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The sky is falling if you believe it is

By Jason Felts We all know people who work incredibly hard, putting in
Advanced Merchant Services Inc. long hours. They may have two and sometimes even three
jobs. But they are not consistently (if ever) successful. Hard
Editor's note: The following is excerpted from Jason Felts' Street Smarts work contributes to success, but hard work alone will not
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column published in The Green Sheet July 14, 2008, issue 08:07:01. To make you top-flight.
read the full article, please visit www.greensheet.com/emagazine.
php?story_id=837&search_string=. Remember, effort is multifaceted and includes work ethic,
prospecting, building more relationships, securing more
o you remember hearing the story of Chicken referrals and thinking of creative ways to serve your
Little when you were a child? He was walk- merchants well. Assuming you embrace the challenge and
ing down the street when an acorn fell from you add extra effort even in a slowing economy, you will
D a tree and hit him on the head. Alarmed by not only experience success, but you will also experience
the acorn, which he thought was part of the sky, Chicken highly positive growth in your portfolio, residual income
Little grew agitated and began to spread panic among and bottom line.
everyone who heard him shouting, "The sky is falling!
The sky is falling!" Attitude shapes outcome

Before long, many believed Chicken Little was right. I read once that the Great Depression was caused by
Sound familiar? speculation more than reality. A little bad news, carried to
the extreme, became really bad news. If everyone had just
Beliefs influence reality taken a step back and looked at the reality of the situation,
perhaps our parents and grandparents would not have
What you believe your reality to be is what will appear. had to suffer as significantly through that abysmal time.
I've talked with hundreds of salespeople who have
rolled up their tents and blamed the economy, personal Did it become very bad? Absolutely. But I theorize that
circumstances, competition or management for not taking much of the problem was a self-fulfilling prophecy.
necessary steps to help them in tough times. But I believe Negative news was reported for so long that, not only was
we all have the ability to turn lemons into lemonade. it believed, it was embraced.

Don't wait for opportunity to knock on your door, Your attitude can determine your future circumstances.
as the saying goes. If you are not happy with your Before a young salesman of a large manufacturer made
circumstances, production, volume, team and so forth ‒ his first two sales calls, his boss met with him to acquaint
create an opportunity. Shining stars exist at every level him with the clients' histories.
of success and leadership. I recently spoke to a merchant
level salesperson (MLS) who grew his business by over The boss told him the first client was a very tough cookie.
1,200 percent last year, while many of his colleagues found His sales force had failed to sell the client anything ‒ but
themselves down or at a plateau. the salesman should try anyway. He said the second client
was a real pushover, and the salesman would surely get a
There are many MLSs, like him, who are winning new sale every time he called on that prospect. The next day,
business today. What's their secret? The rollout of a new the salesman returned from a sales call with a very large
service or product? Value added offers? Giving away order. He said the boss was right about the first customer;
the farm? No. Their secret is not a secret at all. They just he was a real pushover. The boss replied that it was the
haven't bought into the idea of doom and gloom. second customer who was the easy-sell, not the first.

That's right. They are successful because they planned The salesman, thinking the first client was the easy-sell,
for success, and then executed their plans. Success, my had actually sold the hard-sell ‒ someone who had never
friends, is no accident. Let's put to rest the fallacy that before placed a significant order with the firm. Indeed,
prosperity ‒ in sales or any profession ‒ is due to luck, this young salesman's perception of the circumstance
chance or even hard work alone. Nothing is further from became his reality.
the truth.

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