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A business is not a career to experiment with and to be toally committed is the first essential for success. Commitment, for us, is like virginity – either we have it or we do not have. This business is a question of numbers and the activities that we do rules everything. The results of the business will always be based on a formula which is dependent on the activities that we do.

 The real success of the business comes increasd production. Increasd production comes first from increased activity and only secondly from increased sales size. Production comes first from the number of cases and mastering a higher skill level makes it easy to go on to increasing the average size of each case. 

In the first instance, do not look out for big cases, just look after the bread and butter clients. By being active and out there looking for business everyday, we will get our fair share of big cases. The security in our business lies not in the size of our cases but in the number of them. Our income are a function of activity multiplied by our closing average, times the average case size. With enough activity, we can guarantee our incomes regardless of how bad we may be at closing or how small our average sale is.

A house cannot be built on unsteady foundations. The foundations for us are not knowledge, not closing techniques, not clever methods of communication, not the need nor greed of our prospects. The foundation of success for us is a determination to consistently make appointments, however hard it may be. Activity is the foundation on which our success is built. Successful people discipline themselves to do the things that mediocre people do not like to do. Successful people discipline themselves to do those things that mediocre people do not enjoy.

The job itself is not difficult, it is making ourselves do the job which is hard. The discipline to do what is needed to succeed everyday is the basic difference between success and mediocrity. This can also be applied not just to our business but to our life as well. If we control today, we are in control of our lives and our futures. If we want to control over our futuresm we must be first be able to exercise control over what we do today.

Expertise in our business is not everything and caring counts for far more. Therefore, we need to learn to see the position from the prospect’s viewpoint. Our business should not be a difficult business. When we break it down to its component parts, there is nothing inherently difficult.When we go to work, we work, when we go to play, we play.

The job may not be hard – it is making ourselves do the job that is hard. It is disciplining ourselves ourselves to face rejection on a daily basis that is difficult – and yet is is what we are paid to do. Dealing with rejection is not easy but, all the success, all the future rewards, only come as a result of accepting prospect and client rejection as part of our daily lives. It is the price of success and success do not come cheap. Rejection is the price which must be paid to achieve our goals. We need to develop disciplines so that what is difficult becomes routine. If we can find a simple system for dealing with the routine, it becomes easier to control.

If we cannot control our time next week, then we cannot control our time next month or next year. If our lives are out of control then we are leaving our futures to chance. If we can control and discipline our time, we can pre-determine our success.

Asking for referrals is not some afterthought and it is not something to be relegated to policy delivery time. It is an essential part of the whole sales process and it requires a presentation in its own right, the sooner the prospect understand we will requir introductions from them, the better.

Success comes when we have learned to lose the hard-fought battles and have the courage to come back and fight again. It is not where we are that will determine our success, it is who we are. It is also not the place we live or the company we work for. It is our courage and our determination. It is our character and not our contacts that will determine our success.

The one great factor which separates our profession from all others is the willingness of successful people to share their secrets with others and also an understanding that one of the prerequisities of achieving success is that we must be willing to give in order to receive.

(Adapted from “It Can Only Get Better – Tony Gordon’s Route to Sale Success”, Chapter 1: In the Beginning by Tony Gordon)