There are those who believe that selling is basic and straight forward. One person has something for sale that another person wants to purchase. It would be great if that’s all there was to selling but there’s so much more to it than just that. In fact, there are different kinds of selling and suggestive selling is just one of them.
What is suggestive selling then?
Just as it says, it’s a style of selling where the salesperson suggests something to the customer based on what they know or feel the customer might be open to considering as a purchase. This isn’t the same as up-selling. This style facilitates a customer’s purchase by providing them with additional information from which to make an informed decision. For example, someone at a sporting goods store may be looking for a pair of sneakers but doesn’t know what brand or style to purchase. With a few well-placed questions from the salesperson to help identify where the sneakers will be worn, suggestive selling could be as simple as asking the customer, “We have sneakers that are specifically designed for joggers regardless of where they are in their training. Would you like to see them and try a pair on?”
Does it happen in restaurants?
It happens all the time in any number of restaurants every day. Whenever a server welcomes you to the table and asks if you would like to hear the specials for the day, the server is practicing suggestive selling. For those who are indecisive or in a hurry or who prefer to have their decision streamlined, this approach is welcome, and this is why suggestive selling can be a positive style to cultivate.
So suggestive selling is all about being pushy in a nice way?
Not at all. Suggestive selling is based on the salesperson’s awareness of the customer’s needs. If the customer needs help narrowing down choices, that’s one thing. If the salesperson is trying to make a sale and disregards the customer’s needs, that’s being pushy.
What if suggestive selling doesn’t work?
Sometimes customers aren’t sure what they want, even with help from a knowledgeable salesperson. Sometimes customers are serial shoppers who are always looking but never really in the market to purchase anything in particular.
Suggestive selling is about making the offer to help a customer with their shopping experience, but in the end, if the customer doesn’t want or need your help, you have to let it go.
What if suggestive selling does work?
Then you have a satisfied customer who will tell his or her circle of influence about the great service he or she got from you. Even if they don’t buy from you, this approach will help cultivate the kind of customers that appreciate the effort you put into helping them find what they want.
If you’ve ever watched “Miracle On 34th Street” the scene where When Kris Kringle sends Macy’s shoppers to Gimbels (Macy’s competition) to purchase what they’re looking for because Macy’s hasn’t got it. The upswing from this act of suggestive selling earns Macy’s far more customers than it loses. In fact, in the movie Mr. Macy says, “If we haven’t got what a customer wants, we’ll send him where he can get it. In this way, Macy’s will be known as the store with a heart. The store that puts public service ahead of profits.”
Are you suggesting that we send customers away?
Not at all. I’m suggesting that the best way to keep a customer is to be as helpful as possible. In that way, the customer will have a positive experience that’s sure to bring him or her back in the future … and will undoubtedly lead to recommending your product, service or store to his or her friends. That’s the power of ethical suggestive selling.
Back in July of 2010, I wrote about Oren Lavoie and his song, “Morning Elegance.” From time to time, I check back to see what artists like Oren Lavoie are up to, and I take a peek at the artists that YouTube suggests along the right hand side of the page.
Recently, one of the suggestions was Avi Lebovich and the Orchestra. Unfamiliar with the group, I listened to a few selections and felt transported back to the days when Earth, Wind and Fire and Tower of Power could be heard on most radio stations and the world grooved right along with them as they headed to work first thing in the morning, and back home at the end of the work day.
So what do we know about Avi Lebovich and the Orchestra? A little Internet research uncovered a few interesting facts including the fact that Avi put this orchestra together a decade ago and to date he’s pulled together 12 top Israeli jazz musicians plus himself, and working together, they have created a Big Band sound that incorporates funk, disco, rock and ethnic influences. They have a sound that has catapulted a familiar style with familiar instrumentation into a completely different and thoroughly enjoyable style all their own.
In fact, one reviewer attending a performance by this orchestra two months ago, and this is what he had to say about the experience:
“[quote] Avi Lebovich and the Orchestra launched their second album, Volcano, in a hot jazzy concert at The Zone on Monday, March 18, 2013. Performing songs from the album, lyrical, groovy explosive originals and a mind-blowing arrangement of Lennon & McCartney’s Because, the exhilarating evening filled The Zone to overflowing and the orchestra hosted guests Nitai Hershkovitz, Shem Tov Levy, Tamar Eisenman and Elran Dekel (Funknstein) – what a night [end quote]!”
I suggest you click on this LINK: Listen to the video posted with the article, read the review in its entirety, and check out the photographs.
Since the reviewer gave high marks to the musical arrangement of Because, I tracked it down on YouTube and gave it a spin. This arrangement was reminiscent of Spyra Gyra with a touch of GRP All Star Big Band and yet, it was very much Ari Lebovich Orchestra at the same time.
When you click on a YouTube suggestion, you know you’re taking a chance and sometimes those chances are hidden gems. This is one of those gems!
If you’re looking for a new musical experience this month, this band should definitely make that happen for you. Click on the video below, kick back and give the band a listen. If you love jazz, you’re going to love listening to this big band!
Everyone operates with their own unique set of filters. If someone tries to tell you differently, they’re only fooling themselves. Now some filters are outgoing filters and some filters are incoming filters, and some people have a sufficient amount of outgoing and incoming filters to make communication easy while others have been shorted in either or both of these filters.
Outgoing filters monitor and adjust what is being communicated from the individual to others, while incoming filters monitor and adjust what is being communicated to the individual from others. When there’s a deficit in either or both of these filters, problems arise and feelings get hurt. It oftentimes leads to someone being accused of being tactless or rude, which are, of course, perceptions of the situation.
Was that rude or what?
I personally know of a situation where a very lovely woman whose second language just happened to be English, made what was perceived by others to be a gaffe. While attending an important event, she recognized someone she had met on previous occasions at such events but she couldn’t quite remember his name. Nonetheless, she confidently walked up to him, smiled and said, “I don’t remember your name, but I will never forget a face like that.”
Some were aghast that the woman should speak so disrespectfully to this man. Others were amused at the thought that in short order, she would find herself on the receiving end of a stinging rebuttal. Instead, what happened was that the man smiled and replied, “And I can never forget how charming your accent is.”
The outgoing filter for this woman was flawed while both the outgoing and incoming filters for the man were in balance and well-tuned, thereby allowing him to respond in a positive way that overlooked any mishaps that might otherwise occur with such a statement.
What influences filters?
Every experience influences the individual’s incoming and outgoing filters. They are formed and refined across a lifetime and are a result of values instilled by parents, peers, colleagues, education, culture, heritage, environment, experiences, and more. These values then go on to shape each person’s unique set of rules or standards by which they judge other people regardless of whether it’s done consciously or subconsciously.
How many of us remember our parents and society telling us as we grew up that the policeman is your friend? In turn, that statement helped shape how each of us views the police specifically, and authority figures in general.
What can a filter do to a conversation?
Let’s take a look at how those filters might work somewhere out in the U.S. Midwest. Imagine if you heard one person get on the phone and say to whoever answered at the other end, “Might could be you’d want to take a look out your east window toward my front yard.”
Depending on your values and filters, you could imagine any number of things going on after hearing such a statement. You could think perhaps that the person was sharing a particularly beautiful scene that a friend might otherwise miss without being alerted to it. You could think perhaps that the person was alerting a friend to a dangerous or serious situation between the friend’s house and their own. You could think perhaps that there was an in-house joke between the two and this was one of the ways they poked fun at each other. You could think any number of things, but unless you asked, you’d never know for sure what was going on between the two people talking on the phone.
I can guarantee you, however, that if you don’t take the time to understand the incoming and outgoing filters the two are using, you stand a far greater chance of making a mistake if you rely on your own filters to figure out what’s going on.
In the U.S. Midwest, when someone says, ”Might could be you’d want to take a look out your east window toward my front yard” you best take a look and make a decision that will take care of the problem your neighbor sees. If it wasn’t your problem to deal with in the first place, you wouldn’t be getting that phone call.
How important is it to understand filters?
It’s especially important in business to have a good understand and a solid grasp of the value of incoming and outgoing filters, and the ability to make allowances for those whose filters may not be as well aligned as they believe them to be.
When in doubt, ask appropriate yet probing questions to help you better understand what others are filtering and why. At the very least, you’ll be perceived as a diplomat of sorts as well as the voice of reason … the person who can make sense of it all when things go awry as they sometimes will.
I’ve heard people in the arts argue that the life of an artist — regardless of the domain — is one that is unstructured and free. It certainly has some of that, but for the most part, people who are successful in the arts industry have structure as a foundation.
Far too many people who aren’t part of the arts industry have a flawed view of what it means to be a musician or a visual artist or a choreographer or any other kind of self-employed professional. They think that just because they don’t find themselves sandwiched between other commuters during the morning and afternoon rush hours, and because they don’t have to ask for time off to tend to personal business, that life is free and easy and … unstructured.
The fact of the matter is that most successful entrepreneurs are far more structured than people realize. Because there’s no boss or supervisor watching to make sure their fulfilling the requirements of their job description, they have make sure that they structure their days as if there was a boss or supervisor watching their every move. They have to know how to politely and adeptly sidestep temptations, distractions and interruptions … temptations, distractions and interruptions that a boss or supervisor at a regular job doesn’t allow.
What’s more, while people generally are loathe to tempt, distract or interrupt people in a traditional work setting, they are usually far less likely to worry about doing so if the person works from home or is an entrepreneur with a small office outside the home.
Artists have to know how to prioritize the various projects they’ve contracted to complete. This means they also have to know how to block out the rest of the world unless it has to do with business and requires their immediate attention. After all, time is money and unstructured time tends to run off with business hours if they aren’t properly monitored.
Far too many people who aren’t part of the industry have the mistaken belief that artists spend countless hours just playing or dancing or painting, with the understanding being that — in their opinion — that’s not really working. Except that it most assuredly is. If you want to be successful, you have to keep honing your skills and talents, and you have to keep producing so there’s product to sell … whether that product is a tangible or that product is the individual proper.
And for most in the arts industry, the regular work day doesn’t end at 5 PM as it does for other people. Sometimes their days go on until 3 or 4 in the morning. While they may not be out of bed at 9 AM, it’s important to take into account that their work day is a lot like shift work … with the exception that most people in the industry work far more than the typical 8-hour day. In fact, most of the people I know work upwards of 12 hours a day, and not just 5 days a week either!
In a recent blog article, I wrote about Marissa Mayer, CEO of Yahoo! Corp who felt the need to change the rules about employees working from home. The change she put in place meant that employees would have to physically show up at the offices of Yahoo! Corp if they wished to continue their employment with Yahoo! Corp. That’s because structuring your workday outside of traditional workplaces requires the individual’s ability to successfully implement the 3 D’s: dedication, devotion and discipline.
It was 20 years ago that things began to heat up in Ipperwash. Things heated up so much that 20 years ago the Ontario Provincial Police got into it with members of the Kettle and Stony Point First Nation. When the smoke cleared, nothing had changed.
So let’s take a look at the facts that are an important part of First Nations history.
Between 1818 and 1827 the Chippewa Nations negotiated sharing 6,000,000 hectares of land with the British Crown, keeping 5 parcels of land aside. One of those parcels of land not included in the negotiations with the British Crown included Stony Point.
Pretty good deal for the British Crown, when all was said and done.
After a while, representatives of the British Crown got to thinking that they needed even more land. Seeing that 99 years had passed since the original negotiations ended, one side found a way to be persuasive enough to grab some of the land that wasn’t part of the original negotiations. This was 1928, after all, and things had changed considerably for those who were residents of the Province of Ontario. But you know, the surrender of that land back in 1928 has always been a bone of contention with lots of questions surrounding whether the “new deal” was done in good faith by those relative newcomers.
Four years after that, in 1932, the representatives of the Province of Ontario decided that they needed a provincial park and they decided that the land they got under suspicious circumstances back in 1928 would make a wonderful park for the people of Ontario. And so, the province of Ontario created the Ipperwash Provincial Park.
Now, not wanting to cause trouble, the Chief and Council notified park authorities that there was a burial ground in the park. They wanted the site to be protected. But the wheels of government don’t usually turn very quickly, especially if it’s not perceived as being in the best interests of the government. And so, years passed and nothing was done to address the concerns the Chief and Council had brought to the park authorities or the province of Ontario.
Then the war happened … the big one … WWII. It went on for years and just as many young men from the many provinces across Canada enlisted to fight in this war, so did many young men from the First Nations. And in 1942, when the government enacted the War Measures Act, families from Stony Point were moved over to the Kettle Point First Nation. The government renamed the community the kettle and Stony Point First Nation, and they took control of the land they wanted thanks to the War Measures Act.
Thirty years later, a Minister of the federal government had an idea about putting things right for the people of Stony Point. His idea, as the Minister of Indian and Northern Affairs, was to have the land appropriated by the government of Ontario by way of the War Measures Act returned to the people who were displaced back in 1942. If that wasn’t amenable to the province of Ontario, it was suggested by this Minister of Indian and Northern Affairs that another comparable piece of land be offered as compensation.
No one listened to Jean Chretien, and things continued as they had over the years.
Twenty years after that, the people of Kettle and Stony Point grew tired of waiting for the province of Ontario to make things right. They served the army with a 90-day eviction notice on April 16, 1992. It was more time than the families displaced in 1942 had been given, and it was more than a landlord in the province of Ontario was required to give a tenant.
It was 1993 when families started moving back to the location that was once the Stony Point community. But things didn’t go as anticipated or expected. Things got to a point where people of the Kettle and Stony Point First Nation marched in protest against the ongoing expropriation of their land. In the end, no one listened … again.
That was 20 years ago.
It was two years later, in September of 1995 (and after the Ipperwash Provincial Park closed for the season), that 30 protesters from Kettle and Stony Point First Nation decided to protest the ongoing expropriation of their land. They built barricades to create a visual cue that was meant to help others understand their land claim and to protest the ongoing destruction of the burial grounds that were brought to the attention of the park authorities decades earlier.
It’s not as if any one was inconvenienced by the protest since the park was closed and the campgrounds were empty. But that’s not how the province of Ontario saw things. They sent in the Ontario Provincial Police to deal with the unarmed protesters.
Armed with guns and dressed in riot gear, the Ontario Provincial Police confronted the unarmed protesters, and in the end, Dudley George lay dead. It’s not clear cut what happened or why it happened, but in 1997 Kenneth Deane (who had been the acting sergeant on the scene) was convicted of criminal negligence causing death. The court determined that Kenneth Deane didn’t have “reasonable belief” that Dudley George was armed. When all was said and done, Deane resigned from the OPP.
Two years after the court decision, the United Nations Commission on Human Rights suggested that the province of Ontario conduct as public inquiry into the death of Dudley George. But the wheels of government don’t usually turn very quickly, especially if it’s not perceived as being in the best interests of the government, and so no such inquiry took place.
On November 12, 2003 it was decided by representatives of the province of Ontario that an inquiry should take place. With a new premier in power, and taking into consideration the fact that the United Nations and a number of other groups were clamouring for an official inquiry into Dudley George’s death, it seemed like the prudent thing to do.
That was 10 years ago.
When the Ipperwash inquiry released its report to the publish in 2007, it contained 100 recommendations. But the wheels of government don’t usually turn very quickly, especially if it’s not perceived as being in the best interests of the government, and so the fate of those 100 recommendations were talked about a lot and bandied about a lot and it certainly looked like things were getting done.
Two years later, representatives of the province of Ontario signed an agreement with the Chippewas of Kettle and Stony Point First Nation to transfer Ipperwash Provincial Park back to the Kettle and Stony Point First Nation. With a year of signing that agreement, the province of Ontario introduced legislation that deregulated the park lands, which meant the agreement was one step closer to completion.
And just as had been pointed out to the park authorities back in the 1930s, in 2010 archaeologist Brandy George announced that human remains dating back 1,000 years had been found at the Stony Point dig site.
That was 3 years ago.
As of today, it looks like it’s going to take up to 20 more years to complete the removal of the military base formerly known as Camp Ipperwash.
Twenty years from now, let’s take a look at Ipperwash 20 years ago … back in 2013. Let’s see how far things have progressed.
Time. They’re not making more of it. To expect people to waste it on substandard stuff is delusional. Videos only go viral if they hook you the very first time through; it’s no different in music. ~ Bob Lefsetz
Earlier this week, I received an email with this quote from Bob Lefsetz. In the space of 36 words, Bob had shared a number of reality checks that people should take him up on.
Now, Bob isn’t the first person to address the fact that everyone on this planet has days with 24 hours in it. While some may complain that they’ve worked 25-hour days with 8 days crammed into a 7-day week, the truth is that every day has 24 hours and every week has 7 days. Unless something has changed in some obscure country somewhere in the world, this is what it looks like all over the world.
New York Times best-selling American author, H. Jackson Brown Jr. sums the issue of time up this way:
Don’t say you don’t have enough time. You have exactly the same number of hours per day that were given to Helen Keller, Pasteur, Michaelangelo, Mother Teresa, Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Jefferson, and Albert Einstein.
So yes, when it comes to time, they’re not making more of it, and no one is getting less time in a day than the next person. As soon as the clock strikes midnight, the next day everywhere in the world has 24 hours in it that you can choose to use well and efficiently, or to waste.
And because we are all given 24-hour days, when you create something that is substandard and expect people to invest part of their 24-hour day in substandard creations, you’re not thinking straight. Oh sure, I’ve heard people say that if they get it wrong, it all right because they plan on doing it over again … only better. To which I say, quoting time management consultant and author, Jeffery J. Mayer:
If you haven’t got the time to do it right, when will you find the time to do it over?
If it doesn’t matter to you to do the best job possible the first time through, how can you say you get it right when you get around to it again? Surely a few hours extra invested at the beginning of any project, campaign or activity that results in excellent results is a far wiser decision that cutting corners at the start and hoping to invest countless hours at some later date improving the poor job that everyone will have seen by the time you get to fixing it.
The concept of going viral is a sales technique that relies on the any cross-section of technologies (especially social media networks) to deliver an increase in brand awareness and/or succeed with other identified marketing objectives. Ultimately, for this to work in a corporation or entrepreneur’s favor, specialists in viral marketing keep selling the same formula that involves having the right message in the hands of the right messengers who circulate in the right environment for the brand and/or objective.
The Right Message
Have you ever wondered what people mean by that? It means that whatever your objective, the way you transmit the information about that objective has to be memorable in ways that stick to the targeted audience like glue on flypaper. Whether it’s a cute promotion with a koala bear and a shapely young person smiling into the camera or an annoying infomercial featuring the goofy looking salesperson with the grating voice and the plastic features, it has to stick in people’s minds.
While we’d all like to grab for the “good association” brass ring of advertising, there are those who are far more successful in their viral marketing efforts thanks to campaigns that grate on people’s nerves. And there are those who prefer annoying campaigns because they can predict that the campaign will be co-opted by others, parodied and ridiculed, thereby pushing the original message along viral avenues that might not otherwise be interested in the campaign.
After watching that video, you have a pretty good idea what I’m talking about. Love it or hate it, if you mention this video to most people who are video gamers, cute rodent lovers, LMFAO die-hard fans, hip hop haters, Kia buyers, or small car snobs, they’ve all seen the commercial at least once and they all have an opinion on that commercial. It doesn’t matter if it’s a positive or negative opinion because what matters is that the focus of the campaign is at the center of attention ergo it’s a successful campaign.
How about PSY’s song, “Gangnam Style?” It’s been parodied to death because it’s the kind of song that lends itself so easily to being parodied in all sorts of markets.
It’s been used to comment on politicians such as this one about Barack Obama:
It’s been used to educate people on agriculture:
It’s been used to promote Earth Day 2013:
It’s taken on fictional characters:
It’s gotten to the point where the artist himself parodies his megahit with a California pistachio version:
Even though the original message intended by the recording artist and label may have been lost in parody translation, you can’t argue the fact that the message that got out there is that the song and the artist are their own unique tour de force. The message is that people need to watch what comes as a follow up to “Gangnam Style” because the recording artist is the next big thing.
The Right Messenger
As you saw from the videos, the messenger for this particular message is social media and social hubs … especially social hubs. And why? Because social hubs are Internet celebrities of some note with tens of thousands of followers who will forward messages to their online circle of influence directly from their social guru’s social media pages. It’s instant. It’s aggressive. It’s far reaching.
This isn’t the world of the 60s where demonstrations, sit-ins, love-ins and mainstream media brought messages to the crossroads of national (or even international) attention or footnote obsolescence that was sometimes months in the making from first mention to the public to the wind up of the campaign.
The Messenger these days happens to be the domain of technology-based information specialists, and the newest generation of consumers are hooked into that pipeline at the highest rate since the Internet first fired up.
The Right Environment
I’ve oftentimes used the analogy that no matter how fantastic a jazz pianist may be, if you throw him (or her) into the middle of the most amazing country bluegrass band, everyone is going to suffer, not just the pianist. The reason for this is that the environment.
In other words, not only are timing and context at the heart of a successful campaign, so is the environment and those within that environment who are essential components for selling the campaign to the general public. If the campaign falls short of its mark as it leaves the starting gate, every moment invested in fixing problems is lost opportunity in the lightning fast pace of Internet branding and awareness.
As Bob Lefsetz says: “Videos only go viral if they hook you the very first time through.”
Don’t waste your time along the way. Invest in the planning phases of anything you’re creating for technology consumption avenues. Get the biggest bang for your buck by hiring tech savvy people who have their fingers on the pulse of Millennial Generation (also known as Generation Y) and Generation Z (also known as Digital Natives) … the two generations that rely almost exclusively on the Internet, instant messaging, text messaging, peer-to-peer downloading, smart phones and more.
Time … we all have it and they’re not making more of it so isn’t it time you got down to business from the start and hit the ground running by doing things right the first time around? When you do that, you’ll see that you stand a far better chance of hitting your mark.
Not that long ago, Washington State completed a 6-year undertaking that made sure that equality could be found in its laws. Yes, a group of people were given the daunting task to bring gender equality to the laws of Washington State and when all was said and done, more than 3,000 sections of the law had been changed so that words like fisherman became the more equitable fisher and those who apprentice and used to have the designation of journeyman must now be referred to as journey-levelwith the trade tacked on afterwards.
Freshmen — a word that used to reflect the fact that females and males attending high school, college and university were in their first year of study — must now be called first-year students. I guess this must mean those formerly-to-be-identified freshmen who are now first-year students will be unable to continue with their education as they can no longer work towards a Bachelor degree either (seeing that the word bachelor isn’t gender neutral).
Penmanship (which is no longer taught in school) was lucky enough to snag handwriting instead, and watchmen are now security guards. And Ombudsmen have been reduced to being nothing more than ombuds. Mind you, that almost sounds too casual seeing that an ombuds isn’t your bud but actually official appointed to investigate individuals’ complaints, especially those against public authorities. There’s nothing too friendly about that, I would think.
Thank goodness that the Washington Military Department objected to having airmen and seamenrenamed otherwise there might have been a raft of airers (not to be mistaken for errors) and seaers (not to be mistaken for seers) in Washington State after the signing of this new bill!
I guess this means people in Washington State can no longer follow mandates and residents of Washington State can no longer request replacement parts for anything that breaks down.
Think of all the authors and composers who can possibly no longer compose in Washington State because this sort of activity leads to the creation of a manuscript. And horror of horrors, those who write certain kinds of novels or music are doubly harmed as they can possibly no longer produce romance manuscripts in Washington State, and publishers can no longer accept these creative works.
The business world could find itself thrown into utter chaos as middlemen may have just been legislated as a thing of the past!
If you are in Washington State, is it against the law to be adamant about something that matters to you or to demandsatisfaction when someone delivers less than they promised to deliver?
Will jewelers no longer be allowed to sell Almandines (which would impact on the gem gravels of Sri Lanka where these gems are mined)?
Are people who are only human no longer human, and has humanity somehow disappeared in Washington State with the stroke of a pen?
And people who suffer from a diagnosed mania … has legislation miraculously cured them?
And does this mean that situations in Washington State are no longer manageable?
I guess the horseshoe-shaped bone forming a person’s lower jaw is going to have to be renamed as well seeing as it’s known as a mandible.
Think of all the people in Washington State who are going to have to fork out money to change one or more of their names if it just happens to have the word man or men in it!
No one… and I do mean no one … would ever consider visiting Manitobano matter what the reason! It would be too dangerous a trek. What if someone found out that their neighbor had visited a gender non-neutral province in that country to the north of them? Think of the scandal!
And according to my friends, Ray and Tricia, this means that Amanda and Mandy would have to be known as Ada and Dy. Know who I really feel badly for? Manfred Mann. Know who my friend Tricia feels badly for? American author, business executive, radio host, and syndicated columnist
Washington State follows in the footsteps of Florida, North Carolina and Illinois who also determined that language must be gender neutral to create equality among residents. But sometimes fail to realize that what is equal isn’t the same as what is balanced.
The definition of equality is the state of being equal, especially with regards to status, rights, and opportunities. Equality is the condition of being equal in number or amount.
The definition of balance is the aesthetically pleasing integration of elements. Equilibrium between contrasting, opposing or interacting elements. When you bring something into balance, you arrange the elements so that one set of elements exactly equals another set of elements.
When I say that people incorrectly interchange the word equal to mean balance, it’s because many people do … and it’s not necessarily a good thing to allow happen.
The medical profession is always urging people to eat balanced meals. I have yet to see a doctor quoted as urging people to eat equal meals, insisting that they must have equal amounts of everything on their plate and that all food portions must be made equally. Can you imagine what mashed potatoes would taste like with equal amounts of potatoes, garlic, pepper, salt, butter and margarine (because we certainly wouldn’t want either dairy or vegetable oils to feel they were lesser ingredients just because they weren’t used in equal amounts in the mashed potatoes, would we)?
Now imagine those mashed potatoes with a balance of ingredients. It’s a different — and far more appealing — healthy dish at that point, isn’t it?
I wonder how long it will be before songs played in venues, restaurants, bars, radio stations, et al will have to start monitoring the songs they choose to make sure no one is offended by their song selections? I imagine that songs like “She’s Always A Woman To Me” and “Piano Man” might be in serious jeopardy of never being heard again in states that are intent on rooting out any mention of gender in language.
