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Monday
September 22, 2008 The Decline of Civility!Filed under: ASI Canada This past Saturday I watched with interest a documentary on CTV titled; ”To Hell with Manners” and boy did it hit home with me! A couple of weeks ago I was at the TOPS Show in Toronto and was invited to a number of the distributor hospitality rooms. One of the questions I asked each of them was; how many of your clients that R.S.V.P.’d actually showed up? This was met with disappointment by those I spoke to, what I discovered is that the number seems to run around 25 – 30%. While some might think well it’s a trade show and clients aren’t really obligated to attend, you’re right. But, why do they R.S.V.P. and not show up? Some of the distributors put a lot of effort into their Hospitality Rooms – including a hot lunch in one that I attended and the clients invited knew the lunch was included. This is not isolated, it’s now common, it happens everywhere today, the Ontario Chapter hosts monthly meetings and they include food for people attending. Once again people register and think nothing of just not showing up. The Chapter has now instituted a $20.00 penalty for registering and not showing up, sad that it’s come to this – but I don’t blame them! This year at the seminars in one of the cities out west close to 40% of the people that registered to attend did not show up. The seminars include both breakfast and lunch and yes no one is under any obligation to attend except for the fact that they R.S.V.P.’d then didn’t bother to show up. Sorry, but that’s just plain BAD MANNERS! While I was discussing this lack of manners with people at the hospitality suites I heard a number of stories including people that R.S.V.P.’d for weddings and didn’t even call before or after – they simply didn’t bother to show up! A family event where a person requested a special vegetarian meal then never showed up – the excuse given was she didn’t feel like going. It’s amazing today that so many people just don’t care anymore – events whether they’re business or social take a lot of time and effort to organize. Not only is there a lot of time invested in these events they are very expensive. But there are some people today that have absolutely no respect for the people involved in hosting these events. What the show really demonstrated was how poor basic manners are in society today but I think we all knew that. The big question is – what will it take to bring manners back to a society that seems so far gone?
Tuesday
September 2, 2008 Back to BusinessFiled under: ASI Canada The last long weekend of the summer is now just another memory – hope you were able to spend some quality time with family and friends. Those lazy hazy days of summer are now behind us and we are starting to get prepared for that all important last quarter selling season. Statistics show that about 40% of the industry’s total sales are processed from October to December. |
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