‘Apelila Ho‘ohana: Bottom-Line Aloha, the Art of the Sale

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[Dave]

A brand new month! Wow! And a brand new topic!

I am hoping to round off a bitter edge this month. I am an operations guy. But I do have to present stuff for customers to hopefully agree on and buy. What takes the edge off of the "sales" part of this process, is the service that is delivered prior to my attempt to get the customer to buy more. It is outstanding. Most customers don't even ask how much...that's how good the service is. This part isn't a problem.

The problem is when they start nit-picking and haggling. I hate this part. Every molecule in my body says, "get the heck out of my face." Although my words don't say this, I am sure my tone does. This probably isn't good.

Here is the part where I would have to handle poisonous snakes: I cannot fathom being a real salesaman. The part where you do not deliver the outstanding service first...the part where you start from scratch. Yewww! This probably isn't good. So in order to get over my fear of snakes, I know I must one day handle them. In order to rid myself of the utter disgust I hold for sales, I must put myself in their place and learn.

I am here to learn.

[Stacy Brice]

When I founded AssistU.com more than eight years ago, I knew, instinctively, that the old "masculine" model of business (the one where the bottom line rules the day and controls everything within the organization) wasn't for me. And so I created a very feminine model of business--an inside-out model of business--where people matter most; where cooperation and collaboration are the norms; where individuality is celebrated, both generally, and within the context of the culture of the company; where the concept of abundance is embraced and where fear simply doesn't have a reason to live.

I knew that a model that honored the people who they are) *first* would lead them to naturally (as opposed to artificially) drive (what they do) the bottom line, and people would be far happier in their work, and with the fullness and richness of their service/contributions.

AssistU is successful with this model, and it's the model we offer to every Virtual Assistant we train so that they can bring that same spirit to their own businesses.

Inherent in the model is another concept;attraction. It's a way of being in the world that, for me, makes everything easier. If you recognize that all of us attract everything around us, all the time, and you apply that on a business level, you quickly see that there's no real need for traditional selling (where you work to make customers buy what you have, whether or not they genuinely need it).

Instead, being authentic, being service oriented, having high standards for yourself and your work/business/product(s)/service(s)(and not compromising them for anyone), not settling for less than all you deserve, and freely sharing yourself with others, not only attract folks to you, they cause the *right* folks to be attracted to you, thus creating a natural market to tap.

Sales is push. Attraction is pull. It's organic, it's easier, it *feels* great, and it works. Having said that, it takes longer to build a business this way than it would to hire a sales force (or sell on your own) to do it for you, but it's self-sustaining and growth-oriented in a way that sales never could be.

The members of the Ho'ohana community that I'm starting to meet and chat with all fit somewhere within this attraction-based model. We all want to be profitable in our businesses, but not by sacrificing our souls to do it (something I'm convinced many sales folks do).

I don't believe in coincidence. There's a reason (probably several, in fact!) that we're all here, you know?