I wish everyone a blessed day. Don’t we all want fortune and favor to fall upon all the folks we know?
Because this sentiment has never struck me as offensive or overtly religious, it is the usual way that I close most of my correspondence, much like many use “sincerely” as they end a letter. Although I am a Christian man of faith, I would not normally write about mixing business and religion in my blog because it isn’t really relevant when discussing outdoor lighting and outdoor living spaces. But something happened this week and I thought I should bring it up here.
During the course of a normal day, especially if I have to be working at my computer for hours at a time, I will take a couple breaks at which time I may check into my social networks, play a couple of hands of solitaire, take a shot at Words With Friends or visit the web and look at a lighting forum. So the other day I popped into the lighting forum where I am a regular contributor, and saw a thread titled “Religion Got Me a Job.” Well, that grabbed my attention real quick because as many know, my wife and I are very active in our church and faith life, and run our business with the moral guidance we get from our Catholic faith. Anyway, I was intrigued enough to take a look at this thread and, low and behold, it had to do with me and my company! Someone had actually posted that they had been awarded a project instead of my company because I had injected religion into my sales presentation.
That started quite a conversation on the forum thread among other professional lighting people, and there were more than a few opinions on the subject. What I was most concerned with was the title and what actually happened. I couldn’t understand why the person posting this topic said that I had ‘injected religion into my sales presentation’ and that the client in question was “turned off” by that. I know my presentations have no religious wording whatsoever in them. As a business person, I’m aware how sensitive many people could be about such things, and I work very hard to approach a potential client with professionalism and expertise as well as sincerity. Faith and personal belief is not a discussion topic in those business interactions, but I hope I am a good example of a faith-filled person. I knew which client that this person was referring to because he identified the location; their reaction was a surprise. Imagine my concern that I had unknowingly offended them in some way.
I did prepare a design and proposal for these folks and attached it in an email. In our previous email conversations we discussed different aspects and specifics of the project. In each of these emails, as is my custom, I signed off with, “I wish you a blessed day.” That’s it. That’s how I had injected religion into my presentation? This is what the other guy says was offensive to his client. Reading that forum thread gave me pause: Did I really turn off a potential client by simply wishing them a blessed day? And what kind of professional gloats to others that he won a job for this reason? I was a little disturbed by the questionable character of the guy who was so anxious to knock his competition in such a public venue over such a touchy subject.
Losing the bid for the project was not nearly as important to me as apologizing to the individuals I may have upset. So I wrote these nice people a short email in which I pasted the initial post from the contractor in question, along with my apology for any offense I may have caused. I got a very kind letter back that reassured me they had been grossly misrepresented in the matter. The administrator of the forum apparently thought the thread a little too divisive also, and removed it – without any prompting from me.
I find it quite ironic that my faith says, “let your light shine” and “don’t hide it under a bushel basket.” And I’m an outdoor lighting designer shining my light wherever I go. I have no problem at all sharing my faith with those who ask, and operating our business according to those beliefs. We even send out Christian themed Christmas cards to our clients, not the usual ‘Happy Holidays’ or ‘Season’s Greetings’ cards that seem to be the safe thing to do. And in my correspondence, when I feel that I want to wish someone a blessed day, I will continue to do that – because it is sincerely how I feel.
I wish each of you much good fortune, supreme favor and blissful happiness – that’s the definition of a blessed day.
