We could walk through many examples just like this. And you know the answers to all of them.
Most salesmen – especially the experienced ones – learn just enough to get by and do well. After that, the improvement becomes slow, gradual and freezing.
At some point in the development of any sales business, a point is reached where the learning curve starts to slow. Call it stagnation or maturity, the developments of new sales techniques and management developments within the firm ceases to progress. If this is not corrected, profits will also slow. Staff turnover increases. No one has much fun. The organization becomes a dull place in which to be.
The salesman who has reached or is approaching this point cannot allow this to continue. He/she has essentially three options to recapture the vibrant enthusiasm that is the hallmark of a successful and growing individual:
1.He/she could get together with others for an open exchange of information and brainstorming. John Dryden, an English author, wrote “I have no wish to be with others like myself. I only gain by being with those who know more.”
2.He/she could arrange for an industry-specific trainer and management consultant. Many believe it is a viable choice to increase knowledge and profit.
3.He/she could, like Newton, stand on the shoulders of the giants that have come before him.
There are dozens of specific and effective techniques to explode your production. I’ve learned and applied these techniques for over 25 years using the formula for success!
Is there Such Formula?
Yes, there is. And applying it properly, you can achieve a reasonable degree of income and satisfaction regardless of your profession!
The formula may be visualized as a three-legged stool. Take away any one of the three legs, and the stool falls apart. But three solid legs will support you firmly.
The first leg is ‘Personal Qualities.’ That’s what you bring to the party. The ability to speak properly, to think logically, to learn, to organize, to plan, etc; and having decent health and energy level are just some of these qualities.
The second leg is ‘Hard Work.’ The abilities are fine, but particularly during your first two or three years of your work, you will have to break your neck to learn a complex and sophisticated business.
The third and final leg of the stool is ‘Instructions’ or ‘Training.’ You can have all the talent you want, you can work as hard as possible, but you still can’t invent this business on your own, any more than you can learn to be a surgeon, captain, or accountant without instructions.
Strengthening each leg of the formula enhances the others. The harder you work, the faster you’ll learn what’s taught, and the more you can maximize your Personal Qualities. Good Personal Qualities mean you’ll get more results out of your Work and Training. The better trained you are, the greater the return on your Work and Talent. Improve any one leg of the stool and you also help the others. By solidifying these legs, you’ll become not just a fairly successful person, but also a super-star!
But how do you enhance the three elements of success? It’s pretty hard to straighten up your Personal Qualities; how can you improve your IQ, your raw abilities? Tough to do! Most people could work harder, but that’s a limited sort of improvement. And you can’t keep working harder and harder forever.
But you can improve Training. Genuine how-to information is available on the Internet for almost any industry and profession that can be used to increase your production. And you’ll also maximize the other two elements of success. The combination of improved knowledge plus the multiplying effect this will have, will allow you not only to increase production, but also to explode it – fast!
The Structure and Aim of the Book
Reading may not be an easy habit to develop, but it's one that can help you expand your business, boost your self-confidence, broaden your horizon, do and see things better, clearer, etc. But people are overwhelmed with so many things, leaving them very little time for reading a book once, let alone repeating it.
‘Repetition is the mother of learning.’ This is so true. Repeat anything often enough, and it’ll start to become you. But you might think it’s hard to find time to read something once let alone re-reading it! Well, it’s much easier than you think as explained below.
Reading a book once, you understand it. Reading it twice, you understand it better. Reading it three times, you understand it much better. Reading it four times, it sinks in forever as if it was engraved in granite.
So, I came up with 12 chapters for a reason and that is because there are 52 weeks in a year, which equates to four 13 weeks – I use chapters and weeks interchangeably. This leaves you with four free weeks holidaying :) In fact, each chapter is a book on its own, which practically means that you have 12 books under one cover. The book is full of cherry-picked, fat-free topics to enable you to easily read it up to four times a year to ensure it sinks in for good – and to use it as a reference for as and when needed.
This book is a step-by-step and ‘how-to’ guide, designed to help you overcome all the physical and mental obstacles in your life, so you change your life for the better and achieve success. The book covers important topics aimed specifically to motivate and help you reach your goals in the fastest and most effective way if followed as detailed.
These subjects are extracts from tons of various sources gathered over 25 years that are very hard for anybody to read more than once; so I’ve removed unnecessary jargon and summarized the key points in one place to enable you to read through easily and apply the concepts to practical life; ultimately, leading to positive change and success.
You’re probably asking, ‘Where do I begin?’ Obviously, you’re eager to start. You may also be a little intimidated. But remember, if others can do it, then with determination and a sound plan, you can too. To reach your goal, you must first figure out where you are, so you know where you want to go. Go at your own pace. And most importantly, don’t give up. You’ll find that with every step you take, your confidence and gains grow.
Since my background is mainly sales and marketing, I’ve emphasized more on these subjects. I can say that virtually everybody is a sales and marketing individual whether they realize it or not, because we all buy and sell stuff such as cars, homes, etc; however, if you feel, for example, that sales and marketing are not your domain, you may easily replace that chapter by reading content related to your profession.
How to Read the Book
To help you navigate the waters of this book, I use RED fonts emphasis, and use italics to highlight new words or terms that I define or quotes that I use. And, throughout the book, we’ll use ‘He’ and ‘She’ interchangeably.
So how can you read a 900-page book four times a year?
First off, don’t be terrified by the number of pages! The book is structured in a way that you can use is it as a reference to come back to as and when you need something from it. You can read it whichever way you like. You can start with your preferred chapter(s). You can check out the table of contents to find broad categories of information and a chapter-by-chapter rundown of what this book offers, or you can look up a specific topic in the index. You can also start from chapter (week) one all the way to chapter 12. You can read it all as fast as you can or as slow as you wish, but try to repeat it four times over a year.
My recommendation for you though is to spend around half an hour a day to read one chapter per week. So if for example, a chapter has 70 pages, you can read