#TuesdayMotivation A Selling thought from Rumi

"Load the ship and set out.

No one knows for certain whether the vessel will sink or reach the harbour.

Cautious people say, "I'll do nothing until I can be sure".

Merchants know better. If you do nothing, you lose.

Don't be one of those merchants who wont risk the ocean.

Everyone is so afraid of death, but the real sufis just laugh:

nothing tyrannises their hearts.

What strikes the oyster shell does not damage the pearl."     Rumi

Know Punny Business . Puns to sell and promote your business name

330,000 businesses were started in 2014 according to UK government statistics.

 How do make your business stand out head and shoulders above the crowd ?

HeadcasE Barber shop, Farnham, , Surrey

Nectar Business, the points-collecting card service, surveyed  2,000 people.  It found you’re more likely to talk about quirkily named small businesses than ones with anonymous, descriptive names.

 24 % chose The Codfather, a fish and chip shop, as the business with the best quirky name.

 Curl Up and Dye, hairdressers, and

Back to the Fuchsia, florists, were both picked by 23% of people.

Other high-ranking names included a sandwich shop called

Arnie’s Sarnies – You’ll Be Back,  

a florists called Florist Gump

and a Welsh fish and chip shop called A Fish Called Rhondda.

You can probably guess what these businesses do

Jean-Claude Van Man,

Alan Cartridge

and Jason Donervan?

 Blindspot in Downing Street of Farnham Surrey
specializes in made to measure window blinds

44 % of people  said they would strike up a conversation over a pun in a business name, compared to 19 % for ordinary names more often use for solicitors, accountants and advertising agencies. Other popular pun named enterprises included:-

Bits and PCs for computer repairs,

 Doggy Style for dog grooming and

Barber Blacksheep the hairdressers.

Kingston University’s marketing professor  Dr Jaywant Singh, says that brand names are central to a business’s identity.

“Quirky or idiosyncratic brand names are highly suggestive and are capable of leaving strong memory traces.  Customer associations with such brand names are often instrumental in generating recommendations,” 

THE TRADITIONAL PLAICE, Downing Street , Farnham, Surrey

Will we see in future a Solicitors practice rebranded  as Sue , Grabbit and Run  I wonder ? 

Related links

Brand masters Coke -Coca Cola Life

Re- branding a Soap Opera

nectar small business awards

Selling -The Balance Sheet of Human Relations

To paraphrase the  German poet Goethe, 

"Most things have been thought of before, the challenge is to think of them again."

Founder of TACK International Alfred Tack referred to his original sales training company as a 'school of human relations'. The opening session of the sales course was about sustaining a positive mental attitude in selling. The final session was centred on the value of Human Relations.

 That was over 60 years ago - as good a maxim for today's digital age it was as all those years ago. Take a look at this slide. Consider how to eradicate the red words and increase the scores on the green human relations' credits.

As with a conventional balance sheet  it should be a “true and fair” representation you and I as salespeople.

The objective is to daily build up your credit side of this balance sheet and reduce the entries on the debit side.

What else would you add to your balance sheet on the credit side ?--Please add a comment.

I 'll add one myself right now- Gratitude. - Thank you for reading this blog post !

Good Selling

Tapas sized selling tips-to-go

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each post is less than 250 words.

FRUITS OF SUCCESS WITH HUGH blog hits 250,000 pageviews

250,000 pageviews to this site

Thank you very much to all who have visited my Blog.

*Apologies to  Rogers and Hammerstein – Sound of Music

“For here you are, at my blog, surfing me

Whether or not you should

So somewhere in my past or childhood

I must have done something good...”

Over 500  selling related posts

Some highlights :-

“On the go” info for your mobile

Tapas Bar - short sales training tips (20 posts)

 5 a day mobile selling tips(10 posts) 

Buyers' views research data (9 posts) 

Professional Selling (140 posts)  

Conference Reports (42 posts)

 Presentation Skills (14 posts)

Plus some meerkat meanderings with Aleksandr and Bogdan Orlov ! ( who say "Hi" to all in Meerkova)

Loads more posts to come in the future - so please return soon

Good Selling

*You Tube Clip of the real song from Sound of Music ( Tissues at the ready!) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNdl-HIkDqQ

Ennobled Selling, Discover Connect and Grow through Networking

This post is a 'Tapas sized 'selling tips-to-go

at the  "The Tapas Bar". each post is less than 250 words.

Watching the splendid and historic State banquet in honour of the President of the Republic of Ireland at Windsor Castle on TV last night, gave us a view of modern day royal court behaviour.

As networking events go, both the host, our monarch and her honoured guests last night, had to practice the arts of small talk mingled with serious affairs.

In his maxim No.11 the 17th Spaniard, Baltassar Gracian gives tips for today's courtier, the Business Networker !

Networking Selfie with Mrs Business Biscotti  (Sue)  at London
 launch of Business Biscotti Gold at London SW Biscotti 9th April

His initial encouragement sets our mind to a positive frame

Listening and Conversation

"Let friendly interchange be a school of erudition, and conversation, civilised instruction"

"Make friends your teachers, joining learning's usefulness and conversation's pleasure."

Balance listening with self esteem

"The intelligent ( Gracian is talking about you and me !) combine two pleasures, enjoying the applause that greets what they say and the instruction received from what they hear."

Celebrating with Nina the 2nd Anniversary of
SW Business  at Biscotti morning
 networking meeting at Gloucester Road Casino, London

Gracian further scrutinises

"Usually we are drawn to someone through our own interest., but here, that interest is ennobled."

Theatres of Greatness or Palaces of Vanity ?

"The circumspect ( we again dear reader) frequent the company of eminent individuals whose houses are theatres of greatness rather than palaces of vanity.

"They are those renowned for their discretion whose example and behaviour are oracles in all matters of greatness and whose entourages are also academies of good and gallant discretion."

No time to place bets just now - networking at Business Biscotti

Whether you are networking today at a Casino , an International Exhibition or a State banquet - Good Selling.

Further articles on Networking

Return on Investment on Networking

15 key things to find out at networking events

Are Networking Clubs worth the bother ?

Listen First -Your Nutshell Sell at Networking

 Tapas sized selling tips-to-go

,drop into the "The Tapas Bar".

each post is less than 250 words.

5 minute Busy Busters Sales Network Building Tips

Building your network

Pick one of the following five and action it.

1. Post an article on LinkedIn
2. Stop by / phone a work colleague for quick catch up
3. Send a thank you note to someone whose work you appreciate
4. Check you calendar for any contacts you have yet to put on LinkedIn
5. Digitise / Roladex/ Index any recently collected business cards

Further articles on Networking

Return on Investment on Networking

15 key things to find out at networking events

Are Networking Clubs worth the bother ?

Listen First -Your Nutshell Sell at Networking

For further tapas sized selling tips-to-go

,drop into the "The Tapas Bar".

each post is less than 250 words.

3 Temperaments sellers need to decipher to discover buyer intentions

 “Understand the temperament of those you deal with, in order to know their intentions.”

Many years before modern age Psychology, Baltazar Gracian was advising the merchant salespeople of the court of Aragon in 17^th Century Spain on ‘deciphering ‘the relationship between personality and behaviours.'

He believed that when the cause of a temperament is fully known , so is the effect which is deduced first from the cause and then from the motive.

He identifies three main temperament  types .

"The MELANCHOLIC always predicts disaster!

The SLANDERER faults, they always see the worst and not perceiving the good actually before them. They foresee only possible misfortune!

Those influenced by PASSION never talk of things as they actually are: passion speaks through them not reason."

"And similarly each according to his ( her) temper or humour, and all are far from the truth."

Gracian urges his readers to learn how to" decipher expression and interpret the soul (mind) in outward signs; recognise the person who is always laughing has something missing, and the one who never laughs is false."

"Be cautious of someone inquisitive because they are either talkative or fault finding."

Today's psycholgical profiles are more developed , but the roots of three types systems can be traced back through Spain's Gracian to  Ancient Greece's Hippocrates.

  e.g.

*FIRO-b’ 3 aspects of Inclusion, Control and Affection 

*PARIO  3 Career anchors of analytical, interpersonal and emotional competence

*PRISM Brain Mapping 3 distinct  profiles or maps of a person’s behaviour.

Pocket Oracle of the Art of Prudence - Book Review

Enjoying some Tapas in Westfield,
Shepherds Bush , West London

For further tapas sized selling tips-to-go

,drop into the "The Tapas Bar".

each post is less than 250 words.

Simple Tea Time Client Personality Matrix

* Related Links

For those interested in the proprietary methods here are their links

PARIO

Firo-b

PRISM Mind Mapping

Marketing Perception Reality #AWEUROPE 2014 and Aragon 1647

“ Things don’t pass for what they are, but for how they appear”

No it was not said by Sir Martin Sorell of WPP at Advertising week Europe at the BAFTA site in London’s Piccadilly but I guess could have been.

No , theses are the words of Baltazar Gracian in1647.

In his little pocket of courtly wisdom Gracian continues “ Few look within and many are content with appearances.

It’s not enough to be right if your face is wrong.”

Similar advice could have come from Self development  experts like Anthony Robbins or one of the contemporary Mindfulness experts doing the rounds nowadays.

The One minute Courtier.

Gracian’s little Pocket Book came out well before Ken Blanchard's  The One Minute Manager.

Much of what social media is about is appearance. – About your Social profile.

The modern phobia of FOMO, Fear of Missing Out would be recognised by the courtiers in 1647 desperate to being on message with the most recent courtly goss.

Fear Uncertainty and Doubt (FUD) similarly would be familiar to the courtiers.

Pocket Oracle of the Art of Prudence - Book Review

For further tapas sized selling tips-to-go

,drop into the "The Tapas Bar".

each post is less than 250 words.

5 minute Busy Busters Sales / Life Balance Tips #MondayMindfulness

Seeking some mindful balance right now ?


Treat yourself to ONE of these:-

• Drink a glass of water

• Do a guided meditation / deep breathing

• Take a walk round the block

• Stretch

• Text or email a friend to say you miss them

For further tapas sized selling tips-to-go

,drop into the "The Tapas Bar".

each post is less than 250 words.

Subtle Selling - go with the current

The world of the 17^th Century Aragon is not far removed from 2014 as the writings of Baltasar Gracian attest.

One of the important skills of professional salespeople is to mix with and work with many different kinds of people.

The guidance of the Spaniard is worth noting.

In his maxim 77 * he encourages us to “know how to be all things to all people”.

He suggests we should be a ’discreet Proteus’ . ( Proteus was the Greek sea god who was able to change his form)

He continues

“... with the learned, learned

With the devout, the devout...

...It is a great art to win everyone over since similarity creates goodwill."

This he writes some 300 years before our modern era of the arts of psychology, NLP and social economics!

Gracian encourages his readers to ‘observe each person’s temperament and yours to it.’  He continues to suggest we ‘tune’ in the sense of musical tuning in order to achieve harmony. 

Gracian ?Geese 'going with the current' on 
the river Thames
 at Fulham- on which they are dependent

He illustrates ‘with the a serious or jovial person go with the current, undergoing a transformation that is politic and essential for those in dependency.

As salespeople we are dependent on buyers, decision influencers, gatekeepers and the like.

‘Such vital subtlety requires great ability’.  

This is a skill to perfect.

It is less difficult for the universal man (or woman) with their wide ranging intellect and taste."

Good subtle selling, my brothers and sisters. 

For further tapas sized selling tips-to-go

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each post is less than 250 words.

Related links

Other selling Tips from Gracian

 Selling Trust

Know the price of things

Your Selling Persona

Courtesy Selling

Don't over-explain in Selling

Know how to ask in selling

We all need the touch of a seller

* The Pocket Oracle and Art of Prudence by Baltasar Gracian.

My short book review of Gracian's Art of Prudence

Selling Trust in 2015 and the 17th Century

The Art of Worldly Wisdom, by Balthasar Gracián 1647 contains some 300 maxims some of which are still relevant to professional selling in 2015. 

Below Gracián shows us that the likes of Libor , PPI, Horsemeat for beef, rate-fixing type behaviours Eurozone leaders  Brussels summit.

'the most important currency has been lost and that is trust.' 

Angela Merkel   Brussels  12/07/15

 Talks focus on new conditions for possible Greek bailout of up to €86bn - have the equivalents in 17th Century Spain



No 8. Be Trustworthy.

"Honourable dealing is at an end: 

 trusts are denied:  

few keep their word: 

the greater the service, the poorer the reward:  

that is the way with all the world nowadays." 

So writes Baltasar Gracián in 1647 and continues

There are whole nations inclined to false dealing: with some treachery has always to be feared, with others breach of promise, with others deceit. 

Yet this bad behaviour of others should rather be a warning to us than an example.

The fear is that the sight of such unworthy behaviour should override our integrity.

 But a man of honour should never forget what he is because he sees what others are.


Other Tips from Gracian

 Selling Trust

Know the price of things

Your Selling Persona

Courtesy Selling

Don't over-explain in Selling

Know how to ask in selling

We all need the touch of a seller

My short book review of Gracian's Art of Prudence

If you are out and about with your smart phone and

you want tapas sized selling tips to go

,drop into the "The Tapas Bar".

Each post in the "The Tapas Bar" is less than 250 words.

(If you need genuine Tapas eat at Tapas Revolution
, Westfield, West London @tapasrevolution

Re branding your Selling persona in 2014 and 1647

The Art of Worldly Wisdom, by Baltasar Gracián 1647 contains some 300 maxims some of which are still relevant to professional selling in 2014. 

Below Gracián describes the personal branding somewhat before updating your social media became the norm !  ( I'm a dog should you wonder :) )


No 7 Know how to renew your Character,

with the help both of Nature and of Art, Every seven years the disposition changes, they say.

Let it be a change for the better and for the nobler in your taste.

 After the first seven comes reason, with each succeeding lustre let a new excellence be added.

Observe this change so as to aid it, and hope also for betterment in others.

Hence it arises that many change their behaviour when they change their position or their occupation. At times the change is not noticed till it reaches the height of maturity.

At twenty Man is a Peacock,

at thirty a Lion,

at forty a Camel,

at fifty a Serpent,

at sixty a Dog,

 at seventy an Ape, at eighty nothing at all.

Your Selling Style in 2014 and the era of 3.0

If you are out and about with your smart phone and

you want tapas sized selling tips to go

,drop into the "The Tapas Bar".

Each post in the "The Tapas Bar" is less than 250 words.

(If you need genuine Tapas eat at Tapas Revolution
, Westfield, West London @tapasrevolution

Courtesy Selling

The Art of Worldly Wisdom, by Baltasar Gracián 1647 contains some 300 maxims some of which are still relevant to professional selling in 2014. 

Below Gracián describes the marketing power of the 'freebie', try for free, the free sample, 


No 6 Sell Things by the Tariff of Courtesy.

You oblige people most that way.

The bid of an interested buyer will never equal the return gift of an honourable recipient of a favour.

Courtesy does not really make presents, but really lays men under obligation, and generosity is the great obligation.

To a right-minded man nothing costs more dear that what is given him: you sell it him twice and for two prices: one for the value, one for the politeness.

At the same time it is true that with vulgar souls generosity is gibberish, for they do not understand the language of good breeding

If you are out and about with your smart phone and

you want tapas sized selling tips to go

,drop into the "The Tapas Bar".

Each post in the "The Tapas Bar" is less than 250 words.

(If you need genuine Tapas eat at Tapas Revolution
, Westfield, West London @tapasrevolution

Sellers Don't overexplain

The Art of Worldly Wisdom, by Baltasar Gracián 1647 contains some 300 maxims some of which are still relevant to professional selling in 2014. 

Below Gracián describes the dangers of sellers talking too much. The value in scarcity, exclusivity, the importance of negotiating variables - the cost and value to both parties and hints at mass market followers before the product life cycle was common place.

No. 5 Do not Explain overmuch.

Most men do not esteem what they understand, and venerate what they do not see. 

To be valued things should cost dear: what is not understood becomes overrated. 

You have to appear wiser and more prudent than he requires with whom you deal, if you desire to give him a high opinion of you: yet in this there should be moderation and no excess. 

And though with sensible people common sense holds its own, with most men a little elaboration is necessary.

 Give them no time for blame: occupy them with understanding your drift. Many praise a thing without being able to tell why, if asked.

 The reason is that they venerate the unknown as a mystery, and praise it because they hear it praised.

Other selling tips from Gracian

 Selling Trust

Know the price of things

Your Selling Persona

Courtesy Selling

Don't over-explain in Selling

Know how to ask in selling

We all need the touch of a seller

My short book review of Gracian's Art of Prudence

If you are out and about with your smart phone and

you want tapas sized selling tips to go

,drop into the "The Tapas Bar".

Each post in the "The Tapas Bar" is less than 250 words.

(If you need genuine Tapas eat at Tapas Revolution
, Westfield, West London @tapasrevolution