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10 Excellent Tips For Being Successful
What is Success?
In this day and age, when we hear the word success the first picture that comes to our mind is a good looking man wearing tailored suit, gold watch, riding a sports car. While I don't say this is wrong, it is not fully right either.
That picture only shows a person who is successful in one aspect of his life-which is his financial life, for all we know his marriage is in shambles, his children are spoiled, etc. It would help a lot if we could picture what success would mean to us.
If you are a housewife, try and picture what it would mean to be a SUCCESSFUL housewife, to make sure your children are well fed, giving the right guidance and support for your children make sure they do well at school and have a good future, to support your husband in tough times, etc.If you are a janitor you should make sure the toilets you clean are spotless! To the extent that when a fellow janitor checks it out he/she knows this must be YOUR work of art!
Now that you have the right frame of mind to picture what does success mean, the next question that comes is "how to achieve it?", if there is one thing I have learned from being a salesman for 10 years and going through failures and tough times more than I can count is that success asks for nothing less than the best we can give ALL THE TIME CONSISTENTLY, it is very hard. I would like to share few pointers of what it takes to be successful based on my experience.
If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well.
— Martin Luther King JrPersistence
In the previous paragraph, when i said "ALL THE TIME CONSISTENTLY" this is what I meant, to give up your best shot all the time no matter what CONSISTENTLY and not give your best shot once then take a break for a year so then again give it your best shot.
From my own experience of being a salesman, I have come across customers that won't give you an order for months no matter how much you visit him. Then one fine day after months of being refused, he finally bought what I have been offering him for the past many months. I asked him why he did so, he said that he wanted to see how consistent and committed I am, he does not want his company to end up being dependent on the goods of a lazy salesman who is not committed for serious business and being there when he needs me. Basically he wanted to see how serious I am and persistence is the measurement of how committed and serious you are. It opens doors and breaks walls.
Discipline
Meet the brother of Persistence-Discipline. So identical they are many times mistaken for the other. If persistence is to keep giving your best shot, discipline is SHOWING UP ON TIME to start giving your best shot. The early bird catches the worm.
Many times in my experience I got successful just by simply showing up. A customer of mine who is located in another city had a big order of a product that me and many of my competitor sells. He ended up buying from me. Why? Because I was the first to travel to that town in that month and I showed up outside his shop BEFORE he even opened for the day. None of the salesmen of my competitors had come yet, and he gave it to me. If I took it easy and came late someone else would have gotten that order.
If It Works, Don't Fix It
My dad is my hero when it comes to selling goods. I admire him a lot, he has over 40 years of extensive experience in marketing and selling goods. When I started in my dad's company, I had the privilege of being under his wing and witness directly how he used to charm and impress the many customers, and it was...boring. why? because he kept using the same line, maybe in different ways but it was more or less the same. At the end of the day when I confronted him about it, he simply said "it works doesn't it?"
Find what works and stick to it. Everyone is unique without trying too hard. So stop trying to be unique all the time. Do you know how many times Led Zeppelin has come on stage and sing Stairway to Heaven? They have been singing that song over and over ever since they made it and it people still react to is ecstatically whenever they play it during a reunion concert.
Another perfect example is the story of the New Coke. In the 80s, Coca Cola made the big mistake of changing the old timeless formula of their soft drink flavor. It was a disaster, and they faced one of the biggest losses ever. Thankfully they learned from it. They didn't take long to continue selling the old Coke again and stop the production of the New Coke. It wasn't before long that their profits begin going back up again.
Fake It Till You Make It
Being a salesman for me was very hard since I was an introvert to begin with and prefer to spend time on my own, whereas being a salesman requires you to socialize, be informative, and witty and have a knack at communicating. If you are an extrovert that's a great advantage. But let me remind you, sales is something we need to be able to do and not just when we are actually a salesman by occupation.
In life we are always selling. Life is a series of trade offs. A Boy will try to market himself in the best possible way to be accepted by his crush. A dog will market himself to be adored by his owner. A girl will dress up and look good to impress a boy.
Selling is not just an occupation-its a part of life. So what to do if you are not an extrovert and not good in selling? You fake it. You can be yourself, but if your self sucks then you have to fake it, fake it long enough to actually become it. and this actually requires some PERSISTENCE and DISCIPLINE on your part.
I faked being confident and smart long enough that I actually became it, and it didn't only improve my work but also my personal life! You will feel awkward trying to look confident and being able to talk and everything, but trust me, eventually you will get there and you will enjoy every second of it-then you can be "yourself".
You must be the person you have never had the courage to be. Gradually, you will discover that you are that person, but until you can see this clearly, you must pretend and invent.
— Paulo CoelhoFail, Fail and then Fail Some More
Our roads are paved with failures, and success is that Checkpoint in the middle of the long and winding road and as we go on, we will notice that this checkpoint will start to come more often. (and maybe even not)..but it will always be between the road that is paved with failure.
A successful person never fear failure, they are always ready to deal with the worst of consequences, and will do anything and everything in their power to turn it around.
Failure should be celebrated as much as success. If you only celebrate success you are only celebrating half of your life. Who knew about Bill Gates prior to Microsoft? Who knew about Steve Jobs prior to Apple? Who knew Zuckerberg prior to Facebook? Aside from their family and friends, no one knew about them.
I've missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I've been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.
— Michael JordanBe Open To New Ideas
I know you must be thinking "what new ideas? I thought you said if its not broken don't fix it?" The Trends change, people's views changes, and if you are not aware of the changes and trends around you, then you will be left behind, and people can look at you as a backward sort of guy, adaptation is the buzzword here, folks!
Keep up with the current trends. We now have emails and internet, think of how easy this has made our lives and notice how a person who still uses a pigeon to send messages is left behind and considered backward. The internet has opened new doors and new ways for the business world. For a wholesale importer such as myself, before the days of internet the suppliers we used to buy from had to mail their documents from which ever country they are and it would take ALOT OF time, now they just have to email it and we get it right then and there! Imagine the amount of time and money we saved!
Information
Information can save lives. If your loved one chokes on something, your knowledge of Heimlich Maneuver can save his/her life!
Information of your customer is what will set you apart from the rest of your competitors. There is a customer of mine who tells me to take my payment in the form of post dated cheque from his brother, who always gives me post dated cheques very late!
One fine day I was hanging out with a fellow salesman who also deals with this customer, and he told me that whenever this customer's brother gives post dated cheque he always goes back to the customer and the customer would change the cheque with a new cheque that is not very post dated. I thought he was trying to pull a prank on me and made me look stupid in front of my customer.
So one day after I received the cheque from my customer's brother I thought I would give his advice a try. Pranked be damned, If I get the slightest chance to get a cheque that would not be post dated I will grab it! So I went to my customer and confronted him about the post dated cheque his brother gave me. He simply smiled and changed the cheque to a nearer date!
"I am disillusioned enough to know that no man's opinion on any subject is worth a damn unless backed up with enough genuine information to make him really know what he's talking about."
— HP LovecraftSocialize Before You Monetize
No one in this world has ever become successful on their own. This blog will be successful with the help and support of its readers, a forward striker in a soccer match will only be able to shoot the goal after his fellow teammates has finally managed to pass the ball over to him.
If I didn't socialize with other fellow salesmen, I wouldn't know about my customer's way paying his debts. Socializing is a very important part of being successful, no one can be successful on their own. One of the keys to success are ideas, and the only way to get new ideas is through communication.
Money is a Byproduct
There is a saying in the Bhagwad Geeta, a hindu Holy Scripture that says: Just do your work and don't think of the end result. A lot of blogs have failed because people saw that the income is less. Success takes time and takes a lot of practice. It will be a while before you get something substantial from your hard work. All you have to do is to work as hard as possible and do not see the result. Money is a byproduct, the product is success.
Just because the kid in Karate Kid could learn karate and become a champion in the span of two hours or so, does not mean your success will come in 2 hours. Life is not a movie. Long lasting success takes long time, hard work and dedication.
Looks Matters, But What You Say Matters More
If you look exceptionally good and presentable then you definitely have a fair advantage at creating a first impression, but after they see your looks they will want to hear you. People have been a victim of scam because the perpetrator looks damn good. Go check out the American Greed, a lot of the victims always say "but he looks so good and handsome and always wear tailored suits and drive expensive cars!!" Let me ask you this: who looks better, Bill Gates in his Windows 95 heyday, or Bernie Madoff in his heyday?
Successful people do not really care about looks and they have pretty much honed their skills to see beyond the tailored suits and Rolexes.
Honesty
Customer is king, thats true, they are the life blood of a company and our duty is to be honest with them and serve them as best as we can. We can only do so much butter polishing before we have to have to get down to business and be honest and open with one another. The difference between a good salesman and a bad one is that a bad one are always scared of giving the bad news, or scared of confrontation. They prefer to avoid confrontations and let any misunderstanding become like an elephant in the room.
Honesty is such a rare virtue nowadays that you are bound to leave a long lasting impression when you are honest. People will respect you and look up to you, and that is a very good thing.
Conclusion
Success is hard, takes long, and is exclusively reserved for those who are brave, committed and in it for the long haul. Your Success is a mark of what is the best in you, and how much you have worked hard. Its a mark of how much you excel at your particular niche. I thank you for taking the time to read this blog and hope you have found it helpful for your personal life and your career. Good Luck!