Visit the Sage

Natural Flow

"Everything in life has a natural flow. So to get something done, you must look for the flow and match it as best you can." -- Dad

"You can stand in the river and fight the current, or you can sit in the inner tube and enjoy the ride." -- Mom

"Sell with manipulation and the world is your battlefield. Sell with honesty and the world is your playground." -- Me

First, a huge thanks to Mom and Dad for the natural-flow wisdom that created my philosophy about sales and selling and relationships and life.

Second, while today's message is about selling, it is not about selling what you might think.

Allow me to explain ...

About 10 percent of the hands I shake are owned by people who have been downsized, golden handshook or early retired, and who are, quote, "On the hunt for a new job."

STOP RIGHT THERE!

As Mom and Dad said, life has a flow and to get the most out of life you've got to find the flow and follow it to your destination, instead of fighting against that flow in an attempt to reach your destination.

Hunting for a job is fighting the flow ... there is nothing natural about it. Unless, of course, all you want is a place where you can trade some of your time for money and you don't care how the company spends the time you've sold them.

There is, however, a natural career flow for every person. It's where passion and function merge, and here's how you find that flow.

You must "sell yourself" to three different entities:

Entity One: First, YOU must be sold on You.

Let's call this your personal flow.

I've had more than 100 be-useful meetings with people on the job hunt in the past six months. Despite the fact that I've enjoyed every conversation, every resume they showed me SCREAMED boring. (Unfortunately, half these people are using career counseling services and have invested thousands of dollars and countless hours in producing this boring crap.)

Are you boring?

Then why is your resume a shopping list?

Unless you actually are boring, your resume should shout "THIS IS WHO I AM!" "THIS IS WHAT I LOVE!" "THIS IS WHAT I BELIEVE!" "THIS IS WHAT I VALUE!"

Save the shopping list for the grocery store. Your resume must reflect who you are, not what you've done, because people buy people, not resumes.

Entity Two: Second, "they" must be sold on You.

"They" are your network. Let's call this network flow.

You've heard it a thousand times. If you want to find the perfect position, you must network your way to success.

They are the myriad people in your network -- everyone from your spouse to your proctologist. And if they aren't sold on you, they won't help sell you to someone else.

Of the 100 job hunters with whom I've recently met, only a handful offered to help me with anything, while the rest asked me for my help.

Ask for help from 100 people and you'll receive real help from a handful.

Offer real help to a handful of people and you'll receive help from 100.

That's the nature of network flow. You must feed it to get it moving.

Entity Three: Finally, He or She must be sold on You.

He or she is the person responsible for filling the position that perfectly matches your passion. If you build the personal and network flow I described above, he or she is the destination at which you will naturally arrive.

That's the beauty of finding your natural flow -- it takes you where you wanted to go anyway.

Speaking Of Natural Flow

Sometimes natural flow finds you. That's another aspect of flow -- you've got to have your eyes and ears open to spot the right fork.

Dixie Gillaspie and I are not career counselors, are not headhunters, are not resume perfectionists and are not transitional consultants.

But with Dixie's natural ability to help people find and articulate their passion, and my natural ability to turn passion into closed deals, we have a natural energy, synergy and harmony at helping people find the flow to their dream careers.

We realized this only yesterday as our dogs romped in my back yard. So starting with this post (unless Dix beat me to it on Twitter or Facebook) we're now offering a new coaching program for anyone who wants to find his or her passion career.

We'll help you find the flow -- you've got to jump in the tube and ride the current. (The river starts here.)

Gill E. Wagner, Sage of Selling
President of Honest Selling
Founder of the Yellow-Tie International Business Development Association

The Age of the Team

The economy sucks.

The hope of the recent elections is waning as republicans and democrats alike fall back on tired "get elected" habits, instead of working to solve our country's our states' our cities' and our communities' problems.

Headlines starting with "After [82] Years In Business ..." and ending with "... Closes Its Doors" are the rule rather than the exception.

Bankruptcies are on the rise. Jobs are on the decline. Rampant prosperity is over.

The world is out of control.

Sound familiar?

Feel familiar?

Here's one that may not sound or feel quite as familiar, yet is just as true:

The age of the individual is over. The age of the team has begun.

Who Is Your Team?

In the late '70's I was a teenager working in residential remodeling with my father. For almost 20 years, Dad had purchased the vast majority of our building materials from Reis-Moran Lumber -- a small lumber company in our neighborhood.

For almost 20 years, Dad never failed to pay a Reis-Moran bill. But the economy had taken a downturn, the country was in a recession and two of our most recent customers -- very large projects, I might add -- lost their jobs and refused to pay us what they owed.

Faced with the dilemma of either paying a huge lumber bill or feeding his family, Dad did the only thing he felt was fair.

He paid the bill.

While I can recall a great many small lessons about ethics, morals and life -- all of them taught by example rather than words -- I think Dad's decision to pay that bill was pivotal in transforming the boy into a man.

"The men who run Reis-Moran have always treated me fairly," Dad said. "They aren't just suppliers of lumber ... they're part of the Wagner Remodeling team. If we're going to survive this recession we have to protect the team, not just ourselves."

"Besides," he added, "they have families to feed too."

The Only Leverage You Need

The economy may suck. Hope may have waned. The world may feel out of control. The news may seem like it's moving from bad to worse on a daily basis.

And the easiest and surest way to thrive while others fail is to leverage the power of your team.

Gill E. Wagner, Sage of Selling
President of Honest Selling
Founder of the Yellow-Tie International Business Development Association

Lifeblood

I've explained the following numbers in person at least 500 times over the past 30 years. I've also shared this information in speeches on several occasions. And every time, including yesterday with a young salesman, I get great feedback on both the simplicity of the thinking and the objectivity of the list.

I learned this thinking from Dad in the '70s. Admittedly, the numbers have changed over time -- with the explosion of the Internet in the '90s and its virtually free methods for communicating with the masses, the numbers grew substantially. But the basic concept and its ability to positively impact an individual's success has remained the same.

So today, I decided to put it in print. I hope you enjoy the idea and its objective nature as much today as I did when Dad grilled it into my head in my youth.

It's Not Who You Know, It's What They Think About You

"Your Rolodex is the lifeblood of your business," Dad said. "Treat every person in it as though he is the most important person you will ever know, because he is."

The Rolodex pictured here is exactly the one I remember from my youth -- it sat on Dad's desk next to his rotary phone. I remember countless times watching him roll through these cards, penciling in birth dates, children's and pet's names, favorite restaurants -- anything he knew that would help him strengthen the relationships he had with the people he believed controlled his future.

Dad built a residential remodeling company, fed, clothed and housed a wife and three kids, and built a rental property portfolio that still supports him, Mom and my niece Jessica who is disabled -- all from the contents of that little brown box.

I hope you enjoy his lesson as much as I have.

One Relationship At A Time

Dad never worked further than 30 miles from his house in his life, and his Rolodex probably never contained more than 1,000 names. Given the flat world in which we live, I've updated the numbers below to reflect our reality. Still, the concepts are the same as he taught me, because they work.

Your database of contacts is indeed the lifeblood of success. I'm sure you've heard that before, but guessing you never had someone boil it down to specific, objective numbers -- a measurable goal toward which you can strive.

Following is the configuration of database contacts -- people with whom you communicate for business purposes -- I believe will allow any individual to achieve stratospheric success in any endeavor. More may be better -- these are my minimums.

• 20,000 Followers
  I describe a "follower" as a person who has decided to listen to your opinion when you voice it. That's it. Nothing more. Not someone who agrees with you -- just someone who will listen.
   
• 2,000 Professional Acquaintances
  A professional acquaintance is someone you know through your business who, if you leave a voicemail that says nothing more than "I need to chat with you for a few minutes. Please give me a call when you can." will return your call. And you, of course, will do the same for him or her.
   
• 200 Walking Ambassadors
  I define a walking ambassador as someone who cares at least as much about your success as he or she cares about his or her own. These are the people who are literally more excited to give you a referral or recommendation than they are to receive one themselves. Of course, the only way to get 200 walking ambassadors is to become a walking ambassador for 200 people. (Note: This is not a back-scratch trade. It won't always be the same 200 people, and it won't work if you keep track. You must simply become a staunch advocate for others in whom you believe and trust karma to do its thing.)
   
• 20 Adopted Souls
  This is my very favorite category -- one I added myself instead of learning from Dad. Its the list of people you simply cannot resist helping because they touch your heart. It's the people with huge passion but no experience. The ones with soft spirit and bright eyes. These are the people you simply decide to help "just because," and from whom you will never accept a dime in payment. (I'll credit Mom with this attitude -- her adopted souls list is probably larger than my followers list.)
   
• 5 Business Partners
  I hate the word "can't," so I won't say you can't reach stratospheric success levels alone. But I will say it is easier and a whole lot more fun if you develop, nurture and leverage the five most important business relationships you'll ever have. By "partner" I don't exactly mean legal partnerships, although those can be part of this category. I'm talking about people to whom you've married your success, and who have married their success to yours.
   
• 2 Lifetime Mentors
  I know everything there is to know about sales -- just ask me and I'll be glad to tell you. It's that type of arrogant confidence my clients want, and for which they pay. But it wasn't until I realized how stupid that statement really was that I added this last category and finally got my own confident arrogance the hell out of my own way. No matter how smart you may be, you don't know it all, and until you open your mind to the wisdom of others, you'll never be wise enough to share yours.

This is the goal I have for my Rolodex -- the minimum numbers toward which I strive -- and the numbers I believe every entrepreneur or salesperson with stratospheric dreams must have.

People are the lifeblood of your success. The more people, and the stronger each relationship, the more success you'll have.

Gill E. Wagner, Sage of Selling
President of Honest Selling
Founder of the Yellow-Tie International Business Development Association

Eavesdropping

I'm sitting in a coffee shop in St. Louis right now -- waiting for my 9:30 a.m. appointment to arrive.

In a booth 12 feet away are two guys talking (loudly, so no apologizes for overhearing them) about networking. Just heard one guy say the following:

"When I'm in an elevator, I know I have 30 seconds to make a great impression, so I have to hit 'em hard with benefits. But when I'm at a mixer, I want to say something that gets them to ask me lots of questions so I can tell them all the important stuff about what I do."

Five people (including the guy I quoted) actually turned their heads and looked at me as I inadvertently let out a belly laugh. (Luckily I wasn't looking straight at him at the time.)

I'm sure many of you know this, but I believe in reinforcement almost to the point of absurdity, so here goes anyway ...

"IT" is NEVER about YOU!

The people you meet while networking don't give a rats ass about your benefits.

They don't want to hear your story.

They won't remember your details.

And their eyes will role, their skin will crawl, their stomachs will cringe and their desire to know you will instantly evaporate if you take the "it's all about me" approach.

Sage of Selling Rule: People will not care about you until you first care about them.

The exceptions are the people who understand and practice this stuff. Fortunately, most people at most networking functions are not power networkers, so they've never studied the practice or perfected it. So this affords you the chance to be the networking hero -- the most interesting person at the meeting, because you want to learn about them.

Ask, listen, learn, care, help. Then let the relationship take care of itself.

Gill E. Wagner, Sage of Selling
President of Honest Selling
Founder of the Yellow-Tie International Business Development Association

Seven Secrets To Stratoshperic Success: Secret Two

You're standing on a riverbank, with the water lapping at your toes. The morning dew blankets your surroundings, and the fog on the river is so thick, a rock thrown disappears from view before it leaves your hand.

On the ground behind you are the following:

• Pair of running shoes
• Pair of hiking boots
• Snorkel and fins
• Pole vault pole
• Canoe and paddle
• Car with engine running and GPS mapping software loaded and active

Using any, all or none of these tools, what is the fastest way to cross the river? (Remember, the fog on the river is so thick you can't see the hand at the end of your arm.)

What is the safest way to cross the river?

How about the most enjoyable way to cross?

In this scenario, the only correct answer to this question is some form of "I have no earthly idea," because you know only your starting point and not your destination.

Do you know why even a blind hog finds an acorn every once in a while?

Because the hog is looking for acorns.

Sage Secret Two: The Law Of The Objective Bull's Eye
You can’t reach the stratosphere, unless you can describe it objectively.

Stratospheric success is never an accident. Sure, the people who reach it often seem to stumble their way to greatness, but that's only because they know what the stratosphere is for them, and when its smell wafts past, they change directions.

Here's a simple-yet-effective exercise for describing and reaching your personal version of stratospheric success:

1. Write down your vision for stratospheric success. (If you included any subjective words, change each to an objective description that others will understand.)
2. Describe the stepping-stone achievements you must meet to reach the stratosphere -- write a book, launch a website, prepare and give 30 speeches, etc.
3. Describe every achievement objectively as though it were it's own goal. (Turn "write a book" into "Write a book that reaches number 1 on the Amazon best sellers list, stays there for five weeks and sells 150,000 copies.")
4. Arrange your stepping-stone achievements into a logical, linear order. (Don't be so rigid as to miss an opportunity to meet an achievement out of order.)
5. Describe the tasks to meeting your first stepping-stone achievement.
6. Schedule time to complete the tasks.

Keep it simple, but keep it objective, and you'll be well on your way to reaching your stratosphere.

Gill E. Wagner, Sage of Selling
President of Honest Selling
Founder of the Yellow-Tie International Business Development Association

Seven Secrets To Stratoshperic Success: Secret One

I have a new, keynote-level presentation titled "The Sage of Selling's Seven Succinct Secrets To Stratospheric Success." So I figured in my next seven blog posts I would share the seven secrets contained in that speech.

First, however, I feel compelled to point out the obvious fact that these aren't really secrets. After all, I've already given the speech once, which de-secrified them all.

But I like the seven-S title, so I'm keeping it.

Second, I believe strongly in objective goal-setting, so for the purposes of this conversation, let's define the "stratosphere" as:

At least 10 times more successful than the average successful person in your field.

In every profession there are people who are climbing, people who have reached what most would call success, and people who see way beyond. We're going after the way beyond here. So figure out how the average coach, mentor, trainer, business owner, salesperson, accountant, attorney, etc. would define success. Then multiply that by 10 and use it as the definition of the stratosphere in your chosen profession.

Third, these seven secrets are addressing success in a career in the business world. So they wouldn't apply, say, to an actor. That being said, however, I'm sure that if you wanted to reach the stratosphere as an actor, you could use these seven secrets to get there.

Fourth, a global assumption I'll make is that you're damned good at what you do. I mean, if you're the worst attorney on the planet, all the secrets in the world won't help you over come your personal ineptitude.

So much for the setup, now for the secrets.

I believe there are seven fundamental laws any individual must follow to reach stratospheric success.

Sage Secret One: The Law Of Ownership
You are responsible for your own success.

"If you're not having fun, change something."

That quote is engraved on my psyche, because I must have heard Mom say it a thousand times as I was growing up.

I may have learned the foundation of Honest Selling from Dad during my youth, but it was Mom's footing -- taking ownership of my own problems and their solutions -- that supports the foundation Dad helped me lay.

Just as important as the lesson, however, was the way Mom taught it. I can remember one instance in particular. It was summer vacation, which meant that by 10 a.m. every non-rainy day, "the guys" from the neighborhood would gather at the designated spot and figure out what we would do. For some reason, football had taken center stage that year and I was sick and tired of the same thing every day.

"Aren't you going to play with your friends today," Mom asked?

"All they ever want to do is play football," I replied. "And I'm getting sick of it."

"What would you rather play?"

"Softball. I have my new glove and it was just getting broke in when summer started."

"Well if you're not having fun, change something. What can you do to get your friends to play softball instead of football?"

"I don't know."

"Then get creative. Give me an idea of something you could do to make it impossible for them to play football."

"Like what?" (This, of course, was me fishing for the solution so I wouldn't have to figure it out myself.)

"What if you took your pocket knife with you and popped the football? You'd have to play something else, wouldn't you?"

"I can't do that!" I replied in astonishment. "First, they'd kick the tar out of me. Second, Dad would whip my butt when he got home and you know it."

"Yes, I'm sure the consequences of popping the football would be great. Not only would you probably get beat up, and certainly get in trouble around here, but I"m sure it would be a long time before any of them played with you again. But you have to admit that they wouldn't be able to play football that day."

Mom had a peculiar knack for giving me examples that were incredibly creative and obviously effective, yet totally impractical to implement. This taught me several things:

1. To solve my problems, I need to first own them.
2. To be creative.
3. To analyze the consequences of my ideas before implementing them.
4. To not fear trying new things.
5. To be a leader instead of a follower or complainer.

Yes, if you want to be stratospherically successful, Sage Secret One is a must.

Next post, Sage Secret Two: The Law Of The Objective Bull's Eye

Gill E. Wagner, Sage of Selling
President of Honest Selling
Founder of the Yellow-Tie International Business Development Association

Loyal Customers My Arse

Consultants around the world are bashing the idea of having satisfied customers, saying that satisfied customers are merely customers who are "Waiting to go somewhere else."

"You want loyal customers!" they shout. "Because loyal customers give referrals and referrals will make you rich!"

I'm sorry, but I cry "Bullshit!"

In his book, "INFLUENCE, Science and Practice," Robert B. Cialdini, Ph.D. discusses the law of Reciprocation -- a pervasive obligation in all human cultures to give as much as you have received. While many examples in his book have significance to this post, the sections that seem most appropriate go like this:

The impressive aspect of the rule for reciprocation and the sense of obligation that goes with it is its pervasiveness in human culture. It is so widespread that after intensive study, sociologists such as Alvin Gouldner can report there is no human society that does not subscribe to the rule. And within each society it seems pervasive also; it permeates exchanges of every kind.

Cultural anthropologists Lionel Tiger and Robin Fox view this "web of indebtedness" as a unique adaptive mechanism of human beings, allowing for the division of labor, the exchange of diverse forms of goods, the exchange of different services (making it possible for experts to develop), and the creation of a cluster of interdependencies that bind individuals together into highly efficient units.

Make no mistake, human societies derive a truly significant competitive advantage from the reciprocity rule, and consequently they make sure their members are trained to comply with and believe in it. Each of us has been taught to live up to the rule, and each of us knows about the social sanctions and derision applied to anyone who violates it. The labels we assign to such a person are loaded with negativity -- moocher, ingrate, welsher.

If a satisfied customer is a customer "waiting to go somewhere else," then what is a loyal customer?

Let's do the reciprocation math:

• The customer paid you a fee.
• In the customer's view, you provided products or service greater than that fee.
• As repayment of the debt, the customer gave you his or her loyalty.

Best case, you're even.

Worst case, the loyal customer feels you owe him or her something in return for the loyalty bestowed.

Any case, referrals are not about to gush. Sure, loyal customers are better than satisfied customers, but when it comes to receiving tons of referrals, loyalty falls far short.

Here's a Sage of Selling Secret -- keep this under your hat:

The Law Of The Bull's-Eye
You will never do better than hit the target at which you aim, so make that target a good one.

Keep your satisfied customers.

Keep your loyal customers too.

But if you want referrals to gush, how about making Walking Ambassadors out of every customer you have?

Gill E. Wagner, Sage of Selling
President of Honest Selling
Founder of the Yellow-Tie International Business Development Association

Stratospheric Success

If you want success, give.

If you want huge success, give huge.

If you want stratospheric success ... (you get the point).

Earlier this week a colleague gave me a copy of a new book, "The Go-Giver," by Bob Burg and John David Mann. I've read a lot of business books through the years, and I have never failed to disagree with some of the concepts conveyed -- because I'm an often arrogant, do-it-myself, 10,000-ideas-a-day maverick.

Thankfully, Burg and Mann have broken that perfect record of dissent and made an impact on my life in the process. I am now in the throws of reevaluating my own giving nature and, unfortunately, finding that while I give a lot, I have not been giving at the stratospheric level.

Interestingly enough, just more than one year ago I considered giving all my sales training away for free, since I was more interested in working on higher-level issues with sales managers and executives. But I could never figure out how to make that generate sales, so I didn't pull the trigger.

And back when I wrote my first (and still only) book, I considered giving it away free. But for the first eight months, I gave only a couple chapters free, hoping that "test drive" would stimulate sales. It wasn't until I decided to forget about sales completely -- putting the entire book on my website -- that sales took care of themselves.

Every time in my life I said "screw it" and gave away the farm, my crops grew stronger than ever.

About 30 minutes ago, I implemented the idea to give away the free sales training. I have no strategy for how that will create success, nor am I keeping track. You see, Karma is just like gravity -- the bigger the object the more it attracts other objects. That's why giving at stratospheric levels always works -- when your Karma is huge, all things come to you.

From this moment on, all sales training that my company provides will be completely, totally, free.

Note: In my opinion, if you believe in giving and don't read a copy of "The Go-Giver" immediately, it's a mistake.

Gill E. Wagner, Sage of Selling
President of Honest Selling
Founder of the Yellow-Tie International Business Development Association

Thinking Outside The Bulb

Cindy and I are going green.

Actually, we've always been fairly conservationy -- thermostat at 67 degrees in the winter and 80 in the summer; open our windows whenever we can tolerate the heat or cold; recycle everything we can and have organized most of our family members to do the same; don't water the lawn no matter what; and so forth. But in a recent decision to offset the blatant natural resources abuse of some of our other family members (you know who you are), we decided to take green to a new level at the Wagner's.

One thing we did recently was head to the store to get an entire set of new, energy efficient light bulbs. One such bulb is the General Electric, Soft White 40 -- saves $24 per bulb in energy costs; last 8 times longer than a 40 watt regular soft white bulb.

We bought the 2 bulb value pack, brought it home, installed both lights and then took a look at the clear plastic packaging to find the recycle triangle and number.

Guess what? No recycle triangle. No number. Designed specifically to be thrown away after the bulbs are removed.

I'm left wondering, "When will the light bulb go on at GE?"

Gill E. Wagner, Sage of Selling
President of Honest Selling
Founder of the Yellow-Tie International Business Development Association

Subtle Differences Can Make A Major Impact

In the past few weeks I've had several occasions to discuss the differences between coaching, mentoring, training, facilitating and consulting. And on two occasions, the people with whom I spoke told me, "Gill, You should write that down. It's a very clear explanation."

So here is one man's opinion on the subject.

I've been working with wood since I was a child -- starting with the construction of decks, room additions and other residential remodeling, and gradually moving into fine cabinetry. To this day, I can build a mean table and chairs, but I lack any real skill at finishing -- stain, lacquer, etc. -- the things I build. If I wanted to get better at finishing what I build, I could hire a coach, trainer, mentor, facilitator or consultant -- and here's how each would help.

A coach is a person who, with absolutely no knowledge of finishing furniture, could help me increase my skills by drawing out of me what I already know and don't know, by helping me to set goals, by encouraging me to fill the gaps in my knowledge, and by keeping me accountable to meeting the goals I set. The primary value is someone to keep me on track as I do it myself.

A mentor is a person who has already done what I'm trying to do -- add finishing skills to my toolbox -- and will guide me through the same process he or she used. Of course some goal setting and accountability stuff might also happen along the way. And he or she may even throw in a bit of training when needed. The main value is in helping me avoid pitfalls along the way, thus getting me to my goal sooner.

A trainer is a person who has lots of experience finishing furniture, and who might typically stand in front of a room of people and tell them (or demonstrate to them) how to finish furniture. As an attendee to the training session, I may or may not also do some live practicing while I'm there. The value here is in learning specific techniques.

A facilitator is a person who, with no knowledge of finishing furniture, can stand in front of a group of people and get them to help one another get better at finishing furniture. He or she relies on the content experience of the audience, and is adept at getting them to share their experiences. The value is you get exposed to more ideas than with a single coach, mentor, trainer or consultant, since the attendees themselves bring the myriad ideas with them.

A consultant is a person who, with or without specific knowledge of finishing furniture, can look a the whole situation and help me determine several things. Why do I want the furniture finished? Would I be better off with unfinished furniture? Other than doing it myself, how else can I get it finished? Is it better to collaborate with a furniture finisher who sucks at building furniture, or should I take the time to learn myself?

He or she would then offer an opinion of what I should and should not do. If we agree that I should learn to finish furniture, and the consultant has specific knowledge of this craft, he or she may then turn to training, mentoring or some other discipline to help me accomplish my goal. If the consultant has no way of helping me further, he or she might recommend someone who can.

The value here is the expert guidance to make the right decisions for the short and long hauls. Of course, coaches will sometimes do a bit of this as well.

On a sales-related note, I do a bit of all of these things with my clients. And to avoid adding to the confusion, I call what I do "thought partnering." That way when I'm selling it, I can say "It's a thought-partner program that's a combination of coaching, mentoring, training, facilitating, consulting and whatever-it-takes assistance that ensures you reach your goals."

This also frees me up to do some creative thinking as part of the relationship -- something at which I'm particularly adept -- without violating the codes of ethics of any of these other professions.

I guess this article is a form of training -- a one-sided opinion-sharing effort. If you prefer more of a mentoring, facilitating or consulting style, then you'll need to share your opinion with me (and everyone else). Just use the comment feature of the blog and we'll see where this goes.

(Note: I approve only those posts I deem appropriate to the topic at hand.)

Gill E. Wagner, Sage of Selling
President of Honest Selling
Founder of the Yellow-Tie International Business Development Association