If you bear a grudge..."Isn't it about time..."

Read on. This story is told from a fabulous newsletter
Peter Thomson
Editor and Lightened Publisher
tgiMondays
Two monks and how one of them asked the other one a question.



It’s a question...



You and I need to ask ourselves on a regular basis –
otherwise we’ll be damaging our chances of success.



Here’s what happened:



One day two Eastern Monks set off on a journey to visit the inhabitants
of a local village. On the way they came to a wide stream. The stream whilst
not too deep nevertheless had a treacherous undercurrent.



At the side...



Of the stream sat a young woman with her head bowed and in obvious distress.



Now the ‘order’ to which the monks belonged forbade any contact with
women and so the younger of the two monks – turned his back on the
young women and ignored her.



The elder monk...



Turned to the young woman and asked her what her problem was.

She replied – she had to cross the river with the medicine she’d been
to collect for her mother.



The elder monk helped the young woman to her feet and hefted her onto his shoulders; then waded out into the stream and safely crossed to the other side.



He helped the young woman down and with grateful and continuous thanks she scurried on her way.



The younger monk...



Had crossed the stream behind his companion and they continued their journey. The younger monk, by the look on his face, was obviously in a sullen and angry mood and finally after nearly an hour had passed – like a champagne cork bursting from the bottle – he exploded the questions:



“How on earth could you do it? How could you talk to that woman when you know it’s forbidden? How could you touch her her, let alone carry her on your back across the river? How could you?”



The elder monk replied simply:



“My son her need was great and – I put her down an hour ago – isn’t it about time you did too?”



Ooooooooooohhhhh...



A little voice inside is demanding to know – if there are ‘somethings’ I should have put down long ago – rather than carrying them with me.



What could those...



Somethings be:

Past mistakes

Past relationships

Past hurts

Past – well I’m sure you know what’s appropriate for you – don’t you?

And so...



I think I’ll be thinking of this for a while just to make certain – I’ve definitely lightened my mental load. It has to be so much easier to travel this way – doesn’t it?



So the question is: “What do you need to put down?”



Will you ask it too?


Go on then...

"I'd rather die than cold call"

As you look at the phone


If you must cold call read this book first
Cold calling for Chickens by Bob Etherington

The highlight page for me says

WHERE AM I NOW?
Sitting in front of the phone
WHAT DO I WANT TO DO?
call a prospect to start a relationship and eventually get him to buy something
WHAT IS THE WORST THING HE CAN SAY?
"No"
WHAT IS THE WORST THING HE CAN DO?
Put the phone down
THEN WHERE WILL I BE?
Sitting in front of the phone

SO WHAT AM I WAITING FOR?!

The key to successful selling

Every knows that virtually every successful sale is done when the buyer likes the seller. 'People buy from people' is the cliche but we all knows it's true. so the skill of getting people to like us is the key to making more sales than your competition. Here is my list of actions you should considering taking to get people to like you.
1 Have a happy disposition; smile, be friendly, indulge in chit chat and banter, bring in humour as much as possible. We can't all be funny but we can all avoid being miserable!
2 Become reliable. Don't let people down - do what you say you're going to do and do it when you say you will do it. Don't be late and keep people waiting. 3 Be 'nice' to people. Compliment them, don't complain don't critisise and don't condemn, no-one wins
$ Have a giving spirit and a generous nature.

My hotel story
I recently went on a sort of sales appointment but mainly just to start to build a relationship at a hotel and the general manager was in the hotel lobby when I arrived. "That worked out well, you being here as I arrived". I said to my prospect. "No" he said, "I was here waiting to greet you, you're a guest in my corporate home". Wow, there I was to peddle my wares and guess what? That man made me feel like a VIP. Within the hour we built a strong relationship, I gave him a great deal and he reciprocated.

That anecdote summarises all that is good in people and how we can get people to like us very quickly. This man runs a big hotel, will no doubt be very busy and yet there he was ready 5 minutes early to greet me with a warm welcome. What a start to a relationship!