10 BEST SALES BOOKS FOR SALES TRAINING AND LEARNING

It’s important that you dedicate yourself to continuous learning and self-development, especially when it comes to sales success.
Reading some of the best sales books ever written can help expedite your mastery of sales and improve all aspects of your sales techniques. Over the course of my career, I’ve read thousands of books, hundreds of them have been on sales and I have used the knowledge I’ve acquired from the best ones in many of my sales training courses.
Here are 10 great sales books to add to your reading list.

1) Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill

Napoleon Hill studied the habits of the most successful people and evolved 13 principles that can be applied to achieve success. Think and Grow Rich is highly regarded as one of the best business books of all time. You can use these principles in almost every single area of your life.

2) Endless Referrals by Bob Burg

This book will teach you how to attract those who are interested in what you are selling with his proven relationship-building principles. It’s an excellent read for any entrepreneur, and it is full of great content.

3) The Psychology of Selling by Brian Tracy

The purpose of this book is to give you a series of ideas, methods, strategies, and techniques that you can use immediately to make more sales, faster and easier than ever before.
It’s a promise of prosperity that sales guru Brian Tracy has seen fulfilled again and again. More sales people have become millionaires as a result of listening to and applying his ideas than from any other sales training process ever developed.

4) How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie

This is one of the first best-selling self-help books ever published. This book teaches you how to make people like you, how to win new clients and customers, and become a better salesman. It is a great personal development book, as well as a must for any salesperson.

5) Secrets of Closing the Sale by Zig Ziglar

In this book, Zig Ziglar explains how everyone has to “sell” their ideas and themselves to be successful. He goes over 100 closes for every kind of persuasion and professional tips from many successful salespeople.

6) Booked By Josh Turner

Booked is a 5-step process that helps you quickly position yourself as an expert in your industry, directly connect you with an unlimited supply of prospects, and work them through processes that will generate a predictable number of leads and appointments. When you have that predictable number of appointments, you’ll have a predictable stream of new clients.

7) Sales Scripting Mastery: The 7-Step System for Consistently Delivering Successful Sales Presentations by Eric Lofholm

In this book Eric walks you step-by-step through the sales scripting process, revealing secrets such as how to script an effective close and how to script responses to sales objections. He follows up with tips on how to get your scripts written faster and how to rehearse and deliver them effectively so they sound spontaneous.

8) The Ultimate Sales Letter by Dan Kennedy

In the age of e-mail and instant communication, great sales copy is indispensable to closing a deal. But too many sales letters end up in the junk file or the wastebasket. In this book, Dan Kennedy explains why some sales letters work and most don’t. And he shows how to write copy that any business can use.

9) Advanced Selling Strategies by Brian Tracy

Advanced Selling Strategies provides you with the techniques and tools used by top salespeople in every industry—methods that net immediate and spectacular results. This book explains how to develop the self-image to give you the edge in every sales situation and teaches how to concentrate on the customer’s emotional factors to ensure better sales results.

10. The Art of Closing the Sale by Brian Tracy

Early in my sales career, I couldn’t find a way to overcome that simple five-word objection “Let me think it over,” and close the sale. Then I discovered a technique that worked. Business boomed I doubled my sales very quickly. I added this technique to my learning.
What is your opinion on these sales books? Did I miss any? Leave your favorites in the comments and I can add them to my list.

HOW TO IMPROVE LEADERSHIP SKILLS IN 4 STEPS

Leaders never stop growing and developing. They have the capacity to keep themselves from falling into a comfort zone. They are lifelong students.
Do you have a drive and goal to become a great leader?
All leadership qualities can be learned. The hard part is identifying the qualities that you must learn to succeed as an effective leader. Follow these steps today to find out how to improve your leadership skills.

How to Improve Leadership Skills By Improving Yourself

A key to developing leadership qualities is to read, study and take courses. All leaders are readers. Even though they are swamped with work, they never stop taking in new information. They never stop reading business books and magazines, attending conferences, getting into discussions, and learning what is going on.

What Leadership Qualities Are You Missing?

Can you identify any qualities of effective leadership that you may be missing? It may be a hard thing to do, but the great thing about doing this is that when you know what qualities you are missing, you can work to improve these things about yourself.
People will be born with certain leadership qualities but missing others. Most great leaders became great because they identified the leadership qualities that they were missing and then deliberately set out to acquire those skills.

The Rules of Making Yourself a Better Leader

As you’re working to make yourself better, remember these three rules:

Rule #1: It Doesn’t Matter Where You Came From

It only matters where you are going. Don’t worry about any past opportunities that you may have missed or any mistakes you may have made because of a weakness. That is all past. It is the future that counts. Just because you haven’t been a leader before doesn’t mean you can’t become one.

Rule #2: If You Want Your Life to Get Better, You Have to Get Better

If you want to be an effective leader, then you need to develop your leadership qualities. Work on developing any quality that you think you need whether it is integrity, patience or delegation, until you have perfected it, then move on and practice another.

Rule #3: You Can Learn Anything That You Want to Learn

You can become anything you want to become. Leaders know what they want, and then set out about making it happen.

4 Steps to Develop Leadership Skills Right Now

Effective leaders are always looking to improve themselves. In four basic steps, you can begin to improve and become a better leader right now:
1) Do more of certain things. Do more of those things that are of greater value to you and more important to achieving results as a leader.
Resolve today to do more reading or to work on improving on the leadership qualities you may be missing.
2) Do less of certain things. At the same time, you must deliberately decide to reduce the amount of time you spend on certain activities that impede your success as a leader.
3) Start to do those things you aren’t doing that you need to be doing. What are the skills, competencies or knowledge that you need in order to become a better leader? Identify them, then write them down. How can you go about learning these qualities?
4) Stop doing certain things all together. There may be activities that are no longer relevant to your goals as a leader. Step back and evaluate all your activities from the perspective of what you are trying to achieve. You may find that what was once important is no longer important and should no longer take up your time.

Take Action

Thank you for reading my blog on developing leadership qualities. Becoming a better leader starts with bettering yourself and knowing what you want. Write down and analyze your leadership goals that you want to achieve and follow my four basic steps to develop your leadership qualities.

4 MARKETING TECHNIQUES TO HELP CRUSH YOUR COMPETITION

There are four marketing techniques that you can use to approach your market with your products and services. Use these to market your products better than your competition.
The better you market to your customers, the greater your success in business and sales. Use these tricks to get ahead of your competitors.

Marketing Technique #1: Create Utility and Usefulness with your Product

The first marketing technique you can use to beat your competition is to create utility, usefulness, and satisfy the needs of your customers to achieve a specific result.  This requires that you offer them something they need and can use to accomplish their other goals.
Look at your market today.  What will your customers and potential customers want, need, and be willing to pay for in the months and years ahead? What are the trends in customer demands in your market?  If you can answer this accurately, you can often leapfrog over your competition and dominate a new market even before it emerges.

Marketing Technique #2: Change Your Pricing

A second approach to sales and marketing is by changing your pricing.  By bringing your goods and services into the price range of your customers, you can open up entirely new markets that do not today exist. How could you price your products or services so that more customers could afford to buy them?
Many companies have been able to achieve market leadership by focusing on bringing their prices into the affordability range of more customers.  What we have found is that the greater your market share, and the lower your cost of production, the lower is the price that you can charge.

Marketing Technique #3: Emphasize Your Product’s Key Benefit to the Customer

The third strategy in sales and marketing is adapting to the customer’s reality, both social and economic. The ultimate aim of your marketing plan is to make selling unnecessary.  But this is seldom achieved.  The product almost always needs to be sold to the end customer.  As it turns out, each product offers a “key benefit” that is the primary reason why the customer would buy.
Each product or service also triggers a “key fear,” which is what holds the customer back from buying the product or service in the first place. Customers are terrified of risk.  They are afraid of paying too much, getting the wrong product, losing their money, and getting stuck with something that is inappropriate for their purposes.  This is the main reason that qualified prospects hold back from buying any product or service, at any price.
When you can emphasize the key benefit, the unique added value that a customer will receive by buying your product or service, and at the same time, take away his or her major fear, you can open up an enormous market for what you sell. What is the key benefit that motivates your customer to buy?  If you have different types of customers, what is the key benefit that triggers the buying decision in each of these different kinds of customers?
What is the key fear that holds potential customers back from buying your product or service?  What could you do to emphasize the benefit and make it more attractive, while at the same time, minimize or eliminate the fear that causes a customer to hesitate?

Marketing Technique #4: Deliver True Value of Your Product to Your Customer

The fourth approach to marketing plan is for you to deliver what represents “true value” to the customer.  True value is something that can only be identified by working closely with your customers.
What represents true value to your customers?  How could you structure your product or service offerings in such a way that people would be more comfortable purchasing them from you rather than from your competitors?

Conclusion

There will always be competition for products and services. It is your job to make sure that you stay ahead of the game and ahead of your competition. By following these tips and listening to your customer needs, you will learn to always come out on top.

DISCOVER THE IMPORTANCE OF LIFELONG LEARNING

Your ability to expand your mind and strive for lifelong learning is critical to your success. By dedicating yourself to learning, you can get ahead in every aspect of your life. All it takes is a commitment.
The most successful people read an average of 2-3 hours per day. They belong to organizations that encourage learning the most current information and share ideas.
For people dedicated to continuous learning, it means that they attend annual conventions and go to every session available that has new insights that can help them to be more effective in getting the results for which they are responsible.

The Importance of Lifelong Learning

Learning is the minimum requirement for success in your field. Information and knowledge on everything is increasing every day. This means that your knowledge must also increase to keep up.

Expand Your Mind

This brings us to a very important point on intelligence, information, and lifelong learning.
There are three different kinds of education that you can acquire, either deliberately or in a random fashion. These three kinds of learning are maintenance learning, growth learning, and shock learning and I’ll go into detail below.

1) Maintenance Learning

Maintenance learning refers to you keeping current with your field.
This keeps you on pace and prevents you from falling behind. Many people think that reading an occasional book and keeping current with blogs and newsletters is the equivalent of adding to their education.
This is not the case…
Maintenance learning is the same as checking the stock market reports each day to find out the sales prices of various stocks and securities. This information does not add to your knowledge of the companies, the market, or the investment potential of a particular stock.
Maintenance learning is absolutely essential. It’s similar to light physical exercise that keeps you at a particular level of fitness. It won’t increase your level of fitness or improve your conditioning in any way, but it will keep you in shape.

2) Growth Learning

This is the kind of learning that adds knowledge and skills to your repertoire that you did not have before.
Growth learning helps you expand your mind. You’re acquiring information that you didn’t have that enables you to do things that you could not do previously. Some of the very best thinkers in the world today are producing some of the very best material and ideas that you can use for continuous education and to help you expand your mind.
You can find this information by doing a quick search online. You can discover great ideas by listening to podcasts, reading blogs, and reading books. You can discover incredible information without having to buy anything at all.

3) Shock Learning

Shock learning is learning that contradicts or reverses a piece of knowledge or understanding that you already have.
Shock learning can be extremely valuable if you act upon it.
Peter Drucker, in his book Innovation and Entrepreneurship, said that the primary sources of innovation in a company are the unexpected succesess or the unexpected failures. Something that happens that is completely inconsistent with the expectations of what should have happened.
This “shock” can give you insights that can enable you to either take advantage of a major change in the marketplace or guard against a serious reversal.
Unfortunately, most people are creatures of habit. When something happens that is completely unexpected, they choose to ignore it in favor of the old information with which they are more comfortable. Don’t be afraid of change.
Always change and adapt.

Dedicate Yourself to Continuous Education

Knowledge is the primary source of value in our world today. Your ability to expand your mind and devote yourself to lifelong learning is the key to breaking any success barriers that may be in front of you.

HOW TO UNLEARN THE FEAR OF FAILURE

What scares you?
There are many fears that interfere with our happiness. We fear:

• Loss of of love
• Loss of job and financial security
• Embarrassment or ridicule
• Criticism of any kind
• Loss of respect

BUT did you know that the fear of failure is the single greatest obstacle to success in adult life?
Failing brings about feelings of disappointment, frustration, regret, and shame. The most common reaction when you have fear of failure is having the attitude of, “I can’t, I can’t.”
Nobody wants to fail. But having a fear of it will cause you to become so preoccupied with avoiding failure that it overrides your motivation to succeed. If you have a fear of any of the things listed above, what you’re really afraid of is failure.
And this fear will only paralyze action, making you play it safe all the time and settling for far less than you are truly capable of having.
The second major fear that holds you back from success is the fear of rejection.
All fears are learned. No one is born with fears. We learn the fear of rejection when our parents make their love conditional upon our behavior. If we do what pleases them, they give us love and approval. If we do something they don’t like, they withdraw their love and approval, which we interpret as rejection.
As adults, this conditional love causes us to become preoccupied with the opinions of others. We may have developed Type A behavior where we are hostile, suspicious, and obsessed with performance to some undetermined high standard.
The most common attitude with the fear of rejection is, “I have to, I have to,” and it is associated with the feeling that “I have to work harder and accomplish more in order to please the boss” or anyone with authority over you who has become a “surrogate parent.”
Overcome these two major fears and fuel your success with courage, character, and self-esteem.
The antidote to fear is actually love, self-love, and self-respect. Acting with courage in a fearful situation is simply a technique that boosts our regard for ourselves to such a degree that our fears subside and lose their ability to affect our behavior and our decisions.
As it happens, it is not the experience of failure or rejection that holds you back. You have failed and been rejected countless times in life and it hasn’t done you any permanent damage. So resolve today to not let this terrible emotion undermine your happiness and hold you back anymore.
Increase your self-esteem and self-confidence in 2 steps:

1. Realize and accept you can do anything you put your mind to. Repeat the words, “I can do it! I can do it!” whenever you feel afraid for any reason.
   
2. Continually think of yourself as a valuable and important person. Remember, temporary failure is the way you learn how to succeed.

That’s all from me this week, and I’d like to leave you with this quote:

"Failure is a prerequisite for great success. If you want to succeed faster, double your rate of failure."

7 HABITS OF SUCCESSFUL ENTREPRENEURS

Successful entrepreneurs can radically improve the world on multiple fronts — they help grow the economy, inspire innovation, and create companies that elevate everyone involved.
If making a difference in this way sounds appealing to you, you just might have what it takes to be a successful entrepreneur. But here's a secret: to be a successful entrepreneur you don't have to reinvent the wheel.
To start your own business, you need specific disciplines that are practiced by all entrepreneurs and self-made business millionaires.
One of the fastest ways to develop these disciplines is to think like an entrepreneur. And perhaps the two most important habits you can develop are those of speed and flexibility.
Speed - To move quickly on opportunities or problemsLarge companies tend to move slowly, but entrepreneurs have the advantage of speed. In today’s busy world that always seems to be filled with unnecessary but time-consuming tasks, time can be more valuable than gold. The faster you can make decisions, adjust strategies, get to market... the greater the edge you'll have in whatever market you enter.
Flexibility - To try again and again. Then be willing to try something else
Most things that you try in business will not succeed the first time or even the second or third time. As Dwight D. Eisenhower said, "In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable." So, while all your plans may fall through in some way, keep planning and attempting new endeavors because experience can be your best teacher.
There are seven more habits that all entrepreneurs regularly work on. They think in terms of:

1. Increasing Productivity - Look for ways to do more with less and to get more out at a lower cost.
2. Customer Satisfaction - What has to happen for your customers to be so happy with you that they buy again and tell their friends?
3. Profitability - Many businesses focus too much on the top line and gross sales, rather than on the bottom line and net profits.
4. Quality - Customers only buy a product or service because they feel that it is of higher quality in some way than other competitors.
5. People Building - All productivity, profitability, sales, and fulfillment come from your people. Your ability to select them and then to motivate and inspire them is essential for your success.
6. Organizational Development - Constantly look for ways to organize and reorganize your business so that it functions more efficiently and effectively in getting the results you desire.
7. Continuous Innovation - Fully 80% of products and services being sold today will be obsolete within five years or less. Develop and produce product and service innovations as a regular part of your business.

Again, after decades of personal experience and coaching, I’ve discovered that it is up to you to carefully examine your strengths and dedicate yourself to learning if you want this rewarding career path.

THE IMPACT OF ONE POWERFUL IDEA

How many times have you had a brilliant idea pop into your head, only to be consumed by the multitudes of other brilliant ideas swirling around in your brain on a constant basis? How often do we have a strike of inspiration and write it down on a sticky note, only to then lose track of it and never do anything to complete it?
As thought-leaders, we often are champions of casting vision. However, the number of things pulling for our daily attention make it far less likely to bring those visions to completion. If you took a look at your journal, iPhone notes or voice memos, would there be a ton of ideas that you never took the time to develop? I’m guessing, if you’re the same as me, then the answer is yes.
So, how on earth do we move forward in creating our Legacy when we have so many ideas floating around in our heads?
I would like to pose this question to you: in casting a clear vision, have we combined two processes that should have been kept separate? Often, we are all familiar with the brainstorming process (ideation). However, we are often at a loss for a process for creating clarity of thought. How do we change this pattern and take steps toward finishing projects that we are proud of?
Let’s evaluate a system used to create structure for books and keynote speeches, called the Story Inventory System.
When helping authors structure keynote speeches, we use a system called the Story Inventory System. Developing new ideas for writing a book or speech is easier than you might think when you follow these steps.
The pros in the professional speaking industry leverage their key ideas for speeches by creating an inventory of their key stories. They develop these ideas from brainstorming, interviews, life experiences, inspirational stories and studying other thinkers.
Then from the inventory of key stories they choose to communicate, the pros select which stories support their core ideas for each keynote speech. If you are working up ideas for a speech or a book, you can use this system to develop and illustrate your content. The concept to remember is this: you never tell a story without making a point, and never make a point without telling a story. Here’s how:

• Brainstorm an inventory of ideas that you want to write or speak about. Don’t stop until you get a list of 25 to 50 ideas.
• List three bullet points for each idea, which are the main points you want to communicate for each idea.
• Craft a story that encapsulates each point you want to make. The stories can come from your own life experience, or you can borrow stories from friends, celebrities or even historical figures.
• Rehearse telling these stories in 2-4 minutes per story. I find little pockets of unused time to practice these stories, such as in the shower or behind the wheel of my car.

Writing a speech with this system is easy. First, take a look at the master theme of the event where you are speaking. Next, look at the inventory of stories you developed—your story inventory. Then pull stories from your inventory that work together to support the flow of your speech.
After you have had a brainstorming session through the Story Inventory System, pick a single idea and make it your highest priority to bring life and depth to that point. Are you sitting down to write an article, speech or song? Set apart time to work solely on it, from start to finish. Move away from distractions. When you are feeling stuck, the temptation is often to jump to something else that better captures your attention.
What if this resistance was actually telling you that what you are working on currently is very significant, and if you move onto something else you might miss out on the opportunity to complete something that is life-changing? We often encounter the most creative blocks when we are creating something that is important.
When working on a project or building our personal legacy, the questions remain the same: what is it that you want to be known for? What is it exactly that you are trying to articulate? Are you being clear and concise about the point you are trying to make? Who is your intended audience?
If you are unsure about the direction you want to go, the emotion you want to evoke or the people you are speaking to, it will translate in your work. Take time to make sure that you aren’t combining two ideas that should be separated into different pieces. Ask someone if they understand where you’re trying to go and what you’re trying to say, and if they are unclear, it’s time to sit down and re-write.
As you create a clear foundation upon which to build, it should be clear where to set your intentions. You’ll see a staggering progression in your professional life as you get clear on your foundation.
The power of a SINGLE idea is this: there is a rare beauty in the simplicity of thought.

HOW TO WRITE YOUR PERSONAL MISSION STATEMENT

Do you know why you are working as hard as you are? What that driving reason is behind everything you do?
We call that reason your personal mission.
A personal mission is something big and exciting that gives higher meaning and purpose to your life. You may have a noble cause for doing what you do or you may have a completely selfish reason, but being able to identify your "why" is one of the most important things you can do for yourself.
If you look back at all the most influential people through history and study their actions, you should be able to easily identify their personal missions.
For example, Oprah Winfrey’s mission is: “to be a teacher and to be known for inspiring her students to be more than they thought they could be.” This statement has led her to become a media mogul who has helped millions of people through her philanthropic efforts as well as educate the world by producing her own television network.
Mother Teresa’s mission was simple: “to comfort the dying.” This led her to a life of helping people in any way she could through the lens of Catholicism.
So, do you know yours?
Everyone comes into this world with a special mission to make an extraordinary difference. The moment you start thinking about your mission is your life's great turning point. 
Your mission often emerges from within yourself. It’s something that starts to call to you, almost like distant music. To figure out what is calling to you, ask yourself these questions:

What do I really want to do with my life?
What moves me emotionally?

What do I feel passionate about?

As you answer these questions and start to define your mission, you have to imagine you have no limitations — you have all the money, talents, skills, and people you need. People like to say, “I’d like to do this, but I can’t because…” When you think through these questions, imagine you have a magic wand that gets rid of any of those limitations.
Lastly, you need to be very clear what difference your mission is going to make. It doesn’t have to be big, but it has to be accomplishable. Here are 3 steps to writing your mission statement:

1. "My mission is to [what you intend to do and for whom you intend to do it]."
2. "I achieve my mission by [the activities you will engage in]."
3. "I will know that I have achieved my mission when [the measures you will use to determine if you have achieved your mission]."

As an example, here's MY mission statement:
My mission is to help people achieve their goals faster than they would in the absence of my help, which I will achieve by teaching essential skills that enable individuals to vastly exceed their previous levels of accomplishment and I will measure success by helping more than 100,000 people every year live the life they’ve always wanted.
That’s all from me this week, and I’d like to leave you with this quote:

Your inner voice will ultimately guide you to say and do the right things at the right time.

5 ESSENTIAL POSITIVE CHARACTER TRAITS FOR A BETTER LIFE

You have everything within you to achieve your best life possible.
The great thing is that all success is learnable. You can learn any character traits to make yourself a more successful person.
There are many ways that you can become successful and many different meanings of the word success. Here are five important, character traits that one must learn to develop to achieve success and a better life.

1) Common Sense

The first and most important of the personal qualities needed for success is, common sense. It is said that the average person has an enormous amount of common sense because he or she hasn’t used any of it yet.
Common sense seems to be something that a person accumulates as the result of experience over a long period of time.
Common sense is defined as the, “Ability to cut to the core of a matter, to recognize and deal with the essential elements of a problem or a situation, rather than getting sidetracked by smaller issues or symptoms.”
Another definition of common sense is, “The ability to learn from experience and then to apply those lessons to subsequent experiences.”
Common sense was seen as the core of all personal qualities that enabled a person to become increasingly more effective over time.

2) Be Good at What You Do

The second of all the personal qualities needed for success is that of expertise. Most successful people are very good at what they do and they know they are very good.
They have learned, practiced, reflected, and have gotten better and better until they are recognized by their peers as being among the very best in their fields.
This feeling of being the best is an absolute prerequisite for achieving a better life and it starts with great self-confidence.

3) Self-Reliance

Men and women who are respected by others tend to look primarily towards themselves for the answers to their questions and for the solutions to their problems. They are highly self-responsible.
They do not blame others or make excuses when things go wrong. They regard themselves as the primary creative forces in their own lives.
They volunteer for tough assignments, and they are willing to take charge when something needs to be done.

4) Intelligence Is More Than IQ

Intelligence seems to be a key requirement for success in any field. However, intelligence is not necessarily measured in terms of IQ.
Many of the most notable men and women alive today did poorly in school. They got low grades or no grades, and many of them had not completed university or even high school. Do not let something such as IQ hold you back. There is nothing that you can’t learn with knowledge.

5) Become Results-Oriented

This means that you know that you are capable of getting the results for which you are responsible. All highly respected men and women are recognized as being the kind of people who can get the job done, whatever it is. They are invariably decisive, result oriented people.
They are highly results-oriented because they have a bias for action and a sense of urgency. They have trained themselves to be extremely capable of doing whatever is required. Bigger and better jobs and responsibilities seem to flow to them. The world tends to step aside and make way for the person who knows what he or she is doing and knows where he or she is going.

For a Better Life, Get in Tune With Your Best Positive Character Traits

One of the most intelligent things that you can do is to get better at the most important things you do to get the results that determine your success. The better your results, the higher the chances are of you achieving a better life for yourself. By becoming intensely results-oriented, you will secure a better life for yourself.

THE IMPORTANCE OF HONESTY AND INTEGRITY IN BUSINESS

Why is integrity important in leadership?
Having honesty and integrity in the workplace is one of the most important qualities of great leadership in business and I am going to tell you why…

Integrity in Business and How it Translates to Success

Whenever I hold a strategic planning session, the first value that all the executives agree on is integrity. Leaders know that honesty and integrity are the foundations of leadership. Leaders stand up for what they believe in.
For example, Jon Huntsman, Sr. is a multibillionaire who started a chemical company from scratch and grew it into a $12 billion enterprise. His book, Winners Never Cheat, is filled with stories taken from his own experience in which he steadfastly refused to compromise his principles. Huntsman says that integrity is the reason that he has been as successful as he is.
“There are no moral shortcuts in the game of business or life,” he writes. “There are, basically, three kinds of people, the unsuccessful, the temporarily successful, and those who become and remain successful. The difference is character.”

Great Leaders Never Compromise Their Honesty and Integrity By Cheating

There are many examples of temporary winners who won by cheating. For a number of years, Enron was cited as one of America’s most innovating and daring companies. The CEO of the company knew the most important people in the country, including the President of the United States. Except that Enron’s success was built on lies, and the “winners” who headed the company are case studies in lack of integrity.

Integrity Means Doing the Right Thing Because It’s the Right Thing to Do

Leaders with integrity may not be the most famous or flashy of leaders, and they don’t care. Integrity means doing the right thing because it is the right thing to do. And that’s what makes success.

Importance of Integrity in Giving and Keeping Promises

Leaders keep their promises. They give promises carefully, even reluctantly, but once they have given that promise, they follow through on that promise without fail. And they always tell the truth.
Jack Welch calls it “candor.” He believes that if you are afraid of candor, then you don’t have the guts to be an effective leader. You are going to surround yourself with yes people who will say what you want to hear instead of saying the truth.

Leaders With Integrity Aren’t Afraid of the Truth

Leaders with integrity is not afraid to face the truth. This is called the reality principle, or “seeing the world as it really is, not as you wish it to be.” It is perhaps the most important principle of leadership and dependent on integrity because it demands truthfulness and honesty. Many companies and organizations fail because they don’t follow the reality principle.
Integrity means telling the truth even if the truth is ugly. Better to be honest than to delude others, because then you are probably deluding yourself, too.
Leaders need to be courageous, but they also need to be open to the idea that they could be wrong. There are many leaders who eventually fail because they refuse to question their own assumptions or conclusions.

“Errant assumptions lie at the root of every failure.” – Alec Mackenzie

There’s a difference between being confident and blind. Let’s face it, in today’s world of rapid change, there is a possibility that you are partially wrong or even completely wrong. Maybe you are not wrong, but just opening yourself to to that possibility is going to make you a more effective leader because it will open your mind to new ideas or new thinking.

Conclusion

There should be no exceptions to honesty and integrity. Integrity is a state of mind and is not situational. If you compromise your integrity in small situations with little consequence, then it becomes very easy to compromise on the small situations.
Leaders with integrity always err on the side of fairness, especially when other people are unfair. As a matter of fact, the true mark of leadership is how fair you can be when other people are treating you unfairly.

5 QUALITIES OF SUCCESSFUL ENTREPRENEURS

Are there certain qualities that all successful entrepreneurs share?
After years of personal experience and coaching, I’ve discovered that entrepreneurs share very similar qualities that make them successful. Fortunately, all of these qualities can be learned. It is up to you to carefully examine your strengths and dedicate yourself to learning.
How do these traits match up to your own?

1) Self-Discipline

The first trait that all successful entrepreneurs must possess is self-discipline. Self-discipline is the single most important quality for success in life and business. If you can discipline yourself to do what you should do, whether you feel like it or not, your success is virtually guaranteed. Self-discipline requires self-mastery, self-control, self-responsibility, and self-direction.
The difference between successful entrepreneurs and failures is that successful entrepreneurs make a habit of doing the things that failures don’t like to do.
What are those things?
The things that failures don’t like to do are the same things that successful people don’t like to do. But, successful entrepreneurs do them anyways because they realize that this is the price they must pay for the success they desire.

2) Integrity

The second trait that all successful entrepreneurs must possess is integrity.
Perhaps the most valued and respected quality you can develop is a reputation for absolute integrity. Be perfectly honest in everything you do and in every transaction and activity. Never compromise your integrity. Remember that your word is your bond and your honor is everything when it comes to your business. All successful business is based on trust.
Your success in becoming an entrepreneur will be determined solely by the number of people who trust you, are willing to work for you, give you credit, lend you money, buy your products and services, and help you during difficult times. Your character is the most important asset that you develop in your entire life, and your character is based on the amount of integrity you practice. 

3) Persistence

The third trait that all successful entrepreneurs must possess is persistence. Persistence is the iron quality of character. Persistence is to the character of man as carbon is to steel. It is an indispensable quality that goes hand in hand with all great success in life.
Here is one of the great secrets to persistence and success: Program your subconscious mind for persistence well in advance of the setbacks and disappointments that you are going to have on your upward quest toward success.
Resolve in advance that you will never give up, no matter what happens.  The courage to persist in the face of adversity and disappointment is the one quality that, more than anything, will guarantee your success.
Your greatest asset can be your willingness to persevere longer than anyone else. In fact, your persistence is a true measure of your belief in yourself and your ability to success.

4) A Clear Sense of Direction

The fourth trait that all successful entrepreneurs must possess is a clear sense of direction.
Because of the turbulence and rapid change in today’s marketplace, most business owners have been reduced to operating day-by-day, almost like firefighters.
They are totally preoccupied with short-term problems and the need to get short-term sales and profits. They intend to spend more time thinking and planning for the future, but they don’t ever seem to get around to it.
This is not for successful business owners. You need to set clear targets for yourself and for every part of your business. In fact, perhaps your most important responsibility to your people is to give them a clear sense of direction in their work.

5) Decisive and Action Oriented

The final trait that all successful entrepreneurs must possess is being decisive and action-oriented. They must think and make decisions quickly. They discipline themselves to take action and to carry out the decisions they have made. They move fast and they get quick feedback from their actions. If they find they have made a mistake, they quickly self-correct and try something else.
The key to triumph is for you to try.
Successful people are decisive and they try far more things than other people do.
If you try far more different ways to be successful, the odds are that you will eventually find the right way for you, at the right time.

 

HOW TO FIND YOUR PURPOSE IN LIFE

Life’s a journey.

And some of the most important questions you can ever ask yourself during your journey are:

Why am I here?

What do I really, really want in life?

Where am I going?

Successful people spend the most time thinking about these questions, then constantly evaluate and re-evaluate their progress in light of who they are and what they really want.

Let me tell you a quick story about the Acres of Diamonds philosophy…

Based on a talk by Russell Conwell, this philosophy tells the story of an African farmer who sold his farm to look for diamonds, only to later discover that the farm he sold was literally covered with acres of diamonds.
He’d gone off to seek wealth elsewhere without ever looking under his own feet.

The problem was that diamonds look like chunks of rocks that need to be cut and shaped to bring out their beauty and value.
So much like your own life, there are diamonds or “opportunities” under your own feet, but they may be disguised as hard work or something else entirely.

In our fast-paced, unpredictable, cluttered world, finding your purpose may not always be easy. But it’s central to everything you do and become. You may feel that you are controlled by external circumstances. But the fact is that your life is largely determined by your own personal choices and decisions.

So make the decision now to find your purpose and throw your whole heart into it. The worst way to go about your journey is spending years scrambling up the ladder of success only to find that it’s leaning against the wrong building.

Your purpose is usually the one goal that will help you achieve more of your other goals than anything else. So it must be…

1. Something that you personally want - The very idea of achieving your purpose should excite you and makes you happy.
   
2. Clear and specific - You must be able to write it down and define it in words with such clarity that a child could read it.
   
3. Measurable and quantifiable - Rather than “I want to make my own money,” your purpose must read more like, “I will own a profitable business that makes $250K/year by July 2018.”
   
4. Believable and achievable - It cannot be so big or ridiculous that it is completely unattainable.
   
5. A reasonable probability of success - Your purpose should have an 80-90% probability of success so that you can be assured of winning right from the start.
   
6. In harmony with your goals - You cannot have a purpose of helping people with a goal to play golf by yourself most of the time.

You were put on this earth to do something wonderful with your life. Your job is to find out what that is -- you may have found it early on in your life, or you may have to cut and shape some diamonds of your own.

Let me tell you another story about a 14-year-old girl from Switzerland who recently met with Brian Tracy.

After a rough turn in her pursuit to be a gymnast, she found her purpose and achieved so much for her age already.

Get inspired by her story:

USE THE 4 LEVELS OF CUSTOMER SATISFACTION TO BUILD CUSTOMER LOYALTY

The ability to satisfy your customers to gain customer loyalty is the critical determinant of your success in driving sales and growing your business.
There are four levels of customer satisfaction, all based on the degree to which you meet customer expectations. The higher the level you achieve, the more you will build customer loyalty and the greater your success.

Level One: Meet Customer Expectations

The minimum requirement to simply stay in business—to survive—is to meet the expectations of your customers.
At this level, your customers have no complaints. They are satisfied for the moment, but at this point, customer loyalty doesn’t exist.
If a competitor demonstrates that it can and will do more than merely meet their expectations, your customer will very quickly become an ex-customer.
Moreover, if you fail to meet their expectations, they will leave and give their customer loyalty to someone who can.
It can be helpful to observe your local merchants, the true entrepreneurs.

Level Two: Exceed Customer Expectations

This higher level of customer satisfaction is reached by surprising your customers. You must go beyond what they expect.
Fast, friendly, and good customer service, followed up by a phone call to ensure customer satisfaction, might put you into this category.
The second level of customer satisfaction moves you beyond mere survival. Exceeding expectations builds a measure of customer loyalty and gives you an edge over your competitors.
It can also increase your profitability.
Customers who experience the kind of service that exceeds their expectations are often willing to pay for it. This enables the supplier to raise prices and thus improve profit margins.

Level Three: Delight Your Customer

Have you ever experienced a level of good customer service that not only exceeded your expectations but actually brought a smile to your face?
A customer served at this level is truly delighted. Not only have the customer’s basic needs been met or exceeded, but they have been touched emotionally.
Once customers have enjoyed this experience, you will gain customer loyalty. It will be very difficult for a competitor to pry them away.
When you delight your customers, you are on the way to creating an exceptional and highly profitable business.
There are countless cost-effective ways to delight your customers and build your customer loyalty. It can be as simple as a follow-up phone call.
To delight your customer is to show that you care about them. No wonder it brings a smile to their face!
The greater your success in delighting your customers and providing good customer service, the greater success you will enjoy in your business.

Level Four: Amaze Your Customer

This fourth level of customer satisfaction is what will propel your business above and beyond.
It requires you to not only to meet and exceed your customer’s expectations but delight and amaze them.
When you are able to amaze your customers regularly, you will be in a position to dominate the marketplace.
You will achieve remarkable rates of revenue growth and profitability.

Examine Your Own Business

Examine your own business. How might you amaze your customers? What things could you improve? If you’re having trouble acquiring customers, download my free sales prospecting checklist. There are some good tips in it to help you with new customers and retain ones that you already have.