America's Got Talent

Have you watched America’s Got Talent on NBC yet? It’s sort of hard to miss. First of all, there isn’t much on TV that’s actually worth watching, or isn’t a repeat. I’ve been watching it sporadically, since it’s also a show that you can keep in the background while doing something else.

While watching the other night, I saw a 60 something former teacher making music by blowing into her hands. I watched an older, strangely-dressed woman, maybe in her 70s, yodeling or howling, I’m not sure which. These, by the way, were two of the acts that have moved on to the finals!!! Of course, I also saw a few acts that made it through, that were actually very good, including some singers, a few dancers and an 11 year old rapper!

While watching the show, I kept having flash backs to the Ed Sullivan Show, that some of us old-timers grew up with. Actually, America’s Got Talent may be the sequel to the Ed Sullivan Show, which was known for introducing new talent to the American public.

One of the acts that I remember, besides the puppet, Topo Gigio, was the guy who spun plates on stage. If you’re too young to remember, he would center and then spin approximately 10 plates on 10 stationary poles, starting at one end and working down the line, until all of them were spinning. Of course, as he got to the end of the row, the plates at the beginning had begun to slow down and wobble. He then had to run back and forth, keeping each of the plates spinning, so that none of them would go crashing to the floor. And since each plate would spin at a different speed, he’d never know which plate would slow down next, and therefore had to keep his eye on the entire row. I’m sure you can picture it, with him running frantically from one pole to the other in an effort to keep all the plates spinning. It was stressful! It was exciting! It was 1950’s TV!

The more I think about that guy, the more I realize that each of us, as sellers, do the same thing, in both our personal and professional lives. We each have lots of clients, or potential clients, who constantly need our attention to keep them happy and informed. We each have managers, who expect more from us on a daily basis than we think we can accomplish. Then, we find that we have both short term and long term goals that we have to meet.

The fact is, regardless of what position we have in our company, we still do the same thing… try to keep lots of plates spinning all the time. That’s what it takes to be successful and, isn’t that what we all want to be? Good salesmanship and an ability to multi-task may never get us onto America’s Got Talent, but if it makes us successful, who cares?