A few weeks ago I had a good reason to contact the Zig Ziglar organization, or more specifically, to contact Tom Ziglar, the CEO. Now I need to say up front, I’ve listened to Zig’s materials for years, so I had very high expectations that Tom would respond, and even that he might respond quickly. All expectations were met, and exceeded. (actually, if I expected that he would exceed my expectations, does that mean he didn’t? Hmmm… :-)

First, a bit of background. My dad, Harold Dye, is 93. As a veteran, and a long-time military officer, he gets a lot of chances to make speeches. In recent years, however, his presentation skills haven’t been quite as sharp (again, he’s 93). Sometimes he forgets what he wants to say, or gets distracted, or even repeats himself. Nothing too surprising for his age, but it bothers him that he’s not able to give his audience the quality of talk he was able to provide in the past. My sisters and I have been trying to think of how we might help him.

Now the Ziglar part of the story. Zig just turned 84 last month. (Trivia: Zig and my dad each have November birthdays, each were born in Alabama). A couple of years ago, Zig had an unfortunate experience with a set of stairs, and he banged his head pretty hard. As a result, sometimes he forgets what he wants to say, or gets distracted, or even repeats himself. Wait, that sounds quite familiar! But Zig is still very active as a professional speaker and still draws large audiences, who pay big money, and come away very satisfied.

It occurred to me that whatever solution the Ziglar organization is using might work for my dad. So, a simple inquiry to Tom (Tom’s blog makes it very easy to contact him, and he’s quite active on Twitter as well). Now, I didn’t actually pull out a stop watch, but I know Tom responded within a couple of hours, maybe within one, and it actually might have been even faster than that. This was no form letter response. He sincerely expressed interest in my dad’s situation, explained some of his dad’s story, and how they’ve come up with a great solution. Then he went just a bit further. He said that if I had any questions, to give him a call and he included his number. I haven’t tried it yet, but I bet that Tom would answer that phone personally, on the 2nd ring.

So here is an executive, of a successful company, who was willing to spend a few minutes helping a complete stranger. He certainly lived up to one of Zig’s most well known quotes, ?You can have everything in life you want, if you will just help other people get what they want.?

Thank you Tom, you helped me. All the best to you and your dad and your company.