Acting On Your Dreams

"Whatever you vividly imagine, ardently desire, sincerely believe, and enthusiastically act upon must inevitably come to pass." - Paul J. Meyer

Paul Meyer started LMI (Leadership Management International) and is a leading expert on personal development.

Although you absolutely need your individual skills, and the kind of business information you are receiving with the SEA program, it is also essential to allow yourself to cultivate the kind of determination that Meyer refers to. If you want something badly enough, within reason, you will find a way to make it happen. Meyer also makes clear that action, or targeted activity, is required on our part.

The SEA/SEB program provides a framework for you to accomplish this. We help you to determine what kind of 'targeted activity' will be most beneficial for you. Again, you are self employed - it is up to you to take the information, and apply it to your individual situation. When you need help in doing so, please ask any one of the BERN team. It is our sincere desire to help you realize the fulfillment of your dream!

Allowing Setbacks to Spur You On

Many times, we look at high achievers and assume they had a string of lucky breaks or made it without much effort. Usually, the opposite is true, and the so-called superstar had an incredibly rough time before he or she attained any lasting success.

It may motivate you more toward your own goals to know that some of the most famous and well-known people in modern times had to overcome as difficult obstacles as anyone before they finally reached the top. It takes persistence and total commitment to your goals, but it’s possible!

You may not know the background of a certain laundry worker who earned sixty dollars a week at his job but had the burning desire to be a writer. His wife worked nights, and he spent nights and weekends typing manuscripts to send to publishers and agents. Each one was rejected with a form letter that gave him no assurance that his manuscripts had even been read. I’ve received a few of those special valentines myself through the years, and I can tell you firsthand that they’re not the greatest self-esteem builders.

But finally, a warm, more personal rejection letter came in the mail to the laundry worker, stating that although his work was not good enough at this point to warrant publishing, he had promise as a writer and he should keep trying.

He forwarded two more manuscripts to the same friendly-yet-rejecting publisher over the next eighteen months, and as before, he struck out with both of them too. Finances got so tight for the young couple that they had to disconnect their telephone to pay for medicine for their baby.

Feeling totally discouraged, he threw his latest manuscript into the garbage. His wife, totally committed to his life goals and believing in his talent, took the manuscript out of the trash and sent it back to Doubleday, the publisher who had sent the friendly rejections. The book, titled Carrie, sold over five million copies, and as a movie, became one of the top-grossing films in 1976. The laundry worker, of course, was Stephen King.

The main message: believe in your ability to turn obstacles into opportunities. Too often people try to storm their obstacles as if they’re forts that need to be taken. It’s better to step back and ask yourself: “Did I cause this obstacle by my own actions or lack of them? Did someone else cause this obstacle? Is this obstacle one that grew out of the natural progression of circumstances?”

This last question may seem complex, but it holds a secret to the way you can set and reach your goals and achieve your destiny! - Denis Waitley

The Motivation to Achieve

Years ago, a young mother about to go out with her husband prepared to feed their baby before they left. The husband became impatient as she started her daily routine of mashing vegetables through a strainer. Tired of him standing over her with the car keys in one hand and the other hand on the door knob, she turned the task over to him. Within a few minutes, the strainer, peas, carrots and bowl ended up in his lap. As he changed clothes, he reasoned that there must be a better way to prepare baby food and that there must be alot of frustrated parents who didn't enjoy the monotomy of straining fruit and vegetables three times a day. Soon, they began discussing the idea of designing machinery to strain the food in a factory and sell it already prepared.

Fortunately, the young father and his dad owned a small canning plant, but it was difficult to sell the older man on the concept. One mistake that harmed a child would destroy everything it had taken them a lifetime to build.

And what about the expense of marketing surveys, developing and financing new machinery, packaging, getting stores to accept the products, and getting parents to buy something totally new at a price that would be both affordable and profitable? You've been through this in your own organization or family when someone comes up with an idea that colors outside the lines! I see you're nodding affirmatively.

The risk was enormous, but in the end, they went forward with their idea because it filled a need they understood firsthand. They had the skills and experience. And the market was so vast that the positive benefits far outweighed the negative factors. One year after Dan Gerber dumped the strainer of cooked vegetables into his lap, the Gerber Products Company introduced its first five baby foods to the market. The point of the story is that, so often, an idea becomes a goal when we realize it meets a need in our own lives and the lives of others. Our motivation to achieve this goal is dependent upon how strong our need is and whether or not we have the determination, optimism and toughness to follow through and bring our ideas to fruition. - Denis Waitley

What Do I Do That is Unique!

In most industries, there are a lot of choices for consumers of products and services. So, what do you offer that sets you apart from other businesses chasing the same dollars? What solid reasons can you give for prospects to make the choice to use your company? What do you do that is extraordinatry, that no one else does, or does in your distinctive way? What do you do to enhance the customer experience? How do you communicate your distinctive offering to your potential clients?

For example, Donald Cooper, currently a well known busines speaker, sometimes refers to some of the things he used to do as a women's clothing retailer. In the change rooms, they installed four hooks, instead of the usual two or three. They had an area for the husbands and boyfriends to relax, and read or watch television. When I had my paint store, we always had a play area for the kids, so that mom and/or dad could concentrate on putting together their decorating scheme. Image the impact on the customers! Seemingly simple things can make a huge difference in establishing great customer relations, and encouraging repeat business.

How do you determine what YOUR unique offering is? Whatever your business, how do you make the customer experience special? Constantly think, not about what you do, but about what your product or service actually does for the customer, and how it is an improvement on ways clients currently obtain similar services. To borrow from Ivan Misner's line of reasoning, you don't buy newspapers...you buy news... you don't buy eyeglasses...you buy vision...you don't buy awnings...you buy shade...you don't buy a lamp...you buy illumination. Get the idea? Once you establish that, then constantly strive to NOT be a "me too". Again, to draw on my own experience as an independent retailer, I relentlessly endeavored to stock high quality products that the "big box" stores did not have. I learned how to sell value, not price. We made a concerted effort to be knowledgeable about the differences, and talk about these distinctions in our advertising, and during our sales presentations. We would always carry the product out to the car for the customer. Oh, how I enjoyed doing that on cold winter days! Although these examples are from retail, what can YOU do that is unique?

When you complete a job, where appropriate, say thank you in some special way, perhaps with a gift basket or something similar. If you are a contractor, for example, what little extras could you do that don't cost too much money or time, but would really make the customer happy (and lead to more business)? I remember years ago when we had a cedar deck built. The contractor did far more than nail together a bunch of lumber. I remember watching him take a few minutes to do things like slightly round the edges of the railings. It was like watching a cabinet maker! It didn't take him very long, but we sure appreciated it! We ended up using him later for a major kitchen renewal, completely renovating the attic and lots more.

"Break the rules, not the law!" "Think outside the box!"

In summary, take the time to figure out what you do different or special. Then, keep talking about it.

Closing the Sale Starts at the Beginning

A great deal has been written about effective ways to successfully conclude sales presentations, or "close" the deal. Hundreds of books have been written on this subject, with titles such as "Ten Powerhouse Closes". Althought there are techniques you need to use at this point, closing the sale starts at the beginning of the call, not at the end!

When you establish trust, competency, credibility and rapport right from the beginning, the potential client is much more likely to listen to, and believe, your presentation. During the introduction part of your meeting, don't try to sell. Engage in enough 'small talk' to begun building a relationship. Flash your credentials, and briefly explain your background, qualifications, experience, and any professional designations. Let them know that you are there, not to push your product or service on them, but to learn more about their situation, to assess the extent to which you may be able to assist them.

Then, when you take the time to ask questions to discover how you can help the person, your solution will be customized. This, of course, will be much more acceptable to the prospective purchaser.

When you display a sincere interest in helping the other person, you will be viewed as a consultant, rather than a salesperson.

Then when it comes time to actually ask for the business, it will come as a natural progression of your conversation, rather than a battle you are trying to win. Your natural question will then be something like "Where do we go from here?" Their response will tell you how to proceed.

In summary, establish your relationship right at the beginning, build on it, then 'closing' will come naturally.