Thread by @ThyConsigliori

John Minford, #SunTzu 9: 11 "On mound, hill, bank, or dike, occupy the Yang, with high ground to right and rear."

Yes indeed, we did just discuss this, when we went over Roger Ames work on this passage. And yes, I do hope you have the idea crystal clear and solidly in mind. So, let me ask, have you tried explaining this to anyone?

I had to laugh, in a business coaching session last week I was attempting to introduce Yin and Yang to someone who'd never studied it. You couldn't believe how tongue tied I got. What messed me about was which color is which. The answer is white = yang, black = yin.

After all these decades, I don’t know why my eyes invert it. I go to explain it, I’m showing the diagram, and it just comes out wrong. And believe, it does NOT help your student to learn when you’re flipping around the core idea, yourself!

So here we go, one more time, on top of the hill you've got the driest part, that's yang. Think of white light, and you won't make my perpetual error. Yang is white, like light on a dry hilltop. The same with a bank or a dike. Dikes hold in water. The water side is yin.

And always place the high ground to your right and your rear, so you're fighting downward and toward the left. Remember, in formation, all soldiers have their swords and spears in their right hands. All good? Ready to teach this to someone else, yet? Good! Give it a try.

Going tactical, let's turn to my own strongest suit, sales and negotiation in business. I'd like to compare and contrast an old tool, versus a newer one. One of the older acronyms we use in sales training is FAB: Features, Advantages, Benefits. It's a very good model, and works.

I confess, I've always been a bit vague about the difference between an advantage and a benefit, but let me give it a go. I like mighty cars. So, a feature is a big, powerful engine. An advantage is tremendous transfer of massive force. The benefit is I get a need-for-speed hit.

I'll come back to that example in a minute. The newer model to consider is called Consultative Selling. It's easiest to explain in business sales. The idea is to push through all the early reasons why a business spends money, and to find your way to the Return On Investment: ROI.

If you can do that, you end up selling an improvement in the prospect’s profit. The inventor of this method, Mac Hanan, used the unattractive acronym PIP: Profit Improvement Proposals. They automatically sound so boring, but I assure you, they’re not!

Let me explain by returning to my car with its speed of thought acceleration power. It's even more important to me that I be able to avoid dangerous situations, than that I get my speed hit. The maneuverability, and ability to keep myself and my family is hugely important to me.

I may or may not buy the car for its speed, but if you pile on enhanced safety, I can't say no. For a business, improved profit, if credible, is an offer that can't be refused. So what's the yin and yang? Salesmen start out with zero credibility. That's yin.

An irresistible offer, a CREDIBLE irresistible offer is maximum yang. When a business prospect learns how hard you're working to improve his and his company's profit, your credibility begins to rise. This is the yang side of the hill of lack of credibility you must climb.

Make no mistake about it, selling MAGA is an absolutely identical process. You can discuss the features, advantages and benefits of the MAGA plan all day long, and you'll get through to some people. And the better job you do, the more impact you'll have.

Now, let me give you a profit improvement proposal for you to consider using. The moment illegal immigration goes down, wages in the lowest income areas of our economy begin to rise. It is simple supply and demand. It's logical. But the data is in. Don't take my word for it.

My great friend @shestokas has written about it from his work in inner cities where the need for rising wages, and jobs made available to legal citizens is greatest. Besides, look at any economic report and you'll see unemployment at record lows, and rising wages. That's profit.

@shestokas I'll share one more business example but combined with volunteering in the MAGA movement. After having lost tremendous amounts of business for coming out of the political closet for Trump, I've been learning how to bring the two together.

@shestokas When getting to know new clients now, I make them all come and see my Twitter page. I share with them my story from 2016 till now. We waged a hard-fought battle for victory, and against all odds, we won. That's a great story. Yes, it still turns many away, and I'm okay with that.

@shestokas Perhaps it's obvious, but if a person can't forgive me for my politics, there's no benefit to hiding it from them. They're free to choose whomever they wish to hire as a coach. On the other hand, if they can respect my political work, it builds our new relationship immediately.

@shestokas What was that high hill to climb, from yin of distrust, to yang of credibility, right? The best method of being credible, is to tell the truth. Does it work? Damn straight it does. I'm having the best year of my over-30 year ever, here in 2019.

@shestokas We'll go over some of this again when we work on tomorrow's short, summary verse. In the meantime, if nothing else, think about the challenge of winning credibility with those we need to #WinTheWarForAmerica2020.

@shestokas 239 verses completed, 199 to go.

To return to previous sections in our #WarForAmerica2020 and #SunTzuForMAGA series, don't forget to head over to @WarForAmerica21. You'll find the digital table of contents for this series, there. Please retweet each entry you enjoy.