Category Archives: Uncategorized

How Has Selling Changed in the Post Covid World

By Mark Bowser

I recently conducted a survey to see how selling in the post covid world has impacted individuals and organizations. So, I asked sales leaders what their perspective was on post covid and sales success. This is what they said:

  1. Has the way your team sells changed post Covid?

83% said “yes”

17% said “no”

2.  Would you say that selling today is easier or harder than it was five years ago?

17% said “easier”

83% said “harder”

3. Today, does your team primarily present to prospects in person or over the phone/zoom?

50% said “in person”

50% said “by phone/zoom”

4. What kind of sales training do you prefer today? The choices were: in person training, over zoom, individual coaching, combination of zoom and individual coaching, combination of in person training and individual coaching, and a combination of all of them. 

50% said “in person training

50% said “combination of all of them”

5. Have you had formal sales training in the last two years?

50% said “yes”

50% said “no”

ANNOUNCING: How would you like to impact thousands of people? Your words could be the deciding factor on whether someone changes their life and becomes a better leader … or not. We are looking for people to review my new leadership book, Thrown In, on Amazon. Now, I know that reviewing a book doesn’t really benefit you, but the couple of minutes it takes for you to do so will benefit thousands of other people. But what will benefit you is the book itself. I believe that everyone is a leader and we all can improve on being more influential. Thrown In will help you do exactly that! You can purchase the book at this link . In the Kindle version, Amazon has it built in and easy for you to give a review. For the paperback version, just revisit the book link after you have read it and there you will be able to place a review. Thank you.

Book Mark Bowser: Mark Bowser is one of the top Professional Speakers in the United States. He is a Sales & Leadership expert who has trained some of the world’s top organizations including Dell Computers, Southwest Airlines, United States Marine Corps, Ford Motor Company, and many, many more! He is the author of several books including Sales Success with Zig Ziglar and Scott McKain. To schedule him for your next conference or training event then email info@MarkBowser.com or visit www.MarkBowser.com.

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Your Value to the Marketplace is the … Problems You Can Solve!

Photo by Sigmund on Unsplash

By Mark Bowser

Life is a series of problems. Experts say that we’re all in one of three places. One, you just came out of a crisis. Two, your in a crisis right this moment, or three…guess what…you’re getting ready to head into a crisis.

So, life is a series of problems.  More importantly, life is about how we handle problems.  I see problems simply as opportunities in disguise.  That may sound like a cliche, but that doesn’t make it not true.  Problems can mean growth if you choose to look for the opportunity.  

The super successful sales professionals are problem solvers.  You are part of the super successful because you solve problems for your prospects and customers.  Our value to the marketplace is in solving problems.  For example,  if we don’t solve a problem for a customer, then we aren’t worth anything to them. That’s harsh, but it’s true.  From a business perspective, our value to the marketplace is the problems that we can solve.

The famed author and preacher, Dr. Norman Vincent Peale was plagued with a problem one day.  He just couldn’t come up with a solution and he felt like he was up against an obstacle the size of El Capitan in Yosemite National Park. 

Finally, Norman was told he needed to go see this particular wise old man.  They said if anyone can help you find a solution, it is this man. So, Norman relented and he went to visit the old man. The man opened the squeaky front door and allowed Norman to enter the house.  

The old man led Norman to the living room and pointed to a chair for Norman.  The old man sat down adjacent to him in a well worn recliner.  While rocking back and forth, the old man asked, “Son, what brings you out this way?”

Norman shared his miserable problem with the old man and every thing he had tried to no avail to solve it. The old man leaped out of his chair like a rocket launching from Cape Canaveral.  Norman couldn’t believe that the old man could move that quickly. 

All of sudden, the old man started to raise his hands in the air over and over again while walking in a circle in the middle of the room. Norman began to wonder what he had gotten himself into.  Was the old man delusional?  Had he lost his mind?

Sheepishly, Norman asked, “Sir, may I ask what you are doing?”

“Why, I am heaping up the problem of course.  You can’t expect to solve a problem until you get it in a pile.” 

After a moment, the old man stopped ‘heaping” the problem and continued walking in a circle — this time poking a crooked, raggedy finger into an imaginary pile.  Norman asked, “What are you doing now?”

“Why, I am looking for the soft spot.  Every problem has a soft spot.  You can’t solve a problem until you find it’s soft spot….Hey, there it is right here!  Son, that is where you will find your solution.”

In his wild eccentric way, what this old man was dong was helping Norman kickstart his creative juices.  Every problem has a solution if you believe there is a solution and choose to look for the opportunity.  Sometimes, the opportunity isn’t found where you expect it to be found. Sometimes, it is a shift in an attitude which leads you to acceptance and then to a new horizon which in turn leads to the new opportunity. 

If you need a new answer to solve a problem then you had better ask new questions. Many times we stair at our problem like we are staring at a brick wall.  Instead, we need to look for the door to walk through or at least a window to climb in from. 

To be super successful in the world of selling, we have to be solution oriented. I want you to do something for me — actually it is for yourself.  I want you to pull out a piece of paper.  Go ahead. I’ll wait. I’m not going anywhere. 

Alright.  Now, I want you to jot down on the paper a problem you are dealing with right now.  It may be a business problem.  It may be a relationship problem.  Whatever it is, write it down now. Let’s deal with that problem immediately. 

So many people don’t want to face their problem.  It is equivalent to throwing a little monster under the table so we can’t see it.  However, hidden from view, that little monster of a problem finds crumbs under that table and it begins to eat.  It grows and gets bigger and bigger.  Eventually it is so big that the table can’t hide it anymore and we have to deal with it. So, let’s deal with it now while it is small. 

Heap the problem up and look for the soft spot and before you know it…it won’t be a problem anymore. It will have been solved.

ANNOUNCING: How would you like to impact thousands of people? Your words could be the deciding factor on whether someone changes their life and becomes a better leader … or not. We are looking for people to review my new leadership book, Thrown In, on Amazon. Now, I know that reviewing a book doesn’t really benefit you, but the couple of minutes it takes for you to do so will benefit thousands of other people. But what will benefit you is the book itself. I believe that everyone is a leader and we all can improve on being more influential. Thrown In will help you do exactly that! You can purchase the book at this link . In the Kindle version, Amazon has it built in and easy for you to give a review. For the paperback version, just revisit the book link after you have read it and there you will be able to place a review. Thank you.

Book Mark Bowser: Mark Bowser is one of the top Professional Speakers in the United States. He is a Sales & Leadership expert who has trained some of the world’s top organizations including Dell Computers, Southwest Airlines, United States Marine Corps, Ford Motor Company, and many, many more! He is the author of several books including Sales Success with Zig Ziglar and Scott McKain. To schedule him for your next conference or training event then email info@MarkBowser.com or visit www.MarkBowser.com.

The Power of Suggestion Close

By Mark Bowser

The Power of Suggestion Close is a way that you can help the prospect feel and visualize that they already own and are enjoying the product or service. All of us are all very susceptible to the suggestions or influences of other people. Imagine that you are at a basketball game and the fans are sitting in the stands with their hands on the laps quiet as an arena of mice. It is as if the fans are bored and oblivious to what is happening down on the court. Then, one sole fan stands up and starts yelling and cheering. Pretty soon, another fan stands up, and another, and another. Before long, the entire arena is cheering and yelling for their team. Enthusiasm is contagious! 

As sales professionals, we have to let the prospect feel our enthusiasm for our product or service. Zig Ziglar said that “Selling is a transference of feeling.” We can transfer our feelings to the prospect by creating emotional pictures for them to experience. For example, let’s say you sell vacation packages, you can say to the prospect, “You are really going to enjoy lounging on this beach. The sand is white as snow and feels so warm on your toes.” Or, let’s say that you sell homes. You might say, “You are really going to love living in this neighborhood. The schools are fantastic and the neighbors are very friendly.” Or, let’s say that you sell a service such as training seminars. You can say, “You are really going to love the confidence that you will have after the class knowing that you have the skills to succeed at closing the sale.” 

Using words such as “imagine,” “just think,” “you are going to love …” create the mental emotional pictures for the prospect. There are multiple ways to use the Power of Suggestion Close. Help the prospect feel and visualize ownership … and pretty soon they will. 

*ANNOUNCING: How would you like to impact thousands of people? Your words could be the deciding factor on whether someone changes their life and becomes a better leader … or not. We are looking for people to review my new leadership book, Thrown In, on Amazon. Now, I know that reviewing a book doesn’t really benefit you, but the couple of minutes it takes for you to do so will benefit thousands of other people. But what will benefit you is the book itself. I believe that everyone is a leader and we all can improve on being more influential. Thrown In will help you do exactly that! You can purchase the book at this link . In the Kindle version, Amazon has it built in and easy for you to give a review. For the paperback version, just revisit the book link after you have read it and there you will be able to place a review. Thank you.

*Book Mark Bowser: Mark Bowser is one of the top Professional Speakers in the United States. He is a Sales & Leadership expert who has trained some of the world’s top organizations including Dell Computers, Southwest Airlines, United States Marine Corps, Ford Motor Company, and many, many more! He is the author of several books including Sales Success with Zig Ziglar and Scott McKain. To schedule him for your next conference or training event then email info@MarkBowser.com or visit www.MarkBowser.com.

The Approach Close

By Mark Bowser

The Approach Close is used at the very beginning of the presentation with the prospect. The reason for that is that all of us have a natural sales resistance. This is because we are bombarded with people trying to sell us something all day long. Turn on the TV — and advertisements are selling to you, plug on YouTube — and you have to watch and ad before your video, drive on the interstate and every few yards is a billboard trying to sell you something, etc….

Because of constant advertisement bombardment, there is natural tension at the beginning of your presentation. A way to ease that is through The Approach Close. It works very well particularly if your product or service us used and needed by almost everyone. Here is how it works. 

At the beginning of your presentation, you say something like this, “Mr. Prospect, right here at the beginning, I want you to know that I am not going to try to sell you anything today. All I am going to do is share with you why many other people have invested (or purchased) in our product and then you can judge for yourself if it is something right for you. Is that fair enough?” (Use your Testimonial Letters during presentation)

Most prospects will agree to this. At the end of your presentation say something like, “From what you have told me Mr. Prospect, it seems like our product is ideal for your situation just like the other people we have talked about. So, do you want to go ahead and give it a try?”  

This is very soft. Let the prospect make their decision. Don’t push them. Remember, you are not there to sell them today. You are positioning today. Many will go ahead and buy. If not, schedule the next appointment and move the sale forward.

*ANNOUNCING: How would you like to impact thousands of people? Your words could be the deciding factor on whether someone changes their life and becomes a better leader … or not. We are looking for people to review my new leadership book, Thrown In, on Amazon. Now, I know that reviewing a book doesn’t really benefit you, but the couple of minutes it takes for you to do so will benefit thousands of other people. But what will benefit you is the book itself. I believe that everyone is a leader and we all can improve on being more influential. Thrown In will help you do exactly that! You can purchase the book at this link . In the Kindle version, Amazon has it built in and easy for you to give a review. For the paperback version, just revisit the book link after you have read it and there you will be able to place a review. Thank you.

*Book Mark Bowser: Mark Bowser is one of the top Professional Speakers in the United States. He is a Sales & Leadership expert who has trained some of the world’s top organizations including Dell Computers, Southwest Airlines, United States Marine Corps, Ford Motor Company, and many, many more! He is the author of several books including Sales Success with Zig Ziglar and Scott McKain. To schedule him for your next conference or training event then email info@MarkBowser.com or visit www.MarkBowser.com.

An Oldie But a Goody: The Puppy Dog Close

By Mark Bowser

Photo by T.R. Photography on Unsplash

The Puppy Dog Close is one of the oldest and still most effective closes of all time. It gets its name from the technique that pet store owners used for many, many years. This is how it worked: A young family would come into the pet store. Soon, the kids would be playing with the puppies the store owner had in a pen. This pen was designed for that exact purpose.

It didn’t take long for the kids to start pleading with their parents, “Please, Mom and Dad. Can we have a puppy? We promise to take care of it. We promise! Can we please have a puppy?”

That is when the pet store owner would step into the discussion. He would say to the parents, “Why don’t you just take the puppy home for a couple of days. Just see how it goes. If then you decide that you don’t want the puppy then just return it. How does that sound?”

The parents agree and they take the puppy home. Two days later the entire family, including the parents, have fallen in love with the puppy. And the pet store owner has another sale. 

I have used this technique quite effectively myself. For example, I once sold eight days of training seminars through this technique. I offered the prospect a free sample seminar. By the time they got a taste of the value they would be receiving, they went ahead and invested in eight days.

The key to the Puppy Dog Close is that the decision maker(s) has to be present for the “free sample.” If they aren’t present, it won’t work. I have had it backfire too. One day when I showed up to give the sample seminar I discovered that the decision maker, all of a sudden, had another commitment. The Puppy Dog Close is a classic that works very well as long as the decision maker is present for the experience. 

Why don’t you just give this close a try for a couple of days … if you don’t like it then you can return it. Thanks for reading today. Make it a Great Selling Day!

*ANNOUNCING: How would you like to impact thousands of people? Your words could be the deciding factor on whether someone changes their life and becomes a better leader … or not. We are looking for people to review my new leadership book, Thrown In, on Amazon. Now, I know that reviewing a book doesn’t really benefit you, but the couple of minutes it takes for you to do so will benefit thousands of other people. But what will benefit you is the book itself. I believe that everyone is a leader and we all can improve on being more influential. Thrown In will help you do exactly that! You can purchase the book at this link . In the Kindle version, Amazon has it built in and easy for you to give a review. For the paperback version, just revisit the book link after you have read it and there you will be able to place a review. Thank you.

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*Book Mark Bowser: Mark Bowser is one of the top Professional Speakers in the United States. He is a Sales & Leadership expert who has trained some of the world’s top organizations including Dell Computers, Southwest Airlines, United States Marine Corps, Ford Motor Company, and many, many more! He is the author of several books including Sales Success with Zig Ziglar and Scott McKain. To schedule him for your next conference or training event then email info@MarkBowser.com or visit www.MarkBowser.com.

The Porcupine Close

Photo by Pete Nuij on Unsplash

By Mark Bowser

The Porcupine Close (sometimes called the Sharp Angled Close) is when you toss a question right back at the prospect when they ask you a question. For example, the prospect asks “Does this model come in blue?” You say, “If I have it in blue, can we finalize it for you today?”

Sometimes, you can use a little softer approach. For example, my colleague, Tom Hopkins, who I first learned this technique from used to sell real estate. In fact, Tom holds the record for the most houses sold in history. One day, he was showing a house to a couple and the wife noticed a playground set through the window in the backyard. She asked Tom, “Tom, does the playground set come with the house?” Tom looked at her and asked, “Do you think the kids would enjoy it?”  She said, “Oh, yes they would.” Tom is thinking to himself that he just sold a playground set. Guess what comes with the playground set …. the house!

*ANNOUNCING: How would you like to impact thousands of people? Your words could be the deciding factor on whether someone changes their life and becomes a better leader … or not. We are looking for people to review my new leadership book, Thrown In, on Amazon. Now, I know that reviewing a book doesn’t really benefit you, but the couple of minutes it takes for you to do so will benefit thousands of other people. But what will benefit you is the book itself. I believe that everyone is a leader and we all can improve on being more influential. Thrown In will help you do exactly that! You can purchase the book at this link . In the Kindle version, Amazon has it built in and easy for you to give a review. For the paperback version, just revisit the book link after you have read it and there you will be able to place a review. Thank you.

*Book Mark Bowser: Mark Bowser is one of the top Professional Speakers in the United States. He is a Sales & Leadership expert who has trained some of the world’s top organizations including Dell Computers, Southwest Airlines, United States Marine Corps, Ford Motor Company, and many, many more! He is the author of several books including Sales Success with Zig Ziglar and Scott McKain. To schedule him for your next conference or training event then email info@MarkBowser.com or visit www.MarkBowser.com.

Sales Success: The John Hammond Close

By Mark Bowser

Closing the sale is arguably the most important part of the selling process. You can do everything else right — prospecting, building rapport, need analysis, and presenting, but if you can finalize the deal with closing the sale then all you are doing is spinning your wheels and wasting the prospects’, yours’, and your company’s time and resources. 

In reality, all aspects of the sales process are equally important because they build upon each other, however, closing the sale seems to be the element that sales professionals struggle with more than the others. Why? Because the tension builds during closing to an uncomfortable level for both the prospect and the sales professional. 

That is why knowing how to close the sale is pivotal and vital for the success of the sales professional and their company. Knowing how to close the sale, allows the sales professional to use the tension as an ally instead of an enemy. 

I teach The 19 Indispensable Closes Every Sales Professional Needs to Know. You may be thinking, “Why so many?”  Well, for one reason it takes 5-7 attempts to close the sale for most industries. Second, every situation is different so you must be ready. We need multiple tools in our closing tool chest if we are really going to build the agreement with the prospect.  

Obviously, in this blog post, we don’t have time to go over all nineteen closes. I cover all 19 in the Sales Success Seminar.  But, in the time we have with this post, let me share one of my favorites that you and your team can begin implementing immediately.

The John Hammond Close

I call this the John Hammond Close because I learned it from John. John was an older, wise sales guru who I had the blessing of being mentored by several years ago. John had been in the world of selling for decades and even a founding member of the National Speakers Association. 

John developed this close because he got tired of being stuck when the customer would say something that just didn’t make sense near the end of the sales process and would literally kill the sale from the sales professionals perspective. 

Have you ever had a prospect say something like, “I want to sleep on it” or “I want to think it over” or multiple variations of the same thing? What they are actually doing is politely telling you to go away. Well, John developed a way to find out what the actual objection is for the prospect. If we don’t know what the true objection is then we can’t close the sale. So, when a customer says something that just doesn’t make sense then ask them this question, “Mr/Mrs Prospect, I know you have a really important reason for thinking that way, do you mind if I ask what that is?” Another way to say it is “Mr/Mrs Prospect, I know you have a an important reason for saying (or feeling) that way, do you mind if I ask what that is?”

After you ask this obligating question then go completely silence. In this case it is not a cliché to say that the first one who speaks loses. The tension will build in the silence. Let it continue to build like a balloon filling up with air. In all his decades of selling and thousands and thousands of sales calls, John said he had only had a handful of prospects to refuse to answer this question. In most cases, the prospect will say something like, “Well, actually, what I am struggling with is ….” 

Now, you have something to deal with. Now, you know what the real objection is. Now, you use the appropriate close to answer their question and close the transaction.  

*ANNOUNCING: How would you like to impact thousands of people? Your words could be the deciding factor on whether someone changes their life and becomes a better leader … or not. We are looking for people to review my new leadership book, Thrown In, on Amazon. Now, I know that reviewing a book doesn’t really benefit you, but the couple of minutes it takes for you to do so will benefit thousands of other people. But what will benefit you is the book itself. I believe that everyone is a leader and we all can improve on being more influential. Thrown In will help you do exactly that! You can purchase the book at this link . In the Kindle version, Amazon has it built in and easy for you to give a review. For the paperback version, just revisit the book link after you have read it and there you will be able to place a review. Thank you.

Even Monkeys Have Tipping Points

By Mark Bowser

*Photo by Jamie Haughton

The Japanese monkey known as Macaca fuscata had been studied for decades. Scientist had been observing them in their natural habitat. 

In 1952, scientists decided to change the game a little. On the island of Koshima, the scientists began dropping sweet potatoes into the sand. They were curious to see what the monkeys would do with them. The monkeys loved the taste of the sweet potatoes but they were not too fond of the dirty sand all over their food.

One day, an eighteen month old female monkey the scientists had named “Imo” decided that she was going to wash her sweet potatoes in a nearby stream before she ate them. The scientists watched intently as Imo carried her sweet potatoes and began scrubbing the sand off of them.  She loved the taste of the now clean sweet potatoes.

Imo then went on to teach her mother as well as the other young monkeys around her own age on how to clean their sweet potatoes too. Pretty soon, there was a whole group of the monkeys that were cleaning their sweet potatoes in the nearby stream before they ate them. This went on from 1952 to1958. 

Then, a very curious thing happened. As more and more monkeys began washing their sweet potatoes, it appeared that the monkeys hit a tipping point in their community.  All of a sudden, almost all of the monkeys on the island of Koshima were washing their sweet potatoes. 

Then an even more amazing thing happened when all of a sudden monkeys on other nearby islands began washing their sweet potatoes too. How did that happen? It wasn’t as  though any monkeys from Koshima swam to the other islands and began presenting seminars on how to clean sweet potatoes. It just happened!  But how?

We may never know how or why monkeys on the other islands began practicing the same cleanliness. But, we know that communities do hit tipping points. And we do know that some products will become the next fashion trend and some videos go viral.

It appears that thoughts have energy kind of like radio waves. Have you ever been thinking of something and a friend calls you on the phone and starts talking about the exact same thing? It is kind of freaky, isn’t it?  But, it happens. 

If one monkey named Imo can change an entire monkey community … then what can we do if we put our minds to it to change our community?  Just some food for thought. 

Come visit us at our main website of http://www.MarkBowser.com. Also, please check out Mark’s podcast “Let Me Tell You a Story with Mark Bowser.”

Skinny-Dipping with the President

By Mark Bowser

In his book The Greatest Presidential Stories Never Told, Rick Beyer tells a fascinating and surprising story about our sixth president John Quincy Adams. What makes this story so shockingly charming is that it seems so uncharacteristic for the son of John and Abigail Adams.

John Quincy Adams was a very reserved Christian man who always strove to live life in a proper way … well, most of the time. For you see, our sixth president had a passion for skinny-dipping.

President Adams loved to take a walk from the White House down to the banks of the Potomac River where he would shed his clothes and go for a refreshing dip before the days’ activities.

One day, the President took one of his servants with him by the name of Antoine and asked him to row him across the river. The President’s plan was to then swim back across the river. Well, just like many good plans, the unexpected sends them a rye. The wind began to pick up fiercely and it capsized the small, leaky, row boat tossing both men into the river. The two were able to, but not without some struggle, swim to the opposite bank. The fifty-eight year old President was worn out from the strenuous adventure.

Then, a problem arose. Antoine discovered that he had lost his clothes in the middle of the river. President Adams gave his clothes to Antoine so that he could go and get them a carriage in order to take them back to the White House. So, what does a naked President do while he waits for his ride? According to his diary, President John Quincy Adams got in some “naked basking on the bank.” Now you know. Thanks for reading today.

*Mark Bowser is the host of the popular “Let Me Tell You a Story with Mark Bowser” podcast. Subscribe today on your favorite podcast platform.

*Mark Bowser is the author of several books including “Sales Success” with Zig Ziglar and “Some Gave It All” with Danny Lane. Visit his website at http://www.MarkBowser.com

A Picture of Ann

By Mark Bowser

Recently, I read a story on social media that touched my heart. It was about a veteran of the Vietnam War. I have a soft heart of appreciation for all our veterans, but there is a very special place in my heart for our heroes who served in Nam. One of my closest friends, Danny Lane, served our country in that terrible place and earned two Purple Hearts among other medals for that service.

The story I read online was about an Army veteran named Richard. Richard also had been shot in Nam. A sniper had left his mark on Richard for the rest of his life. Over the years, Richard didn’t talk very much about his time in Nam. I find this a very common experience with veterans. Danny never spoke much about his time in Nam either until I was able to convince him to allow me to work with him in writing his story in the book Some Gave It All. My uncle was a co-pilot of a B-25 during World War II and he never spoke much about his war experience either. It wasn’t until I had a project in one of my history classes in college that he opened up about his experience. Can you imagine, living with something in your memory that is so terrible that you can’t talk about it? Yet, that same terribleness visits you regularly in your dreams. We must never forget the sacrifice our veterans have made for us. It has become a cliché but it is so true — freedom isn’t free!

Richard had a special picture of his time in Nam. Something that meant so much for our young men that were so far away from home was the USO shows with Bob Hope. Richard had a grainy 8 x 10 inch black and white photograph of superstar Ann Margaret that he had taken at one of those shows.

Years later, Ann Margaret was scheduled to be signing books at a bookstore near where Richard and his wife lived. Richard decided to go to the book signing to tell her how much those shows meant to him and his fellow soldiers. Richard knew there would be a large crowd so he showed up very early for the 7:30 PM signing. He found himself the second person in line.

Before Ms. Margaret arrived, the bookstore employees told the crowd that she would be signing only her new book — nothing else. Richard understood, but was disappointed because he was hoping that she would sign his old photograph too. “Oh well,” he thought. “At least I can show it to her and let her know how much the USO shows meant to all of us.”

When it was his turn, he handed his book to Ann to sign. Then, he pulled out his photograph. Immediately, the bookstore staff butted in and said she wouldn’t be signing that. Richard looked at them and said, “I understand. I just wanted her to see it.”

As Ann looked at the photograph, her eyes moistened with emotion. She said, “This is one of my gentlemen from Viet Nam and I most certainly will sign his photo. I know what these men did for their country and I always have time for ‘my gentlemen.’” Ann gave Richard a big kiss and posed for several pictures with him. It didn’t matter that there was a long line of people waiting. Richard was one of her “gentlemen” from Viet Nam.

Later that night at dinner with his wife, Richard was very quiet. His wife asked him if he wanted to talk about it. Richard looked into the face of his loving wife and with tears in his eyes he said, “That is the first time anyone ever thanked me for my time in the Army.”

Freedom is definitely not free. We must never forget the sacrifices our men and women of the armed services have made in order to keep us free. So, here is to you Richard, Danny, Uncle Bill, and all our veterans. Thank you for your service.

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