Great Salesmen Don't Multi-task - Bob Sherman - MediaBizBloggers

Attention deficit disorder (ADD) must be difficult to deal with although all of us have met folks who have made excellent adjustments to it and even extol its virtues. Certainly the emergence of the multi-tasking phenomenon has done much to support the virtuous status of this otherwise neurological disorder. How many meetings have you been in lately where someone wasn't nose-diving to his Blackberry and texting away? None, I'd venture. If called out, the engaged party says, "it's okay, I'm a great multi-tasker." I always want to, but usually am able to keep from responding, "actually you're pretty rude, but obviously whatever you are communicating about on that Blackberry of yours is more interesting than what we're talking about."

Social, much less business grace aside, who's kidding whom? The best work of any kind results at least in part from laser like focus on the task at hand. Not the taskS at hand. Picture this, someone in a white coat has just asked you to count to ten backwards. By the time you get to seven, you're out and Springsteen is belting out Born to Runas "White Coat" begins to check his email. What the heck. He's a pro and he's multi-tasking.

I understand that the analogy may not work for some, but tell that to the guy whose business' life or death depends upon your best work. How about this for a good definition of multi-tasking. Multi-tasking is the ability to do many more tasks during a set time period than most people because the multi-tasker is incapable of being distracted and is ultra disciplined at focusing on the business at hand. He's therefore able to collapse time and accomplish more, and more effectively than the average performer, and likely a lot more than the Blackberry multi-tasker.

Great Selling!

Bob Sherman has 40 years experience managing relationships between media companies and advertisers in old and new media from radio, cable and TV to the Internet, and from sales executive to chief executive and from the biggest media corporations to his own entrepreneurial companies. He is currently in partnership with Pilot Group, LLC. Bob can be reached at rsherman@pilotgroup.biz.

Read all Bob's MediaBizBloggers commentaries at Great Sellers Go To Heaven - MediaBizBloggers.

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