How an Ohio Farm Boy Became THE Expert in Strategic Gifting
Hi! I’m John Ruhlin, the founder of the Ruhlin Group and the author of the bestselling book Giftology.
Growing up on a farm in Ohio, I was raised with a strong work ethic and an entrepreneurial spirit. As a broke college student, I took a job selling Cutco products, and I gave it my all.
I quickly realized that to be successful in sales meant getting people to set aside a little time to talk with me. And to do that, I had to achieve two things: first, capture their attention, and second, make them decide they *wanted* to meet me.
I had no idea how to do either of those things, so I started watching how others around me built and nurtured their relationships…
…and that’s when I saw a clear pattern emerge.
It was a cycle of generosity: Those who give the most they can, get the most people can give them in return.
So I started to practice radical generosity, sending gifts to thank people in advance for *considering* meeting with me.
Before I’d even left college, I was Cutco’s top salesperson. Ever.
And it was all because I’d practiced radical generosity.
That’s the discovery that led me to found the Ruhlin Group and write the Giftology book.
Until recently, my in-depth gifting strategy insights and advice were only available to my private consulting clients, and to a lesser extent to people who read the book, visited my website, or caught up with me at live events.
For years, the one question I got asked over and over again was how to choose the perfect gift. And so I decided to try teaching a course on the topic.
To test the idea out, I ran a live online course in 2017 for a very small group of students, and the results they got were outstanding. So immediately after that test course wrapped up, I already knew I wanted to develop it further…
…and now, my team and I have refined, expanded, and updated the course into a complete Giftology program.