|
George Ferguson and Bill Stone are highly successful salesmen. They are happy, have hosts of friends, and are well thought of in their communities. And yet they are as different as day and night. But both of them agree that the foundation of their success is that they work hard and faithfully.
George has everything mapped out so that he knows just what he's going to do every minute of the day. He makes a large number of sales, gets the money, and has many satisfied customers and boosters.
George put it this way. He said, "I'd rather work than worry. I know a lot of men seem to do well with half the effort I put into my job, but I love it. I'd rather be calling on someone trying to make a sale than eat. Furthermore, I'd rather make five small sales a week that add up to a respectable figure, than to make one sale a week totalling twice as much. I'll sleep better and be happier. I'm satisfied to make progress by many small sales rather than rely on a few big deals. I'd rather work than worry!"
Bill said this— "To make a living by the methods of some salesmen would drive me insane. The fellows who follow a routine day in and day out, making a large number of small sales have my respect—but I don't want to do it that way. I can do a lot better figuring out some bigger deals and laying my plans to get them. Sometimes I've gone as long as six weeks without making a single sale. One time my sales manager took me to task saying that it appeared to him that I was loafing. I really saw red, because all this time I was figuring ways and means to land a really big order. I got it too, and
MASTER SALESMEN ARE INDUSTRIOUS 111
it was more business than I would usually get in twice the time I devoted to this case.
"I've been accused of spending too much time at my club, or in social activities. The people who say that don't know what they're talking about. I'm thinking and planning all the time, and many of my best sales have really been consummated at my golf club by a casual remark. But don't think for a minute that it was accidental."
These two men represent two extremes, but it does show how differently master salesmen work. The whole test is this— what does the record show?
SELLING IS A MENTAL AND PHYSICAL JOB
Racing around from one prospect to another with no plan or thought will turn up some accidental business all right, but not much. Salesmanship is one of the very greatest arts in the world—maybe the greatest. Everything we have in life is due to the ability of a man or group of men to convince others to take a course of action. Salesmen make the world go round.
It may seem strange that so many different types of men can succeed in the selling business. It is no mystery. It is simply because there are so many different types of buyers. .The man who will buy of Bill won't even listen to George, and vice versa.
But there's one thing for sure. No salesman will succeed very often or very long unless he uses his head as well as his feet—and he definitely has to use both!
WHAT MAKES 'EM WORK?
What makes some men loafers and some workers? This is an involved question and a whole corps of psychiatrists wouldn't be able to figure it out for sure. Yet a study will reveal influences that prompt some men to be active and in-
112 MASTER SALESMEN ARE INDUSTRIOUS
dustrious and others to be phlegmatic and lazy. It's partly environment, training, heredity, and habit.
|