Through your customer's eyes...

My bro' Kenny Tell me now, what is your gig
Why are you in it, & what are you sellin’

Tell me the truth
Don’t give me no bull

If your heart ain’t in it
I’m givin’ you the boot

Don’t give me no greed
It just shows your fear

Ya got nothin’ to lose
Abundance is here

Commerce is ‘bout givin’
And receivin’ mutually

We’re in this together
Both you and me

Who likes to be sold?
That’s gettin’ so old!

Who loves to buy?
Now your catchin’ my eye!

Show me you care
‘Bout more than my bucks

Don’t give me no scripts
You got to touch my soul

Walk in my shoes
See through my eyes

Don’t push for a match
If it ain’t in the stars

The cosmos is huge
We get to choose

You got the freedom to Be
With integrity

Remember that business
Is sharin’ the love

The soul of the sale?
It’s found in your heart

It’s in the place
Where science meets art

Sell from your soul
Where wisdom is found

So let me extol
That’s when love will abound!

The Soul of Your Business

October SnowEvery business has a soul. It’s the spark of energy and light that birthed the business and sustains its growth. It’s the passion that inspires its owner and employees and attracts its customers. Its the core values that connect the business with its customers and suppliers and give it purpose and life. Its the essence of its products and services that shape its place in the market and guide the creation of new products and services; keeping pace with changing customer desires and goals.

When a company loses touch with its soul, it begins to wander without understanding its core strengths; failing to hit the mark with new products or services. The spark of life that connected the businesses offerings with the soul of its customers begins to fade; leading to loss of loyalty and market share. Employees become uncertain of the company’s direction and find it challenging to remain inspired about products and services that are no longer in touch with the changing desires of its customers.

The soul of your business is its life blood, its heart, and its intellect all cohesively connected in a balanced whole. The soul of your business exists quietly in the background supporting the company, but its real power comes forward when the company leaders and employees connect consciously with the holistic soul of the company and are guided by its vision and purpose. All the company’s creations will then embody that spirit, empowering the employees, products and services with an attractive force that prospects and customers see and feel. The company’s stride is confident and nimble. If it stumbles, it regains its step with grace and humility. Such a company is responsive to its employees contributions and inspires their greater achievement. It is responsive to customer’s input and follows through with action to stay current. It practices what it preaches.

The soulful business anticipates the desires of its market and customers, creating sustained value throughout its relationships. The spark of life that gave birth to the company is present in every breath of its employees and in the pulse of their actions. That spark sustains the company’s growth and fuels its daily activities. It informs the core values and ensures their connection to its customers as well as the greater purpose of human life and the life of the Universe. Tony Hsieh, has done this very successfully in creating the culture of delivering happiness at Zappos.com. Check out this YouTube video: Tony Hsieh: Delivering Happiness

Has your company lost connection with its soul, with the original creative spark that birthed the company and inspired you to invest your time and energy to build the company to its present state? Do the symptoms describe your business? Get reconnected to the soul of your business before its too late. The Sales Mystic can help…

Sales as a Creative Practice

Beech at NightfallMy favorite photography mentor, Les Saucier begins his outdoor shooting workshops with the admonition, “We aren’t going for the trophy shot today. This is all practice.” What a simple and powerful approach to freeing us to enjoy the process and unlock creative possibilities! Les often elaborates on the point by suggesting that we ask ourselves, “What if…?”, bringing another invitation to break from old ways of seeing and explore new possibilities.

Les’ suggestions apply equally to creative selling. As with photography, the best opportunities present themselves when we free ourselves from attachment to the outcome, and focus on having fun with the process. Enjoyment is contagious, attracts others, and expands the flow of opportunities. Asking ourselves, “What if…” is a powerful way to discover new solutions to challenging sales situations.

Consider the ancient Beech tree in this photo. How free and creative has it been in finding places to root itself over the rocky mountain, and extending its branches in flowing ways to find the sun? It even survived early 1900's clear cutting of forests along the Blue Ridge Mtns, perhaps because of its free and twisted shapes.

Creative selling calls us to bring ourselves, our gifts and skills fully present in every moment of the sales cycle; sometimes in unique and different ways. Think about the kind of energy and tone of interaction you generate when you approach your sales with openness to the flow of energy, practicing your skills and discovering what life presents, vs. trying to drive the prospect to your next “big sale”. At the end of the day, regardless of what opportunities have surfaced, you are more likely to feel a sense of satisfaction and joy in what has been achieved.

At the very least, you will have practiced your relationship and selling skills; and learned new things from and about interacting with co-workers, prospects and customers. And if a new opportunity has surfaced, it has come with a sense of discovery and appreciation — perhaps even a sense of magic in the workings of creation.

To be sure, you will have expended energy in the direction of achieving sales success, but the process will be characterized by a sense of play and freedom rather than drudgery and fear of failure. How can one fail if we are simply practicing our art, developing our skills and opening ourselves to all possibilities of discovery? For me, engaging in life as a creative practice is one of the simplest and most powerful tools for sustained enjoyment and success in sales or any other human endeavor.

How are your sales instincts?

Surfing MauiInstincts are an inner guidance system - a sixth sense, or in popular terms your "spider sense". Instincts anticipate what may be around the corner, be it opportunity or danger. The survival instinct guides the herd of gazelle to the most fertile source of food - or away from the danger of a predator. The survival instinct functions much the same way in humans, but there are other instincts that we can put to use as well. Surfing anyone?

Instincts put all our senses on alert. They marshal all our faculties and skills to a one-pointed sense of purpose. In sales, instincts provide us with signals concerning the quality and value of a lead or prospect inquiry. They guide us through the sales relationship with hints about where and which direction to turn. Everything we can learn or sense about our prospective or existing client, their company, its culture - indeed the whole context that has been presented to us will provide us with signals to guide the response and actions. This is no different than in life itself, but in the field of commerce the context is to explore and move toward a successful exchange of goods, information, and/or services.

When we pay attention to our instincts they speak to us more clearly – they grow and become more available over time. If we ignore them, we may get a slap in the face or a disappointment to wake us up! The more we know and discover about a sales situation, the more active and accurate our instincts will be. Learn your target market segments and their business motivations. Know the key industry players so you will instinctively recognize where to direct your focus. Learn what motivates business stakeholders (hint: it’s not always just money). Ask questions that provide insights into what you would do in their shoes. Then your instincts will tell you how best to proceed — especially if you see yourself in the customer’s shoes and seek to treat them as you would be treated.

Your instincts are a valuable life tool. Listen to them, develop them, use them wisely. You may be amazed at the results!

The Soul of the Salesperson

Sunset over Roan Mtn, NCWhat is the soul-level purpose of the salesperson? How can we think of our role, our work, in a way that inspires a greater sense of purpose and value for ourselves and society? For me, the answers come through like this...

The role of the salesperson is to facilitate the exchange of goods and services for the betterment of all those involved. Both the giver and receiver must be well served by the exchange. It is the role and joy of the salesperson to discover, evaluate and guide the conversation to a successful, rewarding and loving relationship. It is through the love of the salesperson that the parties are brought together to share in the creation of new possibilities for life as a whole and for society. Salespeople are co-creators in the field of commerce — and it is commerce that provides the environment, the fabric, for mutually-beneficial exchange. What is being exchanged? On the surface, the exchange may consist of material goods, knowledge, energy, and natural or man-made resources. Underlying and woven within all these is pure Love. We give to others that which we value in return for an agreed-upon equivalence in value — in current times in the form of monetary currency. In older times, the giving was in exchange for other goods and services of agreed-upon equal value — barter.

In any times, it is Love that weaves together the fabric of commerce, and the salesperson has the power and responsibility to connect with their own inner source of Love and bring that to the relationship. When greed and fear enter into the field of business and sales things go awry. The evidence is all around us today. A renewed connection with Life’s purpose in Love is the remedy.

Happy Valentine’s Day to one and all!