Here's another great thought I think is worth sharing. It is from Seth Godin. If you haven't heard of him, it's definately worth your time to check out his blog. He has some great books he has published as well.
Do you deserve it?
Do you deserve the luck you've been handed? The place you were born, the education you were given, the job you've got? Do you deserve your tribe, your customer base, your brand?
Not at all. “Deserve” is such a loaded word. Most of us don’t deserve the great opportunities we have, or the lucky breaks that got us here.
The question shouldn’t be, “do you deserve it.” I think it should be, “what are you going to do with it now that you've got it?"
Friday, February 20, 2009
I ran across the following story on SAMBA blog. Here's an excerpt of a story from Zig Ziglar today. I love the message.
Give them what they want (Hint: They want the best)
I was amazed to find the story of "Gloomy Gus" the shoeshine man in Zig Ziglar's "Secrets."
Seeing Zig approach the shoeshine station, Gloomy Gus asks "Well, I suppose you want the regular shine?" (as opposed to the "Best shine" or "Spit shine" etc.)
Zig-(incredulously) "I can't believe you said that! Why would you offer me the Regular instead of the Best?"
Gloomy- "People don't pay for the Best on rainy days because their shoes get muddied up later."
Zig- "It seems to me that if the Best shine gives the best protection and your business is down on rainy days, you would work awfully hard to increase the sales of your Best shine."
It sinks in a little for Gloomy. Zig gives him a few words that improve his sales pitch and Gloomy feels better.
The lesson behind the story woke me up. Why do we sell (or pitch, or talk about) anything less than the best for our clients and consumers? Why do we assume they don't want the best for themselves?
I think it's because we're scared. We're scared that we're not delivering the best and that consumers know it. We stretch to sell (reluctantly) because we don't believe we're delivering value to the customer.
What if we switched our framework slightly? What if we realized it's about confidence, yes, but also about the inherent belief that we're delivering something of value to the person; that we're helping them acquire something they need. That we're not only selling them something, we're helping them by selling them something.
Gloomy's assumption that people wouldn't want to pay for the Best shine undermined his profession, his respect for himself, and the respect for the customers. He should have understood that people want the best for themselves and they're willing to pay for it. Why undermine it when they aren't?
When you think about it this way, it feels lovely to want to sell. To want to get the other's permission and give them what they want.
How often have we sold to people with a lackadaisical attitude, a less-than-enthusiastic pitch, not believing what we're saying? How many times have we decreased our chances because we assume someone wouldn't want the best for themselves?
Give them what they want (Hint: They want the best)
I was amazed to find the story of "Gloomy Gus" the shoeshine man in Zig Ziglar's "Secrets."
Seeing Zig approach the shoeshine station, Gloomy Gus asks "Well, I suppose you want the regular shine?" (as opposed to the "Best shine" or "Spit shine" etc.)
Zig-(incredulously) "I can't believe you said that! Why would you offer me the Regular instead of the Best?"
Gloomy- "People don't pay for the Best on rainy days because their shoes get muddied up later."
Zig- "It seems to me that if the Best shine gives the best protection and your business is down on rainy days, you would work awfully hard to increase the sales of your Best shine."
It sinks in a little for Gloomy. Zig gives him a few words that improve his sales pitch and Gloomy feels better.
The lesson behind the story woke me up. Why do we sell (or pitch, or talk about) anything less than the best for our clients and consumers? Why do we assume they don't want the best for themselves?
I think it's because we're scared. We're scared that we're not delivering the best and that consumers know it. We stretch to sell (reluctantly) because we don't believe we're delivering value to the customer.
What if we switched our framework slightly? What if we realized it's about confidence, yes, but also about the inherent belief that we're delivering something of value to the person; that we're helping them acquire something they need. That we're not only selling them something, we're helping them by selling them something.
Gloomy's assumption that people wouldn't want to pay for the Best shine undermined his profession, his respect for himself, and the respect for the customers. He should have understood that people want the best for themselves and they're willing to pay for it. Why undermine it when they aren't?
When you think about it this way, it feels lovely to want to sell. To want to get the other's permission and give them what they want.
How often have we sold to people with a lackadaisical attitude, a less-than-enthusiastic pitch, not believing what we're saying? How many times have we decreased our chances because we assume someone wouldn't want the best for themselves?
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Dust off that Keyboard
Over the last month and a half we have been working to finish our basement. It's been very difficult to find any time to sit down and write any music. It seems like I have spent most of my weekends working on framing, wiring and laying tile.
I finally got a chance to sit down and play through a few songs the other day and couldn't believe how much dust builds up when you do drywall. Anyway, I hope to start writing more music again. I have about 4 songs completed for my next LDS Piano Solo book. I hope to send a few demo songs to all of my fans soon. I love getting feedback from all of you, please keep the comments coming in! And please tell your friends about my music!
I finally got a chance to sit down and play through a few songs the other day and couldn't believe how much dust builds up when you do drywall. Anyway, I hope to start writing more music again. I have about 4 songs completed for my next LDS Piano Solo book. I hope to send a few demo songs to all of my fans soon. I love getting feedback from all of you, please keep the comments coming in! And please tell your friends about my music!
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