S02E09 – Tim vs. Sarah – Toronto Votes 2018


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The race to become Toronto’s next mayor is grinding towards it’s inevitable conclusion on October 22nd.  The race started with dozens of candidates. That number has been whittled down to just four viable candidates.  One of the more unexpected survivors in this political deathmatch is an unassuming house mom named Sarah Climenhaga.  Sarah doesn’t have the usual political credentials of most candidates.  That’s what made her so interesting to Tim who invited her onto this week’s episode.

Sarah is a community volunteer who is busy raising her three kids.  She worked previously with the World Wildlife Fund but wasn’t particularly political.  She decided to enter the race because she was unhappy with John Tory’s absentee governance of the city.  She is a strong believer in collaboration and doesn’t subscribe to any particular party platform.  “I agree with fair wages which is an NDP focus but I also believe in wisely spending tax money which is a Conservative principal,” she says.

Sarah’s down the middle approach flies in the face of Tim’s more libertarian ideas.  Tim is a strong proponent in reducing the size of government. He also thinks Toronto business is overtaxed, a proposition that Sarah doesn’t necessarily agree with.  She does say that the pace of decision making is far too slow at city hall.   

They say that it takes as much as $2 million to run for city hall in Toronto.  Sarah is running a campaign with far less money than that. She says her biggest strength is her ability to connect with regular voters and to actually work with people of wildly different political ideas.  We’ll find out if her platform will succeed Oct 22nd.  

S02E08 – Markham has a mayor (just not sure who)


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Tim continues his election coverage this week by travelling to Markham, Ontario.  He’s invited young up and comer Abdul Malik to join him this week.  Abdul is just 30 years old and that’s why Tim wanted to sit down with him.  The pair don’t always see eye to eye politically. But they didn’t stop them from having a lively debate.

The hot topic in Ontario these days is Doug Ford’s decision to chop the size of Toronto city council in half.  Tim loves this idea. He thinks that government is too slow and unresponsive. It sometime takes years to get a decision that should only take months.  Abdul is less excited about the proposal. He think that democracy requires more voices to be heard. Reducing the number of councillors might speed things up but it will also reduce the number of people who have a real say in city government.

Abdul has lived in Markham since 1999.  During that time, he says, there has been an incredibly low number of new facilities built for the quickly growing community.  Community centres and other public facilities are just taking way too long to be built. He has put growth at the center of his campaign.

Connect

http://abdulmalik.ca/

S02E07 – Who’s your mayor?


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These are exciting times in Ontario.  Towns and cities across our fair province will be hiring new mayors in October.  The political landscape has changed a lot over the last four years. Donald Trump has really shook things up.  I don’t like everything that Trump does but he has made every stand-up and have an opinion. I think there’s a real benefit  to that. Over the next few weeks I’m going to be speaking with several mayoral candidates. I want find out where they stand on the issues that I’m really passionate about – namely small business, taxes and PC culture.

Today, I’ve invited Toronto mayoral candidate Gautam Nath to join me in the studio.  This is the first time Gautam has ever run for elected office. It’s expensive to enter politics and Nath has depended on volunteers to help his candidacy.  Nath worked in finance for big multinationals for years and wants to bring that expertise to local government. “The mayor is in the best position to make sure things happen for the people of Toronto,” he says.

One of Tim’s biggest complaints about the Wynne government was her decision to raise the minimum wage.  He thinks that if you give someone a handout it diminishes their incentive to work. Gautam thinks there is an analogy to the way Canada’s economy has operated for years.  For too long, he says, Canadians depended on exports to the US. The 2008 recession made us realize that we have to diversify our markets. It made us work harder to compete in a global market.

So what about John Tory?  He’s been everywhere over the last few weeks but, in Nath’s eyes, totally absent for the previous four years.  Tory was elected on the promise of creating the SmartTrack.  “We’re still waiting to see where the smart starts and where the track begins,” Nath says.  Nath believes it’s time for a change and voters are hungry for something that’s real. We’ll find out when Torontonians go to the polls on Oct 22.  

Connect

https://gn4mayor-to.ca/  

S02E06 – Kicked to the Curb and Still Naked


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In the second part of Tim’s visit to the good folks at Curb Signs he takes questions from a thoroughly overwhelmed audience.  Tim’s truth bombs had left the group somewhat shaken but they were still in good spirits when the first brave member of the audience raised his hand.  

“What do you do if you have a client that obviously doesn’t like you,” they ask.  Tim loves this question because it’s one of the most common problems a salesperson has to deal with.  Tim refers to the book The Speed of Trust which he loves because it speaks directly to this issue.  People will not like. There’s no fixing it. Period. The best thing to do?  Phone your competitor and give them a heads up that there is some business for them at this company.  Your competitor will be flabbergasted but Tim believes strongly that you need to do as well with your competitors as you do with your clients.  The most important asset you have as a business is the level of trust you have in the industry.

The next question is about branding.  Years ago Tim advocated that Stadia change all their branding to pink.  They drive Pink trucks and wear pink camo shirts. Tim did this for a couple of reasons.  The first is that the colour stands out. But more importantly it makes Stadia’s workers more vulnerable in front of their clients.  Building intimacy with your clients is really hard and Tim believes the pink shirts are a simple way of doing that.

The one lesson Tim really wanted to impart to the crew at Curb Signs is that becoming a great salesperson is a lot like working out.  To get results you have to be consistent everyday. You have to setup a process that includes cold calls, appointments and social functions.  Set daily goals that will become a daily routine that will end up making shitpile of money for everyone!