Watching my grandchildren turn cardboard boxes into castles got me thinking—when did we lose that spark of imagination in our professional lives? This episode is all about rediscovering that creative flair and how it's the secret sauce in the sales cycle. Imagine trying to sell something as mundane as cleaning chemicals; it's not about the product itself but the story you weave and the problems it solves. I pull from the well of my own experiences, reflect on the ingenuity of icons like Walt Disney and Albert Einstein, and share how channeling a child-like imagination cultivates unique solutions and transforms customer interactions in the cleaning industry. I even let you in on my personal journey of reigniting imagination through journaling and literature and how it's a game-changer for thinking outside the box.
Let's face it, who doesn't want an extra edge in business? That's exactly what tapping into your imaginative potential can give you. This isn't just playtime—it's about leveraging creativity to enhance customer service, find cost-effective methods, and secure outstanding outcomes. Throughout the conversation, you'll find practical strategies to weave imaginative thinking into your business fabric. By doing so, you'll not only enrich your professional toolkit but also redefine how to address and exceed client expectations. So, if you're ready to bring a little magic into your sales approach and discover the untapped potential of your own creative mind, this is the episode for you. No guests, no distractions—just unadulterated inspiration to fuel your success.
Jerry Bauer Hospitality Cleaning 101 Jerry@hospitalitycleaning101.com
Jerry:
Welcome to the podcast Cleaning Processes with Jerry. This podcast is dedicated to building online community of like-minded individuals and businesses in the cleaning industry. We're gonna share some ideas, tips, solutions, and even try to expand our markets as we solve problems and help others. Please join me where every other week we might have a special guest that could very well be you. I work for Chem Station of Boston based outta New England. I also run the site Hospitality Cleaning 1 0 1. If you ever have a problem question or would like to join our show, feel free to reach out if you'd like your question to be asked on the show. We'll be glad to do that as well. Today we're gonna do a solo podcast and we're gonna talk about imagination in the sales cycle. Thanks for joining and Again, thanks for joining me today. Today's podcast goes back to a podcast I did two weeks ago, did a podcast on the selling of chemicals and cleaning. If we were selling something tangible. Versus intangible. I received a couple phone calls, emails, texts, concerning that, and everyone seemed to have liked the podcast. I didn't get any complaints, but different people brought up different questions, and it's motivating this podcast today, again, me taking it solo because two weeks ago I had a very poor voice, and it's better now, but we're already into February. But it has to do with imagination. The imagination goes kind of with that intangible selling, putting ideas, uh, letting somebody visualize something because I found that the having imagination can benefit both my clients as well as potential clients. Imagination is a magical gift. Let's just use it that way. It's a magical gift that we are all born with. Our minds are filled with endless possibility as children. The reason I say this is two weekends ago, I had a. extended weekend, with my grandchildren. Watching young children will teach you more about imagination than you'd ever believe. And as you sit there and watch them as an adult, you realize all the things that possibly not have passed you by, but. You wished you had some of that imagination. They have make-believe friends, if they go outside, it's for an epic adventure. If they get a gift, they can find more things to build like a spaceship with the box versus what actually was in the box.'cause their imagination is going nonstop. It's how they communicate. They have make believe friends. It just, it's kind of unbelievable. Then I guess it, it took me by surprise because it is all imagination. Now as adults, we don't have to lose that imagination. Totally. One of the reasons we do lose our imagination, my opinion, it's called a cell phone. A cell phone gives you dings, alerts, special bulletins. None of it is that I've won the lottery. It's always a problem. Someone needs a solution and such that takes your brain out of what you were thinking to now something else and you really eliminates any time you might be able to have to actually daydream. To think outside the box, to take your whole body and mind to a different place. And the reason I say that is we as salespeople, we need to think outside the box to come up with solutions. I'm sure you'll agree some of the best solutions you've ever found for your customers or potential customers. It wasn't from a tech book, it was from your imagination taking over and coming up with an idea that they hadn't heard of. You might have not dreamt it, but imagined it in your mind working for them and why it would work for them. Like I said, adults don't have to lose their imagination to adults who. We're highly, well, there's many adults. I'm thinking of two adults that have great imaginations was the late Walt Disney. Walt Disney made his complete Empire of Parks, the movies, everything he's done was built through imagination. The next. It was Albert Einstein. Albert Einstein has a quote that says that it's not knowledge, but it's the imagination that takes you forward. Might not be quoting that correctly, but that's about as close as it can be. But Steve jobs, building the Apple computer. The Apple, iPhone. Just did it by looking outside the box to do something different. If you look at all of our in inventions today, it's for someone doing something with the imagination. Do you realize, and I don't know the person who who came up with it, but the people who built Uber, do you realize when they built Uber. They answered about six problems right off the bat. Bang, bang, bang, bang that we had all in the world had just taken it for granted was this is the way it's gonna be. You know, you get in the cab, you know what the driver looks like. You have a license plate on the car. You get a receipt when you leave. You don't have to bring out your credit card. That's not the way it used to be. Just a couple years ago. I. Do you remember the headaches we used have to go through getting off a little bit, but maybe I'm not. It's the imagination of people coming up with solutions to meet someone else's needs. Again, it goes directly into that intangible selling that we were talking about last week. a couple ways that I've tried to expand my imagination is that recently, first I bought a book on it or got a Kindle on it. I started journaling. And I had journaled before. However, I had gotten this book on journaling in its 50 chapters, and I'll put a link to it at the bottom, but it's like 50 chapters. Every chapter is written by a different author, and every author has a different way of journaling, and it's extremely fascinating because each one is telling you how to think different and how to get it out on paper as fast as possible. Don't worry about grammar, don't worry about spelling, don't worry about capitalization, don't worry about anything. Just get the thoughts out there. I've read one chapter a morning, takes me home five minutes, then I go and do five to 10 minutes of journaling basically on what the person has taught me about. Just totally has opened my mind. Totally. Let's be honest, it's better than turning on the TV and watching politics, so I do that every morning. Second, I read a fair amount. However, I'm a slow reader, but I read a fair amount. I never knew until I talked to a friend. He says he reads five books at a time. I only read one book at a time, but. In this process, someone had brought to my attention, asked me the different books I read, and they were all nonfiction. They were anti Reno about negativity fast. It might be a sales, it might be on journaling. However, my next book's gonna be on fiction. I haven't picked one out. If you can recommend one, please send me an email. I wanna look outside the box, look at something that's not real, but something that I have to imagination for. With the same thing, I've put an app on my phone and I've done meditation. I've worked meditation before. However, I have found out when I started journaling, meditation came easier and better again. It all comes back. To imagination what we can do with it, with our imagination. Aren't we trying to solve our customers or clients' problems? Isn't that the end game? Aren't we trying to do it maybe a faster, way more economical way, something with better results? Again, those answers don't always come in the textbooks. Think with your imagination, and I think you'll be a lot more successful. In closing today, let's, let's remember that imagination is not just for children. It's a powerful tool that can enrich every aspect of our lives. By embracing our imagination, we open ourselves to endless possibilities. Remember to use imagination to take our selling. And maintaining of customers to the next level. Imagination is not just for children, it's for all of us. I'd love to hear some feedback from you. Thank you for joining me today.
Henry:
Thank you for joining Jerry today and we wish to thank you the listener. If you like the information we are sharing here, please subscribe, like, and share. If you have a question that you would like answered on the show then just please make that request in advance. Remember the opinions shared on this podcast are Jerry's and he will be responsible for them. If you have any questions, ideas or comments or would like to become a guest, please send a email to Jerry@hospitalitycleaning101.com. Have a great day. remember to wash your hands for 20 seconds and stay safe