Student Looking for Help with his Marketing Assignment

Occasionally I receive an email from a university or college student asking for help with his marketing assignment. So far it has only been males. Not sure what that means. Are guys more lazy and looking for the easy way out?

The email has followed a similar formula of flattering me, introducing himself, stating the assignment and then asking a vague question with an appeal to my generosity. The students seemed to be searching for a free homework writer. The students have asked me to write their paper or at least give them the content for their assignment. The odd one has stated that he is totally lost on where to start. But none has asked good questions. They haven’t referenced one of my articles or challenged my opinions.

In every case the student has demonstrated a lack of thought about the topic. They seemed to think that because I’m an expert on marketing I owe them. Actually I believe that I need to protect the world from flim flam artists, deceptive marketers and lazy thinkers.

I have been offended by each of these requests. The student doesn't seem to be interested in the topic enough to ask better questions, think about the topic and research my articles and blogs.

With a little bit of research they would find my articles, blog posts and YouTube videos. They would learn a lot about marketing and my thinking by studying those publications.

My first and lingering thought when I receive these messages is “You deserve to fail this course.”

George Torok Keynote Marketing Speaker Co-author of Secrets of Power Marketing
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The Nerve of Some People

My dad has an expression that he says when ever he learns of some bold and obnoxious action by someone.

"The nerve of some people"

That was what I was thinking when I read this email from someone asking for my help.

What would you have said?

I cut and pasted it so the spelling errors are those of the writer. I also reduced the name to initials only.

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Dear Mr, George Torok,

Nice meeting you. Am a new subscriber to your resourceful site, and I have gotten so much helpful information from it.

Am a student , and i need your help. Please help me with a write up on this question; " Is Marketing an art or a science? Explain."Please help me with 10 - 12 pages of this, or as much as you can.

I will be waiting to hear from you soon.Once again, thanks for the helpful information in your wonderful site. I have lean a lot on marketing from it.

yours sincerely

C M
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Here is my reply


You must be kidding.

If you are a student then you know that for me to write an article for you would be cheating.

If you are a student then I am not happy about you reading my material with the approach you have taken. I wonder if you will properly credit your sources.

I would prefer if you "unsubscribe" from my site.

If you are a student then you would know that the role of a student is to learn how to learn and how to think.

If you are not a student then I am happy to quote you my fee for an article of this nature would cost around $10,000.
Payable in full in advance.

If this was a joke - ha ha.

George

MBA Games 2008 DeGroote

MBA Games 2008 DeGroote

The MBA Games for 2008 was held last week at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario.

The MBA Games is an annual national competition for MBA students from Canadian business schools. It was started about 20 years ago by Queens University in Kingston, Ontario. The MBA Games challenges MBA students to compete on several levels – academically, athletically and on the basis of spirit. In addition they face the challenges of team work, performance pressure and social distraction.

My congratulations to all the participants in the MBA Games competition!

The Michael DeGroote, (MGD), school of business at McMaster University was the host for the 2008 MBA Games.

As a McMaster graduate I was delighted to participate in the MBA Games in three capacities.

1. I was a judge for the Marketing competition. (will talk more about this in lator posts)
2. I was a sponsor by donating 56 copies of my book, Secrets of Power Marketing to each of the participants in the Marketing Competition.
3. I was a keynote speaker for the closing ceremonies.

Invitation to 2008 MBA Games Participants
I invite the 2008 MBA Games participants to offer their comments on this blog about their experience. I extend a special invitation to the participants in the Marketing Case competition to comment about my book, Secrets of Power Marketing.


George Torok

Keynote Speaker

Co-author of Secrets of Power Marketing

Graduate of McMaster University