Has this happened to you?

A trip to the store

You are considering purchasing a new television set. You have looked through the ads in the newspaper and see a TV you think you might like - at a price you can afford (It's on sale). So with the sale paper in hand you head to the store.
Upon entering the TV section of the store you are greeted by a smartly dressed salesman in his late 20's. "Hi, I'm Mike, can I be of assistance". Mike is very friendly and asks you a lot of questions. These questions include what your house is like , where the TV will be placed, and what type of programs and movies you like to watch. After all of the questions Mike asks you if you have a unit in mind. You show him the sale paper and point out unit you are interested in. Mike says that is a good basic unit but feels you wouldn't be very happy with it, based on your viewing habbits. Next he says: "May I take a couple of minutes of your time and show you what I think is the best unit for you?" Mike's been so nice you say: "Sure Mike, why not".
Mike then shows you a television that is a real wow! It does everything and ... is more money. Before you can say no Mike pulls out his wallet and shows you a picture of his wife and two children. Then Mike says: "If I sell one more of these TV's by the end of the month (which is today) I will receive a weeks vacation all expences paid to _____ for my entire family." My wife is really keeping her fingers crossed. You know I'm sold on this unit and I know you will be too. What do you say we get this written up and have this television delivered in time for this weeks game?"

You're now sitting at home looking over the receipt and wondering how did this happen!

Two different things happened:

First, it's the old "Bait and Switch". The add got you to the store. Now that you are in the store they switch you to a higher profit unit. Most salesman work on a salary plus comission. What a lot of people don't know is that the comission percentages may vary with different manufactures, as do the profit margins and special rebaits.

Second: The salesman was successful in making his problem become your problem. Mike wanted to win the weeks vacation, which was his problem. But you took the bait. This tatic is used a lot, watch out for it.

Be very cautious about relying on information you get for anyone who will gain from providing the information to you.

Christian Principal: Deception

Honesty... Just imagine

Imagine... if honesty were so ingrained in the hearts of everyone who knew God that it were simply impossible to lie...

Ananius and Saphira would have had a longer lifespan. (Acts 5)
King David would have told Uriah the truth and saved numerous lives. (2 Samuel 11)
Joseph's brothers would have come clean to their dad, "We sold the brat. Here's your cut." (Genesis 37)
Jacob wouldn't have dressed like a goat to get his father's blessing. (Genesis 27)
The serpent would have said, "Hey, I hate God. Bite this and you can be filled with hate too!" (Genesis 3)

Imagine that... Without that first lie - the serpent's deception - we would live in a world of sinless honesty and perfection. Honesty is truly one of the foundational truths of Godly living. And dishonesty is often Satan's first temptation that he throws our way, "Just a little lie. It won't hurt anyone." We have even coined a title for such untruths - white lies - insinuating that a lie can be innocent and benign in nature. But, all of us know that if you track a lie over days, months and years it always leads to the demise of the liar. And it always damages numerous people in it's path.

Principle: Honesty

Many years ago I worked for a large long term health care company. They owned many long term care hospitals. Nearly 75% of the patients are government paid patients. Private pay patients pay a lot more to stay. So to improve the profitability you needed to increase the percentage of private pay patients.
The owner of the company would use many tactics to visit the competition to see how they could attract more private pay patients. There was an offer one time where you could send in $20 and become an official "Pastor". He did this and received his own personalized pin on name tag: Pastor_____. So in visiting the competition he wore a suit and his newly acquired name tag. His goal was to get inside the facility and ask questions to find out what they were doing to attract so many private pay patients. Upon entering and introducing himself the nurse said: "Oh Pastor we are so happy to have you visit. While you are here one of our patients, Mr. Jones, has been asking for a pastor to pray with him. Would you do that? Thank you. I'll take you to his room. Follow me. It's right this way".
In my efforts to find out how the competition attracted private pay patients I introduced myself as the vice president of our company (which I was) and said we were trying to take better care of our patients and wanted to attract more private pay patients so we could have the funds to do a better job. I then asked them if they would be willing to share with me what specifics they were doing. They were happy to share the special programs they were doing which included getting families involved, getting the community involved through activities like music, dramas, reading etc. They told me everything.
When I met with the owner of the company I was working with he was amazed with all the information I had found out. He said, "How did you get all this information?" I said I told the truth. Biblical principal: Honesty.

Paul's Introduction

In our lives each of us gets involved in negotiations many times every day. We tend to think of negotiation as something business people do when "making a business deal". However this is really not the case. We not only negotiate when we buy and sell things, but we also negotiate when we interact with other people. Think of some of your negotiations: Planning a trip with friends - Where to go, where to stay, how to get there, how long to stay. Talking to your neighbor about replacing the fence both of you jointly share - new fence, what type, will you share the cost and shouldn't it really be put on the property line which is three feet towards his house!
The list goes on and on. Take a moment and write down 10 times you have negotiated in the last week. See what I mean. Now think of the times you haven't come out so well in those negotiations. Me too. Looking back at negotiations I've been involved in I have come up with an interesting concept: How to negotiate with others using Bibical principals.
In this Blog we will present actual experiences and look at the underlying Biblical principals. The other party will, many times, lie, deceive, and manipulate you.
Our goal will be to make you aware of others tactics and to arm you with Christian principals so you can hold your own and at the same time be a Christian witness!

It Starts!

What are Christian Management Skills?
Join Paul and Dave (Father and Son) as they explore personal stories and Biblical parallels, principles and challenges.
Paul is a Christian Business man and has observed leadership and management ranging from the simple to the complex, from the small business to the multi-million-dollar coorporation, from the relativistic worldly business tycoon to the God fearing Christian Servant. Paul will be providing the anecdotes, the principles and the questions.
Dave is a Church Pastor in Australia. He has a passion for bringing Christ to the hearts and minds of secular people and Christians alike. Dave will be providing the Biblical research, application and teaching.
And one day...
the book!