Ho Ho Ho. Here’s your amazing all-in-one… 

* Seasonal goodwill MESSAGE
 
* Seasonal goodwill COMPETITION with your amazing seasonal goodwill PRIZE
 
* And your amazing seasonal goodwill SPECIAL OFFER to enable you and your team to give greater answers to tough questions throughout 2017 and beyond!!!
 
Let’s start with helping my potential new client from up North… by which I mean way way way up North… like North Pole North.
 
Every year I expect to get a call from this popular, hard-working, bearded gentleman, as he needs to be ready to give great answers from the toughest source in the world – disgruntled kids.
 

 
It’s hard enough to get presents for just a few children and get it right.
 
So imagine just how hard it is if you undertake the challenge for every child in the world – and even some adults as well – providing they’ve all been good, of course.
 
And there’s a lot that can go wrong if you’re relying on transporting the presents with the help of a bunch of traditionally ground-bound animals and hoping they can fly.
 

 
Clearly if things go wrong, lots of tough questions will follow.
 
There’s tough questions too for other adults who sometimes find themselves having to answer on behalf of that elusive hyper-active character in a red suit.
 
Questions like…
 
Why did you get me Present X when I told you I wanted Present Z?
 
Why did those reindeer make such a mess of our loungeroom?

If he knows when you’ve been sleeping and knows when you’re awake, shouldn’t he get out of my bedroom and be reported to the police?
 
 

YOUR OPPORTUNITY TO WIN AN AMAZING PRIZE

 
 
So the Michael Dodd Communications seasonal goodwill competition involves:

 

  1. Formulating your tough question for Santa and/or those who have to sometimes speak on his behalf

 

  1. Formulating your great answer to that question. (The Dodd book says great answers must always involve exact truths, but because it’s Christmas, your answer in this competition just has to pass the test of being interesting and credible to an intelligent six-year-old.)

 

  1. Emailing your Great Question And Answer For Santa to michael@michaeldoddcommunications.com and/or posting it on the “Great Answers To Tough Questions At Work” Facebook Page at: https://www.facebook.com/GreatAnswerstoToughQuestionsatWork/

 
The amazing goodwill seasonal prize to the best Great Question And Answer For Santa is your personal copy of “Great Answers To Tough Questions At Work”.
 


 

The prize will sport the front-cover sticker to show that the Chartered Management Institute has short-listed it for the Management Book Of The Year Award 2017.
 
If possible, your prize will be signed by a rising star author becoming known for imparting profound insights about communications throughout the world.
 
But if I can’t find such an author, I will sign it myself!
 

 

 
 
The winner will be announced on the last Friday before Christmas – 23 December – on the “Great Answers To Tough Questions At Work” Facebook Page.
 
If you don’t think you will win the prize, you can take the easy way out and order the book here: 
http://amzn.eu/18sU6Sr
 
 

HERE’S YOUR POWERFUL EXAMPLE

 
 
Those of you who’ve heard me speak at conferences will know I’m very big on getting people to inject stories and examples to increase the power of your great answers.
 
So, thanks to The Telegraph, here’s an example of the kind of thing that might constitute a winning entry in the Great Question And Answer For Santa Competition.
 
The Telegraph has looked at the question: How does Santa manage to deliver presents to 700-million children in one night?
 
In doing so the paper says Santa would need to travel about 6.2-million miles per hour to deliver to every child expected to celebrate Christmas.
 
The paper has published a great answer from a physicist which involves Einstein’s Theory of Relativity.

 

 
 
Of course while I completely understand Einstein’s Theory, we haven’t quite got the space here to explain it in detail.
 
But the short version is that Santa and his reindeer travel at such speed that they shrink, enabling Father Christmas and a huge sack of presents to squeeze through even the tightest of chimneys.
 
Do be aware that if you deploy this answer yourself, you had better be ready for a host of follow-up questions about Einstein’s Theory that even I couldn’t answer.
 
If you want to read more of the semi-scientific detail the full story is at:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/2016/12/14/einsteins-theory-relativity-explains-father-christmas-can-fit/
 
 

SPECIAL OFFER ON
GIVING GREAT ANSWERS IN 2017

 
And now here’s your SPECIAL OFFER if your Christmas wish is to be able to give great answers to all the tough questions thrown at you at work in 2017 and beyond!
 
The normal way is to book me to speak at your conference to empower your audience to Become An Inspirational Communicator.
 
http://www.michaeldoddcommunications.com/speaking-at-your-event/
 
Or we can do one-to-one great answers coaching – often done in conjuction with Presenting with Confidence, Impact and Pizzazz.
 
But in the spirit of Christmas there’s a special offer on the master classes open to all on Wednesday 18 January in Central London.
 
The 10am – 1pm master class enables you to give Great Answers To Tough Questions from clients, prospects, officials, team members etc.
 
The 2pm – 5pm master class works on giving your Great Answers To Tough MEDIA Questions in interviews with journalists.
 
A signed copy of “Great Answers To Tough Questions At Work” for each participant is part of the deal!!!
 
The standard investment for a place on either master class is £167 including VAT.
 
But there is a special offer – running to Christmas Eve – where you can book on BOTH sessions for £289 including VAT.
 
And there’s an even more special offer – running to Christmas Eve – to allow you to take advantage of working together with your colleagues on formulating a joined-up approach to giving great answers on behalf of your organisation.
 
This offer is that if you book sessions for two or more in your team, you can each do both sessions for £237 per person including VAT.
 
Email michael@michaeldoddcommunications or call (44) 07944 952835 to book your place or places or to find out more. Tough and easy questions welcome!!!
 
 

DOING WORSE THAN DONALD TRUMP

 

Speaking of tough questions – and not so great answers – this ezine has on occasions during the year referred to a man called Donald Trump who, I boldly predict, you will hear give more appalling answers in 2017.
 
But lest it be thought that bad answers to tough questions is just an American phenomenon, it should be confessed that EVEN Australians are not always perfect!
 
To brighten your Christmas viewing click on this photo for a collection of even more appalling answers by former Australian prime minister Tony Abbott, which help explain why Australia now has a different PM.

 

 

 
Always willing to help ensure that you can give better answers than this, here’s to a great festive break and a rip-snorting 2017!
 
Michael