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HONEST EFFORT IS NEVER LOST 127
satisfaction that he'd done a real week's work. The second week was about the same. During the third week Burke made two fair sales. The fourth week was a dandy with three good deals, and the fifth and sixth week found him back on the track.
At the conclusion of his 30th working day at the end of the sixth week, the manager called Burke in and said, "Harry, now don't you ever dare get in such a swamp again. When you're tempted to let up and loaf, remember the bloodshed you went through to get over this last bad slump."
Harry happily agreed. But being a salesman and human, he'll probably go through this again in about six months! It seems to be an occupational disease. The only good preventive is for a man to remind himself over and over again that he is being paid for units of work performed and work accordingly.
This is a true story. How do I know? Simply because "Harry Burke" is one of my top salesmen and I'm the sales manager.
COST ACCOUNTING
Modern business employs what is known as cost accounting. Under this plan every operation related to a product or service is evaluated and its cost determined from the sum total of these expenses.
A salesman who adopts such a philosophy for his work is on safer ground by far, than the man who "works along" without analyzing what he does that produces the commission check. He can then be confident that the work units he performs really have a definite value and are not lost.
In the long run it is amazing how close the predicted income will conform to the actual cash received. If you doubt this, take your number of calls for the last year and divide it into your income. Then, as the new year goes along watch how closely your income in cash will be to the value of your calls as figured from the previous year.
128 HONEST EFFORT IS NEVER LOST
This idea will make you "healthier, wealthier, and wiser." Try it.
WISDOM FROM THE WISE
Carlyle said, "The weakest living creature, by concentrating his powers on a single object, can accomplish something; whereas the strongest, by dispersing his over many, may fail to accomplish anything. The drop, by continually falling, bores its passage through the hardest rock. The hasty torrent rushes over it with hideous uproar and leaves no trace behind."
These quotations all testify to the power of continuous effort. It's hard for a salesman to stick to his routine enthusiastically unless he has a firm conviction that every bit of work he does is adding to his eventual success and income. That's why it is such a blessing if he gets the religion of believing that "honest effort is never lost." Then his mind is free to increase his knowledge and skill. But if he is working in a haphazard way, he will be continually fighting himself and making decisions as to whether he'll work or not on any given day.
HIGHLIGHTS OF THIS CHAPTER
1. In nature and also in human activity, for every action there
is an equal and corresponding reaction.
2. The law of averages works according to both the quantity
and quality of effort that is invested.
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