Duke Clarke

Selling is part skill, part art, part learning and adapting as you go. Some people love to sell. Some people hate to sell. But if you are going to be in business, especially for yourself–you must sell.

Now the only question is how are you going to go about it.

I’ve heard a lot of people speak on the subject and the attitudes range from “the customer has MY MONEY and I’m going to get it” to “you can get anything you want in life as long as you help enough other people get what they want”.

One of the best trainers I’ve heard lately is Jeffery Gitomer, I would call him a Hope-Giver. One of the things he says is “No one likes to be sold, but everyone wants to buy.” He talks about building relationships and motivating your customer with value and service.

In today’s market Hope-Mongers would rather use manipulation than motivation. They’d rather insult their customer into buying, rather than earn their trust.

Have you ever received the canned email which opens with “Quite frankly I shocked (puzzled, troubled or some other adjective) that you haven’t ordered XYZ by now!”

What the h…! Am I in the second grade??? Do you think I care that you are shocked???

I got one of these email a few weeks ago because I hadn’t signed up for a $5K take-a-website-home-in-a-box seminar. Well, I was shocked that they were even trying to pitch such a thing, but Hope-Seekers keep buying so they keep pitching.

I love to motivate, inspire and add value to people’s lives so that’s the route I’m taking. If you are a manipulator, then you will not fine any helpful information here–this site is for Hope-Givers.

Duke Clarke

It happened again yesterday. I received an email about a program I was enrolled in. The title was “Update” it was a very long email that started out with boring update information about the program then at the bottom came the “Oh, by the way…” note.

Apparently I was being enrolled in a forced continuity  member site that he says I agreed to when I signed up. Of course I could opt out at anytime by jumping through a few hoops, but I wondered how many people got bored half way through the email and didn’t see the $97 pop they were about to get?

But you see that’s the point with Hope-Mongers, they want to slip this in under half-truth disclaimers so they can at least “whack” your card once. I actually heard this taught in a public seminar while the mindless  audience nods in agreement. But during that seminar, one person realized that they had been forced into a member site by the guy running the seminar and at least had the guts to get up and tell him how mad he was for being deceived and said in his country you could go to jail for that deception.

Of course the Hope-Monger’s only response was “Oh well, I guess in your country you’d better not do that”.

Instead of calling the email I got yesterday “Update” it would have been more honest to call it “Forced Continuity” then maybe every one would have read it. But then again maybe they would have all opted out like me and the Hope-Monger would not have been able to “Whack” a few…

The battle continues……

Duke

The Truth

“The truth is what I told you when you first came to me, but that’s not what you wanted to hear. He sold you what you wanted to hear, all of it was true, but not the truth behind it all.”

The Hope-Seekers were devastated when they realized the new baker was a Hope-monger, who instead of giving them hope had actually taken it away.

“Could you help us?” the people asked the old baker.

“You have always been good customers of mine, of course I will help you. But you must learn the soil, learn the weather, learn how to nurture the grain…” the old baker explained it all and the Hope-Seekers started to get their hope back.

“You continue to buy my bread until I can teach you to sell your own. But then you too must be a Hope-Giver and teach others who desire to expand their lives—that’s what
Hope-Givers do.

There is plenty for all of us when we work together.
Hope-mongers don’t want to share they want it all for themselves.

What they sell, and at a very high price, are dreams—which are only wishes and wants. They know the dreams cannot be realized unless more information is given, but instead of helping they just sell more hopeless dreams.

Hope is the expectation of something real not a dream. Hope-Givers do sell as they must for the sake of fair trade and to obey the laws of Creation, but what the Hope-Givers offer is the truth and that indeed gives us all hope.”

In the world of the living,
In the Land of Hope there are 3 kinds of people—
Hope-Seekers, Hope-Mongers and Hope-Givers, which one will you be?

To view the video go to http://www.DukeClarke.com/hopegivers.html

All the mad Hope-Seekers marched to the Magistrate’s office and demanded that the new baker be brought to justice. “He lied to us and took our money!” they all cried.

The Magistrate said, “I am not a baker, I don’t know if he lied.”

“Go get the old baker, he will tell you, he will show you we’re right.” The Hope-Seekers didn’t wait for the Magistrate to act, they went to the bakers shop and brought him to the Magistrate themselves.

“What can you tell me,” the Magistrate asked, “Did the new baker lie? Should I arrest him?”

The old baker looked at all the pictures from the first box and said, “It is true, these are the pictures of the bread.”

Then he looked at the recipes and said, “These recipes are true, this is how you bake the bread.”

Then he looked at the letters and said, “I don’t know who Jane P. or Howie J. are but what they are saying is consistent with what is true about the bread.”

Then he smelled the candles and incense and said, “This truly does smell like the bread.”

Then he carefully read the secret note and said, “Yes, what he has said here in this note is true.”

The Hope-Seekers where shocked and began to shout with rage. “This can’t be true, there is nothing we can do with this information, we don’t know how to plant the seed, or harvest the crop or grind the grain. We don’t know any of this, so we can’t make the bread much less sell the bread. How could you agree with the new baker? He robbed us!”

The Magistrate quieted the crowd and the old baker stood up and said, “Everything the new baker told you was true, but what he didn’t tell you was THE TRUTH.”

Tomorrow…The Truth

The Day of Hope Arrived

On the second day all the Hope-Seekers gathered in the village waiting for the new baker’s secret.
A coach pulled into town and began to unload its delivery.

“It’s here, it’s here!” cried the Hope-Seekers, as bright red boxes were unloaded from the coach.

There were 5 beautiful boxes each bigger than the next.

They started with the biggest box. When they unwrapped it, they found it filled with beautiful pictures of the bread in every size and shape imaginable. “How wonderful!” everyone cheered as their anticipation grew. “If our bread looks this good surely everyone will buy,” shouted one man and everyone agreed.

They then unwrapped the second box and it was filled with recipes on how to cook all the wonderful bread. “Look, Look!” said everyone this is wonderful.

They opened the third box and it was filled with letters from so many people who had bought the bread talking about how good it tasted and how healthy it was and how they would buy it at twice the price if needed. As each letter was read the Hope-Seekers cheered over and over. Their dreams had come true, surely if this many people bought the bread they would have no problem selling it.

The Hope-Seekers couldn’t wait to get to the fourth box and when they opened it the air exploded with the rich fragrance of freshly baked bread. Inside the box were candles and incense that made you think the bread was right there in front of you. The overwhelming delightful smell was so strong that none of the Hope-Seekers even asked why they needed candles and incense, they just couldn’t get enough of the smell.

Finally there was one box left, the smallest of the group and written on it were the words, “Herein lies the secret!”

They all gather round and slowly pealed back the paper. Inside was a small sack of seeds and next to it was a note.

The note read:
“Herein lies the secret to selling this wonderful bread.”
1. Plant the seed
2. Water the seed
3. Nurture the seed
4. Harvest the seed
5. Grind the seed
6. Bake the bread
7. Sell the bread
Good Luck to you all!!!

“What? That’s it?” the Hope-Seekers cried!

“We’ve been cheated, we’ve been robbed. The new baker lied to us!!!”

Tomorrow…Revenge of the Hope-Givers

A New Merchant of Hope

Before long a new baker came to town and set up a table in the courtyard. His bread smelled as wonderful as the old baker’s bread, it looked as wonderful as the old baker’s bread and perhaps because the new baker gave away free samples, it tasted even better than the old baker’s bread.
Not only this, but the new baker started charging less then the old baker so everyone bought the new baker’s bread.

Soon the Hope-Seekers approached the new baker and said “We want to be as prosperous as you, can you show us how to sell bread?”

“Sure” said the new baker. But before he could continue the Hope-Seekers said, “But don’t tell us it’s going to take work and time and learning like the old baker told us, we just want to sell the bread and be prosperous like you.”

“Not to worry” said the new baker, “ I have a secret and I can give you my secret in two days. That’s right! In two days you will know as much as I do and you will be able to sell bread just like me and be prosperous.”

The Hope-Seekers cheered and danced with joy, this is just what they wanted to hear and in two days they would all start to be prosperous.

Then the new baker said, “Now this is going to cost you and cost you a lot because this is my only secret. But you shouldn’t mind because in two days you will know what I know and be prosperous like me.”

The Hope-Seekers got together that night and talked to each other. “He is asking a lot of money,” one Hope-Seeker said. “But in two days we will start to make it all back” another Hope-Seeker replied. Back and forth they went until finally the dream of being just as prosperous as the bakers won out and they put all their money together and agreed to buy.

The next day the Hope-Seekers came to town and paid the new baker. “You will not regret this,” said the new baker and he passed out freshly baked loaves of bread free to all the Hope-Seekers. “In two days you will know as much as I do and be on your way to selling your own bread.”

The very sound of those words make the bread they were eating taste better, hope filled the Hope-Seekers and they were so excited they could barely sleep. Some of them even stopped by the old bakers shop to tell him that in two days they would know as much as he did, without all the work he had told them they needed.

He smiled and wished them the best and went back to baking.

Tomorrow…The Day Hope Arrived

The Story of a Hope-Giver

In the world of the living,
In the Land of Hope, there are 3 kinds of people—
Hope-Seekers, Hope-Mongers and Hope-Givers.
Which one are you?

Hope is the oxygen in our blood that carries anticipation and expectation to every cell of our bodies.
Hope is essential to life and to some degree or another, we are all Hope-Seekers–and that’s a good thing.

But then there are also the Merchants of Hope–either Hope-Mongers or Hope-Givers and that’s where our story begins.

In the world of the living, in the Land of Hope there was a village.
In that village there was a baker who baked the most wonderful bread in the world. Everyone bought the bakers bread. It was warm and lightly sweet; crisp on the outside tender on the inside, as perfect as bread could be.
The baker raised his own wheat and made his own bread and since everyone in the village bought from him, he was a very prosperous man.
One day the Hope-seekers of the village came to the baker and said, “Can you teach us how to sell bread so we can be as prosperous as you?”
“You have been wonderful customers,” the baker said. “Of course I will teach you, but you will need to come with me for several months to learn how to plant the wheat, understand the soil and the weather, then we must tend the wheat, harvest the….”
“No, No, No” the Hope-Seekers cried, “We don’t want to do all that, we just want to sell the bread and be prosperous like you. There has to be a faster, better way than what you are telling us.”
“I’m sorry,” said the baker “but what I am telling you is the truth, you need to do it this way.”
The Hope-Seekers hung their heads and were very sad as they left the baker, but agreed that they would go on seeking because after all—they were Hope-Seekers!

Tomorrow…….A new merchant of hope