FYI#62

“If I persist,
if I continue to try,
if I continue to charge forward,
I will succeed.”

Today’s headline is a quote from Og Mandino, sales guru and author of the bestselling book The Greatest Salesman in the World. That was the first book I read when I began my sales career.

In August of 1982 – Wow! that’s practically 28 years ago – I answered an ad in the local newspaper for a “management training” position with a company called Townecraft. The ad said the position paid up to $12.00 dollars an hour and training would start immediately if you were hired.

One week later, I was in the business of “Direct Sales.” My product was 5-ply waterless stainless steel cookware, fine china and cutlery. (See, I can still do the spiel.) More commonly referred to as pots and pans, dishes and knives.

Since this was my first experience selling, I was told to practice my sales pitch on my “warm list” which, at 18 years old, was my family, friends and neighbors – everyone who supposedly loved me.

Good try, but … I was so bad at selling even my Mom didn’t buy from me. After getting rejected by all of those people and not making one sale, I was told by management that my training was over and it was time to start selling professionally. I guess that’s why the ad was called “management training.” How many managers still “train” the same way?

After six months of knocking on doors, hearing the word “No” hundreds of times and failing miserably, I was thinking about a career change.

Then I made my first sale. I don’t remember her name but she bought “Package A” – for $1,500.00. From that moment on, I was hooked on sales. I realized that if she saw value in my product, other people would too. I just needed to get better. As my friend, Jeffrey Gitomer says, I just needed to not “suck at sales”.

Warning: It’s no longer 1982. Door-to-door canvassing or cold calling people at their home can get you killed, especially in New Jersey.

But since 1982, I’ve been on thousands of sales calls and have made hundreds of presentations. And, out of all the sales training seminars and workshops I’ve attended or facilitated over the last two decades, my greatest lessons came from selling pots and pans door-to-door. I learned how to sell by being on the front-line. I knocked on doors and immersed myself in the selling process. I did it everyday for two years. Some days I was extremely successful. Some days I failed miserably.

Greatest Lesson Learned: I never quit.

From those early days I came to understand the importance of what Og Mandino wrote about in The Greatest Salesman in the World, self-discipline and persistence.

FYI Takeaway: What was initially scary, intimidating and challenging became one of my favorite things to do. It was fun and I had a blast doing it, and I did it everyday.

My persistence, belief and positive attitude and how I still sell today began from the experiences, training and philosophies I learned on the front line way back in 1982.

You see, I wasn’t protected by the anonymity and facelessness that cold calling on the telephone provides. The feedback was real, it was physical. The interaction on every front doorstep was visible and immediate. I lived and died, sold or didn’t sell, by my ability to gain immediate rapport and engage people in an emotional and intelligent way. I had to be friendly, funny and savvy enough to get as much information as I could. On each block I canvassed, and every door I knocked on, my mission was to get a qualified lead and to make a sale. I wouldn’t end my day until one or both of those objectives were met.

FYI Q&A: Are there areas in your personal or professional life where you have decided to settle for less than you want? Have you given up? Have you decided to stop knocking on doors that might provide you with the answer?

My Advice: Don’t quit. You deserve the success you are striving for and it will come – if you persist.

My personal challenge to you: Get a 3×5 card. On one side write your biggest, most immediate goal. On the other side, write Og Mandino’s quote. Read it three times a day for the next 90 days or until you accomplish it, whichever comes first.

Then, like the shampoo directions, repeat.

Law of Diminishing Intent: If you think carrying your goals with you and reviewing them three times a day for 90 days is a good idea – you’re right. It is and it works. So don’t become a victim of the Law of Diminishing Intent. Don’t wait, do it now.

In September of 1962 President John F. Kennedy did not announce, “We intend on going to the moon pretty soon.”

He said this:

“We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too.”

Choose to succeed. Make this a great week and your Best Year Ever!

Eric Taylor

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