Tuesday, April 06, 2010

Focus on the Prize

Jim Meinsenheimer sent this email last year. It is timeless:

You might want to checkout a new page on my website. This page is loaded with sales tips for you.

You can read 'em and save 'em!

http://www.startsellingmore.com/sales-tips-plus.html

When The Going Gets Tough -
Stay Focused

Whenever I come across a good sales tip or selling
strategy, I put them in a composition notebook.
I have 11 of these books filled with ideas, clippings,
and quotations.

Last week I reviewed my notes from 1994.

I remember this like it was yesterday. It was an
incredible, unbelievable, and memorable happening.

The New York City Marathon is run the first Sunday
in November. This year will be the 40th anniversary.

First of all running a marathon (26.2 miles) is not
for the timid and the scatterbrained.

To win this race you have to stay focused for 26.2 miles.

Winning isn't everything, but finishing first says
something about the runner.

German Silver, from Mexico, was running shoulder to
shoulder with his countryman Benjamin Paredes.

Okay, so far so good.

With less than 1 mile to the finish line Silva made
the wrong turn. Instead of turning right on 8th Ave.
he turned right on 7th Ave. which was about 200 yards
early.

It cost him 40 meters and 12 seconds and almost kept
him from the winner's circle.

He didn't panic - he stayed focused.

After the race Silva said, "I decided to catch up."

He also said, "For one minute I was thinking, yes I
lost the race."

But he stayed focused and decided, "But if you haven't
crossed the finish line, you have a possibility."

He won by 2 seconds, the closest finish in New York
Marathon history up to that point.

German Silva is a poster boy for "Never give up!"

The next time things aren't going your way think about
what German Silva accomplished with less than 1/2 mile
to the finish line.

If you haven't crossed the finish line, there's still
a possibility for you too.

That's the story and here's the point. The first
six-months of 2009 are history. The second half of the
race has just begun for you.

Regardless of your year-to-date performance to your
sales quota, nothing is impossible unless you agree
that it is.

Screw the recession - you have a race to win!