About the Author
Patti cultivates homegrown changemakers prepared to step into their power and work with others to create the world they want to live in. Get in touch to find out how you can grow the social changemaker in yourself and those you serve with Blue Roads Changemaker YOU.
I recently met Changemaker Lynn Whitbeck on an amazing trip to India. Though we'd never met before, we discovered we had a lot in common, including the fact that we both host a weekly program supporting women in their efforts to make the world a better place.
Lynn and I quickly bonded over the shared experience of traveling in a new country, shopping, eating, and visiting beautiful places like the Taj Mahal. I also had the great good fortune of seeing her come to life on the stage as she shared her passion for the many gifts that learning to “sell” can bring into the lives of women who learn to do it from their hearts.
What amazes me about Lynn is how her philosophy around the development of sales skills can empower change. As an entrepreneur, Lynn’s perspective spoke to me because this is an area where I myself have needed a lot of growth since I come to this work after many years in public education where my “clients” came to me organically.
In this episode of “On Your Own Terms,” Lynn shares her “Homegrown Solutions for a Patchwork World”. Watch the video of our conversation, listen to the podcast, and read the summary to learn how “selling with heart” can help grow your business and further your efforts toward social and environmental change.
Homegrown Lynn
When I look back through my life as it evolved from that girl next door through college and into the world of work, I have been so grateful... The people with whom I connected, their word was their word. They believed in women moving ahead and grabbing the most of life, and that helped me so much.
Lynn believes sales training can empower women to step into leadership roles and advance their careers, even if they don't work directly in sales. She notes that many top executives and CEOs actually start out in sales. These skills serve them well as leaders who know what it takes to build a successful company. This experience is important for entrepreneurs, too, because without them, no business can survive.
I'm really passionate about women getting involved in sales. At some level, sales is essentially the art of persuasion.
Solution-Focused Lynn
If you get stuck in your paradigm, you can't see anything around the outside of it. If you don't embrace diversity of thought, then you're missing out, and it’s going to potentially hurt both you and your business
Lynn says that true sales champions guide people to decisions that are a good fit for them. She applies that principle to social advocacy as well. To her, it's about finding people with shared values and commitment to a cause. This is true whether you are communicating with a donor, a volunteer, or a corporate executive.
By providing needed information and adapting the delivery to the personality, style, and needs of the individual, they can be guided to a positive decision. Lynn believes that sales are about creating impact, whether it's helping a business grow or contributing to the community. Either way, she encourages embracing a growth mindset and accepting constructive input to see alternate perspectives and avoid getting stuck in the status quo.
Lynn's Patchwork
She has great respect for the uniqueness of others as well. Lynn draws on history as she thinks about the importance of including diverse voices in decision-making.
You always have a choice, even in the darkest moments. Those choices to persevere through injustice and failure are what led to the greatest steps forward in social movements toward women’s rights and racial equality.
I'm not afraid of change. I'm not afraid to pivot. I'm not afraid to listen to new information coming in because I have the power to choose to change my mind.
Lynn sees her biggest impact in teaching and training women in sales, helping them grow their businesses, and influencing culture and economic impact. She values human-to-human interaction in her programs and prefers running a boutique business over a large corporation.
By using her business to empower more women as business leaders and “rainmakers,” Lynn believes she can significantly contribute to change on multiple levels, from businesses to state and federal policies.
Changemaker Lynn
You have the power to choose. I want you to really let that sink in. That means you have a responsibility to make choices in your own life for your family, your career, how you want to show up. It's this incredible gift, and it's a gift of resilience to choose a new path.
Lynn Whitbeck invites people to learn more about the power of choice and the magic that can happen when we all develop our capacity to “sell”. Connect with her through her website, Petite2Queen.com, and on LinkedIn here (1) Lynn Whitbeck | LinkedIn. There you will find numerous resources for learning sales and stepping into your own power. You can also catch her every week on her show,”Get More Clients” available through any of these venues:
http://www.facebook.com/petite2queen/
Lynn's philosophy about sales is important to personal development and and community development.
Her work advances many of the Sustainable Development Goals like Goal #5 – Gender Equality, Goal #8 – Decent Work and Economic Growth, and Goal #9 – Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure.
All of these efforts will work together to help build partnership (Goal #17) in the service of every other goal. If you sell with heart, you are helping create a world that collaborates more and adopts a “people first” mentality.
Please get in touch to let us know what YOU and people you know are doing to realize these Global Goals by the year 2030. We can sure do it if we all work together and take our place as Changemakers!
CHECK OUT our CHANGEMAKER YOU course to help you get started today!
Patti cultivates homegrown changemakers prepared to step into their power and work with others to create the world they want to live in. Get in touch to find out how you can grow the social changemaker in yourself and those you serve with Blue Roads Changemaker YOU.
