Enthusiasm

Selling in its most simple form is nothing more than a transfer of feelings.  The single most important Skill in Communicating, Negotiating, and Selling, is to be Enthusiastic.  Yes, it’s more important than Sales skills, or Listening skills, or even Product knowledge.  Enthusiasm is a sign of belief that your Prospects and/or Customers can sense and feel.  If you can get them as enthusiastic as you are about your Product or Service, they will want it.  The more excited you are about what you’re offering, the more excited they will become.  Always remember that the last 4 letters are IASM, which can stand for “I Am Sold Myself”.  Have you ever been around a person who loves what they do, they are so excited and enthusiastic that you start to get excited?  Of course some people don’t believe in Motivation because they say it doesn’t last.  Neither does a Bath or a Shower however it’s a good idea to take one everyday.  If you can’t get excited about each and every day of your Life, try missing a day sometime.  Always remember that as we go through Life we have 2 distinct choices:

[1]  We can reach down and pull people up to our level of enthusiasm.

[2]  They will reach up and drag us down to their lack of enthusiasm.

So how do we develop and maintain a high level of Enthusiasm from the moment we start each workday to the very end?  One simple shortcut is to pick out and start using a Magic Word or Magic Phrase.  You’ll have the opportunity to use it 50 to 200 times a day when people ask you; “How you doing?” or “How’s it going?” or “Wass up?”  Instead of giving them a normal answer like; “Not bad for a Wednesday” or “Fine” or “OK I guess”, we can respond by using our Magic Word or Magic Phrase.  Instead of whining at people, we can say;

“Great” or

“Super” or

“Getting better by the minute” or

“If I was any higher on life I could go Duck hunting with a rake”. 

I also urge you to put some money where your mouth is by telling everyone what your new Magic Word or Magic Phrase is, and tell them that if they ever ask you how you’re doing and you don’t respond correctly, you’ll pay them a nickel or a dime.  Then, over the next few months, work your way up to a $1, and then $10, $20, and even a $100 Bill.  This is called discipline and it will force you to “walk the talk”.

Here are the phenomenal results you will enjoy by using a Magic Word or Magic Phrase.

[1]  It will give us something to live up to.  If we tell 100 people a day that we are “Great”, how could we now be negative?  We would be one of the biggest hypocrites in the Company.

[2]  We will start to believe it.  Since the sub-conscious mind does not have the ability to doubt or reason, it believes everything we program into it.  If we tell ourselves that we are “Great” 50 to 200 times a day, after just several days we actually start believing that we are great.

[3]  We will drive people nuts.  You’ll be amazed at how many of your friends, neighbors, and relatives will start to ask you; “What are you so happy about?” or “What are they putting in your water down at work?”   Many of them will actually start to become jealous or envious because “misery loves company”.  When you start to become happy, motivated, and positive, you will quickly become a threat to them and neither one of you will be comfortable being around each other any longer.  That’s actually good, because those people weren’t really the President of your Fan Club.

You might know that my word is “FANTASTIC” and I’ve had a standing offer since 1977 that if you ask me how I’m doing and I don’t say “FANTASTIC”, I will pay you a real $100 bill.  I’ve only been caught 6 times so your odds aren’t very good, but please keep asking me because it forces me to stay sharp.  Of course I also drive people nuts with that word and they often ask; “Don’t you ever wake up Grumpy?”  Heck no, I let her sleep. 

That brings us to the next point, which is to only associate with Winners and not the Whiners of the World.  I’m sure you know the type of person I’m referring to.  You hate to ask them how they are doing for fear they might actually tell you.  Some people call it “Stinken Thinken”.  If you have lunch with, or even take breaks with whoever is at or near the bottom of the monthly production chart, what do you hope to learn?  Granted, I guess you could learn “what not to do”, however why not hang with the Top Pros?  Watch them, study them, listen to them, and even brain-pick them.  Always remember please don’t go for advice from someone that wants to be as miserable as you do.

I’m probably different than most Speakers who believe that everyone should have a great Attitude everyday.  Folks it’s OK to have a bad Attitude once in awhile because the World always needs a few people to serve as Pitiful Examples.  Seriously, please don’t allow, or even encourage these people to dump their Garbage in our heads.  How many times has one of them said something like; “Did you hear what happened to so and so?”  If you ask to hear the details you’ve just invited them to dump garbage into your mind.

If you’d like to disassociate yourself from the Whiners of the World, the next time one of them says; “Did you hear about so and so?” stop them dead in their tracks by saying;

“No I didn’t but before you tell me is it something that will make us both feel better, help us have more fun, & help us make more money?”

Believe me, they will take their Garbage someplace else. 

If you occasionally run into the person who always wants to talk about all of their trials, troubles, and tribulations, you can also stop them from dumping by saying;

“I read the other day that believe it or not, 50% of the people we tell our troubles to, could care less, and the other 50% are actually happy that we’re so miserable.  Now, what did you want to talk about?” 

This won’t make you real popular, however it will sure chase away the negative individuals in your life.