INTRODUCTION

     It has often been said that knowledge is the key to power. However, equally important is how effectively you apply that knowledge. In the pages to follow, you will find proven sales techniques and principles that have worked for some of the most successful sales professionals in history. Regardless of the products or services being offered, these techniques and principles have a proven track record of success. It will not be easy. There are no shortcuts. It will take willingness and hard work on your part to master these techniques from beginning to end. But for an individual who is willing to commit to putting these proven principles and techniques into practical application, earning potential is virtually unlimited. Ultimately, your success will be the result of desire, willingness and hard work.

     Oftentimes the word "sell" or "sales" will have a negative connotation. Perhaps a better expression of the concept might be persuade or talk into. You must also learn to educate, encourage, motivate, and, most importantly, reassure your customers from time to time. Think more consultative. A consultative approach to sales will not only yield greater numbers of sales, but more longevity in building your client base. These concepts are essential to the success of any sales professional.

     In the following chapters, you will find the tools and keys that will serve as a roadmap to your success. Each principle and technique is explained in explicit detail with specific direction on how to apply it to your individual needs. Remember, advertising and pricing strategies may all be important. But when all is said and done, goods and services are not sold, goods and services are bought.

     As stated, every principle and technique in this book have proven their value over and over on the front lines of sales. Every one of them can add new dimension, not only to your professional life, but to your personal life as well. There is one principle of sales that always rings true. Every successful person is successful at selling himself or herself. When you sell yourself, you are selling your ideas, beliefs, and goals better than anyone else can. That's what true sales are all about!

CHAPTER 1

Charting Your Course For Success

     Most of us are where we are at this point in our lives because of input fed to us and accepted by us during the course of our lives. This input came from a myriad of people who were once our role models: teachers, mentors, and our own parents. These people may not have been highly intelligent, trained or successful, yet they had a critical role in forming and guiding our lives. They were just your everyday average people.

     If you are seeking your own personal course to success, you need to reprogram yourself using a different input. Do you think that Bill Gates would use your role models as a way to increase his success? Most likely not. Then why should you? Now is the time to begin to erase old input and insert new data that will chart you a new course to greater success.

     There are three fundamental questions every individual will ask in his/her life.
• Where am I now?
• Where do I want to go?
• How am I going to get there?

    When you can get yourself to a point in your life where you can answer these three questions in clearly defined terms, there is nothing that will stop you from attaining your own measure of success. Only you can answer the first question. You and you alone know who you are, or at least who you think you are. As for the second two questions, it is our intent to give you some practical keys to help you answer them.

FIVE KEYS TO SUCCESS

     There are basically five keys that you will need to have in place in order to effectively chart a new course for your future. These keys have been essential to the success of every sales professional, regardless of the product or service being offered.

1. BURNING DESIRE

     Your first reaction might be that you have had a burning desire for years, and are still no closer to attaining your goals than before. Let's look at your concept of burning desire. Is what you want really that important to you? Or is it a wouldn't it be nice kind of desire?

     Wouldn't it be nice if I had my own business, or a million dollars. Everybody has these types of desires, many of them. But most people never allow those desires to interfere with the pleasures of life. They might say, "Sure I'd like to be a success, but don't expect me to give up Monday night football."

     No one expects you to give up anything that is truly important to you. Those are sacrifices you will not have to make. But if everything in your life right now is more important than you think you desire, perhaps you are happy just as you are, and that's fine. But if you find that there are some important things lacking in your life, then you will have to find room for them to make them happen.

    The more intense the desire, the faster we move forward toward the desired goal. Desire is the springboard for all achievement. Without it nothing can be accomplished. You must have such a burning desire to succeed that it takes you to a state of mind that almost borders on obsession. Wanting things in life will never open the doors to success. Having a burning desire will. It is what drives our emotions and determines the direction of our lives. A true burning desire gnaws at you from within, always trying to get out. It is probably something that you have always known was within you because you could always feel that it was there. Now is the time to let it out.

2. HAVING A CLEARLY DEFINED GOAL

     Where do you see yourself in six months? A year? Five years? How much money do you want to make in that period of time? Five thousand a month? Five thousand a week? Remember, we are only limited by our own mind. Your own thoughts must determine a clearly defined goal, a plan of action. The more specific the plan the better. Would a builder construct a house without a specific set of blueprints and a time frame to complete the work. Why should you plan your success any other way? You must be the architect of your own future. Create your own blueprints that will take you from where you are now to where you want to be and when. You set the degree of success you want to attain and the time frame to get you there.

     A good analogy would be to look at setting goals like taking a photograph. First you load the film in the camera. This would be your product knowledge, sales principles, and techniques. Everything that you have learned and absorbed will prepare you for success. Next, you set the focus. The sharper the better. The more specific your plan the easier it will be to apply. Now set the exposure time, your time frame to achieve the goal you have defined for yourself. Now take the picture. Below, you will find six steps that will assist you in taking that picture.

STEP ONE
Set an exact amount of money you wish to earn. It is not good enough to say that you want to make a lot of money. You must be specific.

STEP TWO
Determine what you are willing to offer for the money and level of success you desire.

STEP THREE
Establish a definite date when you intend to attain the money and success you desire.

STEP FOUR
Develop a plan of action today to carry out your desire. Do it immediately whether you are ready or not. Take action now. There is no room for procrastination in this plan.

STEP FIVE
Write out a detailed statement of steps one through four.

EXAMPLE
"By January 15th, I will have an income of $10,000 per month with a client base of 1,000 customers. I will provide super service as a web site consultant to assist my customers in their desires to increase their business through the internet. To increase the number of customers I serve, I will advertise locally on a daily basis with a budget of $100 per week. 1 will do weekly follow-up to existing customers and acquire five new customers per week. 1 will be on call to my customers 24 hours a day to provide super service to meet their needs." Once you have written your own positive affirmation as above, make a commitment to read it aloud to yourself twice a day, every day. The importance of this cannot be overemphasized. It may be difficult at first to see yourself actually doing what you affirm and having the degree of success you are looking to achieve, but commit to it in spite of your own preconceptions about yourself. Remember, we are trying to erase old input and insert new data into your conscious and subconscious mind. The goal here will be to build your desire for success and get you to be so determined to get it that you convince yourself that you already have it. Can you imagine having one million dollars? To visualize this will require a degree of imagination. True success is never left to chance. It has been mapped out in every detail. You must realize that those who have accumulated great wealth and success first had to dream, desire, hope, and plan before they reached their goals.

    A man walks up to a ticket counter to buy an airline ticket. MAN: I would like to buy an airline ticket please.

AGENT: Of course. Where do you want to go?
MAN: Anywhere. Someplace nice.
AGENT: I'm confused. What do you mean?
MAN: Well, I have to get someplace really quick. It's extremely important that I go now. I don't have much time to waste.
AGENT: Well, where would you like to go?
MAN: Oh, someplace where I'll be happy.
AGENT: Like where?
MAN: A place I can make a lot of money; maybe have my own business of some kind that would earn me a good living. Someplace that would really be great for my family. Come on, I'm wasting time here. Here's my credit card, just sell me the ticket.
AGENT: But sir, how can I sell you a ticket until I know exactly where you want to go?

    How would you react to the man if you were the ticket agent? You would have no way to help him until he told you specifically where he wanted to go. Isn't that exactly what you have been saying most of your life? You know you want to get somewhere. To make more money. Improve your standard of living. More time with your family. A defined goal will help get you there.

    Everyone thinks he has a goal in mind because he has a desire to be successful. But desire has nothing to do with setting and defining a goal. A goal will always be well defined with a clear vision toward the future.

    As you look back on your life, it probably isn't surprising that you haven't achieved the success you have been looking for. In fact, it may even be surprising that you have achieved any success at all. In order to succeed in life, a clearly defined goal with a fertile vision is essential.

3. VISION

     You must not only have a clearly defined goal, but you must also have a burning desire to succeed beyond even your own expectations. That is where vision comes in. Vision is much like a tree. It must be watered, cultivated, and given plenty of light to survive. A tree is always in a constant state of change, dependent upon the seasons. The interesting thing about a tree, however, is that it either continues to grow or it soon dies. Vision is the same way. You must be constantly feeding it with new inspiration, fresh ideas, and more challenging goals. Vision must be in a constant state of expansion. If not, it too will die. When our visions die, our potential for suc­cess becomes quite limited, if not impossible.

     In order to be successful, we must cultivate our capacity to maintain our focus on our own personal vision for the future. You must be able to visualize and project it clearly onto the hidden screen of your mind's eye. Visualization takes a vision well beyond mere imagination. It is far more complete and in more detail with the addition of the dimension of reality. In visualization you begin to see your future success as if it were happening now.

4. THE POWER OF BELIEF

     If you have a burning desire for something with a defined goal and a clear vision for the future, and yet you are still not attaining the level of success you are looking to achieve, a lack of belief will usually be the cause.

     To test your belief, ask yourself if you are using words like "but" or "if' followed by excuses, alibis, rationalizations, reasons or even denial? When your feelings are consumed by doubt, your thoughts primarily become negative. The more doubts, the harder it will be for you to succeed. When you can get yourself to the point where doubts can be eliminated, belief will take root and your goal will be achieved almost without any effort at all.

     So how do I eliminate the doubts? First you must identify their sources. Are you surrounding yourself with negative people who are feeding you negative input? What's holding you back? What is keeping you down? What obstacles or circumstances have created these doubts? Are your doubts a result of attitude or environment?

     Attitude is simply a way of looking at things. If your way of looking at things is the problem, then you can make the choice to look at things differently. For example, using successful role models as mentors is one method. You may choose to adopt their approach to looking at things to see if it works for you.

     You may be surprised at how your perception of things can dramatically change the outcome. Making a course correction at the beginning of a journey will take you to a completely different destination.

     Obstacles that are environmental, such as influences and conditions, can be eliminated once you can recognize what is influencing you and make the appropriate adjustment. It may take looking at the obstacle from a different perspective. Many times a creative approach is the only way to deal with an obstacle. An excellent example is the story of a young salesman and his six year old son. A young salesman arrives home after a long day on the road. At the front door, he is eagerly greeted by his six year old son who immediately begins nagging at his father to play ball with him. The father has a brilliant idea. To buy more time to rest, the father finds a newspaper containing a map of the world. He tears it into small pieces and tells the boy that when the puzzle is put back together, he will play with him. The father had set up a small obstacle for the boy to last about thirty minutes. After only a few minutes, the boy returns with the map of the world completed. Amazed, the father asks how he had finished it so quickly. The boy responds that on the other side of the newspaper was a large picture of a man. When he got the man right, the world was right.

     The boy had found a way to overcome the obstacle. Place obstacles in their proper perspective. Go over them, around them, or through them. Whatever it takes to put your plan into action. If you can recognize these obstacles for what they are, excuses, they will not be able to keep you from something that you really have a burning desire to do.

     The power of belief can never be overstated. It can either be a destructive force or a positive one. The power of belief is a law. Your beliefs create your reality.

One formula for belief might be as follows:
Defined vision + Clear visualization + Positive repetitive affirmations = Belief

5. PERSISTENCE

     Lack of persistence is one of the major causes of failure. Experience has shown that a lack of persistence is a weakness common to most individuals. However, with serious effort, this weakness can usually be overcome. The ease with which one can overcome this weakness will depend primarily on the intensity of one s desire. Remember, the springboard for all achievement is desire. We must constantly keep that in focus. Weak desire will yield weak results.

     One might define persistence as a sustained effort to induce the realization of a set goal. It is a factor essential to anyone who wants to transform desire into attained goals.

     An excellent lesson in persistence is an experimental study of Northern Pike conducted by a psychologist in a large aquarium. A pike is a strong fish that feeds on smaller fish. One of the pike's favorite meals is the minnow. When minnows were placed into the aquarium, the hungry pike would swallow them up in the blink of an eye. After showing how the pike feeds, the psychologist placed the minnows in a clear glass cylinder and set it in the bottom of the aquarium. As the pike attempts to feed on the minnows, it repeatedly bumps its nose into the glass. It shakes it off and tries again. Over and over it bumps into the glass. Finally the pike just gives up. It has learned its lesson. No matter how hungry it is, the pike just can't get to the minnows. After the psychologist is satisfied that the pike has stopped trying, he removes the glass cylinders. He drops the minnows into the tank. The minnows practically swim into the pike's mouth. Its favorite food is within reach and it won't move a muscle to get it.

     Often, people just give up out of fear of failure. Many times we fail, simply because we have become discouraged and given up too soon without ever knowing that success was just around the corner.

     To some, persistence is much like walking. Walking is falling forward and consistently catching yourself, yet with constant forward momentum.

     As we learn to condition ourselves to ignore the fear of rejection and failure, we will soon see that persistence in our chosen endeavor almost always pays off.

YOUR FIVE KEYS TO CHARTING YOUR COURSE TO SUCCESS:

• Burning Desire
• Having A Clearly Defining Goal
• Vision
• The Power Of Belief
• Persistence

A WORD ABOUT PROCRASTINATION

     Procrastination is a common enemy that every individual will be forced to deal with from time to time. However, many times it can control an individual to the point of total paralyzation. Most people who have experienced repeated failure at their chosen endeavor, place procrastination at the head of the list as a major contributor. If we are going to chart a course to change our lives for a better future with more success, we must find a way to control it.

     One approach would be to look at procrastination as a form of indecision. Most people fail to act, or procrastinate because they are indecisive and fear making the wrong decision. But what they don't realize is that not making a decision is in reality a decision in and of itself. It is a decision to procrastinate! How often have we seen people with an obvious opportunity right in front of them paralyzed by their own indecision and fear? What they are really afraid of is the fear of failure, not the consequences of it. In reality, there is really nothing to fear. No real risk to their lives or anything of value.

     If we are to resist procrastination, we must first develop the capacity to make quick and definite decisions. When a major business magazine did a recent study of the top one hundred richest men in the world, every one of them had the distinct habit of reaching decisions promptly, and changing decisions slowly. People who fail to succeed, traditionally have the habit of reaching decisions slowly, and changing their decisions quickly and often.

     Another character trait of those one hundred richest men was the do it now attitude. Putting things off destroys success. Opportunity is almost always lost when people procrastinate. Problems usually become much worse when not solved immediately. It robs you of your energy. You may think you are putting something off, but you never forget about it, it nags at you. The truth is that you burn up more energy thinking about the problem as you would solving it. You will be surprised by the amount of new energy you will have when you develop a do it now attitude.

     If we are to make our decisions promptly, then it will be important to make those decisions on our own. People who fail to make decisions promptly, typically are easily influenced by other people. They allow others to do their thinking for them. If you are influenced by the opinions of others, you will never have a desire of your own. Close friends or relatives can often complicate the decision making process through opinion and even ridicule. Many times this fear of making decisions will have its roots formed in our youth. You have a brain and a mind of your own. Use it to make your own decisions. Ultimately, the value of your decisions will depend upon the courage required to make them. Great decisions will often involve risk.

CHANGING YOUR HABIT PATTERNS

     If we are going to change our lives, we must change our habits as well. Perhaps you are one of the rare individuals who is happy with your life right now. You are doing exactly what you would like to be doing and making the amount of money you are content with. If you are reading this book, however, that is probably not the case. Habits dominate our lives. It has been determined that successful people make a habit out of doing things that unsuccessful people won't do.

     One of the most exciting success stories is that of W. Clement Stone. At the age of sixteen he started an insurance business with an investment of one hundred dollars. True, it would be difficult to do that in today s economy, but the principles he used are still the same. Today, his net worth is over seven hundred million dollars. W. Clement Stone is the founder of SUCCESS magazine. He states that, in his experience, all successful people exhibit the following three habit patterns.

1. THEY DO IT
When faced with a great opportunity to be successful, with little to lose if they fail, they try.

2. THEY DO IT NOW
Stone attributes all successful people with a do it now attitude.

3. THEY DO IT PERSISTENTLY
Life has a way of testing our desires by placing obstacles in our path. You must avoid, at all cost, giving up at the first signs of a set back.

     Some of these habit patterns may be repetitive to you from our earlier obser­vations. Nevertheless, they bear repeating. The purpose is to establish from a point of reference, how one man put these principles and habit patterns into practical application and succeeded beyond his own expectations.

     Stone also suggests developing a Habit Contract. The concept is simple. As people, we are motivated by rewards. Typically, the more near term and attainable, the more motivated we are by the reward. To establish new habits, we must first identify what the long term payoff will be as a result of adopting it. It may be a better standard of living, making more money, more self-esteem or anything that you see as having a positive long-term effect on your life.

     Once those long-term effects have been established, you can begin to identify what the near term rewards will be that will spark the beginning of a new habit pattern. Remember, it is the short-term rewards that will get the ball rolling. Identify something that will give you a special treat for overcoming a milestone toward your goal. In order to be effective, this reward must be something you strongly desire. It could be a weekend trip, a new suit, or an expensive dinner. Anything that you would not ordinarily do for yourself unless it was a special occasion. Your special occasion will be the establishment of a new habit pattern.

     Also, don't feel limited by just one Habit Contract at a time. You can probably do two or three at the same time. But, don't try to change everything all at once or your concentration will become defused to the point where you will defeat the purpose.

     One often asks how long it will take to develop a new habit pattern. Psychologists say that a rat can learn a new behavior in about 30 repetitions, so draw your own conclusions.

     The first habit you should adopt should be to faithfully perform and apply the keys and principles in this book. If you are reading these words, it is fair to assume that you are looking to change and redirect your life. You now have all the tools and keys necessary to do that. They are all proven time and time again to work.

     Three months from now, you can be doing the same thing that you are doing now or you can be well on your way to charting a new course for success. The choice is yours. You can talk about all the wonderful things you want out of life and what you are going to do someday. But the reality is that unless you take action, and take action now, it will never happen. Remember the three questions at the beginning of this chapter?

QUESTION #1: Where am I now?
ANSWER: Where you don't want to be.
QUESTION #2: Where do I want to be?
ANSWER: Where my burning desire takes me.
QUESTION #3: How do I get there?
ANSWER: Apply the keys and principles in this book.
When you have faithfully applied all of the keys and principles in this chap­ter, you will have the detailed blueprints for charting a new course to success. Now it is time to put them into action.

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