story of The purple thread

	The Story Of At the core of Darrell’s presentation is the powerful concept of which is all about standing out against the “white noise” of competition by focusing on what’s really important to consumers. The concept is derived from the story of Agrippinus, a noted Roman philosopher and stoic and it provides a powerful backdrop to Darrell’s keynote presentation.

The following is an excerpt from Darrell’s soon to be released book:

In around 95 AD Nero was Emperor of Rome. Now Nero had a seriously twisted sense of humour and would derive an enormous amount of perverse pleasure from humiliating prominent citizens. One of the ways he would do this was to write ridiculous plays and then order, under pain of death or banishment, prominent Roman citizens to act in them. It came to pass that he commanded Florus, a well-known Roman historian and noted Stoic and philosopher, Agrippinus, to act in one of his plays.

Florus went to Agrippinus to ask his advice on what to do. Agrippinus replied, “Go down” and when Florus asked Agrippinus, “Why do not you go down?” Agrippinus replied:

“Because I do not even deliberate about the matter. For he who has once brought himself to deliberate about such matters, and to calculate the value of external things, comes very near to those who have forgotten their own character. For why do you ask me the question, whether death is preferable to life? I say life. Pain or pleasure? I say pleasure.”

“But if I do not take a part in the tragic acting, I shall have my head struck off”. Florus replied.

“Go then and take part, but I will not. Why? Because you consider yourself to be only one thread of those which are in the tunic. Well then it is fitting for you to take care how you should be like the rest of men, just as the thread has no design to be anything superior to the other threads. But I wish to be purple, that small part which is bright, and makes all the rest appear graceful and beautiful. Why then do you tell me to make myself like the many? And if I do, how shall I still be purple?”

In today’s competitive environment most sales people are indistinguishable from one another. They have become like the white threads of the tunic.

To stand out, to be purple, sales people must be able to answer the most important question customers ask themselves every time they are in front of a sales person. “Why should I do business with you and your company”? If sales people cannot answer that simple question then why should customers do business with you? There are literally thousands just like you to choose from.