The Choice Is Yours

"You have been given a bag of cement and a bucket of water. You can either build a stepping stone or a stumbling block." From the Sales Bible by Jeffrey Gitomer.

This was the quote at the end of the chapter Gitomer entitled, "Do you have a self-imposed mental handicap?" I liked this quote alot because it helps identify my perspective. I have the raw materials to build your business. Will I use my materials to step up to higher level or will use them to build an obstacle that impedes my path to success?

The following obstacles or what the book calls "mental handicaps" are very familiar to me:

"That business owner hung up on me."

"I've called 20 people and no one wants to talk to me."

"I've called 40 people and zero appointments."

"I can't make an appointment."

"My business pipeline has a big hole in it."

"The owner didn't say 'yes.'"

"The owner was a no show."

"The owner didn't give me the time to present the way I wanted."

"I can't get a PAA signed."

"I can't open a group."

"I didn't write any premium today."

"I didn't write any premium this week."

The choice is mine to either overcome or be overcomed. When I think about these statements, it's easy to become "phone-shy" or just sit at my desk and do nothing productive for my business. The negative feelings that come from the statements above can really play tricks with my mind, my confidence and my heart. It's up to me to learn how to overcome the objections and the negative feelings that come with it.

Here are 4 steps I do often everyday to overcome my difficulties:

I believe it starts with taking charge of your business. I have yet to meet a passive business owners. Usually they are calling all the shots and making the business work. For me to be successful, I need to make the all the tough calls and do all the hard work. No one will do it for me.

I also believe it means checking my attitude. I need to be optimistic because if I'm not, I'll be overwhelmed with my difficulties and I will be worthless to my business. Another good reason to have a good attitude is because my attitude affects my teammates and my office. If I have a bad attitude, I will unconsciously take others down with me. If I have a good attitude, I can encourage them and help them.

I believe that I need to find new and fresh ways to do business. I am always trying to think of ways to expand my scope of influence and grow my business. I find this the best part of my job because I love to create things. (My favorite thing is to create groups!) I love to create new networking and business relationships.

Finally I believe that I need to be a great time manager. There are so many things I want to do but only a limited time to get those things done. I find myself struggling at times with this but I do prevail. But when I'm on my game, I find that my organization, my scheduling, and paperwork are all up-to-date. That is a great feeling.

When I typed this down, I realized that I never mentioned anything about ER presentations, EE presentations, or signing people up. It just dawned on me that these things come naturally for me! I've gotten to the point of internalizing the scripts. That's a great feeling. I know that when I first started AFLAC, script recall was a big obstacle in me growing my business. But since I've gotten down the scripts, I've grown and moved on to other difficulties to overcome!

"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty." --Sir Winston Churchill