Breaking news!
Donald Trump has departed from the 2012 presidential race in typical Trump style, supremely confident that he would win he ran.
That’s also what he said when he flirted with a presidential run in 1988 and 1999. For some, running for president is a lifelong dream. For Trump it is a marketing strategy.
If you paid attention to this media circus, like I did, you would realize that this run for president coincided with NBC’s deadline for a decision about the renewing of his $50 million dollar contract for “Celebrity Apprentice”.
Brilliant strategy on The Donald’s part. Millions of dollars of free publicity that kept him in the spotlight, in the press and on the talk shows for weeks. The publicity he generated for “being Trump” was worth tens of millions of dollars. And it was all free.
The Lesson
Lesson to be learned here: Success has more to do with celebrity status than competency. Yes, you have to be competent but that is not enough. We live in a world in which celebrity status, no pun intended, trumps all.
Whether you like it or not is irrelevant. Whether you agree with it or not is irrelevant. Whether you understand it or not is irrelevant.
The only question is how effective are you going to be promoting yourself as a celebrity in your local marketplace. Times have changed and people, especially those under 40 years of age, no longer value expertise the way their parents and grandparents do or did. Today, it is all about being famous and getting your mug on TV or YouTube or Facebook.
Realizing this I have changed my sales training focus from sales skill development to teaching sales people how to market themselves and become famous or at least the well known expert in their local marketplace. This new sales training emphasis is producing huge dividends for those who are savvy enough to implement my coaching and advice. Today, I spend considerable time promoting myself by writing, speaking, producing my own TV website www.profitablepersuasionlive.tv/ , being interviewed on radio, TV and any other free media that will have me. If you are looking for a guest speaker and have a large audience who wants to be entertained and informed – contact me.