Jeffrey, I want to know, whatdo YOU do to maintain success?
As my sales career has evolved over the years, and I haveemerged as a leader (maybe THE leader) in the sales industry, I’m often askedif I have any secrets for success orwhat’s been my path to personal success.
The answer is pretty simple. There are no secrets.There’s nothing I do that I consider out of the ordinary. It’s what I do on a consistent basis that makes meextraordinary.
I READ. I wake up every morning, and I read. I read two pagesfrom some kind of personal success book that’s more than 50 years old. If youwant to know the best ones that I read, it’s anything by Napoleon Hill, mostoften his earliest writings from The Lawof Success, or the Magic Ladder toSuccess — just a couple pages. It’s anything by Dale Carnegie. His publicspeaking book. His How to Win Friends& Influence People book. His Howto Stop Worrying & Start Living book. Now, I’ve only been doing thatfor 39 years, so I don’t know if it works yet. I’m going to do it for another39 years, and that’s it — I’m going to quit. That consistency leads me to newideas. Every time I read something old, I come up with a new idea, which leadsme to my second non-secret:
I CAPTURE AND COLLECT THOUGHTS AND IDEAS. When I think ofthings or things occur to me, or I read something that inspires me, the firstthing I do is go to my computer. I write this column every week on sellingskills, but I don’t just write the column, I collect ideas so I can always beahead. I’ve written more than 950columns to date, but I’ve got 500 more ideas waiting to be evolved. That leadsme to my next step of success:
I WRITE. When I write everything down, it clarifies my own ideas, it generatesnew ideas, and it creates content for my speeches, and for my books. My challenge to you is: If you want to be a success, you can’tjust read, you have to write.
I SPEAK. The next thing you have to learn how to do ispresent – give a speech in public. The best way to learn how to present is tojoin Toastmasters. If you go toToastmasters, and give 10 speeches, you can get your Competent ToastmasterAward (CTM) — it will give you a little more self-confidence, and theunderstanding of what makes a talk a good talk. Most people only talk one onone, but if you ever present to a group, that’s the ultimate. Can you sell theentire group? When you learn to present to a group, selling one on one becomesa piece of cake.
I POSITION TO WIN WITH “VALUE FIRST.” The same goes formarketing (attracting people who are interested to buy). I position myself tobe seen and read as a person of value. My marketing mission is as follows: Iput myself in front of people who can say yes to me, and I deliver value first.I promise you will never see that in a marketing textbook, nor hear it from amarketing professor.
I STRIVE TO MASTER. There are models you can use to makesales, and there are all kinds of processes and strategies that you can use.But if you don’t have those fundamental elements at your fingertips – you haveto be the master of these things — not just the Mr. of them, not just the Mrs.of them — you have to be the MASTER of them. In order to be that master, you have to study. In order to be that master, you have topractice them daily. In order to bethat master, you have to have deep focus, and take that internal daily dose, sothat you can, day by day, become great.
I LOVE IT. I wake up in the morning, and I can’t wait todo whatever it is that I have scheduled that day. Sometimes it’s give a speech, sometimes it’s write more formy books, sometimes it’s interview people, sometimes it’s meetings, andsometimes it’s making sales to big corporate CEOs. I love making sales, and Itry to do two or three sales calls every week, so I can stay at the top of mygame. I don’t just teach sales, I make sales.
IT’S NOT ONE ELEMENT. But, if you only read, or you onlywrite, or you only speak, that’s not quite enough. You have to love what youdo, and you have to believe in what you sell, and you have to have the rightattitude and enthusiasm to carry you forward. These are the principle piecesthat will lead you to some kind of success. You see, once you believe in it,once you love it, it’s not work anymore — it’s the most fun thing you can do.
I WORK HARD. People ask me, “How’d you get great atsales?” And I tell them, “Well, I just worked my rear end off for 20 years, andthen, all of the sudden, I was great.”
The same thing can happen to you, but you have to loveit. If you don’t love what you do, it’s tough to get beyond the next plateau.I’m challenging you to go back, and re-read to this formula — there’s no magicto it, but add passion, and the results will be incredibly magical.
If you want some ideas for the achievement of goals, goto www.gitomer.com and enter the word BEGIN in the GitBit box.
