The Talking Clock or Searching for Truth and Success

By Don Doman

A drunk was proudly showing off his new apartment to a couple of his friends late one night. When they made it to the bedroom, they saw a big brass gong next to the bed.

"What's a big brass gong doing in your bedroom?" one of the guests asked. "It's not a gong. It's a talking clock," the drunk replied.

"A talking clock? Seriously?" asked his astonished friend. "Yup," replied the drunk.

"How's it work?" the friend asked, squinting at it. "Watch," the drunk replied. He picked up the mallet, gave it an ear-shattering pound, and stepped back. The three stood looking at one another for a moment.

Suddenly, someone on the other side of the wall screamed, "Hey, clown-act, what are you doing? it's three o'clock in the morning!"

In both business and life we need to know the real reasons behind reactions to our products, our sales, and our success. Knowing real reasons lets us duplicate responses and further our successes. And it also lets us correct assumptions that can save us money and failure.

A neighborhood restaurant was doing well. The owner decided to use his successful restaurant as a base and expand from one to two. He bought a building in a different location and converted the building to a restaurant. Amid a flurry of advertising and hype he waited for the place to have a great over-flowing of happy customers. There were none. It turned out that his first successful neighborhood restaurant was a talking clock. The place was filled not because of the cooking, the menu, or the management. It was popular because it had big parking lot.

A cleaning supply company relied on the main source of their income, a territory worked by Salesman Jack. When things got a little tight they cut Jack’s commission. Jack moved on. The owners of the business thought they had great products. Their main source of income was a talking clock. The clients bought the cleaning supply products not because they were great cleaning products, but only because of Salesman Jack. Managers were always happy to see him. They talked about business, they joked, they laughed and when he left they bought cleaning supplies.

In a local community organization a friend told me that people who were elected president were only elected because they were popular. I disagreed. I was president at the time and knew I was elected for my managerial skills and my outstanding organizational ability. These turned out to be talking clocks. I’ve since seen many other people get elected and now I agree with my friend. Popularity elects. This is true on the supermarket shelves as well as local and national polling booths.

We constantly need to measure our actions and question both our failures and successes. Ask questions. Talk to your customers. Listen to your employees. Discuss with your friends. Information is out there looking for us. We should seek it, also. We need to recognize talking clocks and find out what makes them tick.

Don Doman is a published author, video producer, and corporate trainer. He owns the business training site Ideas and Training http://www.ideasandtraining.com, which he says is the home of the no-hassle 'free preview' for business training videos. He is also a boardmember for Rotarians for Hearing Regeneration http://www.hearingregeneration.org and is dedicated to raising 15 million dollars for hearing research.

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