Will You Survive When the Hard Times Come?

The global price of oil went up so there price went up like everybody elses. There profit margin stayed the same before and after so don't blame the oil companies blame Congress for not passing legislation to drill for oil in Alsaka and off the coast of California and Florida.

your daily emails SELLING AMONG WOLVES - Without Joining The Pack! has become most difficult to read... I've been just deleting them and that's a shame. The font you are NOW using is not easy to read and there are no line spaces between paragraphs. Any way you can change all this? I REALLY LIKED THE OLD FORMAT/LOOK -- VERY EASY ON THE EYES TO READ... HAD GOOD PLACEMENT.

Michael the content of your b-mail shouldn't be missed due to non-essentials. The fact is that agreeability, clarity, focus, and self-consciously understanding the customer's needs and perceptions it TOTALLY KEY TO SUCCESS. I would base that assessment off the scripture that says, \"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is NO law.\" In other words, they are agreeable. Keep up the great work!

Michael, Please keep your comments to what you know and what we love about you - Biblically based selling. The same you and me who are paying to keep the airlines operating are paying over 4 times as much in taxes on a gallon of gas as the oil companies are making in profit. Besides, do you really need someone pointing the finger at you just because you have a good year, or limit your company profits to a certain arbitrary percentage?

C-L: I am not having any trouble reading the emails. Are you getting them in text format or web format?

Its a shame that so many people are so quick to lose site of a great message when there is an opportunity to attack any viewpoint that doesn't entirely agree with their own politics and prejudices. We can attack each other all day about the politics of oil - the point of the message though I thought was to be more agreeable in ALL our dealings with others. Keep up the great work Michael, clearly the message is needed more today than ever.

Rod, I couldn't have said it better myself.

Great posts, but I agree with both sides on the blog. Could govt. and the oil companies done more? Probably. Should we not lose sight of the power of the message? Definately! But this is an important lesson for all of us. It shows how easy it is for us to lose the focus of our clients by a simple statement that we make. I'm sure that Michael didn't strategically place this comment about the oil companies in the blog just to polarize some of us, but that was the effect never the less. If this were a sales situation, Michael obviously would have created an environment that would have made it \"less easy\" to do business with him. Best we determine what point we really want to make prior to a sales call/ customer service situation and stick to the point.

It should also be noted that: 1. the stock market (NASDAQ) ticker for Southwewst is LUV (which says something about their philosophy as well) and; 2. SWA used considerable cashbefore oil prices and before Katrina to buy oil futures contacts at $30/barrel which also says something about their philosophy

I saw no logic and no value in the comment about the oil companies. As far as I know they are publicly traded and try to make a profit for their shareholders, like any company in America. The short sighted energy policy of our government has led to this unnecessary and unfortunate situation. Except for this one major disagreement, I have enjoyed your emails.

Hey friends... I have been out of the country for awhile. I can see that this email stirred more controversy than I would have imagined. I don't think any of us really know what is going on vis-a-vis oil prices and the politics of oil. I just offered a personal observation that to me things look a little suspect. I am not trying to convince anyone of my point of view which is clouded at best on this issue, rather I was sharing a personal sentiment with you all. There was no logic or value I guess in sharing the comment other than to speak with you as I would a friend and voice a concern I have knowing I have no solution. I appreciate you all writing in. You offer valuable input and it encourages me. You guys are the best!

If we can't let you be you, the good with the controversal, then we aren't real Christian brothers. Let's take this as just simply Michael's opinion and leave it there. It wasn't morally wrong but his opinion. I myself would like to see more of his opinions because this what makes us individuals. God Bless and keep up the good work Michael. There is nothing like this out for the Christian sales man.

Wow! What opinions on both sides. I actually think they should raise the gas prices to $10.00 a gallon and drive the American spirit to create an alternative source. America has two significant qualities that other coutries don't enjoy--Freedom to worship our Lord and Christ and a market to choose how much we want to earn. The problem is that we separate those. I am all for high profits and I don't want to ever be told how I use my money. On the other hand the Scripture points out that we \"own nothing\" it is His profits. It is what we choose to do with our increase that determines greed. That is between the company (or person) and God. As a personal friend of Michael, I would guess that his statement was misunderstood. He is all in favor of making a profit. Don't lose sight of what the real message was.

Thanks Tony & Tim and the rest of my brothers and sisters who read this daily. I appreciate your feedback greatly!

Another good example of the customer always right is Mary Kay Cosmetics. Did you know that Mary Kay Cosmetics built the foundation of her business on the Golden Rule and that of God first, Family second and Career third. Mary Kay Cosmetics is the largest cosmetic company in the world with over 1.5 million consultants and is in 30 plus countries? Great company to do business with. Let me know if you want to try this product!