Stop Disruptive Distractions —DeWese

HAPPY NEW Year! I am predicting, without equivocation, that 2010 will be a much better year than 2008 and 2009. You can take that to the bank, or the grocery store. Where else, but in the pages of Printing Impressions, can you get that kind of rock-solid guidance?

This is a column about the ugly, evil and dreaded affliction known as distraction. As your beloved Mañana Man, I have pioneered the research and practice of losing my way and taking disruptive and bewildering side roads to nowhere.

I want to dissuade you from distractions for 2010, so you can concentrate on staying out there and selling whatever your customers and prospects need. I want to do this, for I am your print sales mentor; I am your loving coach; I am your guiding light in the tunnel of new prospects and customer satisfaction.

Without me you would be lost in a forest of sleazebag competitors. I steer you away from the swamps with their greedy, grasping vines and venomous snakes.

If I am absent, you are stranded on an island that is far from the shipping lanes. You could be living with monkeys and eating coconuts.

But, I remain a simple and modest man who is weak and guilty of the feeblest transgressions. My transgressions pale by comparison to the bold adventures of famous men who have garnered so much publicity lately.

The trouble with these newsworthy transgressions is that they distract. They are deterrents to the work of the offenders, and they severely disrupt the family life of the people doing the offending.

Extreme Distractions

Governor Mark Sanford, of South Carolina, disappeared for a few days and returned to reveal a trip to Argentina where he visited a woman with whom he was having an extramarital affair. Somehow, this announcement led to 37 ethics charges and the threat of impeachment. Some of the ethics charges have been dropped, but talk about being distracted? The Gov has his hands full.

Think you could make sales calls with this hanging over your head and troubling your customers?

Remember President Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky? He was just trying to run the country when that scandal erupted. Or, how 'bout New York Governor Elliot Spitzer and the revelation of his Call Girl Cabinet? This little detour resulted in the Governor's resignation, and now I'm not sure what he's doing.

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