The Chinese symbol for crisis is composed of two separate symbols that mean opportunity and danger. These two elements always exist simultaneously. They are inseparable.

We hear a lot about cutbacks, layoffs, slowdowns and recession. The popular press loves bad news. Why? Because bad news always sells better than good news. Those who get a steady diet of electronic or print news are bound to feel depressed. It is impossible to be fed this stuff without it influencing one’s attitude.

During the economic boom of the nineties, business was easy and few salespeople were really “put to the test.” Because the nineties were one of the most prosperous decades in our history most salespeople that have less than ten years experience have never experienced selling in a recession.

THE RULES HAVE CHANGED.

As things tighten up, those companies with stagnate and ineffective sales forces will quickly become frustrated with their inability to sell and compete effectively. And the salespeople, many of whom have never seen a tough market, will get more frustrated and less productive. A great many of them will leave the profession.

What’s the answer? Quit listening to the nay Sayers of this world. Turn off the TV. Quit reading garbage that affects your attitude. Go to work on developing an abundant mentality. Give thanks for what you do have. Redouble your efforts to improve your selling skills.

There are two ways to look at it. Is the glass have full or half empty? Those who see it as half full see a great opportunity to take market share from the lazy and unskilled sales people they compete against. These current conditions will really separate the true sales professionals from the pitchmen and product peddlers who are always abundant during the easy times. I for one will be glad to see it happen.

What’s Inside Top Performing Sales People

What is it that motivates humans to take action? What is the source of their desire to become involved in or to avoid certain activities? What motivates humans to do what they do?

The answer to being effective, satisfied and personally fulfilled lies deep within a unique set of personal interests, attitudes and values.

Defining Attitudes

In 1928, Eduard Spranger wrote “Types of Men.” In it he identified six major attitudes or worldviews. These attitudes are windows through which we view the world and seek fulfillment in our lives. If we are participating in a discussion, activity or career that is in alignment with our attitudes, we will value the experience and excel. Conversely, if we are in a conversation, activity or career that is in conflict with our dominant attitudes, we will be indifferent or even negative toward the experience, possibly causing stress.

The Six Attitudes

Theoretical: The primary drive with this value is the discovery of TRUTH. In pursuit of this value, an individual takes a cognitive or intellectual attitude. Since the interests of the theoretical person are empirical, critical and rational, the person appears to be an intellectual. The chief aim of this attitude in life is to order and systematize knowledge for the sake of knowledge.

Utilitarian: The Utilitarian attitude is a characteristic interest in money and what is useful. An individual with a high Utilitarian attitude wants to have the security that money brings not only for themselves, but for their present and future family. This value includes the practical affairs of the business world - the production, marketing and consumption of goods, the use of credit, and the accumulation of tangible wealth. This type of individual is thoroughly practical and conforms well to the stereotype of the average American business person. A person with a high Utilitarian score is likely to have a high need to surpass others in wealth.

Aesthetic: A higher Aesthetic score indicates a relative interest in “form and harmony.” Each experience is judged from the standpoint of grace, symmetry or fitness. Life may be regarded as a procession of events, and each is enjoyed for its own sake. A high score here does not necessarily mean that the individual has talents in creative artistry. It indicates a primary interest in the artistic episodes of life.

Social: Those who score very high in this value have an inherent love of people. The social person prizes other people and is, therefore, kind, sympathetic and unselfish. They are likely to find the Theoretical, Utilitarian and Aesthetic attitudes cold and inhuman. Compared to the Individualistic value, the Social person regards helping others as the only suitable form for human relationships. Research into this value indicates that in its purest form, the Social interest is selfless.

Individualistic: The primary interest for this value is POWER, not necessarily politics. Research studies indicate that leaders in most fields have a high power value. Since competition and struggle play a large part in all areas of life, many philosophers have seen power as the most universal and most fundamental of motives. There are, however, certain personalities in whom the desire for direct expression of this motive is uppermost; who wish, above all, for personal power, influence and renown.

Traditional: The highest interest for this value may be called “unity,” “order,” or “tradition.” Individuals with high scores in this value seek a system for living. This system can be found in such things as religion, conservatism or any authority that has defined rules, regulations and principles for living.

In a ground breaking study Bill Bonnstetter, President of Target Training International, Ltd. in Scottsdale, Arizona and Frank Scheelen of the The Scheelen Institute, Waldshut-Tiengen, Germany confirmed that (1) top performing sales people around the world are similar and (2) that attitudes or motivations are more important than behavioral style or personality.

In this study participants were given two validated psychometric assessments: (1) the DISC - a behavioral style analysis or personality assessment and (2) the PIAV - a Personal Interest, Values and Attitude assessment.

In this study they concluded that most if not all personality types can sell. However, the most remarkable aspect of their study was the fact that seventy-one (71) percent of the top performing salespeople in 492 companies in Germany and 178 companies in the United States had Ultilitarian motivation as their top motivator. The conclusion from this study is that when it comes to top performing sales people motivation is more important than personality hands down.

American born Napoleon Hill, author of Think and Grow Rich the most successful business book in history, is considered by many to be the most influential self-help writer in history.

Born in 1883 in a one-room cabin on the Pound River in Wise County, Virginia, Hill began writing, at age thirteen, for small town newspapers, and went on to become America’s most beloved motivational author. Fighting against all class of great disadvantages and pressures, he dedicated more than 25 years of his life to define the reasons by which so many people fail to achieve true financial success and happiness in their life.

His big break came when he was asked to interview steel-magnate Andrew Carnegie. Carnegie commissioned Hill to interview over 500 millionaires to find a success formula and write a series of success stories of the famous that could be used by the average person. These included Thomas Edison, Alexander Graham Bell, Henry Ford, Elmer Gates, Charles M. Schwab, Theodore Roosevelt, William Wrigley Jr, John Wanamaker, William Jennings Bryan, George Eastman, Woodrow Wilson, William H. Taft, John D. Rockefeller, F. W. Woolworth, Jennings Randolph, among others.

He became an advisor to Andrew Carnegie, and with Carnegie’s help formulated a philosophy of success, drawing on the thoughts and experiences of a multitude of rags-to-riches tycoons. It took Hill over twenty years to produce his classic. The book has sold over 50 million copies, and has helped thousands achieve success. The secret to success is very simple, but you’ll have to read the book to find out what it is!

In chapter 15 “The Six Ghosts of Fear” Hill writes “Indecision is the seedling of fear! Remember this as you read. Indecision crystallizes into doubt: the two blend and become fear! The “blending” process often is slow. This is one reason why these three enemies are so dangerous. They germinate and grow without their presence being observed.”

As I coach business owners and high-income sales professionals, I have observed the ability to make decisions quickly is one of the key differentiators between the highly successful and the mediocre.

I have observed this to be so true that I no longer will take a client that needs to “think it over”, ruminate or procrastinate when they have seen all there is to see and heard all there is to hear.

What about you? Do you pursue prospects that have perfected the art of procrastination or do quickly disqualify them. More importantly, are you a decision maker or are you a procrastinator?

The most successful salespeople know that only decision makers can get others to make decisions. Chances are if you are getting a lot of stalls, put offs and think it overs it is because you are guilty of this behavior yourself.

Funny how our life experience mirrors who we are.

“It is not how you feel that determines how you act. It is how you act that determines how you feel.” said William James

“If you want to change your emotional state change your physiology.” says Tony Robbins

Faith and Fear cannot exist in the same mind at the same time. If one has a good plan and executes consistently then they don’t have time to feel miserable.

If you find yourself feeling down then get up and “do something.” It will make you feel better even if you get no results.

However, if you have a good plan and execute consistently then you will get great results. If you will do this then you will be ahead of your competitors when this economy turns around. It WILL turn and those who are faithfully doing the right things now will be the beneficiaries.

A teacher in New York decided to honor each of her seniors in high school by telling them the difference they each made. She called each student to the front of the class, one at a time.

First she told each one of them how they had made a difference to her and to the class. Then she presented each of them with a blue ribbon imprinted with gold letters, which read, “Who I Am Makes a Difference.”

Afterwards the teacher decided to do a class project to see what kind of impact recognition would have on a community. She gave each of the students three more ribbons and instructed them to go out and spread this acknowledgment ceremony. They were to follow up on the results, see who honored whom and report back to the class in about a week.

One of the boys in the class went to a junior executive in a nearby company and honored him for helping him with his career planning. He gave him a blue ribbon and put it on his shirt. Then he gave him two extra ribbons and said, “We’re doing a class project on recognition, and we’d like you to go out, find somebody to honor, give them a blue ribbon, then give them the extra blue ribbon so they can acknowledge a third person to keep this acknowledgment ceremony going. Then please report back to me and tell me what happened.

Later that day the junior executive went in to see his boss, who had been noted, by the way, as being kind of a grouchy fellow. He sat down with his boss and he told him that he deeply admired him for being a creative genius. The boss seemed very surprised. The junior executive asked him if he would accept the gift of the blue ribbon and would he give him permission to put it on him. His surprised boss said, “Well, sure.”

The junior executive took the blue ribbon and placed it right on his boss’s jacket above his heart. As he gave him the extra ribbon, he said, “Would you do me a favor? Would you take this extra ribbon and pass it on by honoring somebody else.” The young boy who first gave me the ribbons is doing a project in school and we want to keep this recognition ceremony going and find out how it affects people.

That night the boss came home to his 14-year-old son and sat him down. He said, “The most incredible thing happened to me today. I was in my office and one of the junior executives came in and told me he admired me and gave me a blue ribbon for being a creative genius. Imagine, He thinks I’m a creative genius. Then he put this blue ribbon that says, “Who I Am Makes a Difference” on my jacket above my heart. He gave me the extra ribbon and asked me to find somebody else to honor. As I was driving home tonight, I started thinking about whom I would honor with this ribbon and I thought about you. I want to honor you.

My days are really hectic and when I come home I don’t pay a lot of attention to you. Sometimes I scream at you for not getting good enough grades in school and for your bedroom being a mess, but somehow tonight, I just wanted to sit here and, well, just let you know that you do make a difference to me. Besides your mother, you are the most important person in my life. You’re a great kid and I love you.

The startled boy started to sob and sob, and he couldn’t stop crying. His whole body shook. He looked up at his father and said through his tears, “Dad, earlier tonight I sat in my room and wrote a letter to you and Mom explaining why I had killed myself and asking you to forgive me. I was going to commit suicide tonight after you were asleep. I just didn’t think you cared at all. The letter is upstairs. I don’t think I need it after all.

His father walked upstairs and found a heartfelt letter full of anguish and pain. The envelope was addressed, “Mom and Dad”.

The boss went back to work a changed man. He was no longer a grouch but made sure to let all his employees know that they made a difference. The junior executive helped several other young people with career planning and never forgot to let them know that they made a difference in his life…one being the boss’s son. The young boy and his classmates learned a valuable lesson.

Who you are DOES make a difference!. Start letting the people who matter to you know that they make a difference to you.

An elderly carpenter was ready to retire. He told his employer-contractor of his plans to leave the house-building business and live a more leisurely life with his wife enjoying his extended family. He would miss the paycheck, but he needed to retire. They could get by. The contractor was sorry to see his good worker go and asked if he could build just one more house as a personal favor. The carpenter said yes, but in time it was easy to see that his heart was not in his work. He resorted to shoddy workmanship and used inferior materials. It was an unfortunate way to end a dedicated career.

When the carpenter finished his work the employer came to inspect the house. He handed the front-door key to the carpenter. “This is your house,” he said, “my gift to you.”

The carpenter was shocked!. What a shame! If he had only known he was building his own house, he would have done it all so differently.

So it is with us. We build our lives, a day at a time, often putting less that our best into the building. Then with a shock we realize we have to live in the house we have built. If we could do it over, we’d do it much differently.

But we cannot go back. You are the carpenter. Each day you hammer a nail, place a board, or erect a wall.

“Life is a do-it-yourself project,” someone has said. Your attitudes and the choices you make today, build the “house” you live in tomorrow. Build wisely!

A well-known speaker started off his seminar by holding up a twenty-dollar bill. In a room of, two hundred, he asked, “who would like this twenty dollar bill”?

Hands started going up. He said, “I am going to give this twenty dollar bill to one of you but first, let me do this”. He proceeded to crumple the bill up. He then asked, “who still wants it”? Still the hands were up in the air.

Well, he replied, “what if I do this”? And he dropped it on the ground and started to grind it into the floor with his shoe. He then picked it up, crumpled and dirty. Now “who still wants it”? Still the hands went up.

“My friends, we have all learned a very valuable lesson. No matter what I did to the money, you still wanted it because it did not decrease in value. It is still worth twenty dollars”.

“Many times in our lives, we are dropped, crumpled, and ground into the dirt by the decisions we make and the circumstances that come our way. We feel as though we are worthless. But no matter what has happened or what will happen, you will never lose your value: dirty or clean, crumpled or finely creased, you are still priceless to those who love you. The worth of our lives comes not in what we do or what we have or who we know but by WHO WE ARE.”.

You are special – Don’t EVER forget it. And remember to count your blessings not your problems.

Are you living intentionally or by accident? Are you proactive or reactive? Do you find yourself thinking that things are out of control and feel that you are being swept up in a vortex that is beyond your control?

Most people are living their life by accident. They are stumbling through life as if they are a pebble being swept downstream by a current they cannot control. They feel powerless and out of control. They feel helpless and victimized by circumstances.

This sense of helplessness has horrendous consequences. Today there are more personal bankruptcies than at any point in history. The use of anti-depressants is epidemic. Libido enhancing commercials dominate the Super Bowl ads. People are whacked out.

Why?

One of the reasons is that individuals have given up the idea of personal responsibility. They have abandoned the idea that “happiness is an inside job”. Instead of looking inwardly for direction and meaning in life they have given up and now look outwardly to the government, the company, their parents or employers for their direction. This is easier than looking in the mirror and asking hard questions such as “Why am I here? What do I really want? Or what do I need to change about myself?”

Why don’t we talk about these things openly like we talk about sports or politics? Perhaps it is because we don’t want to accept the ultimate truth that we are who we are and where we are because of what we have either done or not done in our life. It’s tough to admit that we, not someone else, is responsible for our circumstances in life.

People who live intentionally take ultimate responsibility for everything in their life. They refuse to make excuses or rationalize their situation. They accept that the problems in their life are of their own doing. Once they accept this they get on with fixing what needs to be fixed in their life. It takes a lot of courage to do this. Unfortunately, most people don’t have it.

A wise man once said, “You can either be part of your plan or you WILL be part of someone else’s plan.” The choice is yours.

1. The human brain is a physiological organ which, through a specific electrochemical process, collects, processes, stores, and acts on information it receives.
2. Information presented to the subconscious mind triggers both a physiological response and psychological response.
3. Any information presented to the subconscious mind is always linked to, and affected by, previously stored information.
4. The subconscious mind is a neutral mechanism which responds to information without subjective regard for its action.
5. The subconscious mind holds no beliefs or biases other than those which it receives as a result of its programming.
6. When faced with two or more programs that are in conflict with each other, the subconscious will attempt to act on the program which is strongest.
7. The strength of the program is influenced by the number of times the same or similar information is presented.
8. The strength of the program is influenced by the perceived importance of the program source.
9. The strength of the program is influenced by the amount of emotion associated with the program.
10. The subconscious mind will, at all times, attempt to act on its dominate operative program.