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BJ G

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Bio

BJ Gallagher is a prolific author with over 30 books to her credit – business books that educate and empower, women's books that enlighten and entertain, and inspirational gift books that offer sustenance for the spirit. BJ's international best-selling fable, A Peacock in the Land of Penguins (Berrett-Koehler) has sold over 400,000 copies in 23 languages worldwide. Her other business books include: Being Buddha at Work: 108 Ancient Truths on Change, Stress, Money, and Success (Berrett-Koehler) with a Foreword by the Dalai Lama, The Leadership Secrets of Oz (Simple Truths), and a career book, It’s Never Too Late To Be What You Might Have Been (Viva Editions). BJ’s inspirational gift books include: The Power of Positive Doing and The Best Way Out is Always Through and Learning to Dance in the Rain (all three published by Simple Truths). Her most recent book is Your Life is Your Prayer (Mango Media). BJ wrote for Huffington Post for nine years and she’s been featured on CBS Evening News, the Today Show, Fox News, PBS, CNN, and other television and radio programs. She is quoted frequently in various newspapers, women's magazines, and websites: O the Oprah magazine, Woman's World, New York Times, Chicago Tribune, Wall Street Journal, Christian Science Monitor, Orlando Sentinel, Financial Times (U.K.), Guardian (U.K.), MSNBC.com, CareerBuilder.com, CNN.com, Forbes.com. BJ’s academic credentials are as impressive as her professional background: She is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of USC, earning a BA in Sociology, summa cum laude. She has finished the coursework for a PhD in Social Ethics, also at USC. In addition to writing her own books, BJ has ghostwritten books for CEOs, including ClubCorp CEO Robert Dedman, Jr. (“Our Star Service Journey”) as well as speeches for LA Times publisher Tom Johnson and other Times senior executives, and floor speeches and correspondence for Pete du Pont when he was Delaware’s congressman. In short, BJ is skilled at writing in others’ voices.

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As a Story Terrace writer, BJ G interviews customers and turns their life stories into books. Get to know our writer better by reading the autobiographical anecdote below!

Each week I meet with a group of business owners and entrepreneurs – men and women from very different fields who share a common vision of being self-supporting through self-employment. Among the group are doctors, accountants, attorneys, real estate agents, writers, architects, artists, actors, PR agents, personal trainers, professional speakers, headhunters, musicians, construction contractors, literary agents, photographers, landscapers, and more. The topic for this week's meeting was: What are you doing to keep your business going in these crazy-making economic times?"

Several people said they have upped the number of cold calls they're making; others talked about creative ways they're using social networking to market themselves. Some are revamping their web sites and blogs; a few are exploring new business ideas, as they worry that their current businesses might not survive.

When it was my turn to speak, I said, "I've stopped making sales calls. I make service calls instead."

The group looked at me, their faces registering everything from confusion to curiosity to disbelief to disdain. So I explained what I had learned from Chuck Chamberlain.

Chuck was a successful businessman in commercial real estate development (specifically, grocery stores) in Los Angeles. Some years ago, he gave a series of lectures entitled "A New Pair of Glasses" (published in a book by the same title). Recently, I listened to those lectures, now available on CDs.

Chuck explained how he became successful ... and very wealthy. He said he did not make sales calls - he made service calls. He was in the business of helping others be successful in their businesses. When Chuck called on a potential customer, he viewed it as no different from helping a neighbor with a project, visiting a friend in the hospital, or reaching out to help someone struggling with a serious personal problem - it was an opportunity to be of service.

"How can I help you?" Chuck would ask. "How's your business doing? What's working? What isn't working? Tell me about your challenges and problems." He would listen with no agenda. He would listen with an open mind and an open heart - with a genuine desire to help the other guy build his business.

If Chuck could help the other guy, he would. If he didn't have the right service to offer, he would do his best to think if he knew anyone who could; then he'd refer the prospective customer to that other person.

In his lecture, Chuck related how, on two or three occasions, he had a different motivation in calling on prospective customers … he was broke, and desperate to make a sale. "Whenever I went on a call feeling like 'I NEED this sale; I HAVE to make some money today; I HAVE to close this deal' - I came away empty-handed. I never once made a sale that way."

In other words, when Chuck called on people in order to GET something from them, he failed. When he called on people in order to SERVE them, he always got the sale. That was his "secret" to success.

People are smart and intuitive. They can pick up on your energy and they know when you're trying to get something from them. When people resist sales pitches, it's because they know the real agenda is all about YOU.

And … people also know when your intent is to help, to be of service, to contribute, to assist them in achieving their goals. When you approach them with that intent, they welcome you. They trust you ... and they give you their business.

After sharing Chuck's ideas with my business group this week, I began wondering ... What would business be like if everyone made service calls instead of sales calls? What would happen if business people adopted an attitude of "How can I serve?" instead of "What can I get?" What would Wall Street be like? What would Main Street be like? What would the world be like?

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