February 2008
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You have heard the old saying, "The more you do of what you are doing, the more you will get of what you've got."
Your goal should be to make 2008 your most productive and highest paid year so far, until 2009. To achieve this goal, you will have to do something different from what you are doing today.
There are only four ways that you can change your business and your life. Here they are:
1. You can do more of certain things. What are the things that you should do more of? Obviously you should do more of the things that are working the very best for you already.
You should use more of the marketing and sales methods that are getting you face to face with the best customers, the ones that buy the most readily and who most appreciate the special features and benefits of your products and services.
It is amazing how many sales people lose track of their most effective selling methods, including networking on a regular basis with other sales professionals in your area, and do something new, different, and unproven. Then they are surprised when their sales drop and their income declines. Sometimes, the very best thing you can do is to get back to doing what is already working the very best for you.
2. You can do less of other things. Many people fall into a comfort zone of doing things that are not working particularly well. But because they are comfortable doing them, they continue doing them.
You only have so many hours each day. If you spend your time doing things of low value, that time is no longer available to you to do things of higher value. You must be continually thinking about the value of your time, every minute of every day. You should do less and less of those things that are giving you few results, so that you have more time to do more of those things that are giving you better results.
3. You can start something brand new. In a time of turbulence and rapid change, with customers, markets, prices, demand, and competition changing every day, you must continually be open to starting something you have never done before.
Jack Welch once said, "Our greatest competitive advantage is our ability to learn and apply new ideas before our competition."
Perhaps the most important thing you can do is to commit yourself to being an aggressive, continuous, life-long student of the profession of selling. It is amazing how many people come up to me at my seminars and tell me that one method or technique that they learned at a previous seminar, or from a training program of mine, had changed their selling careers. They had doubled and tripled their incomes; they had gone from rags to riches. They had started their own businesses and become millionaires. And it was all because of a single, simple idea that they had learned through continuous study. You should do the same.
4. You can stop certain things altogether. Use the zero-based thinking question everyday and apply it to every sales and business activity. "Is there anything in my life that, knowing what I now know, I would not start up again today?"
Look over all of your business activities and be willing to eliminate any activity that you would not start up again given your current state of knowledge and experience.
Many people are lemmings. They will continue running in the same direction, doing the same things, getting fewer and fewer results, until they go over the financial cliff.
Top people are always open to the possibility and the need of doing something completely different. They are willing to stop doing whatever no longer works. They don't get stuck in a "comfort zone." They are willing to take the risks and the potential failure that go with embarking on any new course of action.
This is going to be a wonderful year for people who make it a wonderful year. Throughout your day you should continually ask the question, "Is there anything in my life that I should do more of, less of, start, or stop?"
These questions will help keep you on track and become one of the highest paid people in your industry.
About Brian Tracy:
Brian Tracy is Chairman and CEO of Brian Tracy International, a company specializing in the training and development of individuals and organizations.
Brian Tracy has consulted for more than 1,000 companies and addressed more than 4,000,000 people in 4,000 talks and seminars throughout the US, Canada and 46 other countries worldwide. As a keynote speaker and seminar leader, he addresses more than 250,000 people each year.
Brian has studied, researched, written and spoken for 30 years in the fields of sales, entrepreneurship, economics, history, business, philosophy and psychology. He is a top-selling author of 42 books that have been translated into 35 languages and which are sold in 52 countries.
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