"Yeah, Doc, what's the news?" asked the salesman when the doctor called with his test results.
"Well, I have some bad news and some really bad news," admitted the
doctor. "The bad news is that you only have twenty-four hours to
live."
"What? What! What could possibly be worse than that?" gasped the salesman as he sank to his knees."
"Well," replied the doctor, "you didn't return my call yesterday."
Moral of the story. True sales professionals understand the
importance of returning phone calls as soon as possible. In this day
and age, prospects and customers don't like to wait. If they can't
order from you, they will order from someone else. While not returning
phone calls right away won't necessarily mean the end of your life, it
could mean the end of your business.
"You must know that at any moment a decision you make can change the
course of your life forever: the very next person you stand behind in
line or sit next to on an airplane, the very next phone call you make or
receive, the very next movie you see or book you read or page you turn
could be the one single thing that causes the floodgates to open, and
all the things that you've been waiting for, to fall into
place." - Anthony Robbins
During a routine physical examination, the doctor noticed severe
bruising on the salesman's shins. So he asked the salesman, "That
quite the bruising you've got there. Do you play soccer, football,
baseball, hockey or some other tough physical sport that's doing that to
your shins?"
The salesman looked down at his black and blue shins and meekly replied, "No doc, I just play bridge with my wife."
Moral of the story. True sales professionals know life isn't
fair. Not everyone gets dealt the same cards. Daily dedication and
hard work is the only way you can make up such a deficit. Persistence
is the only way to cross that "bridge" from mediocrity to success. That
is, of course, if success "suits" you.
"Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishment." - Jim Rohn
A salesman was out golfing with three of his long time friends from
high school. They were having a great time, when all of a sudden the
salesman felt a horrific sharp pain shoot from his wrist, up his arm and
to his chest. He had never experienced pain like this before. Every
inch of his body simultaneously seized or cramped, he couldn't talk as
the horrible, searing pain took his legs out from under him. He slumped
into a heap at the beginning of the tenth hole.
Lucky for the salesman, one of his high school friends was a doctor,
who recognized early on that the salesman was experiencing a heart
attack. The doctor immediately loosed the collar on the salesman's
golf shirt and started CPR, he told his buddy to call the clubhouse and
have them rush the defibrillator out to the tenth hole immediately. The
last member of the foursome was instructed to call 911 immediately and
have them send an ambulance.
Within a couple of minutes the defibrillator arrived and in the
doctor 's expert hands, saved the salesman. The ambulance arrived
shortly after that, and the salesman along with the doctor were whisked
away to the hospital. Some tests were run on the salesman, and the
doctor performed a bypass operation later that afternoon.
Four weeks later the salesman and his buddies were back on the golf
course again. At the first tee, the salesman shook the doctor's hand
and said, "Since we are the best of friends, I would not want to insult
you by offering payment. But I thought you would like to know that as a
result of your quick thinking that saved my life, that you are now
mentioned in my will."
"That is very, very, kind of you," replied the doctor. "May I see
the copy of the prescription I last gave you? I'd like to make a little
change."
Moral of the story. True sales professionals know that in order to
be successful at sales they need to make certain that everyone in their
immediate circle is paid their due. From large sums of money to mere
gratitude; bills left unpaid can not only cost you future business, but
they can sully your reputation and destroy friendships. Remember, in
the long run, what you put out to the world, you eventually get back.
So why not distribute nothing but your best?
"Develop an attitude of gratitude, and give thanks for everything
that happens to you, knowing that each step forward is a step toward
achieving something bigger and better than your current situation."
- Brian Tracy
