I love conducting sales
training events for companies with large teams of sales professionals. Needless to say, I don’t reach the ankles of
some of the legendary sales and motivational giants such as my friend Zig Ziglar.
Nonetheless, Zig pronounces the unique sales strategies from ancient Jewish
wisdom that I teach to be vital.
In Secrets of Closing the
Sale, Zig describes how when he was the #1 cookware salesman in his company,
another salesman was struggling. After
asking Bill a series of questions, Zig told him why he was failing. Bill
claimed to love the product, but for a variety of reasons, he didn’t yet own it
himself. Zig basically told him, “So,
when customers tell you that they just can’t afford such an expensive set of
cookware, in your head you reply, ‘Yep, me neither.’” Bill knew the product was good and would
benefit the customer, but he wasn’t exuding the passion that comes from using
something you love.
You don’t need to become
passionate about pots but you do need to find, feel, and above all, radiate
passion for all the important parts of your life. It electrifies the people
around you and changes everything!
Of course, passion for the
wrong things is destructive rather than constructive.
Seven weeks after leaving
Egypt, Israel camped at the foot of Mount Sinai while Moses ascended to receive
the Two Tablets.
And the Lord said to Moses, ‘Go
on down, because your people
whom you brought up
out of the land of Egypt has become corrupt.’
(Exodus
32:7)
God says He wishes to wipe
Israel out and start all over again with Moses.
Ancient Jewish wisdom describes how Moses asked God to forgive Israel.
“First of all,” says Moses,
“they are not my people, they’re yours. Second, it wasn’t me who took them out
of Egypt, it was you. Third, less
than two months ago they were slaves. What do you expect of them? Forgive them on account of their righteous
ancestors. In any event, do you want the Egyptians to see the people whom you
championed, destroyed?” God accepts this
argument.
Moses then descends with the
Tablets, sees the golden calf and totally loses it. He smashes the twin tablets
and furiously sets about executing three thousand ringleaders.
We must ask ourselves why on
earth did all those fine arguments which Moses used to mollify God, fail to
work with Moses himself?
Ancient Jewish wisdom finds
the answer in one word—dancing!
And when he came close to the camp
and saw the golden calf and the dancing,
Moses’ anger burned…
(Exodus 32:19)
God told Moses the people had
made a golden calf, but not that they were dancing around it. Their dancing revealed an emotional
investment that Moses never suspected. He knew the facts but not the
fervor. Dancing is an expression of
passion, and that changed everything.
Why do TV shows like Dancing
with the Stars attract such large audiences? Why do students flock to some
teachers and not others? We are all
drawn almost magnetically to people of passion, whether they are sales
professionals, dancers, teachers, spouses, parents or friends.
You can employ this magnetic
force field for good in your family, social and business life. First make yourself feel that passion; then
project it. Try this for a week. You’ll be amazed at how differently people
respond to you. But as much as we all need to cultivate passion we also need to
be wary of it. Passion for the wrong idea or
person can bring disaster.
