214 – August 2
“It is a gorgeous gold pocket watch. I’m proud of it. My grandfather, on his deathbed, sold me this watch.”—Woody Allen
Every individual has some interior sense of what is “enough” money. When you don’t have enough money, you can only think about two things: Yourself, and getting money. It is not until you have “enough” that you can think about others and giving money. The diagram looks like this:
Others / Giving
Enough $_____________________________________________________
Self / Getting
Have you ever met a salesperson operating below the line? They aren’t interested in selling you what you need or want; they only want to get your money so they can pay the rent, the phone bill, their taxes—in other words, themselves. They are solely intent on getting, not giving. It isn’t fun to deal with people like that because they don’t have your best interests at heart.
But a salesperson who is above the line, who knows they always have enough, can be interested in your welfare and what’s best for you. They focus on giving, knowing that getting will be its natural by-product. It is a pleasure doing business with people who really care about serving their customer. They know there’s enough to go around. They can give. Then both of you will benefit.
One of my clients once complimented me on my sales technique. She said, “Chellie, you sound as if you really care about people.” I said, “Yeah, well there’s a trick to that.” Very interested, she asked, “What is that?” I answered, “I really do care!” You can’t fake caring. People can tell if you don’t.
The above-the-line salesperson is confident and happy. And it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. They get more business because they are contributing to others out of their sense of abundance, and then others want to give to them.
That’s how repeat business is born. And repeat business is easy business.
Today’s Affirmation:
“I appreciate the abundance of life and there is plenty for all!”
Marketing your business has radically changed over the past 20 years, and continues to shift with the advent of new Social Media platforms on the internet. Back-in-the-day before the internet, I attended networking meetings, printed brochures, did mass mailings (oh the postage and printing expenses!), and made innumerable telephone calls to prospective clients. I would speak at events, especially local networking meetings. I taught three classes per week, each with 8-12 students, in my home. It was a really simple business model with just a few tasks that I did ad infinitum – I went to 8-12 networking meetings a month and made 50-75 phone calls a week.
Now I attend only an occasional live networking meeting and don’t make quite as many phone calls. Instead of brochures, I maintain and update my web site, send 4-5 email newsletters every month, read and respond to about 100 incoming emails per day, write a daily blog, post daily on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook, and now Instagram, too – correspond with clients, prospects and colleagues, do radio, magazine, podcast and zoom interviews, give free zoom classes and speak at live events. Instead of teaching classes in person in Los Angeles which only people who lived within driving distance could attend, I give zoon classes which reach people all over the world!
Even though there are so many time-savers created by the internet – such as sending a reminder note to my clients with one email instead of making 20 individual phone calls -sometimes my business today seems like a lot more work… and the potential for even more work is endless!
But I remember being told “work will expand to fill the time you’re willing to devote to it” so I make sure to keep work within certain boundaries and then go out to play. After all, your work is not supposed to be your whole life! (Did you forget?)
