Selling For Dummies
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The average human being has the ability to achieve almost anything. As a salesperson, your goal is to discover what you want to achieve and find the will to sacrifice, change, and grow to satisfy that want. Any goal you set will benefit from applying the following principles to it.

  1. If it’s not in writing, it’s not a goal.

    An unwritten want is a wish, a dream, a never-happen. If it’s in writing, it’s a commitment.

  2. If it’s not specific, it’s not a goal.

    Broad desires and lofty aims have no effect. A goal must be concrete.

  3. Goals must be believable.

    If you don’t believe you can achieve a goal, you won’t pay the price for it.

  4. An effective goal is an exciting challenge.

    It must demand your best and a bit more or it isn’t going to change your ways and elevate your lifestyle.

  5. Goals must be adjusted to new information.

    Adjust them down if they become unbelievable or up if they’re too easy.

  6. Dynamic goals guide your choices.

    If you want it badly enough, you’ll turn off the television and get to it. Goals show you the right way to go on most decisions.

  7. Don’t set short-term goals for more than 90 days.

    If you set a short-term goal that takes more than 90 days, you may lose interest.

  8. Maintain a balance between long-term and short-term goals.

    Long-term goals tend to be hidden in a fog of the future, so have some short-term goals – like clothes, cars, vacations— to keep your excitement up.

  9. Include your loved ones in your goals.

    Involve them and they’ll buck you up when you need encouragement.

  10. Set goals in all areas of your life.

    Have other goals besides career objectives.

  11. Your goals must harmonize.

    Whenever you detect a conflict, set priorities that eliminate the conflict.

  12. Review your goals regularly.

    Long-term goals can only be achieved if they are the culmination of short-term goals.

  13. Set vivid goals.

    Define not only what you want but by when you want it, and concentrate on it for a few moments every day.

  14. Don’t chisel your goals in granite.

    Sometimes you have to change goals to conform to your growing awareness of what’s really important in your life.

    1. Reach out into the future.

      The idea of setting goals is to plan your life rather than taking it as it comes. Begin by setting 20-year goals. Then narrow it down to 10-year, 5-year, 30-month, 12-month, monthly, weekly, and finally goals for tomorrow and each day for the coming week.

    2. Have a set of goals for every day, and review your results each night.

    3. Train yourself to crave your goals.

      Visualize yourself possessing what you set your goals for.

    4. Set activity goals, not production goals.

      Activity leads to production by itself.

    5. Understand luck, and make it work for you.

      Expect good things to happen, and they probably will.

    6. Start now. Give goal-setting an hour of concentrated thought today.

      Then set aside 10 minutes a day for the next 21 days to review and revise. After that, two minutes a day and one hour a week is all it takes to keep you on track.

    Try this system if you want to achieve your goals and within 21 days you’ll be well on your way to an immensely greater and richer future.

About This Article

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About the book author:

Tom Hopkins is the epitome of sales success. A millionaire by the time he reached the age of 27, he is now chairman of Tom Hopkins International Inc., one of the most prestigious sales-training organizations in the world.

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