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Transmuting Failure Into Philanthropy

I had a most unpleasant correspondence over the phone with a prospect today...

Let's call this gentleman "Bret". I found Bret on linkedin. He was listed as a salesman for a large local company of which I thought would be a great candidate for an out-of-the-box approach to prospecting.

I noticed that Bret placed the role of "Philanthropist" before his role as a salesman...

"That is awesome!" I thought to myself as I am currently working on making regular donations to charities and non-profits with the hopes of getting more and more involved with Philanthropy and just generally helping people in need.

However, my idea (which I thought for sure was a good one mind you) how to approach this man failed horribly...

Despite this fact I stand behind my actions as mentioned below....

I thought to myself that Bret's company would likely be a perfect candidate for a managed print services contract and I figured that if I did in fact sign them, I would donate my FULL commission to his non-profit organization which is called Saving Teens In Crisis and is a non-profit that upon reading about, found to be truly awesome.

I called Bret and told him about my company, who we are, what we do and said that I was hoping he could put me in touch with his IT manager so that I might do a free managed print analysis for his company with the knowledge that if we ended up doing business together I would donate all of my commission from sales with his company to the non-profit he runs.

At this point Bret was clearly using intense restraint as he basically accused me of being the absolute worst kind of human being on the planet...

I was shocked, confused and tried to reply as he explained to me that using philanthropy to garner personal gain was a great evil (which I agreed with) as I went on to explain that the motivation for this call was again to donate in full my commissions from business should it transpire between our companies to his non-profit.

He bocked at me and said "yeah that's a nice angle", Click...

In retrospect I can understand what happened  He works in sales and knows there are in fact super low-life, scumbag people who work as sales professionals. I am sure there are in fact people who actually scam non-profits with similar tactics.

I was absolutely horrified, hurt and at a loss for words.

I took twenty minutes to think things over and regroup my mind and spirit. I then texted an explanation to him as well as a justification for my approach (which I stand behind because my intent was fully in the right place) and notified him that while I understand we will likely never do business together I was going to donate to his non-profit as a sign of good faith, imploring him with many words to give me the benefit of the doubt and listen to me as a human being rather than a salesman.

I do not doubt that he will likely never speak to me again however, I promptly donated to his organization through their website and volunteered to donate time as well if needed (as I had planed on doing anyway before this debacle occurred).

So as a believer in emotional alchemy, I sat and pondered all that had just transpired and meditated on how I could transmute these negative emotions and actions into gold....

This is what I came up with:

I have decided that from here on out I will donate 100% of my commissions from managed print services contracts signed with non-profits/charities (who do not discriminate against any social groups of any kind) to said non-profit/charity.

While this was a highly negative experience it has lead to what I believe is an answer to how I can help more people which is something I have been pondering as of late.

It is my hope that this post will serve as both a reminder of caution in how one approaches a prospect (even when the intentions are good) and also as a catalyst for a seed which will grow into financial benefits for multiple non-profits and charities.

Please share this post if you have read it and thank you for reading. 

Great Cause, PLEASE HELP If You Can.

The text below is from a dear friends blog (Mark Schaefer of GROW) .

Please read and then head over to his blog for the full story and consider helping if you are able.

Thank You!

In the spirit of the holiday season, I would like to tell you a little Christmas story.

For the past three years, I’ve mentored a bright young boy named Elijah.  Elijah is growing up in small, crowded house with his three brothers and a sister (all by different fathers — none of them are around). There is also an unrelated 12-month-old baby from another unwed mother being raised in this household.

I started working with Elijah through an organization called Amachi, which pairs adult role models with at-risk kids who have at least one parent in prison. Elijah’s father was murdered when he was two.  His mother was serving several years in a federal penitentiary when I became involved with the family.

Elijah is fortunate in many ways. He is being raised in a loving home by his grandmother. His clothes are always clean and he’s never hungry. His grandmother Patsy suffers from a variety of health problems but manages to get those kids to school every day. She often works until 2 in the morning cooking and cleaning and is almost always exhausted.  When I asked her where she would want to go on a vacation some day, she said it would not matter because all she would do is sleep. In my book, she is a true hero...

Read the whole post here.

A Safe Home For Faith: Please Help!

Faith is a 21 yr old disabled woman in desperate need of a home for herself, a live-in PCA, and her guardian...

Faith is a young woman (21) that lost her mom to cancer at age 8, and her dad to HUNTINGTONS at age 9, her brother took her in and raised her. at age 17 she became symptomatic with HUNTINGTONS (a neurodegenerative disorder). due to the progression of the disorder, her brother has drained all their resources, and it has become necessary for her to have 24 hour care... now the apartment that she currently lives in has been deemed unsuitable and she is being evicted... which will leave them homeless by the holidays.... we are hoping to provide a perminant home and the needed modifacations to provide a safe enviornment for her wellbeing...

Please Donate HERE!