First Win, Then Fight
You cannot make a sales call in the hope you will make a sale. You have to sell your product or idea in your mind and taste victory in your soul before you can sell it in person. Thus, "The winning warrior first wins, then seeks to do battle. Losing soldiers first fight, then seek victory," says Sun Tzu's Art of War.
After you have laid out the fundamentals of strategic planning, ensuring your chances for victory, you will discover that, in business just as on the battlefield, there is still unpredictable friction. No matter how carefully you have planned, you are not always guaranteed the situation is going to go accordingly.
Carl von Clausewitz, the 18th century Prussian soldier who authored the most popular Western art of war book On War, said, "So in war, through the influence of any infinity of petty circumstances, which cannot properly be described on paper, things disappoint us, and we fall short of the mark." If friction and unpredictability is sure to obstruct your business winning strategies, as in the battlefield, then how does one win first, then fight? Most importantly, what elements cause a person to respond with clarity to a frictional situation, versus a person who does not?
A winner experiences their upcoming victory in every part of their body, mind and soul. In this state, the impending victory to the warrior is akin to the diligent farmer growing fruit trees; after years of cultivation, he stands in front of the ripe fruit, just before plucking, and he can taste the succulent juice of the fruit within his mind. What is between him and really tasting his fruit is the final action of raising his hands to pick it. When you embody this rooted inner experience of victory, then outer obstructions are momentary setbacks, but not death blows. In this speech, you will discover:
- The 5 progressive attitudes that lead you to win first, then fight.
- How strategies and the winning spirit work hand-in-hand.
- The supreme way of the winner is, before conquering others, you must conquer yourself.
- The Greatest Salesman On Earth According To Sun Tzu’s Art Of War
- One who is skilled in warfare... will not depend on the food supplies that are transported from the distant home country for more than three days. —Sun Tzu (2.6)
Winning soldiers first win, then seek battle. Losing soldiers first fight, then seek victory. —Sun Tzu (4.11)
A winner must experience triumph in body, mind and soul even before he goes forth to fight his battle. You cannot make a sales call in the hope you might make a sale; you must already have sold your product or idea in your own mind before you can expect to sell it to another.
- The Eight Essential Elements Of Winning
- 1. TAO: moral standing, ethics, righteousness. The product and the company culture need to be in line with Tao, righteousness. Without Tao, a short term profit is attainable, but long term success is not possible.
2. TIEN: timing. The timing of your products and your marketing strategy needs to be in line with the social timing and the universal timing.
3. DI: geographic conditions, assets and liabilities. How you utilize your company's assets and liabilities, as well as how each individual understands how to turn his/her liabilities into assets in terms of relating to their everyday work as well as accelerating the quality of one's life.
4. JIAN: leadership. How your leaders relate to their staff, customers and your suppliers according to the following five qualities: wisdom, trustworthiness, benevolence, courage and discipline.
5. FA: execution. An effective executive's actions will result in keeping the revenue coming in rapidly. Sun Tzu practiced rapid victory through "Eat what You Kill" and "Reward Results".
6. XU, SHI: the paradox of the real versus the unreal.
7. QI, ZHENG: innovation and tradition.
8. KNOW THYSELF, KNOW OTHERS: competitors, suppliers, distributors, buyers, customers, bosses, staff, the ever-changing social, economic and political factors, plus anything else that could effect your business that you should know. The essential elements of being a salesman are logically knowing yourself, your product(s), and your customers in equal measure.
Engage the opponent by
first following the defined, strategic plan.
Then react according to
your opponent’s movements
to make proper adjustments.
—Sun Tzu (11.69)
One of the most powerful positions in any company is that of star salesperson. Nothing speaks louder than bringing in a profit for the company. Whether one is a man or a woman, when anyone brings in the profit, he or she will be highly valued and treated like royalty.
When you define your sales battle plan, check it with the following list. As Sun Tzu said, “To engage the opponent, first follow the defined strategic plan. Then, reacting according the your opponents movements, make the proper adjustments."
A just cause creates the necessary unity of purpose among the leaders and those led. The more you can justify the necessity of your product and service; the more empowered you and your team will be.
You should also not challenge your opponent
when his spirits are fiery.
—Sun Tzu (7.25)
In the morning, the spirit of the troops are fiery.
Towards the end of the day, they tend to slow down.
When dusk comes,
The men are thinking of returning to camp.
So, the skillful warrior, during the battle,
avoids the enemy’s high spirited moments
and attacks when the enemy is anxious
to return to camp.
—Sun Tzu (7.26)
You just have the bad luck of running into your buyer when they are in a highly resistive mood. Don’t press it. Use the strategy “Pretend to Be a Pig in Order to Eat the Tiger.” Every salesman needs to learn to be a pig sometimes....
The most important element
of conducting warfare
is to aim for a swift victory and
avoid a prolonged campaign.
— Sun Tzu (2.15)
All business objectives are focused towards getting those dollars in and closing the deal as soon as possible.
To dominate or to go along
with your counterpart (buyers),
depends upon the intelligent
utilization of your Di (resources).
—Sun Tzu (11.34)
No matter what your position in life, you are always your initial product—sell yourself first. Until you have sold yourself, there is no hope you can sell another product, whatever the goods or services. In fact, it is much easier to sell you than to sell your product because you usually have no direct control over the product you are selling.
However, selling yourself does not mean glueing a permanent plastic smile to your face. The essence of who you are is the result of your self-cultivating and self-evolving as an individual and business person. If there is nothing substantial behind your eyes, then your fear, greed, desire, and anxiety will reveal the nothingness in your soul. If you haven't spent much effort on working to improve yourself physically or mentally by doing the right things and thinking the right thoughts, it will show.
The military equipment will be
supplied by the home country,
but the food for the troops will be
gathered from the enemy's warehouses.
—Sun Tzu (2.7)
"Eat what you kill" is the secret to operating any corporate or entrepreneurial project. To translate this statement into today's modern marketing and sales terms: create results. A salesperson may draw a salary from the company, but they cannot become a burden to that company. Like the lioness, you must quickly bring in the kill so that you can feed yourself as well as the rest of the company's employees. If you remember this, you will always be valuable wherever you go, whatever you do.
Thus, one who is skilled in battle,
imposes his will on the opponent,
but does not allow the opponent’s
will to be imposed on him.
—Sun Tzu (6.2)
Do not think that your sales appointment is the time and the place to use your "three inch long tongue" to whip your buyer into submission. The more cleverly you “overcome” his objectives, the faster you remind him of the countless times he has lost verbal battles with his wife, his boss or smart-ass salespeople like you. Most sales courses produce a flood of fast-talkers and slick maneuverers. Today, buyers worldwide, without ever having taken a class, have gotten a second-hand education in slick salesmanship from previous salesmen. Thus, the more you talk, the more you will talk yourself out of a sale.
Listen, and tune in to your buyer’s heart and mind. Once you have a clear grasp of his psyche, then release your super-focused mind power. Do not just look at his eyes; you need to look "into" his eyes. Like a laser beam seeking the target—be in control. Looking into one’s eyes and mind does not mean fixating on him like an owl. Being in control of your buyer’s mind, does not mean being psychologically overwhelming or bossy. The proper state of mind occurs naturally through the subtle exercise of your “focused intention”.
Below are a compilation of the steps towards achieving this state for your consideration.
Money is the element of life
that inspires that greatest
of emotions in individuals.
It is tightly connected with the emotions
of agony and ecstasy.
—Thick Face, Black Heart
The salesman has a limitless boundary for achieving income as well a limitless depth for experiencing poverty and misery. The Chinese character for money consists of three symbols. The first symbol represents gold. The other two represent spears. The hidden meaning is that if you wish to seek gold, you need to use the weapon of the spear. But why two spears?
Lack of money is more of a state of mind than an external condition. The character for poverty is also composed of three symbols. The symbols depict a man standing at the bottom of a pit, bent as if under a great burden. When you are full of fear for the lack of money, you are low in spirit and high in anxiety. You announce to the world your pitiful condition without having to say one word.
The only reality that exists for you is your own mind. When your mind experiences the wealth of abundance and a lack of scarcity, your heart will burst with the joy of being free from fear. When your heart frees itself from being a hostage to fear, you become a new person. Out of the freedom of lacking, fear, and anxiety for earning money, the channel of money comes gushing like the Mississippi River .
The losers, without preparation,
engage the enemy first,
hoping they will win the fight.
—Sun Tzu (4.14)
The more you talk,
the less it counts.
Why not hold fast
to your center?
—Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching 5
The new sales strategy is not about how much you can talk, it is about what you say, and how you say it. Use words efficiently with intention, sincerity and power.
Work does not need you,
you need to work...
The necessity to create is such a great force
that it overcomes all human reason.
—Thick Face, Black Heart
Make your self invaluable by bringing in the kill to feed yourself and others. How can anyone discriminate against you at your office, or anywhere else for that matter, no matter what your gender or race, when their survival is in jeopardy without you? This is the creative way of exercising the principle of Fa by preserving yourself through your ability to keep the money rolling in for you and your company.
When benefits are mutual,
then cooperation will follow.
Mutual cooperation results in benefits,
and thus leads to affection.
—Jiang Tai Gung Art of War
The best way to ensure you have a long solid relationship with your buyer is to transform yourself from a seller to a “problem solver” for your clients, customers and distributors by becoming indispensably useful to them.
Let people use you—but this does not mean let them abuse you. You become their strategic partner; not their personal valet and gopher. I have met people who have volunteered to become a servant to their prospects or clients. People will gladly take on a free slave, but no one will do business with their slaves or gophers.
In order to motivate your troops
to capture the enemy's provisions,
you need to reward them with profit.
During the battle of the charioteers,
whoever first captures ten enemy charioteers,
should be honored and highly rewarded
to stimulate the morale.
—Sun Tzu (2.14)
If you don't generously reward your superior performers, most likely, you will end up creating your own competition. In order to ensure your own survival, generously reward those who bring in results for you.
When Chi (extraordinary strategy) and
Zhangi (traditional tactics) intertwine,
they create a powerful momentum,
like witnessing a revolving circle
the possibilities are infinite.
—Sun Tzu (5.10)
Sales begin before you meet the buyer. When a salesperson meets a potential customer, the first thing that goes through his mind is “Good, this is my opportunity to make a sale.” Wrong. Your opportunity to make a sale occurs before you meet with your potential customers.
I want you try an intuitive experiment with fishing. If you have never fished, you may want try to go fishing—or just go fishing in your mind. On this mental trip, you do not carry any bait with you. As a matter of fact, you do not even need to carry a fishing rod—the fish you want to catch do not eat worms. The fish that you picture in your mind are the people who buy your products.
Sit at the edge of your mental river and concentrate on your fishing rod—or the imaginary pole in your heart. Do not leave your place until you can see you have caught your fish without using any bait. The fish that you want are not in the water; they are in your heart—see these fish in your heart. In your heart, mind, and soul experience your customers convinced your idea or product is just right for them; that they cannot live until they have it.
Wherever you want to be in your career and whatever you wish to achieve, practice the experience that you have gotten there already. Once, when you truly own the experience of having accomplished that, the rest will be seen as merely going through the motions.
While other salesman start to sell when they meet their buyers; you, on the other hand, know the time to make sure you will make the sale is prior to your trying to sell anything—prior to your meeting with your buyers. To the untrained eye, you are simply practicing traditional selling; but you know that you are embodying your own version of new and radical, unconventional sales practices.
The winner, after careful preparation,
is confident he will won the war
before he wages battle.
The losers, without preparation,
engage the enemy first,
hoping they will win the fight.
—Sun Tzu (4.14)
Unless you can keenly identify your buyer’s motive for buying your product and where his/her Li (gain) lies in possessing your products and/or services, you do not know how to speak his language. By giving you his money, he intends to gain more than the value of the money he just put out. If he is not clear about this, then it is your job as a salesperson to point it out to him. Again, this relates back to how well you know your product’s selling points.
For a salesperson, the battlefield is not the commission; it is the joy of “I serve”. If a salesperson misidentifies the battlefield and thinks he is fighting to gain his commission, there is no hope of winning the battle because there is no such thing as a battlefield of commissions—only a battlefield of the customer’s well-being.
Being detached from your commission, become attached to your customer. When you are focused on money, you will lose sight of serving your customers and prospects. In fact, if you are hungry, it will often show as your desire to eat them up and your customer will speedily run from you to ensure that they do not end as your lunch.
He who knows
which battle he should engage in
and which he should avoid,
will win.
—Sun Tzu (3.15)
There are battles you need to stay away from because you will only lose; just as there are buyers who you need to realize will never become your customers. When you do enough of the right things, in time, the math will add up and the absolutely desired results will chase you.
- Strategic Thinking & Leadership According To Sun Tzu's Art Of War
- The Application of Sun Tzu's Art of War in the Marketplace.
The 2,500 year old art of war treatise has become the most popular business book worldwide. Why is it transferable from the battlefield to the marketplace? Sun Tzu's Art of War is about winning through the understanding of human relationship, rather than having the troops go at each other.
The Five Essential Elements of Winning:
1. TAO: moral standing, ethics, righteousness.
2. TIEN: timing.
3. DI: geographic conditions, assets and liabilities
4. JIAN: leadership
5. FA: execution of plan.
Strategic thinking is about how your products, team, customers, and your suppliers' relationships interweave into the Five Elements:
1. TAO: the product and the company culture need to be in line with Tao; righteousness. Without Tao, a short-term profit is attainable, but long-term success is not possible.
2. TIEN: the timing of your products and your marketing strategy needs to be in line with the social timing and the universal timing.
3. DI: how you utilize your company's assets and liabilities, including how each individual understands the turning of his/her liabilities into assets by relating them to everyday work and accelerating the quality of one's life.
4. JIAN: how your leaders relate to their staff, customers and suppliers according to the following five qualities: wisdom, trustworthiness, benevolence, courage and discipline.
5. FA: an effective executive’s actions will result in keeping the revenue coming in rapidly. Sun Tzu practiced swift victory through "Eat what you kill" and "Reward results".
- The Ultimate Guide To Strategic Thinking According To Sun Tzu's Art Of War
- In ancient China , all books on the subject of the art of war were considered wisdom reserved for the kings. Due to the intense power hidden within the text of the art of war books, they were only available to those who ruled, or those in the service of a king. Among the collections of the wisdom of the kings, Sun Tzu’s Art of War was considered the Ultimate Guide to Strategic Thinking.
We will explore the inner workings of the Sun Tzu’s eight essential elements to achieve strategic victory.
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- Leadership According To Sun Tzu’s Art Of War
- Sun Tzu's Art of War, the ancient Chinese treatise on strategy, is the most widely read business book in the world. Chin-Ning is the foremost authority on the practical application of Sun Tzu's principles and their applicability to the modern workplace.
Your company will learn:
- Five essential elements that effect the outcome of every project.
- Five assets and liabilities of a great leader, and how to avoid the pitfalls.
- The omens of victory and defeat.
- Five formulas for motivating your troops.
- By becoming proficient in the art of war strategies, your mind will be trained to travel along enigmatic strategic byways which your competitors will find impenetrable.
- The Working Woman’s Art Of Strategy
- Explore the delights of winning without confrontation. Chin-Ning has two seeming disadvantages in the corporate arena: she is female and she is Chinese-American. However, eighty percent of her fans, audiences, and readers are influential politicians and businessmen. Chin-Ning dispenses a powerful perspective on dynamic, proven strategies that each woman can use to get ahead in today’s business world. You will examine: * Secrets of smashing the glass ceiling by becoming the exception to the rule.
- The inevitable forces gathering to make the 21st century, the Woman’s Century.
- How to embrace both your family and career without neglecting either.
- Why a good mother is a good leader.
- How to keep the money rolling in.
- Six ways to avoid certain defeat.
- Turning your apparent liabilities into your greatest assets.
- Strategies for fighting victorious warfare in a male-dominated world by choosing an advantageous battleground.
- Position yourself for victory long before the battle begins.
- Utilizing the small forces to overcome the mighty.
- Diversity As Champion For Corporate And Personal Success
- As the 21st century has wheeled in the global village, so has come the urgency for learning to value ideas and behaviors with which we are not familiar—and, perhaps, even see as incomprehensible and more or less nonsense. Respect for those who are different in their expression and their appearances is no longer a luxury to be exercised as an occasional courtesy. It has now become an essential attitude for the harmonious operation and financial wellness of a corporation and one’s personal success.
The great Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu, who lived 2,600 years ago, stated, "Cultivate the virtue of respect in yourself, and that virtue of respect will be realized for you. Cultivate respect in a family, and that family will flourish. Cultivate respect in the village, and that village will prosper. Cultivate respect in your nation, and that nation will know abundance. Cultivate respect in the universe, and harmony will reign everywhere." As we push our personal boundaries by learning to respect and value those who are different from us, we delightfully discover that beyond the superficial differences which exist between peoples and cultures, there lies a similarity in the common nobility of humanity.
Lao Tzu also said, "The great leader has no preset attitude about how he should treat others. He reaches into others and sees them through their eyes, and is aware of their need to be respected. When goodness is within me, then I am good to people who are good. And I am also good to the people who are not good because virtue is goodness. When I have faith within me, then I have faith in people who are faithful. I also have faith in people who are not faithful because virtue is faithfulness."
- Harnessing The Storm —Warrior Strategies For Trying Times
- The great shipbuilders of the ancient Vikings knew the secret of building indestructible vessels that would support their superior sailors in doing battle with the rough, impossible waters of the North Sea . The Vikings didn’t pray for stormless seas; they knew better. Instead of sitting home and moaning about the dangerous, treacherous waters, they accepted the fierceness of the North Sea as a condition of life. And they turned themselves into the world’s best shipbuilders and most highly skilled sailors, ready to sail off into a horizon of endless possibilities.
We are living in rapidly changing times; technology changes, markets change, paradigms endlessly shift across moving cultural and national boundaries. All these situations provide ample frustrating challenges, as well as totally unique opportunities. The traditional way of addressing change and challenge has taken the backseat to an active seeking of new perspectives in proven strategies which are simultaneously new, ancient and timeless.
The superior business warrior is guided by an inner wisdom which is cultivated in facing life's confrontations while questing for the balance: "In action, you are swift and competent; in yielding, you are unabashed; in conquering, you are effective." The skilled business warrior, by adopting such strategies, overcomes inner timidity and subjective considerations.
Chin-Ning leads you in tapping into your natural state of perfect strength, perfect control and perfect detachment. This, in turn will assist you in using change as an opportunity to turn defeat into victory, while gallantly fulfilling noble business and personal objectives.
Points of interest and focus are:
* Principles of unlearning.
* Thriving in challenging times.
* Integrity: how it is the wishing-fulfilling tree.
* The noble attributes of work and service.
* The magical power of endurance which makes one invincible.
* How to prosper in the midst of the cunning and ruthless.
* Acquiring the killer instinct—the key that leads all successful ventures.
* The mystery of money and your talent.
* Using your liabilities as assets.
- Do Less , Achieve More
- Technology has promised us more leisure but, instead, has led many to new levels of frustration and overwhelm. People worldwide are commonly experiencing the "I just can't take it anymore" syndrome. By adopting the principles of Do Less, Achieve More, we are elevated from the ordinary agitated state of consciousness into an extraordinary level where desired objectives and results unfold with an uncommon ease of effort, thus positively effecting our practical day-to-day performance in all arenas of life.
Some of the key elements covered:
- Adopt the power of ease to achieve maximum results.
- Embrace the power of detachment to close the deal.
- Trade what you have in your life for what you truly want.
- The state of surrender will reveal your destiny.
- Live to thrive, not just to survive.
- How to stop reacting, and start restfully controlling.
- The powerful technique of staying in the present.
- Adopting the habit of Directed Dreaming.
- Finding the root of your wisdom and power in your irritation.
- The Asian Art Of Business
- Asian behavior in all of their business dealings.
Chin-Ning’s extraordinary insight will provide your organization with that needed edge; saving your company years of time and an untold amount of money.
The principles dealt with:
- The market place as a battlefield.
- The essence of war is deception.
- Application of the strategies of the art of war and the thirty-six strategies.
- The conceptual barrier that lies hidden between East and West.
- Using culture as a weapon.
- The two-edged sword of friendship in Asia .
- What is not said is often more important than what is expressed openly.
- Historical and cultural connections existing among the Asian people.
- The character difference between Northern versus Southern Chinese.
- The Samurai code and how it is prevalent today in Japan ’s business world.
- Top down, bottom up; the most effective strategy to accomplish your objectives.
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