crowds like this before!”.  She was very pleased!

Here’s what one of my clients had to say, after the performance:

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(If this video does not visible, click here)

As a member, I will now be meeting regularly with other local professional speakers, to learn from their experience, knowledge & skills. Since I’ll be one of the youngest members, I plan to listen with both ears!  I’m really looking forward to developing my skills so that in the future I will be recognised nationally as a speaker who delivers thought-provoking, enthusiastic & entertaining performances that meet & exceed my audience’s expectations.

One aspect of becoming a member of PSASA is committing to the organisation’s Code of Ethics.  It says on the PSASA website : “By doing so, the members give notice that they recognize the vital need to reserve and encourage fair and equitable practices among all who are engaged in the profession of speaking.”  It’s great to know that I now belong to a group of people who have agreed to such high standards & values.

Through PSASA, I have now also become a member the International Federation of Professional Speakers (IFPS) which offers great benefits, including being eligible to attend conventions hosted by affiliated Speakers Associations around the world.

SPECIAL BONUS:
I also found a free resource section on the website, where you can find valuable articles, such as:

• Curse of the USP (Ian Rheeder)
• How to be a good conversationalist (Clive Simpkins)
• Immature Leaders Go Off Like Milk (Estienne de Beer)
• The day you start to believe your own PR… (Miles Crisp)
• and lots more!

Wow … I can’t wait to learn from these amazing people; you can look forward to my presentations becoming even better in the future.

This weekend, I had the wonderful pleasure of spending time with one of the magic world’s living legends, Michael Ammar. Michael is one the most prolific authors & teachers of magic in the world, & his achievements are unequalled. As well as being only the 2nd American magician to win the Gold Medal for Close-Up Magic at the World Congress of Magic (FISM) in 1982, he has won 6 awards from the Academy of Magical Arts (the most that he is eligible for), and in a recent BBC ranking of the “10 greatest magic tricks of all time”, Michael’s rendition of “The Cups & Balls” placed him above Harry Houdini. In 1999, The Magic Magazine named him one of 100 most influential magicians of the century. His book, “The Magic of Michael Ammar”, became the fastest selling magic book in history; of course, I had my copy autographed! It was truly an honour & a privilege to learn & spend some time with him.

But here is some of Michael’s advice from his book that I want to share with you. In his chapter on “Making Magic Memorable – The Development of Style“, Principle Number 6 is:

Find one thing, and try to do it better than anyone. Becoming so good at that one thing, that whenever anyone, anywhere in the world talks about that one thing, they will say, “Yeah, but you should see Michael Ammar do that …”

So often, we get drawn into trying to be “the everyman”, or a “Jack of All Trades”, but what effect does that leave with your clients? It has been demonstrated time & time again, that working within a niche industry will provide far greater results than trying to serve everyone. Seth Godin & Michael Port are big advocates of finding & only working within your niche industry.

What is the service or product that you offer that is so fantastic & so undeniably ‘yours’, that when your clients talk about that subject, they say, “But you should really see how does it!”.

There are certain ‘tricks’ in my performance that I have worked on, rehearsed & performed so many times in my unique way, that when people watch another magician perform something similar, my name comes into the conversation. This is very disarming to the poor performer who has just performed the effect & is often standing right there!

So, perhaps from today, look at one part of your business or your industry that you make your own - it might be the way you answer the telephone, or the way you ‘wrap your package’, or the special notes you put on the bottom of a contract.

If you can consistently do that one thing, just one thing, in your own special & unique way, it is almost a certainty that your clients will talk about you over & over again – to their colleagues, friends & families.

While you’re here, why not watch Michael’s performance of “The Cups & Balls”?

Study shows up lack of sales people in SA

“South Africa has far too few salespeople, says Peter Finkelstein, MD of specialist sales consulting practise DaiSho Marketing.

Looking at the results of a nationwide research by DaiSho into sales and selling in SA, he says fewer than 6% of 1 812 respondents involved at various levels in the sales chain are called salespeople or sales representatives.

The rest go by an assortment of titles ranging from adviser or consultant to customers relationship manager or account manager.

… For some inexplicable reason,” says Finkelstein, “sales people don’t want to be recognised as salespeople.” This despite all respondents admitting their main function is some form of selling.

… managements agree with DaiSho that when sales personnel have low self-esteem – when the live in denial of their role or are so embarrassed by it that they need to disguise their function [my highlighting] – they cannot expect customers to show them real respect.

… Customers expect more from salespeople than they can afford to give.

… A high 72% of salespeople say their workload does not leave enough time to generate leads. What is more, few companies appear to invest in prospecting [my highlighting]. They seem to regard this as a part of a salesperson’s general duties.

Thank you to Mr Finkelstein for pointing out what should be seen as a serious problem for South African business. At time like this, when running expenses seem to be sky-rocketing, companies are under even more pressure to perform & turn a profit. Sadly, it seems most turn to cost-cutting exercises, with many of them thinking that by laying-off staff (or not replacing opening positions) is an acceptable way to save money.

Not the greatest solution – it’s cutting your nose off to spite your face.

Forgive my ignorance & naivete, but isn’t profit = sales – cost of sales? That’s one of the first things I learnt in high school accounting classes. What seems to be happening here is that with a decrease in sales (due to the economic climate), companies are not re-thinking their sales strategy – they’re trying to lower their expenses. Oh oh.

So where have all the salesmen gone?

If the salespeople themselves are embarrassed about their job function, how confident are their prospects about the company’s abilities to deliver on their promises? No wonder their customers don’t give them enough respect! They’re not expecting it of themselves, never mind demanding it.

Are people just not generally aware that you’re selling all of the time? If you’re going on a date, you’re selling. Getting dressed smartly for a meeting? You’re selling. Trying to convince your family to buy you that birthday present gift you’ve always wanted? You’re selling!

On my recent visit to India, I saw that everybody sold something: if you are able to walk to the street, plonk down some coconuts, bananas or magazines, you sell. It didn’t seem like people were thinking “Oh, dear me. I don’t have a job, I’ll wait for someone to give me some work”. Rubbish! They create their own work by buying something, anything, & finding out where people were willing to buy their products . And Kerala, where I was staying, is run by the local Communist Party, so you can’t exactly blame socialism.

What is even more disconcerting is that it seems that in South Africa,in an effort to get some sort of work out of their sales staff, management gives their salespeople even more work to do. Work that keeps them in the office – who are you going to sell to there? If almost 3/4 of the salespeople questioned say their workload does not leave them enough time to generate leads, who’s fault is that? You can’t consider investing in prospecting as part of a salesperson’s general duties AND expect them to increase sales.

Personally, I think the root of the issue is that South African business owner’s don’t know how to motivate, educate & appreciate their salespeople. By the same token, I don’t think there are enough “full-time professional” salespeople who consistently work on self-development of their skill sets.

There is obviously a urgent & desperate need for proper “I-am-proud-to-be-a-salesman” salesmen in South Africa. If you are one of them, this is best time to be searching for companies willing to pay serious money for someone that can effectively increase sales. Just put on your ‘marketing hat’ for a second here: isn’t finding a need & fulfilling it what selling & marketing is all about?

Do South African salespeople really know how to ’sell themselves’?

Do you think that South Africans generally negative towards selling?

Or just towards salespeople?

Recommended resources:

Anything by Jeffrey Gitomer : if you haven’t heard of him, then you know nothing ‘Sparky’!

Jeffrey Gitomer’s Sales Bible: The Ultimate Sales Resource

Jeffrey Gitomer’s Little Red Book of Selling: 12.5 Principles of Sales Greatness: How to Make Sales Forever

And my favourite:

Jeffrey Gitomer’s Little Red Book of Sales Answers: 99.5 Real World Answers That Make Sense, Make Sales, and Make Money

Don’t forget to sign-up to Jeffrey Gitomer’s ‘Sales Caffeine’ Newsletter:

As an added bonus: Jeffrey Gitomer & ‘The Little Salesman That Could’:

If you have, are you experiencing confusion & frustration in selecting trustworthy & professional service suppliers? Searching through the Yellow Pages, or browsing around on Google; it just takes aaaaaages to trawl through all that useless information.

Wouldn’t it be great if you had one event resource book that you page through – a resource that had, say, different categories like entertainment, or catering, or event venues – so that you could find a service partner to help you make that function extra-special?

Now imagine a high-quality publication that only lists South Africa’s best event specialists, professional ‘party people’ who are passionate about assisting you to make your life easier …

That’s difficult to imagine, but thanks to Trade Edge, it’s not only possible but also available!

The “SA Special Events Industry Guide 2008” is to-date the very best supplier guide I’ve seen, both in the quality of the advertisers & the print-quality itself. It’s jam-packed with the information you need, yet small enough to fit on your desk, beside the telephone.

Of course, Perform! Marketing Solutions are also listed for my corporate event specialist entertainment services that will make your next company function more fun, more personal & completely unforgettable – guaranteed! (See our advert on page 98)

The “SA Special Events Industry Guide” lists over 60 company profiles in the categories of :

• venues & destinations,
• travel & recreation,
• marketing & décor,
• audio-visual, sound & technology
• corporate entertainment & team-building,
• catering & hospitality, &
• support services & event management

listed by a helpful category & alphabetical index, complete with service information, high-quality photographs & contact details.

The advertisers include:

• Peermont Hotels, Casinos & Resorts
• Coachman Luxury Bus Hire
• 3D Design Exhibition Stands
• Oasys Event Infrastructure
• Stageworks Stage & Prop Design
• Conference Speakers International (CSI)
• Drum Zone Interactive Drumming
• Five Seasons Music for booking bands, singers & musicians
• Liquidchefs bars & barmen
• and even Supreme Laundry, for bulk laundry & dry cleaning requirements

For so much value, it’s almost unbelievable that you can get this valuable resource for as little as R114,00 (incl VAT)! You’ll save that much money in telephone calls alone!

To get your copy of “SA Events Industry Guide 2008″, or to subscribe to this annual publication, call them on +27 11 807 1822 or click here for full contact details.

Ps. Speak to Juan for excellent service & let him know I sent you …

Our UNIQUE special offer for YOU friend!

If you would like a FREE copy of the “SA Special Events Industry Guide 2008″, worth R 114,00 , then click here now! ALL GONE

There are only 10 5 copies left ALL GONE , so you need to act fast. All postage is included (sorry, this offer is limited to South African postal addresses only).

The show is packed, I have my passport, & now I just have to get to the airport in time in the morning. Just one quick ‘blog by email’ test to see that the system is working & then I can leave the office.

Thanks for your emails & telephone calls wishing me ‘bon voyage’! I hope to keep you updated as I go, but there will be plenty of pictures & videos of my trip when I get back.

Best wishes,
- Marcel

Marcel Oudejans, magician and corporate entertainer, has been invited to give a presentation at an international magic convention in India at the beginning of May. Marcel received a personal invitation from one of the top illusionists in India, Gopinath Muthukad, who will be hosting the convention. Vismayam 2008 will be held from 1 to 4 May at the Academy of Magical Sciences in Thiruvananthapuram, capital of Kerala.

Marcel will be speaking alongside notable presenters such as Jorge Blass, an illusionist from Spain who has appeared in a number of television shows, and Reed McClintock, a pioneering close-up and stand-up performer from the USA. The conference organisers have billed Marcel as a “new-generation magician” and a “leading figure in the corporate entertainment sector”.

At just 26, Marcel has made a solid name for himself in the events industry in South Africa. He has a host of satisfied clients, including the likes of Old Mutual, First National Bank, Woolworths and IBM. One detail that makes his style of business unique amongst magicians is that he offers a 100% money-back guarantee to any client who is not satisfied with the performance or service they receive – and so far not a single client has invoked this guarantee. He has been performing professionally for over 10 years, and his witty sense of humour, comic timing and evident enthusiasm have stood him in good stead.

Marcel’s speciality is close-up magic, which allows him to involve the audience in his performance. His performances to date have included corporate dinners, cocktail parties, wedding receptions, product launches, birthday parties, train trips and concept presentations, where he has amazed guests by bending forks before their eyes, causing bank-notes to hover in the air just above their hands and appearing to read their minds. The fact that his performances require no stage, sound equipment or special lighting makes them incredibly versatile.

Vismayam 2008 is expected to draw a large number of both international and local magicians – there are estimated to be around 6,500 magicians in India. The organisers promise that the festival will showcase a mix of traditional Indian street magic, ethnic magic and modern western magic. Being selected to speak at the convention is indeed a privilege – speakers will even be honoured with a special title by the Kerala Ministry of Culture.

For more information on the conference, visit www.vismayam2008.com.
For more information on Marcel Oudejans, visit www.corporatemagician.co.za.

Press release prepared by August Sun Projects

• Picked up by ‘The Times’ : ‘Oudejans to make magic in India’
• Picked up by ‘SA Rocks’ : ‘SA magician disappearing to India’
• Picked up by ‘MyPressportal‘: ‘South African Magician set to dazzle in India’

• You can interact with me regularly by writing comments on my articles or by asking me questions
• I find it easier to add more multimedia, like images, videos & links to other webpages
• Because I can write an article online from anywhere in the world, I can write them more regularly than I have in the past
• Search engines (like Google) can find my articles so that more readers, like you, can benefit from my articles & resources
• You can read my articles at your leisure, instead of receiving them in your email Inbox

The ability to read my articles at your leisure is a major feature of blogging, because it uses a protocol called ‘RSS’. RSS, or ‘Really Simple Syndication’, enables my blog articles (called posts) to be streamed in a ‘feed’. Subscribing to my feed is a bit like adding a channel to your television – you are basically saying “Yes, I would like to receive your articles as they are published”.

Now, you may be used to receiving regular articles from other people in your email – if that’s what you prefer, great! You can still emailed updates by subscribing to my blog by adding your email address in the form on the right.

But what if there was a way that you could receive any web page or blog’s updates & articles without filling up your email Inbox? That’s where RSS comes in. By using an application, called an RSS Reader, you can get all the your updated information in one place quickly & easily, while you maintain control over the flow of information to you.

Here’s my problem: I’ve chatted to a lot of my clients & most of them think that using RSS is too complicated, when in fact, it’s not only easy to understand but it saves you a LOT of time & you benefit from receiving only the freshest & newest information.

It’s the difference between buying a daily newspaper & selecting to read only the articles that interest you, & having a window on your PC that automatically updates those same articles as they published.

Newspaper = old news, where you need to page through to find what interests you
vs.
RSS Reader = the latest news, but only from sources that interest you.

And those sources can be anything you like to read regularly – industry news, experts’ articles, or even updates of your friend’s uploaded photos & news.

Personally, I use RSS feeds more than my emails now because I get to choose who I receive updates from & when I want to read them.

Ok, so you might still not understand! ? That’s ok, because below I’ve posted the best video I’ve seen that explains the basic concepts of RSS!

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0klgLsSxGsU

1. So, get your free Google RSS Reader here (my personal preference, because it’s so easy)
2. Subscribe to my feed by clicking here .
3. Add a few more feeds (BizCommunity has a great tool to find feeds you may like)
   (Hint: look for this logo : :to subscribe to a feed, it can be on the webpage itself or in your address bar)
4. Take part in my discussion by writing comments to my posts

Well, I hope that you too can benefit as much as I have from using RSS feeds & Google Reader!

Any questions? Add your comment below & I’ll gladly answer them!

It got to the point where the amount of paper lying around in the office started to reach epic proportions. Well, I was surprised to find out how easy it was to sort out.

First, I called Tracey Foulkes from ‘Get Organised’. Tracey is amazing at getting you to clear up clutter & make it disappear for good. If you ever get a chance to work personally with Tracey, grab the opportunity with both hands. Not only is she fun to work with, but if you’re like me, you need some powerful motivation to get started. Tracey can be quite insistent but I found that her assistance was exactly what I needed to get the job done properly.

(Find the Get Organised Newsletter Archive here)

Once all my important paperwork had been put away in folders, I wanted to get a filing cabinet. Not only are the big steel filing cabinets ugly, they’re big & difficult to move around. I found that they can be pretty expensive too.

Then I found the Orgafile website : not only was I immediately impressed with their products, but their interactive product tours are a great example of excellent & informative web design. The Orgafile filing system is modular, so it is very easy to move around, assemble & increase in size. They’re available in 12 colours, manufactured from steel & 90% recycled wood fiber, & have a lifetime guarantee. Well, I was convinced that the Orgafile was perfect for me!

I chatted to Arnold because I wanted a specific size cabinet. He’s really helpful & was able to assist me with dimensions & explain what each add-on kit contained.

A week later, my Orgafile was delivered – after 10 minutes of assembly, I was able to start putting my folders in. It fits neatly under a shelf & holds all my client information. Currently I have over 80 folders, each holding one client’s service history, with lot’s of room to spare. When I eventually need more drawers, it’s going to be really easy to add them.

I’m not only impressed by the product – Orgafile’s service was so helpful & friendly that it was a pleasure doing business with them! (Oh, here’s a secret: the Orgafile folders are very cheap … )

Thanks to Tracey & Arnold, we are now able to find the information we need at our fingertips – saving us time & helping us provide the efficient service our clients expect from us.

UPDATE – 4 JULY 2008

“Local designer files away Canadian Award”
(click the image to read the article)