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Power Washing For The Soul

By Tim Moore

Spring is finally here, so I recently hired a local power washing company to perform the spring ritual of deep cleaning my house. There is something very therapeutic about watching Edward perform his magic on the outside of my dirty house. All the past year’s dirt and pollen, which were attached to the cedar siding, were swept away in a few short hours.

Edward is certainly an expert, and he cleaned the house, the walkway and the driveway until everything appeared shiny and new! It looks like I have a new house and, of course, my neighbors are now under pressure to keep up.

Maybe this is a good time of the year for us all of us to stop for a moment, reevaluate and do a little power washing of our business and sales methods. When was the last time you examined the effectiveness of your sales approach? When was the last time you took a hard look at your business plan and evaluated whether or not it is driving you to your desired destination? When was the last time any of us looked into our inner being, deep into our soul and felt good about all the little compromises that have been made to our value systems and our standards of ethics? 

A couple of weeks ago, a student came to into one of my Elephant University classes and told us about his car being passed on the “Outer Loop 540” around Raleigh by a man who was holding a cell phone to each ear. How the guy was steering his car at 75 miles an hour was a complete mystery. I think the bigger question is why was the guy putting himself under so much stress and putting everyone else in so much danger? 

Maybe it is time to get out of the fast lane, put down the cell phones, pull into the rest stop for a moment and reevaluate things. This season of the year is a good time to pull out your personal power washer and remove the grime from your stale business plan and uncover those beautiful moral and ethical principals most of us have deep inside. It is time to look into that mirror and take 100% responsibility for your success.

At Dancing Elephants, “seek the truth” is a cornerstone principle and one that is incorporated not only into our internal operations, but also into our training materials. Ethical behavior and social responsibility should be integral to everything in which we are involved. When things have gone wrong and we are confused, it is always safe to go back to our inner core and values. For many, it’s not easy. It takes effort and a daily look at our compass to ensure we are heading in the right direction. 

Another one of our company’s guiding principles is to “make our Mothers proud.” If you are listening to someone show you a short cut or a technique that you feel is unethical, your feelings are probably dead on. If someone is telling you that it is okay to manipulate others and use underhanded, sneaky tricks to get appointments with prospects, your first barometer should be how you would feel if someone used these tactics on you.

If something about your business practice or a sales technique feels dirty, now is the time to get out your personal pressure washer and clean things up. You don’t have to accept that this is the way business is done. You don’t have to do business with those who practice these methods. What would your Mom say if she saw how you are conducting yourself? Would she be proud? Maybe it’s time to do a little spring cleaning, just like Momma used to do.

Tim Moore is the head elephant at the Dancing Elephants Achievement Group office in Raleigh, North Carolina. He brings over 28 years of top level sales and sales management experience to the table in some of the world’s largest consumer products companies. He is also a major contributor to the book, Six Secrets of Sales Magnets. Tim can be reached at or 919-460-6909.