“Know your enemy, know yourself. A thousand battles, a thousand victories.”
~ Sun Tzu, The Art of War
Some have used the insights from Sun Tzu’s ancient writings about warfare as a manual for success in business. I can agree, but only with qualifications. One may seek the defeat or destruction of an enemy or opponent in wartime. But even in combat, isn’t the ideal goal to win an opponent over? Isn’t a kind of intellectual jujitsu the ideal?
Jujitsu is the Japanese system of weaponless self-defense in which knowledge of anatomy and the principle of leverage are applied so that the strength and weight of an opponent are used against him or her. The force of your attacker is used in ju-jitsu to deflect and defend.
Well, imagine a kind of intellectual jujitsu, where the force of your rival’s argument or concern is used to win them over onto common ground. Where the right handling of the concern or objection becomes the pivotal point for saying yes.
Now apply that concept to your business or our industry! Winning over your rival or prospect, in a weaponless fashion that brings both sides to end up on the same side.
Let’s re-write Sun-Tzu’s famous quotation just a bit…
“Know your prospect. Know yourself and your product.
A thousand encounters, a thousand customers.”
If we are seekers of the truth, then we can become aware of our strengths – and our weaknesses – in an intellectually honest fashion. By using our industry’s strengths, by honestly overcoming our weaknesses and by engaging our prospects – the public – we can move from where we are to where we long to be. We can move from resistance to acceptance.
By honestly confronting and overcoming our image and other issues, we can move from being put down by the media, and resisted by government officials or the home-buying public into ever greater acceptance, understanding and respect.
And that means more business for all of those in this Industry who are willing to do what it takes to get from where we are to where we want to go.
“Know your prospect. Know yourself and your product.
A thousand encounters, a thousand customers.”
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