Words

Sales Man Up

Words

You can change your world by changing your words...remember, death and life are in the power of the tongue. - Joel Osteen

Think twice before you speak, because your words and influence will plant the seed of either success or failure in the mind of another.  - Napoleon Hill


Have you ever contemplated the power that exists within the words that we speak ?
Further yet, have you thought about how words can either make or break your business life or career ?  How important are words within our personal relationships? The right words can build and infuse hope and love, where the wrong words can cause hurt, pain, and separation. How many of us, as adults, remember good or bad things spoken over us as children ? The words we speak can open up doors of opportunity or cause slam them in our faces. Those that learn to use words wisely, crafting them with care and selecting them with watchful diligence ; can become skilled captains of their ship in navigating through the tempests of  the world and business alike.

As a sales professional, it is with our words that we literally feed our family . It is imperative that we learn to develop the habit of speaking life. How many opportunities do you think I would find if I showed up at a prospect’s office and said, “ I don’t have confidence in my company, my product will not perform and meet your needs, and you probably don’t want to buy from me anyway. “ ? The answer is “none”. If you don’t believe in yourself, your company and your product or service : then no one else will either. When we choose to speak life, we look for opportunities to encourage and build others up with our words. We search for the good in people and praise them for it. We commend someone when a job is well done. We look for the silver lining even if the clouds are dark. Positive people attract positive people. Positive people attract others who feel the need to receive the life and encouragement that flows from them.

As a parent or a mentor, how important is it to choose our words carefully ? My wife and I worked with a group of teens at a local church for a number of years. On one of our retreats, one of the young men did something very thoughtful and responsible, so I told him, “ Good job. I’m proud of you.” He walked away with a pensive look on his face. Later that evening, he approached me with tears in his eyes, stating, “ Mr. Hayes, my father has never spoken those words to me before !” My heart was broken. What a power that each of us have been entrusted with relating to the words that we speak - to build up or to tear down. This even applies to our self-talk.

How do you talk to yourself ? Do you encourage yourself, or do you tear yourself down with your words ? If you want to take the temperature of your self-talk, just try eighteen holes of golf. Years ago, I golfed with some clients in Tennessee at a course on Lookout Mountain. The vistas and scenes were spectacular. To my dismay,  I shanked the ball off of the first tee and hit the same tree… twice ! I had a few choice negative words for myself. Do you realize that if you tell yourself that you are bad at something enough times, you start to believe it ? Joel Osteen relays a story in his book “ The Power of I AM” about a friend that he played ball with in high school. Whenever he asked his friend how he was doing, his response was always “ old, fat and bald” . Of course this was meant to be a joke, but the irony was that, bumping into his friend ten years later in the mall, guess what ? Joel’s friend had become old, fat and bald ! We must be mindful of the things that we say to and about ourselves. Joel states that “ what we say will eventually come looking for us. “  I am not talking about living in a world of denial. We call things as we see them ; but I also think we are foolish if we dismiss the thought that what we say has no effect on our outcome or our destiny.

It is vital that we confess good things over our life, our home, our family and our business. Why not ? There’s enough negativity in the world. We choose what we will focus on in the course of our existence. We make the choice every day that we will work as hard on who we are becoming, as we do on our tasks. Sometimes we have to speak words in faith,and the actions have to follow later on. Choose life. Speak life over yourself and those around you, and watch your world change for the better.

Every day we should hear at least one little song, read one good poem, see one exquisite picture, and, if possible, speak a few sensible words. - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe