Introduction Wallace Wattles was born in 1860 and died in 1911, and although most have never heard of him, he wrote a groundbreaking book in 1910 called “The Science of Getting Rich”. In this book, Wattles detailed the methodology that one must follow to secure riches in life, in the form of monetary reward. His ideas, however, lend themselves to the pursuit of any goal, including selling. In this article, I will review the fundamental principles behind the science and apply those principles to selling.
Understanding the Nature of Mankind All of nature, including mankind, is in the pursuit of more life. We are naturally attracted to ideas and things that can bring us more life. Household appliances that free us from mundane tasks fit into this model nicely because they offer us more quality of life. We exchange the mundane task of washing our clothes by hand, for example, for some other, one hopes, more meaningful pursuit. This is all done with an eye on the clock. Understanding that our time is finite, we do the most to maximize our lives. In other words, we seek more life…always.
Not Always Time Sometimes seeking more life manifests itself in seeking more money or a more comfortable lifestyle or more abundant health. But man and nature are forever linked, even though this link is sometimes forgotten or buried deep under societal pressures. In the end, however, our reason for being is the same as every other natural inhabitant of earth…to further life.
Giving Increase in Life If I can give any person an increase in life, I will be sought after. Mankind is attracted to anything which can provide an increase in life, and as long as I am legitimately providing that increase I will never suffer from a lack of customers. The matter really is all about concluding transactions by giving more than one actually receives. In this way, each business transaction creates abundance and results in surplus of life, in other words, increases the size of the pie, rather than just slicing a little more from the same size pie.
How to Succeed by Giving More Than You Take But, how can one succeed by giving away more than they take? I mean, won’t each transaction result in you having less than you started with? Eventually, won’t you be broke? Well, if you give the equivalent cash value of everything you take, then you will eventually be out of business. The real trick is in giving the equivalent use value in everything you take. Actually, it’s all about giving more in use value than the cash value which you take. For example, if the use of my product results in a use value to you that exceeds the cash value which you paid, I have effectively given you an increase in life. I have provided a positive net value to the world by providing those that use my product or service more life that, if given away to others, will provide more life to give away to others, etc. In this way, I have also gotten an increase in life myself, which I can then give to others.
Creativity…Not Competition Competing with others for sales, perhaps on price, reduces our ability to deliver more value. But, if we maintain a creative approach toward sales, and do not fall into the competitive trap, we can always sow abundance. Practice this creativity by understanding customer needs (see our previous article on consultative selling for a proper treatment of this topic) and then working creatively to come up with appropriate solutions. And, as long as the end result is a solution that offers the customer more in use value than you take in cash value, you will continue to sell and have an abundance of customers.
Summary Selling can be a science if one always remembers that our customers are seeking value-add solutions that actually solve their problems. And they are willing to pay for the solutions that actually deliver for them. If we can provide our solutions for a cash value that is less than the use value to the customer, our solutions will always be attractive. And the more we sell, creatively, the more customers we will have and the more loyal those customers will be.
We hope that you have found our advice practical and useful. We are always interested in your feedback and are here to help you along in your journey. Our number one goal is to help you grow your book of business. We’d love to hear from you, anytime! Please contact Bill Kossack at ClearData at (724) 387-1713 or request more information via email to: bkossack@cleardataint.com. Or visit us at www.myRelEvent.com.
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