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In this episode of Prospecting on Purpose, Sara Murray uncovers the power of core values—the guiding principles that fuel confidence, drive decision-making and create authentic connections in business and life.
If you've ever struggled with making tough choices or felt misaligned in your career, this episode will help you build a framework to align your actions with your values—so you can move forward with clarity and conviction.
What You'll Gain:🔹 Define Your Core Values – A step-by-step guide to identifying what truly matters in your personal and professional life. 🔹 Boost Decision-Making Confidence – Learn how clear values eliminate doubt and make choices easier. 🔹 Strengthen Your Brand & Business – See how core values shape how you show up and build trust with clients. 🔹 Create Meaningful Connections – Understand why value alignment fosters deeper relationships and long-term success.
Key Takeaways You Don't Want to Miss:🎯 The unexpected ways core values impact your career and leadership. 💡 A simple exercise to refine and prioritize your top values. 🚀 How values-based decision-making leads to better opportunities.
Ready to get started? Check out this list of core values from Scienceofpeople to craft your own framework.
For more insights, revisit: Episode 5 – A conversation with Joe Welch from In Good Taste Wines on brand identity
Episode 6 – Tech & media executive Anne Wallen shares insights on value alignment in leadership
Your core values aren't just words—they're your north star for success. Tune in now and start making decisions with confidence.
Connect with Sara
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@saramurraysales LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/saramurraysales/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/saramurraysales/
#ProspectingOnPurpose #CoreValues #SalesSuccess #BusinessGrowth #AuthenticLeadership #MindsetMatters #SuccessBlueprint #SalesStrategy #IntentionalLiving #ConfidenceInBusiness
Prospecting on Purpose is Forbes meets Saturday Night Live - it’s *the* show for everything prospecting, sales, business, and mindset.
As business grows more complex, the biggest opportunities emerge when we learn beyond our own industries. From hospitality and design to technology and travel, this is where professionals come together to exchange ideas, uncover new perspectives, and prospect for business with creativity, authenticity, and intention.
Hosted by Sara Murray, a heart-centric sales champion, each episode helps you raise both your vibes and your game. Sara's playbook is simple - ABAV: Always Be Adding Value. Embrace your authentic self, lean into your unique strengths, and sell the outcome instead of the product or service.
Join Sara each week as she sits down with world-class thought leaders to unpack today's business strategies, mindset shifts, and relationship-driven approaches to growth, giving you practical ideas you can put into action right away.
Connect with Sara: www.saramurray.com IG: @saramurraysales LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/saramurraysales/
an understanding of our values
in different areas of our lives
becomes a framework for ensuring the actions
we take are in alignment with our values
this instills a foundation of confidence
and drives that forward motion to the goals
we're striving to achieve
and the lives we're building for ourselves
you're listening to prospecting on purpose
where we discuss all things prospecting
sales business
and mindset
I'm your host Sara Murray
a sales champion
who's here to show you that you can be a shark
in business
and still lead with intentionality and authenticity
tune in each week
as we dive into methods to connect with clients
communicate with confidence and close the deal
welcome to prospecting on purpose
for today's episode we're going to start with values
if you've been listening to the guest experts
everyone's been super interesting and knowledgeable
the conversations
have applied to all different areas of both our lives
and our careers
if you haven't listened after this episode
go back and listen to each of them
because the takeaways are tangible
and they're quite impactful
one of the core themes that really keeps
appearing in all of these conversations
is the need to identify our values
whether that's our personal values
the businesses we represent
or the stories we're trying to tell
in this context the definition of value
courtesy of dictionary.com
is a person's principles or standards of behavior
one's judgment of what's important in life
I think we all understand what a value is however
how many of us
carve out the time to identify our core values
obviously we can rattle off a list of things that are
important to us but if I were to rapid fire
ask each of us what our top three to five values were
would we be able to name them
prior to starting my business
I absolutely could not
but now that I have them outlined
they are a driving
force in the actions that I take in my business
this is why we're talking about this today
if we don't have those handy up the top of our heads
I encourage us all to take some time to identify them
and we're gonna get into the benefits of why
during this episode an understanding of our values
in different areas of our lives
becomes a framework for ensuring the actions
we take are in alignment with our values
this instills a foundation of confidence
and drives that forward motion to the goals
we're striving to achieve
and the lives we're building for ourselves
we're gonna get to a list of values here in a bit
but I wanna talk about a couple of different ways
we can look at values
so that we have that lens going into it
when I read off the list first thing to note
we have different areas of our lives right
we may have different values for our family life
how we show up as a child
as a parent as a sibling
those may be different from the values
in our romantic relationships
and then they might be different still
in our friendships and then of course
we have different values when it comes to our careers
and our professional lives
so in my rapid fire example
the answer of our top values may shift
based on the area of the life we're talking about
if we sit down and identify them
we're gonna see some that carry through
you know
some core values that carry through in different areas
and then some that are gonna be totally different
for example if I take my top 5 values
as how I wanna show up as a friend
as opposed to my professional life
my top 5 values in friendship are thoughtfulness
loyalty connection
fun approachable
those are important to me
and it's what I want my friends to feel
and expect from a friendship with me
all of those values could also apply to work
and my business however
my top 5 values in my career
and specifically in my business are professional fun
creative approachable and intentional
so comparing those two areas of life
I have fun and approachable
as shared values in both friendship and business
when we start to find tune these
we'll probably see themes that appear
and I'm sure some of us are already have
rising to the top of our mental list
when I'm rattling this off
you know fun is a big part of my life
I love it and I want my life to be fun
that's a core value to me in every area
so step 1 is to understand
the values can change
based on different areas of our lives
the second thing I want to bring up
as we're going through this is
how do our values
help establish our own personal brand
and how we interact with the world
one way that we can look at this
in these different areas is we can ask ourselves
how do I want people to feel
when they're interacting with me
so for the rest of this episode
I'm gonna focus with the lens of work values
as we know this is a business podcast
but again just a reminder
these can be in all different areas of our life
so when I ask myself how do I want people to feel
when they're interacting with me
so I'll repeat my work values professional
fun creative
approachable and intentional
if we've worked together in the past
or if we've never met
and you're listening to this show
first to both categories of people
thank you for listening but second
I hope that those values are shining
through in the way I'm trying to put myself
out in the world
so now I'm gonna get into a list of values
there are hundreds of values
so I'm just gonna read off a couple dozen
I found a great list
on a website called science of people.com
forward slash core dash values
I'll link it in the show notes
but they actually have it already
broken out by area of life
so it's a really nice kind of first draft
if you want to find an exhaustive list of terms
but these ones are pretty appropriate for work
relations and values when it comes to work
I know it's hard to narrow things down
because of course
I want my business values to also include honesty open
loyal trust kind
integrity ethical
leadership and so on and so on
but do your best to narrow it down to five
if you're indecisive
shout out to the Libras in the house
here's the trick
write down the 10 that resonate the most with you in
in certain areas right
don't try to be a catch all pick an area
I suggest we pick work
then look at those 10 and narrow down from there
one way to do this if you're struggling with this
is you can use binary decision making
so if you're looking at your list of 10
start with the first two
and pick the one that you feel resonates
with you the most
then take the winner of that challenge
and go on to your third word
which one resonates the most
the winner of the first two or the third one and so on
this is a fluid list it can change over time
so we don't need to take it super seriously
it's just a first draft
but it's important to sit with it
and take the time to define your values
all right are we ready
I'm going to read off a list of values here loyal
humble compassionate
honest kind
integrity
selflessness decisive
passionate ethical
trust
courageous thoughtful
traditional
stable
spiritual ambitious
professional approachable fun
creative
intentional timeliness
persistence diversity teamwork
innovation ingenuity
fame
power hard work ethic leadership
self development charisma
organized responsible
credible encouragement adaptability
consistency enthusiasm
achievement transparency dependability
resourceful
okay
obviously there are hundreds more
but as a starting point
I'm sure some of these words resonated with us
more than others okay
so now we got our list what are we gonna do with it
I personally have my five words professional fun
creative approachable
and intentional hanging up on a wall in my office
and the reason why is
because I use them as a framework
to ensure that the actions I take
and the decisions I make
are in alignment with my values
so using this work values framework
this impacts the way we show up individually
the way we show up with our employers
or prospective employers and finally
how we engage with our colleagues and our clients
I'm going to give a couple of examples
in each of these areas so two individual examples here
first I usually have way more jokes
in the first draft of a podcast episode
I cannot tell you how much
I was dying to read that list off to us all
with different accents
and as fun as I think that would be
it's not totally the professional vibe
I'm trying to exude in executing this content
so we can still have fun and make jokes
but I'm usually editing out the dumb ones
that don't really add value
as a takeaway from the show
and I'm intentional with my editing
because I want to respect your time
so in a larger scale example
I love to host events and throw parties
so I threw a big networking event in Marina Del Rey
when I launched my business
and it was very professionally executed
it was in a great location
we had ticket sales to register in advance
we had a check in area
signage so people could find their way
a professional photographer
we had sponsors we had amazing raffle prizes
but as professional as it was
I'm really proud to say that the other values
were front and center approachable
creative fun really shown through
so from an approachable value standpoint
you know throwing the event
inviting people in the community to come network
uh I made sure to talk to everyone there
and thank them for coming
approachable is an important value to me
but creative and fun are too
I made jello shots I had a temporary tattoo station
I had a tarot card reader
the raffle prize donations were so much fun
we had a wine advent calendar from in Good Taste Wines
CEO Joe Welch was episode 5 of the podcast
since it was Los Angeles
I had a 700 dollar Botox gift card
you know good fun prizes
but what made the event successful
is that
I used all of those core values as a driving force
to execute my vision and it was a blast
one attendee who's now a friend
asked the tarot card reader Fabio
if she was gonna land a big project
and four months later she did
and she reached out to tell me that story
everyone was connecting laughing
taking jello shots picking out temporary tattoos
there was some fighting over the Botox gift card
it was professional and it was fun
and those are the values
I want to ensure people feel when they work with me
so personal efforts are pretty straightforward
and you can use these when you're making a decision
Sara do I keep this joke in the podcast
eh probably not
your Scottish accent is not good
so right there scratch it
move on or on a larger scale
if I'm presented with an opportunity
I have to look at my core value of intention
does this opportunity in front of me
move me towards the direction of the business
I'm going to build if there's clear alignment
then I'm secured my decision and I can act on it
if there's not it makes it easier to say no
and be comfortable with that no
and not waste energy agonizing over the decision
did I make the right one these values
give us the structure to quickly and confidently
make decisions so
how does this impact our relationships
with our employers
here's an example of a potential employer
and an active employer if you've listened to Episode 6
with tech and media executive
Anne Wallen she gives a great example of a company
that she was in discussions with
for a potential collaboration or employment
this organization was very insistent
that the role would need to be in the office
and everyone hired for that team
would also have to be based in that region
the employer had location
and in person collaboration as their core values
with Anne's background and experience
the way she would have wanted to build that team
and execute the role successfully
would require that the team wasn't limited
based on geography
both parties are absolutely fine in their core values
there are many ways to execute projects
execute business and measure success
but if some of those core values don't align
then it's not a good fit it's easier to vet
these before we're employed by a company
so we don't end up with mismatched values
so once you're employed by an organization
we're essentially
serving as a representative to that organization
and an extension of their values
it's vital that there's alignment in your values
so you're putting your authentic self forward
and representing those shared core values
I recently watched Matilda on Netflix
and if you've seen that movie
you know the dad Harry Wormwood
played by Danny DeVito owns a used car sales lot
you know
insert all the used car sales person jokes here
but he's on that lot he's rolling back the mileage
he's super gluing bumpers to the cars
if we worked for Harry Wormwood
selling cars on that lot
we would have to be okay with the value of dishonesty
and misleading customers that's a dramatic example
but you get the idea
we wanna be sure that we are in alignment
with our organization
so that we can be the most successful in our role
and driving both our own success and the company
success forward and then finally
to be in alignment with our colleagues and our clients
I'm gonna use a couple of client examples here
we may have very little in common with our clients
from an interests or our motivations
but if our values align
then that serves as our common thread
on which to base our relationship on
and build it from there I've shared this on the show
but a majority of my career
has been selling into the luxury
hospitality industry restaurants
hotels spas
there's a natural correlation of the value that a
hotel has with my individual values professional
fun creative
approachable and intentional
for the most part
hotels have to be extremely professional
that one's pretty obvious
they're also pretty fun
who doesn't love going on vacation
and staying at a nice hotel
hotels
and restaurants are creative with their design choices
how they engage their guests
what's on the menu
how do they wow with unique differentiators
and then approachability
is the epitome of the hospitality industry
they want to ensure we have an amazing time
and that they can accommodate our requests
and they're pretty intentional about their business
strategy
brands are consistent
they have loyalty programs in place
they want us to have a great time
because they want us to stay with them again
or at a similar
branded property elsewhere in the world
that is not by accident
it's an intentional business model
and to be honest I only recently
realized the correlation
when I was preparing this episode
but it makes a lot of sense
when I put my clients
industries and individual values next to each other
my success was inevitable
because I had a shared
common goal and shared core values with my clients
and here's a recent example
with my current business model
I was at a meeting with a sales leader
and we were discussing a workshop for his team
and he was serving me questions
and I was returning those follies right back to him
and it was a pretty straightforward discussion
and we were both having fun with it
my core values of professionalism and approachability
were the driving force behind how I answered
his questions and returned his objections
and he had some great questions
I hadn't received before
so it was kind of fun for me to get them
so I now know my answer for the next sales leader
who asked me a similar question
but what was interesting about this meeting is that
now that I've been more aware of my values
and the values of others and where we meet
I could immediately tell that respect was a core
value of his
he was being very direct and pointed in his questions
it was not a fluffy meeting
but he was extremely
respectful in the way he asked me questions
and at the end of our meeting
it ended very well and warm as they do
and he said to me
thank you for talking that through with me
I hope you found me respectful
and it established such a connection
point for our future communication styles
because we were both staying
true to our individual values
which allowed us to be more comfortable in what we
stood for
while finding that common ground
so now we can move forward
in the next step of the sales cycle
this is something I've only really recently
started to focus on and put energy to
but it's really cool to see how it's starting to serve
me my clients
hopefully this audience
understanding our values leads to confidence
which leads to building more authentic relationships
and then that confidence and relationships is both
in ourselves relationships with our colleagues
our clients our families
and essentially
how we interact with the world around us
I'm gonna give this audience a call to action here
it's a little bit of easy homework
but I encourage everyone to spend some time
and sit with this list of values
either replay the episode where I read them out loud
check the show notes or Google a core values list
and find what resonates with you
type them up print them out
put them on a post a note
I'm always a fan of the old label maker
put them in a place where you can see them
then use them as a framework and guiding North Star
to the actions you take or the actions you don't take
in your work and your life
and be more confident in the decisions you make
because you know
they're in line with your own core values
I'd love to hear what your values are
if you want to share them with me
feel free to send me a message on LinkedIn
or social media at ceremony
sales or email hello at ceremony
com the feedback from listeners has been really fun
it totally fills up my cup
so I appreciate those who've messaged me
and let me know the takeaways
they're getting out of the episodes
please don't be shy now
you know
that one of my core values is being approachable
and I would love to hear from you and to wrap us up
I'm gonna ask you to please subscribe
like share and leave a review
thanks so much for listening and I'll see you next week
thank you so much for listening to the prospecting
on purpose podcast
if you'd love what you heard today
subscribe to the podcast
and please rate and leave a review
for more info on me or if you'd like to work together
feel free to go to my website saramurray
com on social media
I'm usually hanging out at saramurray sales
thanks again for joining me and I'll see you next time