Everything I know about sales and ethics,
I learned as a stand-up comedian
By Jerome Mayne
“All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women are merely players…” -
Shakespeare.
I have been a performer all my life—a musician, an actor, an improv-comedy performer,
and a stand-up comedian. On the other end of the spectrum, I have participated
successfully in business for most of my adult life. I founded three separate corporations—a
real estate investment company, a mortgage brokerage firm and a public speaking and
training company.
I am proud that I have been able to find success with both the left and the right brain—until
a few years ago when I realized that, believe it or not, the qualities of a successful
businessman are the same as a successful performer.
A successful performer is genuine, truthful and passionate. He is confident and
trustworthy. You can’t succeed in business without these qualities either.
“Acting is all about honesty. If you can fake that, you’ve got it made.” - George Burns.
Well, you can’t fake honesty. I suppose it is possible to construct a facade—a persona of
sincerity, honesty and passion—but for most people it will be transparent, at least more
transparent than the designer intended it to be.
I say most of us because there is the con man. He makes a false connection with his
audience/customer. He is looking for the quick sale. Even if his scam is considered a
long con, his desired result is not a life long relationship.
It is interesting, however, that one of the qualities of a good performer, as well as a good
businessman, is confidence. Con men exude confidence, but they lack something more
important: genuineness—the quality that creates buyers for life.
If you have ever been to a stand-up comedy show you know that sometimes the comedians
are funny and sometimes they are not. We laugh when we feel that the comedian is telling
us something true—a real story or an occurrence that they actually experienced. If we feel
that the story is made up, we don’t buy it, and we don’t laugh.
We can watch a stand-up comedian who is telling a true story, but if he is not sincere or
imbued with true confidence, we will not laugh. We may not be cognizant of his insecure
delivery, but we feel it. And we rarely laugh when someone displays weakness.
In business, the customer is your audience. He won’t buy from you if he doesn’t feel that
you are truthful and confident. We do business with people we like, and we like people we
trust.
We all have an inner voice that tells us right from wrong. All of us, except sociopaths, are
guided daily by this inner voice. We get ourselves into trouble when we hear the voice and
choose to ignore it. We must trust the inner voice without questioning it.
My experience of being on the wrong side of the law did not make me an expert on
fraudulent behavior, ethics, business or sales. It was my experiences after I suffered the
consequences and the humility I gained that helped me discover what works and what
doesn’t in business.
Ethics is a set of principals of right conduct. Who decides what right conduct is? Usually,
a company or a professional association gets to determine what they consider appropriate
behavior. Clearly, I had some trouble with ethics. It was something I had never thought
about. For the past eight years I have had time to ponder, and I believe I now understand
the issue.
The confusion came when I thought about how someone could learn ethics or teach it. For
every right way to act in a particular situation, there is a different situation that may require
yet another right way to act. There are too many situations, too many variables. A code of
ethics can’t possibly account for every situation. I know now that ethics isn’t about what to
do, it is about how to behave. The actions we take and the decisions we make are what
develop our character and our ethical core.
In discussing genuineness, honesty and self confidence as they relate to business and
sales, a word about personal growth is needed. You can’t fake it and lead a dual life—at
least, not for long. Some people think that in business, they can lie (or as some like to call
it, “stretch the truth”), misrepresent, backstab and just generally be a snake, and then go
home and be a good parent or friend. It just won’t work. This type of behavior goes
directly against human nature.
Sometimes it is frustrating because we know that a competitor is lying and cutting corners
in order to get the business and make the sale. His paychecks are huge, and so are his
cars and houses. I hear stories from business professionals about the frustration they feel
when they see false advertising and flat-out fraud being committed by their competitors. In
real estate finance, for example, houses can be appraised for thousands of dollars more
than they are actually worth so that the unscrupulous competitor can make a higher profit.
The authorities don’t have enough resources to stop all of it. In the meantime, the honest
ones sit in their offices quoting the regulations. The only recourse for these upright
professionals is to accept the fact that dishonest businesses will always exist. Whining
about it only detracts from their own success.
Success in business is not about what other people are doing; it is about you and how you
conduct yourself. It is about your personal integrity. How are you perceived in business?
How do your customers perceive you? Do they like you? We will do business for a
lifetime with someone we like. Sure, they need to deliver the goods, but how they make us
feel is equally important. We like and connect with people we trust. We trust people who
are sure of themselves.
Communicating ethically starts with communicating with honesty and confidence. We
need to be likeable. To succeed in business, we need to present ourselves as trustworthy
and genuine. This all starts with having the guts to listen to your gut. There are no tricks to
connect with your customer. The key is to focus on and develop your self confidence.
Connecting with your customers or your audience with honesty, trust and self confidence
will propel your business and your sales to the sky.
Every corner you cut trims a little piece from your soul. Believe me, I know from experience
that it is almost impossible to get that back. There is no gray area. There is a thin black
line. You are either on one side of it or the other. There is no quick sale and there is no
quick buck. In the end there is just you, your audience, and trust.
Jerome Mayne is a keynote speaker and author. He has worked with dozens of companies and associations
around the country helping their people make the right decisions, when the right decisions aren’t easy. He is a
member of the National Speakers Association as well as the Real Estate Educators Association. He’s the author
of the book, Life Saving Lessons – The Diary of a White Collar Criminal and co-author of Mortgage Fraud and
Predatory Lending – what every agent should know (Kaplan Publishing). .
© Copyright, Jerome Mayne 2008
I learned as a stand-up comedian
By Jerome Mayne
“All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women are merely players…” -
Shakespeare.
I have been a performer all my life—a musician, an actor, an improv-comedy performer,
and a stand-up comedian. On the other end of the spectrum, I have participated
successfully in business for most of my adult life. I founded three separate corporations—a
real estate investment company, a mortgage brokerage firm and a public speaking and
training company.
I am proud that I have been able to find success with both the left and the right brain—until
a few years ago when I realized that, believe it or not, the qualities of a successful
businessman are the same as a successful performer.
A successful performer is genuine, truthful and passionate. He is confident and
trustworthy. You can’t succeed in business without these qualities either.
“Acting is all about honesty. If you can fake that, you’ve got it made.” - George Burns.
Well, you can’t fake honesty. I suppose it is possible to construct a facade—a persona of
sincerity, honesty and passion—but for most people it will be transparent, at least more
transparent than the designer intended it to be.
I say most of us because there is the con man. He makes a false connection with his
audience/customer. He is looking for the quick sale. Even if his scam is considered a
long con, his desired result is not a life long relationship.
It is interesting, however, that one of the qualities of a good performer, as well as a good
businessman, is confidence. Con men exude confidence, but they lack something more
important: genuineness—the quality that creates buyers for life.
If you have ever been to a stand-up comedy show you know that sometimes the comedians
are funny and sometimes they are not. We laugh when we feel that the comedian is telling
us something true—a real story or an occurrence that they actually experienced. If we feel
that the story is made up, we don’t buy it, and we don’t laugh.
We can watch a stand-up comedian who is telling a true story, but if he is not sincere or
imbued with true confidence, we will not laugh. We may not be cognizant of his insecure
delivery, but we feel it. And we rarely laugh when someone displays weakness.
In business, the customer is your audience. He won’t buy from you if he doesn’t feel that
you are truthful and confident. We do business with people we like, and we like people we
trust.
We all have an inner voice that tells us right from wrong. All of us, except sociopaths, are
guided daily by this inner voice. We get ourselves into trouble when we hear the voice and
choose to ignore it. We must trust the inner voice without questioning it.
My experience of being on the wrong side of the law did not make me an expert on
fraudulent behavior, ethics, business or sales. It was my experiences after I suffered the
consequences and the humility I gained that helped me discover what works and what
doesn’t in business.
Ethics is a set of principals of right conduct. Who decides what right conduct is? Usually,
a company or a professional association gets to determine what they consider appropriate
behavior. Clearly, I had some trouble with ethics. It was something I had never thought
about. For the past eight years I have had time to ponder, and I believe I now understand
the issue.
The confusion came when I thought about how someone could learn ethics or teach it. For
every right way to act in a particular situation, there is a different situation that may require
yet another right way to act. There are too many situations, too many variables. A code of
ethics can’t possibly account for every situation. I know now that ethics isn’t about what to
do, it is about how to behave. The actions we take and the decisions we make are what
develop our character and our ethical core.
In discussing genuineness, honesty and self confidence as they relate to business and
sales, a word about personal growth is needed. You can’t fake it and lead a dual life—at
least, not for long. Some people think that in business, they can lie (or as some like to call
it, “stretch the truth”), misrepresent, backstab and just generally be a snake, and then go
home and be a good parent or friend. It just won’t work. This type of behavior goes
directly against human nature.
Sometimes it is frustrating because we know that a competitor is lying and cutting corners
in order to get the business and make the sale. His paychecks are huge, and so are his
cars and houses. I hear stories from business professionals about the frustration they feel
when they see false advertising and flat-out fraud being committed by their competitors. In
real estate finance, for example, houses can be appraised for thousands of dollars more
than they are actually worth so that the unscrupulous competitor can make a higher profit.
The authorities don’t have enough resources to stop all of it. In the meantime, the honest
ones sit in their offices quoting the regulations. The only recourse for these upright
professionals is to accept the fact that dishonest businesses will always exist. Whining
about it only detracts from their own success.
Success in business is not about what other people are doing; it is about you and how you
conduct yourself. It is about your personal integrity. How are you perceived in business?
How do your customers perceive you? Do they like you? We will do business for a
lifetime with someone we like. Sure, they need to deliver the goods, but how they make us
feel is equally important. We like and connect with people we trust. We trust people who
are sure of themselves.
Communicating ethically starts with communicating with honesty and confidence. We
need to be likeable. To succeed in business, we need to present ourselves as trustworthy
and genuine. This all starts with having the guts to listen to your gut. There are no tricks to
connect with your customer. The key is to focus on and develop your self confidence.
Connecting with your customers or your audience with honesty, trust and self confidence
will propel your business and your sales to the sky.
Every corner you cut trims a little piece from your soul. Believe me, I know from experience
that it is almost impossible to get that back. There is no gray area. There is a thin black
line. You are either on one side of it or the other. There is no quick sale and there is no
quick buck. In the end there is just you, your audience, and trust.
Jerome Mayne is a keynote speaker and author. He has worked with dozens of companies and associations
around the country helping their people make the right decisions, when the right decisions aren’t easy. He is a
member of the National Speakers Association as well as the Real Estate Educators Association. He’s the author
of the book, Life Saving Lessons – The Diary of a White Collar Criminal and co-author of Mortgage Fraud and
Predatory Lending – what every agent should know (Kaplan Publishing). .
© Copyright, Jerome Mayne 2008
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| Jerome Mayne |
Contact:
612-919-3007
E-mail
9185 Cedar Forest Rd.
Eden Prairie, MN 55347
612-919-3007
9185 Cedar Forest Rd.
Eden Prairie, MN 55347
 |
All of Fraudcon and Jerome Mayne Services:
Jerome Mayne is a Public Speaker for Fraud Conferences and Fraud Conventions, including
Mortgage Fraud Conferences and Mortgage Fraud Conventions. In addition to being a Fraud,
Mortgage Fraud and White Collar Crime and White Collar Mortgage Fraud Public Speaking Expert,
he also consults for Public Speakers who speak in the areas of Fraud, Mortgage Fraud, White
Collar Crime and White Collar Mortgage Fraud Public Speaking.
A customized public speaking engagement can include fraud statistics, federal fraud statistics,
mortgage fraud statistics and the effects of fraud on a company.
Has been an Expert and a Keynote Fraud Public Speaker at Fraud, Mortgage Fraud, White Collar
Crime and White Collar Mortgage Fraud Public Speaking events, including conferences and
conventions. For specific engagements, see client list.
Primary Areas of Expertise:
Mortgage Fraud Public Speaker
White Collar Crime Public Speaker
Fraud Public Speaker Trainer
Fraud Public Speaker Consultant
Fraud Convention Public Speaker
Fraud Conference Public Speaker
Fraud Expert Public Speaker
Mortgage Fraud Expert Public Speaker
Mortgage Fraud Consultant Public Speaker
Jerome has developed a talk on ethics that evokes thought and discussion. He explores the
definition of ethics as described on www.dictionary.com, the differences between general business
ethics and the set of principals of right conduct, or ethics, as set forth by an employer or a trade
association. His talk on ethics was designed for presentation to the MBA program at Hamline
University in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Jerome Mayne is a Public Speaker for Fraud Conferences and Fraud Conventions, including
Mortgage Fraud Conferences and Mortgage Fraud Conventions. In addition to being a Fraud,
Mortgage Fraud and White Collar Crime and White Collar Mortgage Fraud Public Speaking Expert,
he also consults for Public Speakers who speak in the areas of Fraud, Mortgage Fraud, White
Collar Crime and White Collar Mortgage Fraud Public Speaking.
A customized public speaking engagement can include fraud statistics, federal fraud statistics,
mortgage fraud statistics and the effects of fraud on a company.
Has been an Expert and a Keynote Fraud Public Speaker at Fraud, Mortgage Fraud, White Collar
Crime and White Collar Mortgage Fraud Public Speaking events, including conferences and
conventions. For specific engagements, see client list.
Primary Areas of Expertise:
Mortgage Fraud Public Speaker
White Collar Crime Public Speaker
Fraud Public Speaker Trainer
Fraud Public Speaker Consultant
Fraud Convention Public Speaker
Fraud Conference Public Speaker
Fraud Expert Public Speaker
Mortgage Fraud Expert Public Speaker
Mortgage Fraud Consultant Public Speaker
Jerome has developed a talk on ethics that evokes thought and discussion. He explores the
definition of ethics as described on www.dictionary.com, the differences between general business
ethics and the set of principals of right conduct, or ethics, as set forth by an employer or a trade
association. His talk on ethics was designed for presentation to the MBA program at Hamline
University in Minneapolis, Minnesota.