Sweet success

I am in the process of founding two more businesses, a charter boat fishing company and vacation rental home operation in the Florida Keys. Yesterday I talked to the man who will be managing them on a day to day basis and I was going over what it took to be successful in business with him. I emphasized that I had founded nine businesses and all had been successful and I had no intention of either or both of these companies being any different. In short we had to be successful.

I went over our mission which is to provide outstanding customer service, state of the art products of the highest quality, fair prices, and that we would work together in a spirit of honesty, integrity, and pride. I told him that the most important factor that would determine our success or failure would be our marketing plan and our sales effort. Marketing is the heart of any organization and the sales program dollars flowing throughout the organization are the oxygen-enriched blood that feeds the organization. Without either, any business will be sickly and die just as an organism will die when it is deprived of oxygen enriched blood or a heart.

Fortunately for our team those are my strongest points as a businessman, and I am confident that I can develop a successful marketing and sales program for our small businesses. One year I actually won every deal for which I competed as a sales person. Imagine batting one thousand, or bowling a perfect game, or pitching a perfect game in baseball; that is how it felt to literally win “every” deal for which I competed as a sales person for an entire year. It was not just the millions of dollars in sales that made it so special that year; it was competing head-to-head and handily winning what often amounted to multi-million dollar complex deals that made it special.

I have often tried to analyze what sets me apart in my selling skills. If I could train others to sell like I sell, I could make my companies far more successful. Unfortunately most of it is just God given and I am more of a natural born sales person than a trained one. There are however, a few things that I think distinguish me as a sales person. For one I am honest, genuine, and sincere. Unfortunately many sales people are perceived as fast talking, smooth, disingenuous, used car salesmen types, who make a living ripping people a new one.

I talk very slowly and have a moderate southern accent. Once I was in New York City and I told my audience that if I got to talking too fast, for them just to raise their hands and let me know and I would slow down. Those blazing fast talking Yankees got a big kick out of that. I’m honest and genuine because I am a Christian and would never sell anything to someone unless I personally believed in it. I am sincere when I tell others about our products. I am very excited when I talk about our great products and great company and I know that they will love both. I am also very knowledgeable about our products. I study them and learn them top to bottom and when I am asked questions I answer them in such a manner as to instill confidence that I am knowledgeable. If I cannot answer them, I make double sure to find out those answers and get right back to the customer. The customer appreciates this and it enhances my skill set to find out answers to questions that I cannot answer.

All of the foregoing got me to thinking about our Christian witness and the traits that are so necessary to be successful at it. It seems to me that all of these same traits would be helpful to us all. We must be honest, genuine, and sincere, and actually be living the life we want to project to others and not be a fast talking, disingenuous hypocrite. We should also know our Bible and be able to answer common questions, or research the more difficult ones and make an effort to get back to them right away with the answers. Hopefully we are living a life that we believe in and can be excited about telling others about how joyful and peaceful that it is to be a Christian compared to a non-Christian.

We need to set goals, and work hard daily to achieve them. In the business world, I am a written goal type person, have a very strong work ethic and I am disciplined and focus on a task. In my Christian life those same factors will contribute greatly to success or failure too. If we set some written goals, work hard at witnessing and accomplishing those goals, and focus on our plan, instead of being swayed by the world and other tasks, we will undoubtedly enjoy more success. In the end the rewards that come from heaven are the ones that last forever. Witness to someone today and help lead them to victory in their life over this old world. You will be glad you did!

John 4:35
Do you not say, There are still
four months and then comes the
harvest?’ Behold I say to you, lift up
your eyes and look at the fields, for
they are already white for harvest.