Snakes, spiders and mice. OH My. The power of words and the states of mind...

[GordonJ]

Flower Power Selling…Reprise OR How Snakes, Spiders and Mice Can Help You Profit.

This is the story of how I got started in selling. Tallmadge Ohio, circa 1959. I was playing with a couple of frogs and a rooster named Henry in my backyard when Mrs. Ilg called me over. She asked me to pick some flowers from the field.

About a quarter of mile west of Tallmadge circle was the remnants of a 50’s nursery that had been abandoned. Yet every spring the field would be magically transformed into a sea of yellow, red and purple waves as the perennials stood sentinel over the sacred ground of their ancestors.

I picked a lot of flowers and she gave me a nickel and suggested that other ladies in the neighborhood might be willing to give me a nickel too.
So I trotted across the street to Mrs. Whitten’s house and knocked on her door.

Her response to my "Want to buy some flowers for a nickel?" was…
"Why should I pay you when I can walk out my door and pick my own for free?"

Now there was a neighbor washing his cars and he overheard her comments and shouted out: "Yea Margaret go into the field with the snakes and spiders."

As I was about to leave she called me back, took my flowers and gave me a nickel and glared at the man washing his car. The man called me over.

He said, "Jay, here’s what you do; offer the ladies any one flower bouquet for a nickel or let them have their choice for a dime and when they ask you why they should pay you for something they get for free, simply tell them they can just be careful of the snakes, spiders and mice in the field."

I thought he was nuts.

What 9 year old boy would think that his toys would be so powerful.

Frogs, spiders, snakes and mice were ½ of our day of FUN. My little red radio flyer wagon almost always had at least one of those playthings in it.

So in the next 20 minutes I sold almost a dozen bouquets of flowers. It was surreal. I hit the mother lode. Silver dimes sparkled in my dirty little hands.

It was a very valuable lesson. Snakes, spiders and mice… OH MY.

The 3 secret words to get women to part with hard cash.

Then I got lesson two. The guy said he’d give me a quarter to help him wash and wax his cars. A QUARTER. Man was I in kid heaven, my head spinning at the thought of all the penny candy I could get down at the Bumpas drug store.

It took over an hour washing and waxing to earn that quarter. And during this time this man kept giving me lessons on selling and sent me home with a book, Tested Sentences That Sell by Elmer Wheeler where I learned that WORDS do make a difference. He was a young insurance salesman and I was his sounding board, although I didn’t realize that at the time.

OH, I also figured out that working for someone else at an agreed upon wage was far less profitable than working for myself.

I made 5X the money in 1/3 of the time selling flowers than I did doing the hard manual labor for a quarter.

Even as I was finishing "wax on, wax off", I was thinking of picking some more flowers and also, "this sucks".

My subconscious mind soaked it in (that and Maynard G. Krebs the resident beatnik on the Dobie Gillis show…played by Bob Denver{Gilligan}…who would wince at the very word; WORK WERK!??)…and the die was cast. HA!

Anyhow that is how I got started studying the old Masters of selling, the Elmers being two of my favorites Elmer Wheeler and Elmer Leterman.


PART TWO. In 1966 I went to the dentist at the corner of Fourth Street and Portage Trail where the wonderful Fran Renner, a founding member of the Association to Advance Ethical Hypnosis, introduced me to hypnosis. She saw me pacing in the hall, sweating bullets, and she offered her help and it was my first experience with hypnosis. It worked.

She loaned me her wonderful collection of works, including some great Erikson stuff and Cuyahoga Falls High School became my personal laboratory…and in particular a couple of young ladies, Linda and Janet. he…he.

OK then. In Remote Influence I gave you the following formula:
E of AI = H SOM + PI

The effectiveness of any Attempt to Influence is equal to the Harmony between the State of the Target’s Mind and the Pre-Occupational Interrupter used to access it.

I’ve got about a 3 day window of opportunity to elaborate if anyone is interested.

Gordon Jay Alexander