Good Morning! So... I woke up without an alarm clock this morning. Pretty wild. I slept GOOD! :) It's going to be a great day. :) SOOOO happy to be enjoying my blonde coffee this morning. Along with bringing the kitchen sink to Jill's, I also brought my Vanilla Hazelnut Kahve coffee, and my sugar-free French Vanilla (COFFEEMATE) creamer (I can't do the other brands of creamer, gag!) So.... enjoying a nice morning. Sitting out on the balcony, very woodsy out here. Nice cool breeze. No flies. :) (Yippee! No sending them to be with Jesus!) Jill and Bella I guess will be getting up sometime around 10:00ish. :) So... blueberry muffins, eggs, grits, bacon & fruit for breakfast! YUM! (And no, I do not do this at home all the time! My apologies Tyler.)
Let's dive in. Pretty good stuff this morning.
Our Proverbs 31 friend leads others to buy her product! Others, plural. She leads them. She knows the good things about her product, the "sales features & benefits." And why does she feel good about SELLING her product?? Because it is high quality, it is FINE! She is adding value to the marketplace. Her product is adding value, take a look: this girdle frees one up for service. It is HELPING people. She has provided a product that adds value & helps people!
How do we know she has a pretty big size business? Well, she sells her products to merchants, plural. Since I used to be in the "Merchant Service" industry, I set up "merchants" to accept credit cards. What is a "Merchant?" It is a business or business owner. A company who provides a good or service to others. Our Proverbs 31 friend has merchantS that she is selling too. Her products are hitting the marketplace and being sold from many stores, vendors, malls, etc. She is a BUSINESS WOMAN. She is a SALES PERSON. And she has a product that the market needs and wants!
What about this "judge or ruler" being persuaded? How is this bonelike resistance broken down? Well, let's look at persuade. The dictionary tells us persuade means to advise or to urge. Some synonyms are: to urge, influence, move, entice. So this judge, with soft speech is able to be influenced. With soft speech his opinion is able to be moved. Despite his bonelike resistance or resolve not to "move" his opinion, with some persuading, he does.
That brings us to something of great importance. Sales. When I was working, one of my top years, along with managing an existing base of business, I also got new business. Sold. Won accounts. I added over 18 million dollars of new sales volume to my existing portfolio. I knew and know how to sell. That was only one year. Not to mention each other year the new sales volume. If I were to go back and could look at it... during my 4 years of working in "Corporate America" I probably brought in over 45-50 million dollars of new revenue. Not too bad. And throughout the "nation", not only was I "Rookie of the Year" my first year, but was in the "Top 5" performers by my second. I say that all to say, I know sales. What does a good sales person run into the risk of doing? One word. Manipulating. Instead of leading and guiding, instead of showing the pro's and con's, but still leaving a way out, a good sales person most likely has the skills that they can even manipulate the person who does not need their product or service to purchase. Manipulation. What is one of the most common, easiest sales lines? Ending the sentence with what you want them to choose. For example: "So, would you like to purchase just the two cases, or do you want to go ahead and get four?"
Where is the danger? Honestly, the person I have to be the MOST careful to doing this to is my husband. I know I am a good sales person. I know he is also a good sales person. BUT as a wife and as a Proverbs 31 woman, my goal is to lead. My goal is to lay out the facts. My goal is to include options. Pro's & con's. And often, when I know I could EASILY get my way, word my desire in a way that sounds appealing and obvious, "Of course, that sounds great. Yes Amy, you should go buy that or do that." Instead, especially with my husband, I choose to lead not to manipulate. Many women have the ability to do this to their spouse. To position your plee so your spouse will look upon it favorably.
Well, ladies, men.... IF we are the GREAT sales people that we think we are, we should be able to LEAD people to purchase. We should be able to show them the value that will be added. We should know & have the confidence in our products so much that they can see how much it will benefit them.
So today.... whether you are in sales....or whether you are trying to convince your spouse, sibling, friend, boss, etc of something... how about try to lead versus manipulate?
And let's close with a few parting tips....
SALES TIPS FOR THE CHRISTIAN:
Let's dive in. Pretty good stuff this morning.
Proverbs 25:15 - By long forbearance and calmness of spirit a judge or ruler is persuaded, and soft speech breaks down the most bonelike resistance.
Proverbs 31:24 - She makes fine linen garments and leads others to buy them; she delivers to the merchants girdles [or sashes that free one up for service].Good stuff! Well, let's automatically take a look at our Proverbs 31 friend. Did you realize SHE is a SALESPERSON!!! Can you believe it?!?! Amongst everything else, she can sell! And, I don't believe just sell, I believe she would be among the top ranks in sales of Corporate America today! The woman knows how to sell! She is not the woman we grew up thinking she was.... she is not the typical picture of who most view as a "godly woman." The long hair, pulled up in a nice, tight, clean hair bun; the long, drab skirt; little or no make-up looking a bit on the homely side; bent over a wash board scrubbing clothes until they are clean; then hung over a stove, flour on her face, flour on her splattered white apron cooking for the family. I believe if this was still our picture of the Proverbs 31 woman, we would be mistaken. And, as a sidenote reminder, she has built up her business that now she does enjoy having maids (Prov. 31:15), and if I had maids I can tell you I would not be doing the scrubbing of ......hum.....anything! So... let's move on.
Our Proverbs 31 friend leads others to buy her product! Others, plural. She leads them. She knows the good things about her product, the "sales features & benefits." And why does she feel good about SELLING her product?? Because it is high quality, it is FINE! She is adding value to the marketplace. Her product is adding value, take a look: this girdle frees one up for service. It is HELPING people. She has provided a product that adds value & helps people!
How do we know she has a pretty big size business? Well, she sells her products to merchants, plural. Since I used to be in the "Merchant Service" industry, I set up "merchants" to accept credit cards. What is a "Merchant?" It is a business or business owner. A company who provides a good or service to others. Our Proverbs 31 friend has merchantS that she is selling too. Her products are hitting the marketplace and being sold from many stores, vendors, malls, etc. She is a BUSINESS WOMAN. She is a SALES PERSON. And she has a product that the market needs and wants!
What about this "judge or ruler" being persuaded? How is this bonelike resistance broken down? Well, let's look at persuade. The dictionary tells us persuade means to advise or to urge. Some synonyms are: to urge, influence, move, entice. So this judge, with soft speech is able to be influenced. With soft speech his opinion is able to be moved. Despite his bonelike resistance or resolve not to "move" his opinion, with some persuading, he does.
That brings us to something of great importance. Sales. When I was working, one of my top years, along with managing an existing base of business, I also got new business. Sold. Won accounts. I added over 18 million dollars of new sales volume to my existing portfolio. I knew and know how to sell. That was only one year. Not to mention each other year the new sales volume. If I were to go back and could look at it... during my 4 years of working in "Corporate America" I probably brought in over 45-50 million dollars of new revenue. Not too bad. And throughout the "nation", not only was I "Rookie of the Year" my first year, but was in the "Top 5" performers by my second. I say that all to say, I know sales. What does a good sales person run into the risk of doing? One word. Manipulating. Instead of leading and guiding, instead of showing the pro's and con's, but still leaving a way out, a good sales person most likely has the skills that they can even manipulate the person who does not need their product or service to purchase. Manipulation. What is one of the most common, easiest sales lines? Ending the sentence with what you want them to choose. For example: "So, would you like to purchase just the two cases, or do you want to go ahead and get four?"
Where is the danger? Honestly, the person I have to be the MOST careful to doing this to is my husband. I know I am a good sales person. I know he is also a good sales person. BUT as a wife and as a Proverbs 31 woman, my goal is to lead. My goal is to lay out the facts. My goal is to include options. Pro's & con's. And often, when I know I could EASILY get my way, word my desire in a way that sounds appealing and obvious, "Of course, that sounds great. Yes Amy, you should go buy that or do that." Instead, especially with my husband, I choose to lead not to manipulate. Many women have the ability to do this to their spouse. To position your plee so your spouse will look upon it favorably.
Well, ladies, men.... IF we are the GREAT sales people that we think we are, we should be able to LEAD people to purchase. We should be able to show them the value that will be added. We should know & have the confidence in our products so much that they can see how much it will benefit them.
So today.... whether you are in sales....or whether you are trying to convince your spouse, sibling, friend, boss, etc of something... how about try to lead versus manipulate?
And let's close with a few parting tips....
SALES TIPS FOR THE CHRISTIAN:
- Are your products made of good, fine material? And are your products high quality?
- Does your product add value to people? Does it make the lives of others better or easier?
- Have you found your "target market" of who may need your product or service? And are you trying to lead them to purchase your products or use your service?
- Do you know the features & benefits of your product? Are you able to "LEAD" others by informing them about your product? What makes it so good? What are the features they may not see if you didn't point it out? How can you inform & educate them?
- Are you "LEADING" others to purchase versus "manipulating" them into buying something they do not need?
2 comments:
woooooooooooow... so amazing.. I have been a salesperson all of my life... lol and have done amazing at it and now I am a talent manager selling people to Hollywood. I think you are so right about this. I feel that If I sell good quality people with morals and values especially Christian models/actors so we can enlarge HIS kingdom.... It is all worth it... Amy you blow my mind... You make me think about my walk with God every day and how much it means to me to do my best. God Bless you Amy!
Renee! I've been in sales a ton too! Pretty interesting that we can take from the Bible that this WOMAN was a great sales person! :) Thanks for impacting this Kingdom! Hollywood needs people like you to help!! :)
xoxo,
Amy
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