Life Lessons: Word of Mouth Advertising Going Strong After 4 Decades
The Lesson of Jack Palmer and Chuck Christian

My little dog, TuffGuy, and I were out for our usual midnight walk last night. We started last summer, a way to get back into shape, lose some weight (both of us), and overcome the chronic back pain and sciatica I had endured for many years. TuffGuy and I walked last year until the snow fell; it was a very enjoyable routine. We stopped, mainly because the salt and ice hurt his paws. TuffGuy would have continued, just as dogs will walk with their masters in the hot summer sun until they fall over dead of heat exhaustion, too loyal and too happy for the time together to quit. I have always thought of that as the most powerful example of unconditional love I have every heard of. For that reason I am well aware of how far dogs will push themselves beyond the pain barrier, just to be with their masters, so I am very careful with ours.

We also stopped because people don’t shovel their sidewalks anymore. In fact, I believe the failure to shovel your sidewalk, while seemingly very insignificant, is really a symptom of the fact that neighbors and neighborhoods aren’t connected. In fact, we aren’t even neighbors and there aren’t neighborhoods any more, just people living next door or in the area. Yes, there are exceptions but for the most part, the “village” is long gone. Perhaps everyone is inside tweeting? For whatever the reason, “neighbors” have, as a general rule, ceased to care about the residents on either side of them.

So, why bother!

Anyway, when I lost my walking buddy, my accountability partner, as I call him, it just wasn’t as much fun. When the fun went out of it, I just stopped, not willing to risk the sidewalks and the ice…not after 15 major surgeries on my neck, back, and shoulder.

No way!

So, when the weather started to get nice again, I got the itch. I also felt the waistline on my pants a bit more than I wanted to. Then, my daughter said TuffGuy was starting to look like a sausage!

Well, offend me but never my dog!

Consequently, TuffGuy and I were right back at it, saying hello to all the doormen in front of the bars along Detroit Ave; and, all as if we hadn’t missed a beat. I am always greeted with a friendly smile and a kind word but it is TuffGuy that gets the bulk of the attention:

“Hey! TuffffGuuuyyy!”

Is the standard greeting from the doormen.

“Awwww isn’t he cute!”

Comes from the pretty girls.

He, of course, wants nothing to do with them but they all want to pet him.

Now, if I were a 20 something single guy…..

Need I say more?

TuffGuy is what we used to so inappropriately call a “chick magnet” back in the day. In fact, he works better than any Corvette I have ever owned or been seen in! Often on Detroit Ave when I was growing up.

Life Lesson: If you’re a single guy and want to meet pretty girls?

Get a cute little dog and go for walks on any street in America like Detroit Ave. Detroit Avenue is safe, has lots of bars and pizza joints, and lots of pretty girls! Oh to be 20 something again.

Not on your life!

So, 500 words later I get to the main Life Lesson? Not quite but almost. Better late then never, as my mom would always say when I walked in late for dinner:

“John Patrick!”

Or, if I was really in the dog house:

“John Patrick Jude Zajaros!!”

Then I knew it was all over for the evening…or the week.

Grounded!

So anyway, I was walking with TuffGuy and I started to catch up with this older gentleman and his rather huge dog. The older gentleman was not small either. In fact, he was about 6’4” and probably weighed in at about 225lbs. Not a small guy!

Big, bald, and he seemed to be slowing down?

I started to slow down too! I walk for solitude and to listen to my audiobooks. I didn’t want to get stuck, I wanted to go about my routine. Besides, you never know with people and especially people with dogs, big dogs. I have run into all kinds on our walks; and, so has TuffGuy.

Additionally, dogs can be funny, you just never know how they’re going to react with other dogs or with strange people. Dogs are kind of like people in that way, I suppose, situationally unpredictable. You see, I know this from watching TuffGuy. We have plenty of experience with all the people who want to pet him on our walks and they just assume he will let them. Well, he doesn’t go for it at all; and is, in fact, very stand-offish.

But when it comes to other dogs? TuffGuy doesn’t know he’s ¾ Pug and ¼ Beagle, he thinks because he looks like a miniature Bull Mastiff he is one! Consequently, TuffGuy sees another dog, he wants to do the dog thing and check him or her out…preferably her!

Life Lesson: A male is a male is a male!

Well, TuffGuy and this man seemed to be thinking the same thing, bent on meeting, so I relented and we caught up.

The dogs did their doggy thing, sniffed, wagged their tails, and generally had a good old time. It was fun to watch them make nice for a while. The Big Guy and I started to talk and walk and do the guy thing, sans the waging of the tails!

Everything seemed to be OK!

Turns out the Big Guy’s name was Chuck Christian and he usually walks his dog earlier in the evening. I walked TuffGuy a bit earlier than usual, it was such a nice night and I wanted to get out. Because Chuck was walking Beast a bit later than usual, we ran into each other.

And no, his dog’s name isn’t Beast, I just never got his name and it seemed to fit the story and the Big Guy. I’ll get it next time…promise!

So, Beast it is!

Anyway, Chuck told me he lived down the street, had for 40 years. Seems he bought his house from a guy by the name of Jack Palmer.

“Do you know Jack?” he asked me.

“Well,” he went on, “Jack Palmer is the most honest man in Lakewood. That house was in need of a lot when we moved in, bunch a bikers had lived there and the lady who owned it wanted them out. I had a friend and he told me to see Jack Palmer and no one else, that Jack Palmer is the most honest guy I’d ever meet. And he was right! Jack Palmer is the most honest man I have ever dealt with!”

Chuck Christian went on to tell me a bit more about himself and the house, where his son lived, and some additional things about his life, but he kept coming back to “Jack Palmer, the most honest man, a great man!”

It seems that Chuck had also seen TuffGuy and I before, at the metro parks dog park, so we talked about that for a while, and walked.

Back to the Life Lesson

Now, the fact that Chuck Christian knew Jack Palmer as “the most honest man he had ever dealt with” wasn’t what intrigued me most, although it was certainly enough to consider calling Jack if I was ever in need of another property, it was how long it had been since Chuck had purchased the house from Jack and how many people Chuck has told that story to over the past 40 years!

Imagine that for a moment!

One man, happily talking about a great and “honest” guy by the name of Jack Palmer for 40 years. Get that? Chuck is still talking about his “friend” 40 years after he has done business with him.

If ever there was an example of Girard’s Law of 250 I was witnessing it firsthand!

You see, according to Girard’s Law of 250, everyone has in his or her sphere of influence 250 people. Everyone has 250 people they know well enough and have enough influence over that they will show up at their wake or funeral when they pass away. It is anecdotal but it makes sense. Funeral directors, as a rule, order 250 cards for the passing of most people because they have discovered over the years that 250 people will pay their last respects.

The beginnings of the Law of 250!

Interestingly, Joe Girard heard this and took it another step. If you alienate one person a day and that person has a sphere of influence of 250 people…

…and so on…and so….and so on…

In a year you would have enough people to fill the Giant’s Stadium or Yankee Stadium, all screaming “Don’t buy from “(insert name here)!”

Powerful marketing lesson!

Significantly, let’s look at the reverse scenario:

Chuck Christian has been telling people about his “honest” friend Jack Palmer for 40 years! Not just his immediate sphere of influence, they have probably heard it until they, Chuck, and everyone else are blue in the face. It’s the other people he tells, complete strangers on his walk with Beast every day, that’s the kicker!

That is not only a marketing lesson, that is a…Yup!

Life Lesson!

If he just tells one person each and every day for 365 days over for 40 years? That’s 14,600 people who have all heard that Jack Palmer is the most honest guy in the world to deal with, in any profession.

Let’s apply Girard’s Law to that and say that each of those people knows 250 people and not do the whole Breck thing or we will be at it all night.

3,650,000 people!

That’s a LIFE LESSON!

If he gets a .01% response from the Law of 250 he sells 365 homes over his lifetime thanks to one man…Chuck Christian!

That’s 3,650,000 x .0001

Interestingly, and this is the 40 million dollar question:

How many Chuck Christians do you know and do business with day in and day out? And, more significantly, which side of the equation are you on?

There are only two:

1) That SOB or the Bleeping Company, I’ll never buy anything else from him (them) as long as I live, he (they) is (are) the most dishonest (disreputable) guy (company) on the planet!

2) Or, That (insert name here), he (or she or they) is (are) the most honest man (or woman or company) on (insert city, town, or village) planet!

Ultimately, it is a choice, which side of the equation you and/or your company will be on in this.

But one thing is absolutely certain, the ultimate Life Lesson:

This world is shrinking and with it the room to run, to start over, or to repair or rebuild a soiled reputation.

The Law of 250 and The Jack Palmer Lesson are one in the same and, if you don’t think so, you have a rude awakening around the bend because the world is a very small place, for anyone or any company!

John Zajaros
216-712-7004
johnz@johnzajaros.com

PS, I will share some horror stories that I have had and others that have been shared with me, not to soil anyone’s reputation but to forewarn those who are not the most honest, the most reputable, before they fall victim to individuals or companies who feel there is an unending supply of clients and all they have to do is run more, bigger, and louder ads. Not any more!

PPS, If you doubt the power of one person to make a difference? Google “Dell Hell” and you will get 164,000 resulting web pages and it all started with one angry individual who couldn’t get his laptop serviced and was “mad has hell and not going to take it any more!” Or just check out Randy Cassingham’s awesome blog “This is True!” It will wake you up to what one person with a voice can do…and anyone can develop a voice online!

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Or: Persistence, Determination, Honesty, Integrity, and a Bucket of Oysters

Whenever I think about positive mental attitude statements and affirmations, my mind always comes back to Erma Bombeck’s classic title:

If Life Is a Bowl of Cherries, What Am I Doing in the Pits?

Talk about effective marketing!

Recently, I had the pleasure of listening to Eben Pagan interview Joe Sugarman, one of the greatest copywriters and direct marketers of our era, the founder of BluBlocker Sun Glasses. Joe Sugarman sold millions of BluBlockers and made millions of dollars in the process. The story is an interesting one, one for another day.

In the interview, Eben and Joe discussed many topics, topics related to marketing, success, and life. I recommend it if you can find a copy, it is well worth the time.

Of all the topics discussed, the topic of persistence piqued my interest. Persistence and determination are among of my favorite topics, along with desire, perception, perspective, and assumption…as you well know, particularly if you have visited any of my blogs.

You see, I believe the most crucial ingredient, the characteristic that defines us and determines our success, is persistence.

In my opinion, and in the opinion of many men and women smarter than I, persistence, and its partner determination, are central and recurring themes in almost every success story I have ever listened to, read, witnessed or been a part of…including my own.

Persistence, when combined with determination and honesty, almost always assures one’s success long term.

If integrity and honesty are not part of your makeup, all of your effort will be for naught.

No one can sustain success long term without integrity and honesty!

Getting back to the teleseminar with Joe Sugarman and Eben Pagan, Joe Sugarman made an interesting comparison, one worth sharing:

Life is like a bucket of oysters. In life, we are guaranteed

success if we persist. In the bucket, we know there is at

least one pearl. Opening the oysters is hard work and quite

often we end up cutting our hands, getting discouraged,

and wondering if it is all worth it when we are only half

way through. However, we know there is a pearl in the

bucket…if we just keep digging for it!

That is exactly like life!

The sad thing about it?

Many people end up losing sight of the reward, giving in and giving up as difficulties ensue. I have known so many men and women who, on the very brink of success, have thrown in the towel, unable to continue, unable to complete the task that would surely yield the pearl they had been striving for.

Like shucking oysters in search of a pearl, success in life demands a combination of skills.

The skills, when combined with a certain finesse, and finally brought to fruition through persistence and determination, often yield rewards impossible to imagine as we hover over the bucket, intent upon the task at hand, opening the oysters.

If we get bogged down in the task, complete with the difficulties, forgetting to focus on the pearl, we may not see it through.

Failure along the way is a certainty. Failure, when viewed as a setback, as a learning experience, can be a valuable lesson, another on the way to acquiring the pearl. Persistence in spite of the failure, and even because of it, will take us one step closer to discovery…and success.

Ultimately, if we keep the pearl in focus, remembering to apply both finesse and persistence, remembering that life will yield a pearl the magnificence of which we can’t possibly imagine, we will succeed.

Interestingly, as we progress through life we will find not one pearl but a succession of pearls, life’s reward for persistence, determination, honesty, and integrity…all along the way to an empty bucket and whatever awaits us in the hereafter.

Another, larger bucket…or perhaps a string of pearls?

John

Professor John P. J. Zajaros, Sr.
216-712-6526 (home)
216-539-7412 (office)
Skype: johnzajaros1
johnz@johnzajaros.com
excellencepaidforward@gmail.com (personal email)

PS, If you want to read a little bit about Joe Sugarman’s latest venture, something I immediately got involved with because it promises to help so many of my readers with various health issues and challenges…from pain to energy and illness to aging! It is truly an amazing product and the best I have come across, anywhere! If Joe Sugarman is on board you can be certain it is the very best available or he simply wouldn’t offer it!

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I just received an email from one of my freelancers, hired from one of the outsourcing platforms so popular online. The email took me back to 1967 in an instant and I thought I would share it with you. It is a valuable lesson, one I learned early on, one I still struggle to honor and live up to every day! Sometimes I succeed and sometimes I crash and burn…but I have never forgotten it and it has shaped my life!

Here goes:

When I was a little boy, I went around the neighborhood and asked people
if I could cut their grass for $5.

I had quite a few jobs and quite a few people who said “No thank you!”

I took one job and the lady was very nice. I was no more than 12 and I
still remember her and that lawn 42 years later.

Why?

Because as soon as I started the job I knew I was going to be doing a lot more
work than I had initially thought I was taking on.

The lawn was there, the lady was there, everything was pretty
apparent…cut the grass and get paid.

Well, the job was taking me a long time!

About half way through, I had had enough! I stomped up to the front door and told the
lady I had made a big mistake and that I needed $10 for the job.

She smiled very politely and said, I will never forget this…

“You made a commitment. You took on the job and I agreed to your price, a
price you set in advance.

Two, you can quit right now and I will never hire you again.”

I hesitated for a moment, then nodded and went back to work.

Every bone in my body was screaming “QUIT!”

That lady hired me every week for the next 4 years for one job or
another, I always made sure the money was out of the way up front,
and she also referred me to all of her friends and relatives in the area.

That nice lady was responsible for hundreds of dollars every year.

Not bad for a little kid who almost didn’t finish the job he was
initially hired to do…because it was too much, too big, and too tiring!

That job paid me many times over.

If all I had focused on was that first job…and the extra $5 bucks, what
would have been the outcome?

I would have quit, a bad habit at any age…a black hole at 12!

Instead I bucked up, sucked in my pride, yes grumbled a bit, and finished
the job.

Had I walked away, I would never have made all the money to come over the
years and I definitely would never have learned one of the most powerful lessons
in my life…at any age!

You make a commitment, you keep it!

Commit to a task, you finish it!

Have I broken commitments since then, no one is perfect, but in reality only a few times…
and only when deathly ill. Even then, I did everything I could to honor the commitment
made before finally saying…

“Uncle”

…and finding someone else to finish the task. Even then, it was like being
tortured beyond the breaking point.

I will never forget that lady or the lesson! I owe her a great deal!

The End!

Just thought I would throw that in!

After all, every 12 year old thinks all stories have an ending…right or wrong!

In fact, life is a process, a progression toward an end. The end is up to you!

The process, the progression defines your ultimate success…

and the lessons learned from little old ladies when you are 12 last a lifetime!

John

Professor John P. J. Zajaros, Sr.
216-712-6526
Skype: johnzajaros1
johnz@johnzajaros.com

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Welcome to the latest edition of John Zajaros’s The Quest Revealed!

I had a gentleman asked me an interesting question yesterday, and thought I would take some time to answer it. Interestingly, he asked me what The Quest is, meaning The Quest Revealed and The Internet Marketing Quest Revealed, of course. In all the time I have been online, and in all the references I have made to The Quest Revealed and/or The Internet Marketing Quest Revealed, not one person has asked me that question. That is, until Phil asked me yesterday. The funny thing about it? I really didn’t have a quick and easy answer. So, it is probably a good thing no one has asked me before now! However, ever since Phil asked me, I have been able to think about little else.

So, here it is!

The Quest, with a capital Q, is really a life story or at least a lifelong pursuit…primarily for excellence. At first glance, that answer may seem cliché, even a bit trite. I can assure you, it is not. You see, for as long as I can remember, I have been fixated on the notion that most things in life are simply average, mediocre at best. Unfortunately, the situation seems to be getting worse! By that I mean, we have almost become accepting of mediocrity, it has become the rule rather than the exception. For that reason, it is actually easier to become successful in today’s world, there is so little competition at the highest levels.

Interestingly, there are very few people actively engaged in the pursuit of anything approaching excellence, regardless of the field or endeavor, making it possible for those who make it a point to be excellent to succeed beyond their wildest dreams. People pursuing greatness through excellence have very little competition. Depending on who you listen to, somewhere between 5% and 20% of the population make between 80% and 95% of the income. Regardless of whether you believe it is 20% to make 80% or 5% to make 95%, and frankly no one knows the actual numbers because the wealthiest and most successful don’t broadcast their earnings, the fact remains that the air is quite thin at the peak! Significantly, there not only appears to be a positive correlation between success and excellence, there also appears to be a causal relationship between excellence and the success experienced by those residing in the top 5% to 20% of the population.

All my life, I have pursued excellence, the highest levels of whatever endeavor I was attempting accomplish or master at the time. It has never been easy, but then success never is. Interestingly, I heard something many years ago, in 1975 to be exact, and I heard it repeated recently by one of the Internet “gurus,” I use that term with more than a grain of salt: “Success is hard, failure is harder!” That quote has been with me for more than 34 years now. From the first time I heard it at a sales seminar put on by one of the Big 3 automakers, although I cannot remember which one, Ford, GM or Chrysler, I have remembered it and associated it with the pursuit of excellence. Big 3! That’s another lesson in excellence, isn’t it? Success and failure, excellence and mediocrity! Opposite sides of the same equation and it is up to you which side you will reside on. Me? I made up my mind many years ago…excellence and success!

In the next article in this series, I will discuss some of my early experiences and how they shaped my thinking and drive to be the best, to be excellent, at whatever I attempted. Have I always been successful? Absolutely not! But the lessons I’ve learned may help you in much the same way they have me. At least that is my hope. It is my sincere belief that if you will take the time, the five or ten minutes tops it will take you to read these articles, you will gain some insight that will move you that much closer to success, through excellence. I hope The Quest will Reveal as much for you as it has for me. See you in the next edition of The Quest…Revealed.

See you tomorrow for more of The Quest Revealed.

John Zajaros
216-712-6526
Skype: johnzajaros1
johnz@johnzajaros.com

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