Advice
from the World's Greatest Salesman
January
11, 2005 - by
Robert E. Stevens, GENESIS II
(The
Second Beginning) E-Mail: views@aol.com
Recently
I wrote about Lou
Pritchett, the world's greatest salesman. This was the title given to
him by
another great salesman, Sam Walton. With Lou's permission I am
reprinting some
of the guidance given in his book, Stop Paddling &
Start Rocking
the
Boat.
Advice according to
Lou:
Do it with
your customers and everyone else, instead
of doing it to
them.
The happier you make your customers, the more you
will
succeed. It is called partnering -- partnering
between
sellers and
buyers, partnering between management and employees.
Selling is
marketing, marketing yourself as well as
your products.
The name of
the game in both life and business is the
same. It is not to get ahead of others, it is to get
ahead of
yourself.
Play the course instead of the competition.
Nothing is
impossible if you are willing to pay the
price. Paying the price means learning, learning and
learning all
the time.
Zeroing in on your weaknesses and trying to correct them, and, most
important,
capitalizing on your strengths. Use what you have and don't cry about
what you
don't have.
The barrier to
what you can and cannot do is all
self-imposed.
You can either
be a victim or a victor in the system,
the choice is really up to you.
Make your work
be fun instead of a chore.
I believe that the above contains some
very important
nuggets for success, and it comes from only the first nine pages of
Lou's book.
Caution: There are companies
that have
problems with
Lou's culture. Maybe I should say there are people within companies who
have
trouble with the culture. Lou had his troubles at P&G. So much so
that he
had to leave early due to bad health. I
left P&G about the same time -- not for health reasons but because
I
was
tired of dealing with unethical people within the company. It was the
people
within the company and not the company itself. This was something I had
not
seen through the 1950's, 60's and 70's but in the 80's it seemed to get
out of
hand. Little did I realize how prevalent unethical conduct had become
in
business and other organizational structures at this time.
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