Poor Plan Versus No Plan

You are a Champion!

I was listening to Boone Pickens talking about the energy crisis during the OSU and WSU football game today. He said, “A fool with a plan can beat a genius with no plan.”

Harvey Mackay said virtually the same in his in his book Pushing The Envelop, “As kids we read Aesop’s fable of the tortoise and the hare. It is a cautionary tale that shows the value of strategy over tactics.

• The planner/plodder wins.
• The seat-of-the-pants/live-for-the-moment type loses.
• Long-range planning is a strategic exercise, and every company claims to place great value on it.

Why? We all know we’re never going to carry out the plan. The future is a giant, unhittable curve ball. The conditions we assume will exist never do. Winston Churchill was once asked to describe the most valuable talent in a politician. ‘It’s the ability to foretell what will happen in the future, and to explain afterwards why it didn’t happen.’

The value of long-range planning lies in the discipline and hard thinking the exercise requires, not in the accuracy of the forecast.”

I would like to add that feedback and measurement against a plan has a way of focusing us in on areas where we need to improve or spend more effort. The neat thing about a Network Marketing company is that the compensation plan helps us to focus on doing the right things.

As a Distributor you can be closer to what’s going on in the business than anyone else so take advantage of your position and that business knowledge.

Spend some time with the compensation reports!

From Thought to Reality

You are a Champion!

I would find it difficult to think of a reality without a beginning dream or initial thought or purpose. If I desire to earn a Ph.D from an accredited University I would find it difficult to see that reality without first having the thought to enroll in school.  At some point, I can see taking that general goal down to a more specific level.  What will be my major study?  I am not aware of a Ph.D in Generalities. Without a strong reason or purpose many students drop out of college in their sophomore or junior year (just courses away from success).  In fact, my wife’s brother had a son that studied engineering and never wanted to be an engineer.  He never finished the one or two courses needed to graduate with a degree.

Many roads have been traveled before and to get to a specific destination it is doubtful that I will need to build a road bed and pour concrete.  That’s why knowledge and processes are geometric in nature.  We travel down a road that was envisioned and built in the “past.” Admittedly, there are various ways to get to destinations and some ways are better for us.  I might decide to drive to California on roads built long ago and discover that I can fly to the destination in just a few hours.  Isn’t it grand that I’ve explored other alternatives and ways?

Many a person has failed at their endeavors or business because they are glued to an obsolete past and way of doing things.  This is the reason that “developing nations or people” can leap frog developed nations.  They are not tied to the infrastructures and policies of the past (you don’t need a ground line if you are using a cell phone).  If we will have learning as a goal we will never be disappointed by change.

Some people cram for exams and take courses in life they really don’t like.  What if you learned to love the material and the process?  What if you are taking courses just to learn and that’s your goal?  Learn to love the process!

When I began to study for the CPA exam I didn’t have passing the exam as my goal.  Why?  Because I was aware that only 4% of those taking the (4) parts to the exam accomplished that objective.  I immersed myself in the process of learning accounting and I was enjoying the process. Learning accounting was my objective because earning a certificate is just a pin level.  I was always more interested in learning (and the process) and was very shocked to have passed the exam the first time.  I heard one person say as I was leaving the exam room, “I sure hope I passed because I’ll never do that again.  Couldn’t even use calculators and it was like adding up the phone book.”  I was thinking, “Wow, why did you even begin the process?”

The only difference between vision and reality is TIME. I find no better example of that idea than building a “dream” home.  We look upon the barren hillside and have a vision the dream home.  We put that vision on a set of house plans.  We begin to build!

Action drives the process! The sheet rock man is coming next week and the electrician isn’t finished yet.  Need to light a fire under the electrician!  Now, are we focused on the past? Our actions can do nothing about the past.  Should we focus on the future (we can’t get to the sheet rock until the electrician is through).  Also, if you are a home builder you don’t need to think about what comes next you’ve done it so often.  Perhaps we should focus on the present.  What can I do today to help the electrician finish his job?

THOUGHT + ACTION + TIME = REALITY

Creating a Culture

You are a Champion!

Every organization is known for their culture and the company they keep.

“Reputation is what you are supposed to be; character is what you are.”

My wife and I were asking new recruits what they thought of our Corporate Event this month.  What they thought of certain speakers or training?  Here’s what they relayed to us and their friends when they got back home:

• The people were nice, friendly, and had a smile on their face.
• At the company dinner event (even though the music was too loud) there was no alcohol and they did not hear anyone cursing.

When my wife had previously (before the event) talked about the company’s guiding principles and culture her recruit said she was thinking, “Sure, all companies have this written in their literature.”  She thought my wife was just trying to make a good impression until she saw the culture for herself.  Her husband commented to me at the corporate dinner, “I don’t see anyone drinking–where’s the beer.”  What he meant by that is:  “I’m impressed and I’m shocked.”

Why is this such a big deal?

When they got back home the image they saw was communicated to those that were not at the event and that communication attracted people to the business.  People that were not at the event.

Many corporations talk the talk but they don’t walk the walk.  However, some don’t even profess to be close.  A lot of us have worked at corporations where alcohol and adultery seemed to be the norm and not the exception.  I have many stories myself so I’ll just relay a couple.  The wife of a VP called the secretary to ask where her husband was because she hadn’t seen him for several days.  The secretary had to make up a story because he was in a hotel with another company employee and long-time friend.  Another wife called the company to ask where her husband was and the person answering said, “Well, I understand that he’s at the hospital with his wife giving birth to their child.”  Of course, that was his girl friend at the company giving birth to his child.  I can get a lot worse but you get the idea.  That kind of culture was the experience of these recruits as it would be with many people.

In all corporate cultures people are people and will act accordingly.  So this is not intended to be a holier than thou article.  It’s talking about the attraction of a culture. I mentioned to her husband that our company normally attracted certain kinds of people and those that did not enjoy the culture would not be there.  You know what I mean? People attract what they are and distributors are independent so they don’t have to live with a corporate culture that makes them uncomfortable.

What kind of culture do you want to be associated with?  Help create the kind of culture you want because a company is known for the company it keeps.

Priorities

You are a Champion!

Everyone has their priorities and priorities have a significant impact on our Network Marketing Business success.  For example, here is a priority list:

• God
• Family
• Job or Business
• Network Marketing Opportunity
• Free Time (various)

Sometimes beginning Network Marketers get confused about people and their priorities. For example, you are promoting Nutritional or Sports Performance products.  You have a Network Marketing Distributor that is also a gym owner.  This can be a great Network Marketing relationship because your products compliment and enhance the gym owner (people getting the physical results they want).  However, an experienced Network Marketer also realizes that many gym owners see the products as competition. You are using the gym to promote your products, and they are using your products to promote their gym. If they see a conflict your products will lose the battle of priorities every time.  For example, all the gym owner gets is retail customers because they are not focused on building a downline (low priority).

They see the potential in their business but somehow can’t grasp the potential of building a downline.

That’s not a problem as long as you are aware of the priorities and work around the issues.

You’ve recruited an MD how nice.  All of us would like to recruit someone with influence to enhance our business.  And so, here is the picture that you can’t understand.  You begin to think that the Doctor is not teachable because they have been to many trainings and their business approach is not duplicable.  When you have a Product or Business Mixer it’s all about “how the body works” and all the Doctor things and their professional knowledge instead of the Products or Business.  They are focusing on what’s really important to them! The Doctor is teachable but the Doctor is promoting their practice and using the Network Marketing Opportunity to help draw customers.  We are just not aware of their priorities.

You have recruited a house wife that has significant influence and can really do the business.  Latter you find out that little Jimmy hates you because you are pulling their mother away from their need for their mother’s undivided attention.

You’ve sponsored a fantastic recruit that grew up in the South.  Her husband has grown up with a regional or religious based stereotype that women are “barefoot and pregnant” and men are the providers.  Her husband is extremely jealous of her success and hinders her success.

We need to have a good understanding of family or business issues surrounding those people we sponsor.  In order to be successful in Network Marketing it helps when everyone is “on board.”

These examples can go on and on forever.  What’s the major hindrances to the business?

Anything wrong with these priorities?  NO! However, because of the 80/20 rule we have to get good at recognizing major conflicts with “doing the business” and “doing the business right.” After all, this is a business.  Understanding how to manage these priority issues becomes critical to where and how we spend much of our time.

Who do you spend time promoting and helping?

Thousand Pound Problem

You are a Champion!

A story published on CNN.com/crime is tragic but I had to laugh. A lady weighing 1,000 pounds is charged with murder and the authorities don’t know what to do because they can’t get her out of her house (she won’t even fit through the doors).

Don’t people ever see solutions instead of problems?

1. She’s not going anywhere so bail and incarceration is not an issue (she does need medical attention).
2. The judge and jury can go to her house, hospital, etc.

This story reminds us of those people that tell us Network Marketing won’t work when the only thing that won’t work is them. If a prospect won’t come to their house (asking them for the products and opportunity) and interrupt their TV program how can it possibly work?

After all, a courtroom judge can’t stoop to holding court in a ladies house.

When we have people in our organization that can’t think out of their self imposed box or can’t “work” it is time to move on and find those who will do the business.

As one of our leaders use to say, “Check your ego at the door.” Ego and self imposed limitations keep a lot of people from success!

“The tax payers picking up the tab for her room and board and a prison diet could be a serious blessing for this lady. I think most of us can see she’s already in prison. I greatly suspect she would consider a death sentence even a bigger blessing.”

“There are prisons without bars.”

I’m so Confused

You are a Champion!

TAKE THE FOCUS OFF YOURSELF AND PUT IT ON OTHERS!

I like to consider different ideas even if I disagree and that’s why Network Marketing (like most things) is a learning curve. The world is made up of very different people and very different approaches. I often read articles that I disagree with. However, that doesn’t make me right because if this works for them that’s great. Here’s an article that sounds great but my experience is much different (see my response to these points below the article):

“Number 1 – promote your product, not your opportunity. This is not what you are taught when you attend your weekly ‘Opportunity’ meetings. Your company is based on a good product or service, or you wouldn’t be involved with it. Be passionate about your product or service, and build your marketing campaign around the value and benefits of consuming that product or service. You need your prospects to become customers first; customers who will become passionate about your product or service, and who will then continue to be consumers.
If prospects join your business based on the opportunity alone, what is going to happen if they don’t start making money right away? They give up and you will have to go and find someone else to replace them; and so the cycle continues.

Number 2 – Master a tool that allows you to connect with the most amount of people, in the shortest amount of time, for the least amount of money. That tool is the telephone. How many people can you take to a weekly opportunity meeting? How many people can you talk to on the telephone in 2 hours, using a script that takes just a few minutes to complete, with a list of people who already want what you have to offer? And I’m not talking about your friends and family. If they wanted what you have to offer they would have jumped right in the first time you offered it. So, why are you wasting your time trying to convince them?

Number 3 – Position yourself as the expert. Forget 3 way calls with your upline and taking prospects to listen to someone else at an opportunity meeting. Become the leader in your business and have people listen to you. Learn all the skills you need to grow your own business from prospecting through to closing and be the CEO of your business. Grow your business for your benefit, not your company’s benefit.

Most network marketing companies teach you methods that work for them, not you. Think about it this way. If your upline has 100 distributors who each bring 1 prospect a week to an opportunity meeting, and 50% of those prospects join the business, then your upline has grown their business by 50 people a week. On the other hand, half of those 100 distributors have grown their businesses by just 1 person a week. Which side of that fence would you rather be on?
If the techniques taught by most companies really work, then why do more than 90% of network marketers fail to achieve a significant income. In fact, most people who walk the trail of tears do so with the heavy burden of an overloaded credit card. A debt that will take years to clear due to the huge number of DVD’s, brochures, catalogues, etc. purchased to grow the business for someone else, certainly not the individual.
If you are serious about growing your business, then forget about your list of friends and family, 3 way-calling, and opportunity meetings. Don’t waste your time talking to everyone you meet about your opportunity; most of them simply are not interested and won’t stay in your business long if they do join.

Master the 3 techniques above, and grow your business for your own benefit, not the benefit of your company.”–Bill Shaw

Number 1 – I think it’s great to promote products and move people from product users to Business Builders. However, the fact is that one of the so-called products is the Business Opportunity and there are people looking for business opportunities. In my opinion, we can promote the products and/or the Business Opportunity. What are they interested in? I have personally known top Distributors that didn’t use the products and were successful in the business. While that may not be the norm, there are certainly people that are more interested in the Business Opportunity and have a stronger need for the business than the products. That doesn’t change the fact that most of the Distributors will just be product users and their volume (a lot of people taking a little bit of product) drives the business. Many Business Builders focus on the Business Opportunity and fall back on the products.

Number 2 – The phone is great and can save time and money. However, the phone is just “one tool” of the trade and for “some people” wouldn’t be very effective. I’ve covered other tools on my blog and some people use them all or have their preference. Email is powerful for some while it may not be effective for others.

Number 3 – There are some negatives to every approach. Obviously, some people are very concerned about losing control of the situation (painting their upline or company as the leaders and building their check instead of their own check). Perhaps they should worry about their downline blocking leadership pay (I know, doesn’t make sense but a lot of people worry about that because they don’t work the business). Frankly, number 3 as stated in the article is the least of my worries. In my opinion, not only do individuals miss the point on Number 3 we will find companies that miss the same point.

The Network Marketing Business model is a win/win business model and it is built around exponential growth and the desire for residual income. In fact, that’s what draws me to this business model. If it is just about retailing products (working alone) there may be a better retail model for “how” you work the business (see eBay). I want help in promoting the business and we even use crossline help–it has been powerful help. I want to use the “power” of exponential growth and that means I intend to look for just (3) Business Builders and build deep! I bring the credibility and they bring their influence! Note: if you distrust your upline sponsors and the company you have a basic problem that needs to be solved.

Many sponsors and companies are doing everything in their power (and spending real money to do it) to give you the tools to make you successful or give you the help you need so take advantage of their help.

One of the reasons you may go into debt trying to do the business is because you are trying to build the business alone. My wife and I have driven miles and miles to make other people successful so that we could find success (by the way, I’m an accountant so I know something about the numbers).

You’re not using your upline sponsors, not using the art of promotion (small and large group meetings), and most of all you are not using “third party credibility.” I know Diamond Distributors that will tell you they didn’t take their business to the next level until they started using a “third party!” Please don’t try to work the business alone because you may fail and you are working the business the hard way. I’ve known of successful Network Marketers that didn’t have enough influence on their own to sell a box of products to their own mother let alone a Business Opportunity!

“Over” 90% of the people fail because they don’t work the business and when they do they don’t work it smart. Take the focus off yourself and get help!

“Of course, all this is just my opinion…more power to you!”

Magnetic Force

You are a Champion!

Magnetism is powerful and many people don’t really understand the physics. We can take two physical magnetic objects and their “charges” allow them to repel or attract each other. When we talk about the fact that “opposites attract” we can use magnets to make our point.

Did you know that positive people can attract negative people? Before we try a relational experiment let’s think about some basics about magnetism. We all know that other people don’t really want to be around whiners, complainers, and people that tell their same favorite story again (unfortunately we all do that on occasion). And so, negative people like to be around positive people because they get some “really needed” energy. After all, they get tired of the negativism too even if they are responsible for generating much of the negative force!

Now for the “magnetic force” experiment:

There is someone out there that really doesn’t like you (for whatever reasons). Make an effort the next time you see them to walk up in a friendly manner and compliment them. Try to make a positive effort with this negative person and see what happens. Much of the time you will find that their force shields are turned off a little (if not a lot). How many force shields have you melted by being friendly and positive?

Now let’s do the opposite! Walk up to that same person and (as usual) really blow them up or off and see the reaction you will get. WATCH THOSE NEGATIVE POLES REPEL!

Unfortunately, many are really good at that second experiment. We all know people that we could provoke into a fist fight in about five seconds because they are a rocket just waiting to go off. And so, are we provoking them just to get our kicks or are we just avoiding them? Remember, some people are like practical jokers (inferiority issues) and they will provoke us just because they enjoy a good fight. Or, perhaps they are a type “A” personality and everything in life is serious. You just don’t take life serious enough you ignorant….

Now let’s suppose we are the “receiver” on that last experiment. Someone negative comes up to us just to pull our chain. Do we get in their face because we have to be right about everything in life? Or, do we set and listen with a smile on our face (being as positive as possible) and respond with this statement: “I’m really sorry you feel that way because I’ve always admired these positive characteristics about you….” Come on, you can think of something positive about them.

Do you really think about how people will react to the laws of relationships or do you even care? Are you a responder or a thinker? Are you a negative or positive electrical charge? If we can become a “consistent” positive charge (people always feel the same charge every time) then we can have what people call a “charismatic personality.”

Above Average Desire Versus Tens

You are a Champion!

Do we really understand Network Marketing and the laws of leadership?

For example, on a scale of (1) to (10) you are a (???) in influence and leadership so you won’t be able to recruit a into the business? You may be looking for a ten (whatever that means–recruiting up) while I’m just looking for someone with above average desire (enough desire to get into action). Admittedly, these leadership principles are always working and having their impact on us and our business but let’s take a look around (MBWO – Management by Walking Around). Don’t let fear and self-doubt stop you when you read this leadership stuff and count yourself out. You may have more potential than any leadership expert and most of the people around you!

How is a successful Network Marketer impacted by the leadership literature, tapes, etc.? Perhaps certain people aren’t much of anything on your scale of influence but they are top Diamond Distributors in the company. They aren’t professional anything and couldn’t qualify as a member of the board of directors for corporate government in many Network Marketing companies (they don’t understand big business politics and management). They aren’t exempt from the laws of leadership but let’s look at their desire.

When you look at the management of some big Corporations they are great at speaking, training, and have significant abilities. Even so, they haven’t sold one box of product. They haven’t recruited one person into the business. They speak with authority about how to do the business even though they’ve never really “done the business.” In fact, you might be thinking to yourself, “I would like to recruit that person and see how well they perform as a Business Builder.” If they are so great why don’t they resign their position and make mega bucks as one of the top distributors?

In my opinion, no one explains what I am trying to say better than Dr. Tom Barrett, Ph.D Psychology, in his book Dare to Dream and Work to Win. Key factor: He has done Network Marketing!

“For many participants in network marketing, this industry which looks so bright and attractive from a distance, becomes enveloped in fog after we enter it. It is easy to lose our vision, not hear what is being said by others, and see our progress slow to a crawl.

Maybe you know this fog as well as I do. I got lost in it. I spent my first year lost in the fog of network marketing. I knew this was a business in which the average person with above-average desire could succeed. I had met too many ordinary people in network marketing making extraordinary sums of money. But network marketing wasn’t clicking for me. The growth of my business seemed modest and average. In fact, it seemed slow. Too slow. But, lost in the fog, I could not understand why. I was working the business as well as I knew how.”

DO YOU REALIZE HOW “POWERFUL” THIS ABOVE-AVERAGE DESIRE STATEMENT IS?

Here we have a person on the scale (1-10) that has received a Ph.D in Psychology so I would like to count him a 10 for just doing that. This is a people business so should he understand people with his two masters degrees and a Ph.D in Psychology?

As a leader, do we intimidate our downline with our degrees and/or background even if we don’t mean to do so? In our company we have strong leaders that focus on their people and build their people up because they really care about people. I can think of a couple on the west coast (her intuition and perception about the business and people is so good it’s just a little bit scary) and I’ve never heard of them making comments like, “So and So blocks my leadership pay and I would like to eliminate them from the business.” Note: no conversations about the business are really private conversations. When they leave the stage they get the standing ovation they deserve because they really seem to care about their people and they still work the business hard. On the other hand, we may encounter a leader that takes all the credit for success (even though their wife did much of the work) and when they leave the stage they get an applause because people don’t want to be rude. They may be smart about the business but under your breath you pray a prayer of thanksgiving that they are not part of the company management because you feel in your heart the opportunity would turn to dust. They care only about themselves and not the people they brought into the business as downline Distributors.

Look around at those in the room doing the business! Do you have ABOVE-AVERAGE DESIRE? Go after it!

Comfort Zone

You are a Champion!

Don’t be a Pussy!

People notice your scared little eyes!

Still clinging to your “Comfort Zone?”

So “Fear” is the reason I haven’t been successful?

Fear is often a good thing because it may save our life or protect us from great harm. Unfortunately, that’s not always the case because we’ve heard stories about people clinging to the hull of a sinking ship (their comfort zone) as it drug them to the bottom with lifeboats just feet away or not jumping from a burning building to a safety net below. The book by Spencer Johnson, M.D., Who Moved My Cheese, is a great little story about moving out of our comfort zone.

Fear can be unreasonable especially when it comes to things like sharing products or a business opportunity. The Fear of rejection is so powerful that it can keep people from making a good living even though we don’t often read about someone clinging to a prospect and being beat to death.

Unreasonable Fear and Self-Doubt is a killer of the Network Marketing Opportunity.

Dr. Tom Barrett, Dare to Dream and Work to Win, wrote this:

“It does not matter how much intellectual confidence someone has about network marketing’s becoming a primary means of transacting business. It does not matter how much conviction they have about a particular network marketing company. And it does not matter how passionate they are about the compensation potential, or the quality of the products or services provided. If their belief about themselves is full of self-doubt and negativity, then this belief system will outrank and overshadow all of their confidence, conviction, and passion. In fact, it will prevent many from ever getting started in network marketing.

Others will get started but the weight of their self-doubt will keep slowing them down. For them it is like trying to drive a car with the parking brake on. They recognize that network marketing is a vehicle that could literally change their lives and financial future, but the constant drag of self-doubt prevents them from driving their businesses with abandon. They want to go forward; they believe in the business; they see its potential, and they honestly intend to stick with it. Eventually, however, the fatigue of carrying their negative belief systems into their businesses exhausts them. So they slow down. They stop pushing. They rest. And immediately the relief of rest feels much easier than the fight to carry this ever-present weight of self-doubt. So they ‘park’ their vehicles of opportunity. They disqualify themselves from the race of life. And they settle for being a spectator.

I feel sadness for people who do this. Their faulty belief systems preclude them from success and increases the likelihood of failure. They get caught in repetitious patterns of avoidance, false starts, and failed finishes. These mistakes, in turn, only give a larger data base of historical evidence to support their originally erroneous belief systems. Paradoxically, they become confident in their beliefs that they have no right to live life with confidence. They are more certain than ever that they are not entitled, qualified, or likely to ever be a winner in life. So instead of living life with abandon, they begin to abandon life. They begin to lay down their dreams and lose hope. They start to “accept their lot in life” and acquiesce to their present circumstances.

I have seen countless people do this. They determine what they will do in life by making sure that it does not require them to step outside the limits of their comfort zones and their belief systems. They are like a dog that has been trained to stay in a yard that has no fences.”

Dr. Tom Barrett, Ph.D. in Psychology, goes on to say, “Our core beliefs are the epicenter from which our thoughts, behaviors, and emotions flow.”

Do we see why Network Marketing professionals stress working on ourselves, more than anyone else, in order to be successful?

” You can become more than a comfortable product user.”

Good to Great

You are a Champion!

How do we go from good to great?

Go from Good to Great with Uncommon Commitment!

• Communication is the key in Network Marketing and it’s not only what we communicate it is how we communicate. If we don’t communicate well it is difficult to build an organization. Also, Business Builders are reluctant to build “alone” and that means “no communication.”
  
• Ask don’t Tell – A serious flaw in leaders (ego issues) has been the tendency to “tell” people instead of “ask” people. People don’t want to be told! Do our sentences start with a question or a statement? You may come from a background where people are accustomed to following commands but most people don’t come from that background and many are very independent thinkers.
• Momentum requires Structure - There is nothing more important than a leader with uncommon commitment to the business to provide structure. My wife and I were lucky to have the top Distributors in the company (when we came into the company). Our upline sponsors (Pam and Mark Rushmore) drove hours to provide “structure” from Ada, Oklahoma to Tulsa, Oklahoma (in one night) and we are greatly indebted to them. Todd and Donna Cash (top Distributors) provided structure by establishing a training center in Tulsa for Distributors to plug into. Yes, that may not be duplicable but it provided a structure (not talking about their building necessarily) that people depended on to push their momentum. The training was controlled and duplicable.

Our upline sponsors were good at organizing and painting a vision of where we were going and how we would get there. There are many great leaders in the company and we were blessed to personally have strong leaders. Sometimes (if you read my blog) you may think I’ve gone overboard on body language and eye contact. My wife really had those skills before our current company (I didn’t). I am learning this because of the emphasis placed on it by Todd Cash and it would be difficult to find a leader stronger or more charismatic in this area in my opinion. It made no difference if you were a “nobody” in the company or you were the “top in the company” he made eye contact and gave you his undivided attention. You were the only person in the room! That takes uncommon commitment doesn’t it?

Of course, I know other top distributors that understand this and that’s why I always start my articles with “You are a Champion!” Danny McDaniel often told me this when I saw him. It makes me feel good for him to tell me this and that’s why it starts each article. Our company tag line is “We build Champions!” While I like this line, and it is certainly appropriate, Danny’s line puts the focus where it belongs. Why? Because he understands where the focus needs to be and how to put people in the right frame of mind. Does he really believe this about me? I don’t know? It doesn’t matter does it! [See, even my declaration was a question wasn't it?] All of us are Champions because God doesn’t make junk. I have a hard time reconciling the Omnipotent God creating anything without a purpose because that would contradict my concept of the term: Omnipotent!

My wife and I know a VP of a particular company that has had great success and we can’t figure that out. When you talk to that person they are short and blow you off (like some untrained teenage sales clerk might do). It’s obvious they think you are a nobody. They talk to people like they were back in the third grade (they tell). After they speak you often feel: “I need to have a talk with this person because they have a few things to learn.” Yet, they come across as if they are the expert. They never make eye contact with you in an informal setting and come across very rude. I suspect that others that are treated with respect think they are great but how do you think we feel about that person? Obviously, we have misjudged this person some how?

There is nothing more irritating to people than to feel they are not getting respect and attention. Andy Andrews in his presentation last weekend talked about a friend in real estate (Gulfport, Miss. Remax) that went to Number 6 in the country by two simple things: “Smile while you talk (your dog does it and he’s successful) and be excited to see people.” You may be the only one today, this week, this month, this last year to have treated them this way. Even their close relatives may not treat them this way. That means they will remember you!

And so, you don’t have those kinds of sponsors that got you into the business? That’s where uncommon commitment comes into play. We are all use to quoting Sir Winston Churchill, “Never, never, never quit!” Also, a phrase we are familiar with from the founder of our company, “You will quit before I do.” You can count on me being there. I often remember a person in our downline making this remark to us, “You’ll quit before I will because I will be doing this forever.”

Yes, I’ve read the book Good to Great but it’s been awhile and I didn’t pick it up this morning to find quotes for my article. This comes from my heart.