Increase sales
Four Questions to Hiring Better Sales Professionals
Great interview questions should challenge your candidates’ critical thinking skills
I have several ideas and questions I’ve used to help my clients find the right professional for their sales teams. There are several intangibles that most successful sales professionals possess and you can uncover them by interviewing candidates several times and by asking specific questions during the interview process.
When I’m hiring sales professionals, I make sure that they’re interviewed at least three separate times by the sales manager. Each interview serves three purposes. First, I want this person to be honest with me during the process. Second, I want to know what I’m getting when I hire this person. And finally, I want them to know what I expect from them before they make the decision to come work for me. During these separate interviews, I may also use an assessment tool to better understand who they are and what they do best. There are many great assessment tools available but we can talk about them in a future blog.
There are several kinds of questions I love to ask during my interviewing process to help me understand with whom I’m interviewing. They are very simple to incorporate into your interviews and they give you a clear understanding of the type of person to whom you’re talking.
The first question is what type of sacrifices have you made to be successful? This is a great question, so wait for an answer. There is no right or wrong answer but listen to what they say. Selling today is a tough job. It requires emotional resilience and sacrifice if you hope to excel. So what have they given up in the past to be successful? Are they still capable of this today?
The second type of question revolves around goals. I like to ask, what is the toughest goal you’ve ever set for yourself? Stop, listen, and then begin asking follow up questions. My favorite follow up question is why did you set such a tough goal? This gives you a clear indication of who you are dealing with. I find that winning sales professionals set tough goals. You want people who set tough goals but also why they set them. Look for a complete response. And be sure to ask if they achieved the results they wanted. Don’t let them give you a preplanned answer. It may take time to understand their goal setting process. Some younger sales professionals may not set goals for themselves. Remember, reaching the goal is only so important. What you become to achieve it is critical to future success. Keep in mind that people frequently grow more through setbacks than success.
The third question is about how they respond to a competitive environment. Ask them to tell you the details about a tough deal they worked on. Listen closely for the specifics and how they responded. How would you expect them to deal with a similar situation? During this question look for a competitive drive in this person and how far they will go to win a deal. Do you feel they went too far or not far enough? Ask them why they did this. What drives them toward success? Look for clues on what success looks like for them. How do they see a competitive market and their role in it?
The final question I ask is simple. What are you driven to prove? This question gives you incredible insight into what you should expect from them if they are on your team. Most great leaders and sales professionals are driven to succeed by many different reasons. Reasons are what drive people to succeed in life. Don’t judge the reasons; just make sure that you understand them. Many sales hiring failures come from the breakdown between the employee’s reasons and the organization’s results.
If you ask these questions and help the person you are interviewing to answer them, you will be 90% home in finding the right sales professional. Try these questions out and you’ll be amazed at how much better you become at hiring sales professionals.
How Do You Hire Your Next Sales Superstar?
How do you hire a sales superstar?
I have found over the past 25 years of guiding hundreds of flourishing companies in hiring the best sales professionals, there are several things that successful leaders do in hiring sales professionals that other leaders don’t do. I will share them here over the next several blogs to get you started in the right direction. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me. I’d be more than happy to talk about your individual challenges.
The first step is to identify what you want in a sales professional. Do you understand what key skills will be required in the person you hire? There are many types of successful sales professionals in the market, but that doesn’t mean they will be successful in your organization. Most leaders tend to hire people like themselves. That’s a good thing and a bad thing. Many entrepreneurs are very successful sales people in their own right. They tend to want someone just like themselves without considering what key factors are involved in the job if they are not doing it. Many leaders are very good at building sales at the beginning of their business because they are offering a new product to the market. The way you sell products when they first become available is different than how you sell when you begin facing the competition. Many early sales are unprofitable, but when owners look back on their early success they fail to remember this.
Many entrepreneurs fail to find the right sales professional because they don’t identify the key success factors in their organizations’ success. For example, they need a person with prior experience selling in a market similar to theirs. They may hire a sales professional who comes from a larger competitor without realizing the selling circumstances for the individual was completely different. It’s one thing for a sales professional to get an appointment with a potential client when they work for IBM. It’s another thing entirely when they represent a startup organization. Do you know how to position your product in comparison to your competition? Do you know who is the right person is to call on for your product or services? Do you have current clients in their industry? Most successful sales professionals are good because they are able to target their efforts to the right clients and decision makers. They have a finely tuned understanding of how to find these clients and how to take them through a sales process. If you’re unclear about your target, it could take your sales professional longer to achieve the success you expect. During the interview process you should try to uncover who the sales professional would try to sell your products and services to at first. Ask for specific examples and why they think these organizations would be good potential clients. Take time to discover who the sales person would call on but also why they would chose these clients. How does it match up with your current clients and future customers?
To increase your hiring success, develop a target client profile that will help you and your potential sales professionals understand the type of clients you want them to acquire during the initial stages of their working with you. I’ve found most midmarket organizations struggle to identify the type of clients they want to add to their customer base. They leave it up to the sales professional who spends significant time chasing clients who don’t fit or aren’t profitable clients for their businesses. When you are a small business you may have been able to be less selective in your customer acquisition process but as you continue to grow, you will need to become more focused on what type of clients your business can serve best.
To achieve hiring success, the more time you invest in understanding your business, the more success you will have in hiring the right sales professional. This initial research will help you better understand your business and will also allow for increased success in hiring the right individual at the right time. A bad sales hire can cost your organization between $300,000 and $1,000,000. It is critical to begin with a strong understanding of what business development skills you need in your next sales hire. This information will also help your current sales team succeed as well. I’ve used sales meetings to develop this material in the past and have been very surprised how it positively impacted my current sales team’s efforts, as well.
Next week we will talk about how to develop and interview guide that will help you structure your interview process for success.
Are You John Galt?
Why Capitalism Will Save the World
How do you know when your society’s in trouble? My wife gave me a copy of the Journals of Ayn Rand to help celebrate the release of the second half of Atlas Shrugged in the movie theatres. As a person who loves good writing and enjoys knowing how people think, this was a great gift. It shares the work process she employed in writing some of her greatest novels.
I don’t agree with Ayn Rand on everything but her thinking always stirs my mind and makes me think. Ayn survived a horrific time in world history and decided the most powerful weapon in the war against Communism was a sharp pencil and an iron will. She survived the Communist takeover in her country before coming to the US and vowed to fight big government around the globe. She inspired a new generation of Libertarians and her writing helped shape Ronald Reagan’s thinking on Communism. I was startled by an entry from her diary from 1947. It could be a Libertarian Manifesto for today. As Sir Winston Churchill once said, “Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” If we don’t heed the lessons of history we may repeat the tragic errors of our fathers’ generation in dealing with both Communism and its more active brother today, Socialism.
Ayn Rand shared her thinking on how to reverse big government from taking over our country. Tell me you are not surprised at how our current political environment is leaning this way and why we must become more active in our destinies if we hope to survive this current challenge to our way of life. Below are twelve of Ayn Rand’s warnings that our democracy may be under assault. Her thoughts are in boldface type, the text following is mine.
1. People Take Politics Lightly. How many times have you said this doesn’t impact me so I’m not going to get involved? All life is politics. It is naïve to think we should not get involved in deciding our own future. Our politicians work for us. We don’t work for them. If they don’t represent what’s best for our future, they must be sent home.
2. People Smear the Free Enterprise System. Many people say, “I’m not a business owner. Why should I care about the fact that free enterprise is under attack?” The free enterprise system creates wealth and jobs for our society. Do not let others take away the opportunities we’ve worked for generations to provide to our children.
3. Don’t Smear Capitalists. The only people that political correctness allow you to attack are the people who run businesses in today’s society. What crap! Political correctness is stifling the truth and people don’t realize that if they allow it for some today, tomorrow they might be next. Many of those executed by the guillotine in the French Revolution were initially ardent supporters of the revolt.
4. Don’t Smear Wealth. Wealth allows everyone to prosper. If you penalize the people who produce, at what point do they stop producing? Every person has the right to produce as much wealth as they would like.
5. Don’t Smear the Profit Motive. Profit allows us to produce products and services at lower costs. Government has no ability to produce value for us. Government can provide supports for society but free enterprise creates value, solutions, and jobs for everyone.
6. Don’t Smear Success. When all you can do is attack the success of others, you are no longer creating value. The successful people are the ones that effect change. There are many different types of success and we must embrace them all. If you start saying we only accept certain types of success, our society fails.
7. Don’t Glorify Failure. We need to make sure that becoming a failure doesn’t get more attention than being a success does. Take a look at our celebrity culture, is this what you want your children to strive to achieve?
8. Don’t Glorify Depravity. If Andy Warhol was right, we all get our 15 minutes of fame. What do you want yours to be? Celebrating bad behavior just creates more bad behavior. How do we provide future generations with a successful blueprint for achievement?
9. Don’t Deify “The Common Man” There is nothing more tragic than the notion of the common man or woman. Everyone is born with extraordinary gifts and talents to achieve amazing things. Our education system’s role is supposed to help our children discover their exceptional gifts and then help them use them in a positive way. Everyone has the chance to be exceptional. Why would we want to take that away?
10. Don’t Glorify the Collective. People must be given a choice on how to participate in society. Our society and the world are built on the backs of individuals who are committed to making a difference in the world. Collective thinking tends to produce limited results because it cannot acknowledge the strengths and capabilities of others.
11. Don’t Smear the Independent Man. A society must have independent men and women if it hopes to achieve its greatest potential. Few exceptional organizations are built by committee. As George Bernard Shaw once said, “The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man.“ Be independent and unreasonable!
12. Don’t Use Current Events Carelessly. It’s easy to see events happening and not understand the bigger patterns. We must be willing to use critical thinking to look at the hard facts and situations to find connections and the bigger patterns. A society that doesn’t understand what’s happening becomes the victim of circumstance. A society that understands what’s happening can creates a strong strategy for dealing with situations. We must create our own future or we will fall victim to someone else’s.
This material was written in 1947. It’s eerie how appropriate it is to our society today. The only question I have is are we going to understand the warning signs and do something or become the next victim to unseen forces. Are you ready to sacrifice your individuality and free choice for someone else who doesn’t care about you? It’s our choice and we will be making our decision in November.
A New Year, A New You
First, let me say Happy New Year to all of you. I appreciate your continued support. I’m looking forward to a great new year of solid content for you, so stay tuned.
Second, like many people, the new year has me thinking about how to make improvements in my life. I’ve gotten to that age in life where, even though I’m not heavy, everything I eat seems to settle right around my middle. Yes, I see the dreaded “spare tire” forming on my abs. I’m working out using the same weights I used in high school and college, so I finally realized I may need to change my diet a bit.
My wife is into diet and fitness way more than I am, so I asked her to evaluate a book I was going to buy on how to get a flat belly. She took a look at it and told me there was nothing in the book she hadn’t already learned from reading other books. I figured since she already knew most of this stuff, she could work with me on how to change my diet to get my flat belly back.
I can tell you right now, she’s enjoying this way too much. The entire drive home was a mini lecture on current research in diet and eating for optimal health. I had no idea she had picked up so much information on how to eat right. Basically, I have to change my entire diet, cutting back on red meat, sugar, salt, and carbonated beverages and increasing my fruits, veggies, and fiber. Goodbye trips for fast food for lunch or a quick dinner.
Much as I’m kicking and screaming about changing my diet, I’ve already noticed changes. I have more energy. I wake up in the morning ready to go, not dragging. As anyone who’s ever been on a diet can tell you, the changes don’t come easy. I still crave double cheeseburgers washed down with a full-sugar Coke. But seeing and feeling a difference makes it easier to keep going.
I’m looking forward to the new year and all the things I can do with this extra energy. Good luck to you with your New Year’s resolutions as well.
Leading and Motivating
It’s been said, “Leadership is not what you do, but who you are.” This, however, is only partially true. Leadership is very much who you are, but it cannot be divorced from what you do. Who you are represents the inner person, and what you do represents the outer person. Each is dependent on the other for maximum effectiveness.
The starting point of motivational leadership is to begin seeing yourself as a role model, seeing yourself as an example to others. A key characteristic of leaders is that they set high standards of accountability for themselves and for their behaviors. They assume that others are watching them and then setting their own standards by what they do.
In business, there are several kinds of power. Two of these are position power and ascribed power.
Position power is the power that comes with a job title or position in any organization. If you become a manager in a company, you automatically have certain powers and privileges that go along with your rank. You can order people about and make certain decisions. You can be a leader whether or not anyone likes you.
Ascribed power is the power you gain because of the kind of person you are. In every organization, there are people who are inordinately influential and looked up to by others, even though their positions may not be high up on the organizational chart. These are the men and women who are genuine leaders because of the quality of the people they have become, because of their characters and their personalities.
Over the years, we have been led to believe that leaders are those who stride boldly about, exude power and confidence, give orders and make decisions for others to carry out. However, that is old school. The leader of today is the one who asks questions, listens carefully, plans diligently and then builds consensus among all those who are necessary for achieving the goals. The leader does not try to do it by himself or herself. The leader gets things done by helping others to do them.
This brings us to five of the qualities of motivational leaders. These are qualities that you already have to a certain degree and that you can develop further to stand out from the people around you in a very short period of time.
The first quality is vision. This is the one single quality that, more than anything, separates leaders from followers. Leaders have vision. Followers do not. Leaders have the ability to stand back and see the big picture. Followers are caught up in day-to-day activities. Leaders have developed the ability to fix their eyes on the horizon and see greater possibilities. Followers are those whose eyes are fixed on the ground in front of them and who are so busy that they seldom look at themselves and their activities in a larger context.
The most motivational vision you can have for yourself and others is to “Be the best!” Many people don’t yet realize that excellent performance in serving other people is an absolute, basic essential for survival in the economy of the future. Many individuals and companies still adhere to the idea that as long as they are no worse than anyone else, they can remain in business. That is just plain silly! It is prehistoric thinking. We are now in the age of excellence. Customers assume that they will get excellent quality, and if they don’t, they will go to your competitors so fast, people’s heads will spin.
The second quality, which is perhaps the single most respected quality of leaders, is integrity. Integrity is complete, unflinching honesty with regard to everything that you say and do. Integrity underlies all the other qualities. Your measure of integrity is determined by how honest you are in the critical areas of your life.
Integrity means this: When someone asks you at the end of the day, “Did you do your very best?” you can look him in the eye and say, “Yes!” Integrity means this: When someone asks you if you could have done it better, you can honestly say, “No, I did everything I possibly could.”
Integrity means that you, as a leader, admit your shortcomings. It means that you work to develop your strengths and compensate for your weaknesses. Integrity means that you tell the truth, and that you live the truth in everything that you do and in all your relationships. Integrity means that you deal straightforwardly with people and situations and that you do not compromise what you believe to be true.
Come back next week for the conclusion of Leading and Motivating by Brian Tracy.
About the Author
Brian Tracy is a legendary in the fields of management, leadership, and sales. He has produced more than 300 audio/video programs and has written over 40 books, including his just-released book “The Power of Charm.” Special offer: To receive your free copy of “Crunch Time!, just visit www.briantracy.com and click on the Crunch Time! icon. He can be reached at (858) 481-2977 or www.briantracy.com.
Get Off the Nail!
Over the years I have met and observed thousands of people and each and every last one of them say they want some improvement in certain areas of their lives. In fact, most of them flat out confessed that they hated certain situations they were in. But after further evaluations, I iscovered that they weren’t willing to do anything about it. It seemed to be good enough for them to just sit there and wallow in their pain, anguish and misery.
Several years ago, motivational speaker Les Brown and I were chatting after we had both conducted trainings for a Network Marketing Company. We were talking about the number of people who say they want to make changes but don’t seem to ever do anything about it. I told him it reminded me of a story I heard him tell an audience over 10 years ago. Here’s how the story goes. One day a man was walking down the street on his way to work. As he walked down the street, there were dogs on just about every front porch and they all would bark as the man
walked passed them. However, there was one dog that he remembered, because this dog was just sitting there and he was whimpering and whining and moaning, you know the little whimpering sounds dogs make when they are wounded or in some sort of pain. Well, this particular dog was just sitting there on the front porch making those sounds. The man was curious as to why this dog wasn’t barking like the other dogs and why he was whimpering. He couldn’t figure it out, so he just kept walking to work. The next day he was in the same situation where he was walking down the street and saw the dogs once again and this same dog that was moaning and groaning the other day was doing the same thing today and he just couldn’t figure it out. Well, he walked passed for an entire week and everyday the dog would be there moaning and groaning. So, finally, the guy got fed up, he said, “let me find out what’s going on.” So he went and knocked on the door and a guy came out and said, “Yes, how may I help you?” He said, “Sir, is this your dog?” “Yes, that’s my dog.” “Well, what’s wrong with him?” The owner of the dog said, “What do you mean?” “Well, he’s been sitting here moaning and groaning, whimpering and whining for an entire week. The rest of the dogs are barking, your dog should be barking too, why is he moaning and groaning?” The owner said, “Well, he’s actually sitting on a nail.” And the guy said, “What! Your dog is sitting on a nail. Why doesn’t he get off?” “Well, it just doesn’t hurt him enough.”
Wow! You know most people are like that dog sitting on a nail. I mean, sure, they would like to get off the nail, but what if they got off the nail and they died or something? They never seem to stop to consider that maybe they would be healed, maybe they would be free, maybe they would be able to move about and discover some new and exciting options for their lives. But, noooooo. Instead, they just sit there on that nail because they’re not sure what’s going to happen if they get off. I mean, there are no guarantees of safety so to speak. Even though, it’s not the best feeling in the world, sitting on a nail, I mean, it’s not comfortable sitting on a nail, it kind of hurts, but at least they know what to expect. They know that they have $900 per week coming in so they can pay their bills and put food on the table and they can put some clothes on
their back and a roof over their heads. You know, that’s enough for most people. They may even get upset with you if you question their so called security, I mean, if you hand them a book or tape program or tell them about a seminar that can give them some effective strategies for getting off nails, they may resent you for it. Well, you’re different. You are willing to learn some effective nail removing strategies that could set you free because you and I both know that there is no such thing as security. Well, maybe I should take that back. I do know of a place where security exists on this planet. It’s called the graveyard. And you know what, most people tip toe through life so that they can arrive at the graveyard safely. Of course this will not be you. Right? That’s right. Simply because, instead of Moaning & Groaning, Whimpering & Whining about not getting the results you desire, you are a Developing Charging Rhino, And Rhinos always choose to GET OFF THE NAIL and create the conditions they desire. So Until Next Time, Be Sure to, GET OFF THE NAIL & Always remember to Go, Go, Go!!!
Jerry Clark
This week, Jerry Clark is offering three topics, incredible experts (including Les Brown, Denis Waitley, Charlie “Tremendous” Jones, Mark Victor Hansen, Cynthia Kersey, Tom Hopkins, Jay Conrad Levinson, Susan Jeffers, Brian Klemmer, Michael Gelb, Lisa Jimenez, Johnny Wimbrey, George Fraser and many more) and a wealth of insights – all with a very special offer!!
Learn more athttp://standing.yoursuccessstore.com or call 877-929-0434.
The Time to Act
Engaging in genuine discipline requires that you develop the ability to take action. You don’t need to be hasty if it isn’t required, but you don’t want to lose much time either. Here’s the time to act: when the idea is hot and the emotion is strong.
Let’s say you would like to build your library. If that is a strong desire for you, what you’ve got to do is get the first book. Then get the second book. Take action as soon as possible, before the feeling passes and before the idea dims. If you don’t,
here’s what happens -
- YOU FALL PREY TO THE LAW OF DIMINISHING INTENT -
We intend to take action when the idea strikes us. We intend to do something when the emotion is high. But if we don’t translate that intention into action fairly soon, the urgency starts to diminish. A month from now the passion is cold. A year from now it can’t be found.
So take action. Set up a discipline when the emotions are high and the idea is strong, clear, and powerful. If somebody talks about good health and you’re motivated by it, you need to get a book on nutrition. Get the book before the idea passes, before the emotion gets cold. Begin the process. Fall on the floor and do some push-ups. You’ve got to take action; otherwise the wisdom is wasted. The emotion soon passes unless you apply it to a disciplined activity. Discipline enables you to capture the emotion and the wisdom and translate them into action. The key is to increase your motivation by quickly setting up the disciplines. By doing so, you’ve started a whole new life process.
Here is the greatest value of discipline: self-worth, also known as self-esteem. Many people who are teaching self-esteem these days don’t connect it to discipline. But once we sense the least lack of discipline within ourselves, it starts to erode our psyche. One of the greatest temptations is to just ease up a little bit. Instead of doing your best, you allow yourself to do just a little less than
your best. Sure enough, you’ve started in the slightest way to decrease your sense of self-worth.
There is a problem with even a little bit of neglect. Neglect starts as an infection. If you don’t take care of it, it becomes a disease. And one neglect leads to another. Worst of all, when neglect starts, it diminishes our self-worth.
Once this has happened, how can you regain your self-respect? All you have to do is act now! Start with the smallest discipline that corresponds to your own philosophy. Make the commitment: “I will discipline myself to achieve my goals so that in the years ahead I can celebrate my successes.”
To Your Success,
Jim Rohn
To read previous articles, quotes, and Q and A from the Jim Rohn Weekly E-zine Archives, or to get a complete listing of Jim Rohn’s books, audios, videos and seminar schedule, or to place an order; please go to: http://www.jimrohn.com or call 800-929-0434 M-F 8:00-5:30 CST.
Five Tips For Creating Successful Habits
Fully 95% of everything you accomplish, or fail to accomplish, will be determined by your habits, either good or bad. Successful people have good habits that guide and direct them to ever greater success. Unsuccessful people have bad habits that trip them up throughout their lives.
Here are five things that you can do immediately to begin developing the kind of habits that lead onward and upward to a wonderful life:
First, imagine that you have a magic wand. You can wave this magic wand and create your future anyway you like. Project forward 3-5 years and imagine that your future was perfect in every way. What would it look like?
One of the fastest ways to pull yourself out of your current situation is to imagine an exciting future. This visualization or picture of
something that you can be, do or have will often stimulate you into new behaviors.
Second, set clear, written, measurable goals to achieve that ideal future vision. Take out a piece of paper and write down exactly what you
want. Set a deadline, make a plan to accomplish it and work on that plan every single day.
Third, identify the most important new habit or behavior that you could practice that would help you to achieve your goal. Perhaps it is
the habit of getting up and getting going early. Perhaps it is the habit of setting priorities and working on high-value tasks. Perhaps it is the habit of being more patient and listening to people more carefully. Whatever it is, begin to practice that habit every single day.
Fourth, tell other people that you have decided to develop this particular habit. Encourage them to remind you when you slip from time to time. Knowing that other people are watching you is a powerful stimulus to personal change.
Fifth, give yourself a reward each time you practice the habit that helps you to attain the goal that moves you closer to your ideal future vision. When you make a giant step forward, give yourself a giant reward. We are all motivated by incentives, and the incentive system that we set up for ourselves can be the most powerful force for transforming the way we think, feel and act.
About the author
Brian Tracy is a legendary in the fields of management, leadership, and sales. He has produced more than 300 audio/video programs and has written 28 books, including his just-released book “The Psychology of Selling.” Special offer: To receive your free copy of “Crunch Time!, just visit www.briantracy.com and click on the Crunch Time! icon. He can be reached at (858) 481-2977 or www.briantracy.com.
Become a Global Networker
Bill Gates, Microsoft’s founder, and the richest person in the world by several billion dollars, is convinced that the huge access to information will trickle down to the consumer. In another two years, he predicts, most decisions such as hiring a part-time worker for your home, buying a consumer product, choosing a lawyer – will be made on a much more informed basis because of electronic communication.
It changes the nature of competition, because in a networked world, we can ignore geographic limits to our shopping. People, information and services are merging together, all in the name of time-based competitive advantage.
Here is a check-off list of important considerations. How many on the list are part of your daily life?
· E-Mail is now the most popular method of communication next to the telephone in the industrialized nations. And, you can now transmit your e-mail by voice mail. It is possible and reasonable to expect that you can answer 30 e-mail messages in one hour, or one every two minutes. This is equivalent to answering personal correspondence at the rate of 30 letters per hour, without a secretary.
· If you communicate long distance, nationally or globally by phone – through the use of Internet phone or software – you can talk indefinitely without long distance phone charges over the Internet. By paying only the monthly, on-line service charge, you can reduce your long distance phone bills immeasurably by communicating verbally, computer to computer, with individuals having compatible software.
· Since it will be desirable to be multi-national in your business and personal relationships, by installing foreign language software you’ll be able to have all of your word processing appear on the screen in two languages.
Select at least one new language you feel will be desirable to learn during the next few years and install the software for that language. By having your correspondence appear in both your native language and one new language, both in text and audio, it is a great way to learn.
· As you look toward the future, be prepared to have at least one of the following: An ISDN phone line for your modem. A cable service for your modem. Or a satellite dish for your modem. Cable and satellite modem services will be mandatory as requirements for speed and quality of downloading large quantities of information and graphics increase.
· Ensure that your computer is upgraded for real-time audio, MP3, and video streaming, so you’ll be able to receive information from the Internet in real time. Consider investing in video conferencing equipment that allows you to hold live video conferences at multiple locations nationally and internationally, with multiple clients. Although video conferencing will not replace live seminars and meetings, it will reduce the costs and greatly increase the number of clients that can be served at the same time, in the knowledge century.
Action Idea: Pick at least two friends or business associates living in other countries, or in other parts of this country, that you will e-mail at least once every two weeks.
Denis Waitley has studied, counseled and trained leaders in virtually every field including Apollo astronauts, Olympic gold medalists, Super Bowl champions, returning POW’s, heads of state and Fortune 500 top executives.
Denis is recognized as a world class speaker and author and has traveled the globe sharing success ideas and strategies to thousands of companies the past 25 years. To book Dr. Waitley to speak for your company or to be part of your upcoming Regional or National Convention send an email to speaker@deniswaitley.com or call 877-929-0439 and ask for Hilary.
Dividing the Financial Pie Part 2
by Jim Rohn
Others say, “We’re not about to pick up the tab for defense.” Well then, I suggest they go to a place which doesn’t offer defense as part of the package. If one is going to enjoy the benefits, one should pay a share.
Now, let me add this: Don’t pay more than you should. By all means take advantage of the incentives. They were given to you as a reward for channeling your money into areas the government thinks helps the economy.
All I’m saying is that when everything has been computed, all legitimate deductions have been taken, and you reach that last line on your income tax form, whatever the amount, pay it. And pay with happiness, knowing that you’re feeding the goose that lays the golden eggs – the golden eggs of freedom, safety, justice, and free enterprise. Some goose! Some eggs!
The 70/30 Rule -
After you pay your fair share of taxes, you must learn to live on seventy percent of your after-tax income. This is important because of the way you’ll allocate your remaining thirty percent. The seventy percent you will spend on necessities and luxuries. The thirty percent? Let’s allocate it in the following ways:
1) Charity
Of the thirty percent not spent, one-third should go to charity. Charity is the act of giving back to the community that which you have received in order to help those who need assistance. I believe that contributing ten percent of your after-tax income is a good amount to strive for. (You may choose a larger or smaller amount — it’s your plan.)
The act of giving should be taught early in life. The best time to teach a child the act of charity is when he gets his first dollar. Take him on a visual tour. Take him on a tour of a place where people are truly helpless so that he learns compassion. If a child understands, he won’t have any
trouble parting with a dime. Children have big hearts.
There is another reason why the act of giving should be taught early and when the amounts are small: It’s pretty easy to take a dime out of a dollar. But it’s considerably harder to give away a hundred thousand dollars out of a million. You say, “Oh, if I had a million I’d have no trouble giving a hundred thousand.” I’m not so sure. A hundred thousand is a lot of money. We’d better start you early so you’ll develop the habit before the big money comes your way.
2) Capital Investment
With your next ten percent of your after-tax income you’re going to create wealth. This is money you’ll use to buy, fix, manufacture, or sell. The key is to engage in commerce, even if only on a part-time basis.
So how do you go about creating wealth with the ten percent of your income you set aside for that purpose? There are lots of ways. Let your imagination roam. Take a close look at those skills you developed at work or through your hobbies; you may be able to convert these into a profitable enterprise.
To Your Success,
Jim Rohn
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