The non-secret of achieving success. Self-confidence.

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If you want to gain NEW self-confidence, look for OLD information. Old is often new.

My morning read consisted of this passage from Napoleon Hill’s immortal book, Think and Grow Rich. It was all about self-confidence. And as I head into the new year, I want to make certain that I have a full dose of it.

It dawned on me that this subject would probably be the least written about coming into the new year. You will most likely receive 100 emails about how to set goals, and how to have your best year ever, and other secret formulas to attract wealth and fame.

It further dawned on me that none of these formulas or goal-setting instructions are worth a penny unless they are accompanied by your self-confidence. Unwavering self-confidence.

It further dawned on me that you probably never read Hill’s self-confidence formula. And now that the book is copyright free, I thought it would be more than appropriate to share with you now.

Here is “The Self Confidence Formula” from Napoleon Hill’s Think and Grow Rich:

First. I know that I have the ability to achieve the object of my Definite Purpose in life, therefore, I DEMAND of myself persistent, continuous action toward its attainment, and I here and now promise to render such action.

Second. I realize the dominating thoughts of my mind will eventually reproduce themselves in outward, physical action, and gradually transform themselves into physical reality; therefore, I will concentrate my thoughts for thirty minutes daily, upon the task of thinking of the person I intend to become thereby creating in my mind a clear mental picture of that person.

Third. I know through the principle of autosuggestion, any desire that I persistently hold in my mind will eventually seek expression through some practical means of attaining the object back of it, therefore, I will devote ten minutes daily to demanding of myself the development of SELF CONFIDENCE.

Fourth. I have clearly written down a description of my DEFINITE CHIEF AIM in life, and I will never stop trying, until I shall have developed sufficient self-confidence for its attainment.

Fifth. I fully realize that no wealth or position can long endure. Unless built upon truth and justice therefore, I will engage in no transaction which does not benefit all whom it affects. I will succeed by attraction to myself the forces I wish to use, and the cooperation of other people. I will induce others to serve me, because of my willingness to serve others. I will eliminate hatred, envy, jealousy, selfishness, and cynicism, but developing love for all humanity; because I know that a negative attitude toward others can never bring me success. I will cause others to believe in me, because I will believe in them and in myself.

I will sign my name to this formula, commit it to memory and repeat it aloud once a day, with full FAITH that It will gradually influence my THOUGHTS and ACTIONS so that I will become a self-reliant, and successful person.

WOW! What an inspirational read. Seventy-five year-old advice that is more relevant today than the day it was written.

It further dawned on me that there are probably 1,000 other self-confidence quotes that I could learn from. And that mother Google would help me find them in a millisecond. I read about 100.

Here are the best ones:

“The secret of making dreams come true can be summarized in four C’s. They are Curiosity, Confidence, Courage, and Constancy; and the greatest of these is Confidence.”
Walt Disney

“If you once forfeit the confidence of your fellow citizens, you can never regain their respect and esteem. It is true that you may fool all of the people some of the time; you can even fool some of the people all of the time; but you can’t fool all of the people all of the time.”
Abraham Lincoln

“Confidence is the most important single factor in this game, and no matter how great your natural talent, there is only one way to obtain and sustain it: work.”
Jack Nicklaus

“Self-confidence is the first requisite to great undertakings.”
Samuel Johnson

“Without a humble but reasonable confidence in your own powers you cannot be successful or happy.”
Norman Vincent Peale

“With realization of one’s own potential and self-confidence in one’s ability, one can build a better world.”
Dalai Lama

“The way to develop self-confidence is to do the thing you fear and get a record of successful experiences behind you.”
William Jennings Bryan

“One important key to success is self-confidence. An important key to self-confidence is preparation.”
Arthur Ashe

“If you have no confidence in self, you are twice defeated in the race of life. With confidence, you have won even before you have started.”
Marcus Tullius Cicero

Wishing you a self-confident New Year. May it bring you all of the achievement you’re hoping for, and all of the success that you are striving for.

Reprinted with permission from Jeffrey H. Gitomer and Buy Gitomer.

About the Author

Jeffrey GitomerJeffrey Gitomer is the author of The Sales Bible, Customer Satisfaction is Worthless Customer Loyalty is Priceless, The Little Red Book of Selling, The Little Red Book of Sales Answers, The Little Black Book of Connections, The Little Gold Book of YES! Attitude, The Little Green Book of Getting Your Way, The Little Platinum Book of Cha-Ching, The Little Teal Book of Trust, The Little Book of Leadership, and Social BOOM! His website, www.gitomer.com, will lead you to more information about training and seminars, or email him personally at [email protected].

To ensure promptness. An old and new tradition.

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Ever leave a tip?

Sure you have. And most of the time, the amount of the tip is based on the perceived service or quality. Sometimes it’s a combination of qualities: food plus server’s performance.

But these days, tipping has changed. Everyone seems to have his or her hand out, asking – no, begging – for more money. If you go into a Starbucks, there’s the familiar plastic bin by the cash register that’s always filled to some varying degree with change and a few bucks. Sometimes it’s a jar. Sometimes it’s a fish bowl, but it’s ever present where you see a counter and some servers.

What these people are really saying is, “My company doesn’t pay me enough, so I need to beg you for more.”

Now I know this seems a bit harsh. But the bottom line is, the company that employs them is making huge profits while their front-line people are predominantly the lowest paid people. Seems backwards.

People on the front lines are always the lowest paid. I wish I understood it, but I don’t. No, I’m not a socialist, but I am a pragmatist.

That’s one way of looking at tipping. Let’s take a look at another way. Suppose everybody NOT on the front lines of service, who still serve customers face-to-face or on the phone, had to EARN tips.

Ever go to an airport? If you’re like me, and you check a bag (or two), you go to a skycap or stand in line inside the airport. Skycaps work for tips. Ticket counter people don’t.

I tip skycaps liberally. The skycaps at the airport in Charlotte, North Carolina, my home airport, are the best in the United States. They’re friendly. They’re helpful. And they don’t have a jar out. They do the same excellent job whether they’re tipped or not.

Ticket counter people are inconsistent. Sometimes they’re great. Sometimes they’re rude and less than helpful.

Suppose everybody in the airport had to work for tips.

Ever been in an airport and had a rude person at a ticket counter? At a gate? As a flight attendant? In baggage claim?

Can you imagine if those people HAD to work for tips? At the end of a work day, rude people would go home with no money and be griping to their significant other about what lousy tippers there are at the airport. Never for one second thinking that maybe their lousy service, and poor attitude contributed to their negligible income.

But wait! There’s more! Think of all the other rude people in the world. What about the administrative people in a doctor’s office? Would you tip them? What about gatekeepers when you’re making a cold call? Would you tip them? What about sales clerks who ignore you when you’re shopping? Would you tip them?

At the root of a tip is friendliness, helpfulness and service. But there’s a secret. In order to perform this, you have to have the desire to serve. You have to display the pride that goes along with giving great service.

No great server is ever going to say, “I’m doing the best I can,” or “they don’t pay me enough to do that.”

The point here is that service has nothing to do with companies. Service has everything to do with people who work at the companies.

The doorman is friendly because he works on tips. The bellman is friendly because he works on tips. So, why doesn’t the front desk clerk work on tips?

It’s interesting to note that many bellman work at hotels for years, while front desk clerks turn over in their position sometimes as much as 400% in a year.

Tips on tipping: (And getting tipped, even if it’s not in the form of money)
1. Start with a smile.
2. Engage in a friendly manner.
3. Offer to help others sincerely and without expectation.
4. Tell them how nice it was to serve them.
4.5 Thank them for being your customer.

If you feel like giving someone a tip (even though they don’t accept them) you know you’ve gotten good service.

Tips don’t always have to be money. For example, I often give a signed copy of my book to people I feel went above and beyond their duty. For you, if you haven’t written your book yet, it might be dried flowers from your garden, something that you made, or a keepsake that cost a buck or two. You can find tons of them at little gift stores. A small gift is most often better than a monetary tip because it’s from the heart.

But the best tip you can give to others is a kind word of thanks, and a compliment like, “WOW, you really did a great job” or “I really appreciate your great service.” People love hearing compliments from customers, because they rarely, if ever, hear them from their boss.

One last tip: Rate yourself after every transaction with a customer. Did you serve well enough to get tipped? IDEA: Perform all interactions with customers as though your income depended on it.

Reprinted with permission from Jeffrey H. Gitomer and Buy Gitomer.

About the Author

Jeffrey GitomerJeffrey Gitomer is the author of The Sales Bible, Customer Satisfaction is Worthless Customer Loyalty is Priceless, The Little Red Book of Selling, The Little Red Book of Sales Answers, The Little Black Book of Connections, The Little Gold Book of YES! Attitude, The Little Green Book of Getting Your Way, The Little Platinum Book of Cha-Ching, The Little Teal Book of Trust, The Little Book of Leadership, and Social BOOM! His website, www.gitomer.com, will lead you to more information about training and seminars, or email him personally at [email protected].

The ‘Art’ and ‘Lessons’ of Shopping for Bargains.

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I’m spending the day at Marché aux Puces, the antique flea markets of Paris. Also known as the “Puces” or “MAP,” it hosts 14 named market areas that offer an authentic and one-of-a-kind atmosphere. The market, steeped in history, brings together antique dealers, designers, artisans, artists, and customers from all over the world.

It’s a powerful business location. Picture 2,500 antique dealers ready and willing to sell items ranging from bric-a-brac and advertising memorabilia, to designer jewelry and handbags, vintage fashion and furniture, all the way to museum quality pieces dating back centuries.

It’s more than the eye can imagine, and way more than the wallet can afford.

I’m bringing my ‘A game’ to the market because the sellers are both seasoned and knowledgeable. It’s clearly a ‘buyer beware’ market and cash trumps credit cards by as much as 20%.

NOTE: There are three types of sales prices at the market. ‘Retail,’ ‘negotiated,’ and ‘wholesale.’ Retail prices are for the unsuspecting customer who’s willing to pay what is marked on the item or what the dealer asks for. Negotiated prices are for the savvy buyer who is able to negotiate the listed price and pay something he or she is more comfortable with. Wholesale prices represent the real amount the seller is willing take to part with his cherished item.

Of course, I’m trying to buy things between with a price somewhere between negotiated and wholesale. Meanwhile the dealer is trying to sell at a price somewhere between retail and negotiated.

Let the games begin!

After buying a few negotiated items, as luck would have it, I ran into the great Michael Andrew Wilson, a longtime friend and professional shopper.

To give you a frame of reference, Michael purchased all of the furnishings for every Ralph Lauren store in Europe. He has spent millions of euros at this market, and every seller and dealer knows him personally. You can learn more about Michael by reading his blog at http://mawparis.wordpress.com

I’ve been to the market 20 times. Michael has been to the market 1,000 times. He knows everyone. I know no one. But by walking around with him, I had ‘wholesale’ prices wrapped up.

One other advantage that Michael has: he speaks fluent French. I speak broken French without verbs. When the buyer and the seller speak the same language it’s much easier to complete an agreed-upon transaction. It’s also much easier to haggle for a lower price.

All in all, it’s a buyer’s marketplace UNLESS the buyer wants something bad. And, if the seller is savvy he or she will hold out until they find out how bad the buyer wants it. Luckily, those sellers are few and far between.

Most of the dealers at the market fully realize their sale is of the moment, and when a buyer walks away it’s likely they will never return. The more conversation the seller engages in, the more questions the seller asks, and the more the buyer feels like they’re getting a ‘deal,’ the more likely it is that the customer will part with cash.

The seller’s fatal flaw is also the buyer’s fatal flaw. It’s impatience and the need for immediate gratification. The more profitable sale is exactly the opposite. It’s patience combined with extended emotional engagement.

Which kind of seller are you? How would you be able to win the sale over 2,499 other competitors, all within walking distance on a sunny day in Paris. To me the answers are obvious, but maybe that’s because I’ve been there many times before.

Let me share a few with you so you might be able to engage your customers in a way that they will buy from you rather than your competition…

1. Find out how the buyer intends to use whatever it is they’re about to purchase. Where will it go? Who will see it? Will their family and friends admire it? Have they ever bought anything like this before? How much do they know about this particular product? How long have they been thinking about purchasing this kind of product? Do they think the value is there?

2. Try to uncover their urgency for purchase. Why do they want this now? Do they understand that this is one of a kind? How much do they love it? How much do they want it? How much do they need it?

2.5 Make certain you’ve explained affordability based on value and that their perceived value is the basis of their desire. Everyone thinks most sales are made based on price and everyone is wrong. Sales are made based on desire, need, and perceived value combined with urgency and utility.

DO THIS: Take a long look at your sales presentation. I recommend you record your sales presentation and use that for your review. You will see in an instant how engaging you are and how well you let the customer have a chance to buy. Or not.

I posted a few pictures of my selling/buying adventure on Instagram – @jeffreygitomer – if you want to take a look.

Reprinted with permission from Jeffrey H. Gitomer and Buy Gitomer.

About the Author

Jeffrey GitomerJeffrey Gitomer is the author of The Sales Bible, Customer Satisfaction is Worthless Customer Loyalty is Priceless, The Little Red Book of Selling, The Little Red Book of Sales Answers, The Little Black Book of Connections, The Little Gold Book of YES! Attitude, The Little Green Book of Getting Your Way, The Little Platinum Book of Cha-Ching, The Little Teal Book of Trust, The Little Book of Leadership, and Social BOOM! His website, www.gitomer.com, will lead you to more information about training and seminars, or email him personally at [email protected].

Are you a social sales pacesetter? Or are you losing business to one?

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Here are a few questions to get your social sales juices flowing:

  • Why are big companies interested in big data?
  • Why are formerly non-social companies suddenly scouring and analyzing social data?
  • Why is ‘mobile’ the new ‘social?’
  • Why is ‘cloud’ the new data room?

Often referred to as pacesetters, companies that have chosen to embrace and engage cloud, analytics, mobile, and social strategies are cleaning the clock of their competitors who have chosen the path of cautious resistance or even abstinence.

NOTE WELL: The real pacesetters are using all four strategies – not one or two.

PERSONAL NOTE: When I saw the statistic that 68% of Facebook usage is mobile, I realized the revolution was in full swing and those not playing hard would lose sales, loyalty, goodwill, reputation, and profit.

REALITIES:

  • Customers are smarter. You must be at least as smart.
  • Customers are social. You must be at least as social.
  • Customers are mobile. You must be at least as mobile.
  • The availability of online information about you AND your competition is instant.
  • Customers expect an easy-to-buy process.
  • Mobile is not an option – it’s an imperative.
  • 24-7-365 is the new 9-5.

My good friend, Sandy Carter, is one of IBM’s General Managers, and their social selling evangelist. Sandy fed me some support data from their recently published IBM’s 2014 Business Tech Trends Report. The report reveals that previously emerging trends like Big Data and analytics, cloud, mobile, and social are now being implemented across corporate enterprise beyond just experimentation and wait-and-see.

The Tech Trends Report also found that the gaps in IT skills that used to exist within these core segments are starting to narrow as organizations are uncovering the skill sets needed to use these technologies to their full advantage.

THE SECRET: These big pacesetter corporations have discovered that by partnering with smaller, specialized companies they are able to obtain the critical skills they need to gain a competitive advantage – thus paving the way for innovation and increased market share. They also learned that total integration of all four pacesetter elements was their breakaway move.

BOTTOM LINE FOR FASTER SUCCESS: Pacesetter organizations are now finding partners in a myriad of places including academia, start-ups, clients, citizen developers, and established specialized leaders. Pacesetter corporations that integrate cloud, analytics, mobile, and social technologies across their business are four to seven times more likely to use cloud to deliver social, mobile, big data, and analytics.

In short, pacesetters use technology for the competitive advantage and the results are more profitable business outcomes.

Here are a few concepts beyond buzzwords that will help you think about and understand why these strategies are being deployed and bringing amazing returns:

1. Cloud Strategies: Where can I store data and apps that are accessible on demand globally?

2. Social Strategies: How am I in touch with my customers to give them information and social proof, and how can they be in touch with me to tell me all is well?

3. Mobile Strategies: What are my customers using to communicate ideas, needs, and desires? How are they accessing my information? How are they purchasing?

4. Analytics Strategies: Data helps make better and smarter decisions. Data shows the past, reveals the present, and helps predict trends in the future. Another word for analytics is profit. REALITY: An app without analytics is a washing machine without a motor or a car without gas. How is your EXISTING data being mined, analyzed, and used to target trends, analyze profits, and increase sales?

4.5 Partnering Strategies: How are you using SEO experts, app builders, bloggers, and social awareness companies – global outside experts – that can help you achieve amazing success in a fraction of the time (and cost) it would take to do it yourself?

YOUR BOTTOM LINE: Now is the time to get your social mojo working in your favor. The opportunity is ripe and the expertise you need is at your fingertips. Carter told me, “The companies we deal with that listen to us with ‘all ears’ and eagerly implement the pacesetter solutions quickly convert their investment to ‘all clicks’ as their social interactions skyrocket and sales quickly follow suit.”

How’s your conversion doing?

“Get involved and get more.” If you search the hashtag #IBMBTT you’ll be able to access pacesetter ideas and answers – and maybe add a few of your own.

Reprinted with permission from Jeffrey H. Gitomer and Buy Gitomer.

About the Author

Jeffrey GitomerJeffrey Gitomer is the author of The Sales Bible, Customer Satisfaction is Worthless Customer Loyalty is Priceless, The Little Red Book of Selling, The Little Red Book of Sales Answers, The Little Black Book of Connections, The Little Gold Book of YES! Attitude, The Little Green Book of Getting Your Way, The Little Platinum Book of Cha-Ching, The Little Teal Book of Trust, The Little Book of Leadership, and Social BOOM! His website, www.gitomer.com, will lead you to more information about training and seminars, or email him personally at [email protected].

The Big Picture of Business – Avoid the Tired, Trite Terms: Encourage Original Thought, Focus on Priorities and Strategy

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Words count. Put together, they reflect corporate culture. Used out of context, words become excuses, gibberish, rationales and basically wastes of energy.

When people hear certain words and expressions often enough, they parrot them. Rather than use critical thinking to communicate, many people often gravitate to the same old tired catch phrases.

I sat in a meeting of highly educated business executives. The presenter was dropping the term ‘brand’ into every other sentence. The word had lost its power and came across as a fill-in-the-blank substitution for a more appropriate though. Many people used to do the same thing with the word ‘technology,’ using it far from its reasonable definitions.

These clichés do not belong in business dialog, in strategic planning and in corporate strategy. These expressions are trite and reflect a copy-cat way of talking and thinking:

  • ‘Solutions’ is a tired 1990’s term, taken from technology hype. People who use it are vendors, selling what they have to solve your ‘problems,’ rather than diagnosing and providing what your company needs. It is a misnomer to think that a quick fix pawned off as a ‘solution’ will take care of a problem once and for all. Such a word does not belong in conversation and business strategy, let alone the name of the company.
  • The ‘brand’ is a marketing term. The strategy, culture and vision are many times greater and more important.
  • ‘So…’ In the 1960’s, TV sitcom writers began every scene with ‘So…’ After enough years of hearing it, people lapse that dialog into corporate conversations. It is intended to reduce the common denominator of the discussion to that of the questioner. It is monotonous, and there are more creative ways to engage others into conversation aside from minimizing the dialog.
  • ‘Value proposition’ is a sales term and is one-sided toward the person offering it. It implies that the other side must buy in without question.
  • ‘Right now’ is a vendor term for what they’re peddling, rather than what the marketplace really needs. Expect to render good business all the time.
  • ‘Customer care’ means that customer service is palmed off on some call center. “Customer experience” comes right out of marketing surveys, which rarely ask for real feedback or share the findings with company decision makers. That is so wrong, as customer service must be every business person’s responsibility. Service should not be something that is sold but which nurtures client relationships.

Many of these stock phrases represent ‘copywriting’ by people who don’t know about corporate vision. Their words overstate, get into the media and are accepted by audiences as fact. Companies put too much of their public persona in the hands of marketers and should examine more closely the partial images which they put into the cyberspace. Our culture hears and believes the hype, without looking beyond the obvious.

Here are some examples of the misleading and misrepresenting things one sees and hears in the Information Age. These terms are judgmental and should not be used in marketing, least of all in business strategy: Easy, Better, Best, For all your needs, Perfection, Number one, Good to go, Results, World class, Hearts and minds, Cool, The end of the day, Virtual, Right now, Not so much and Game changing.

Street talk, misleading slogans and terms taken out of context do not belong in the business vocabulary. Business planning requires insightful thinking and language which clearly delineates what the company mission is and how it will grow.

These are the characteristics of effective words, phrases and, thus, company philosophy:

  • Focus upon the customer.
  • Honor the employees.
  • Defines business as a process, not a quick fix.
  • Portray their company as a contributor, not a savior.
  • Clearly defines their niche.
  • Say things that inspire you to think.
  • Compatible with other communications.
  • Remain consistent with their products, services and track record.

About the Author

Hank MoorePower Stars to Light the Business Flame, by Hank Moore, encompasses a full-scope business perspective, invaluable for the corporate and small business markets. It is a compendium book, containing quotes and extrapolations into business culture, arranged in 76 business categories.

Hank’s latest book functions as a ‘PDR of business,’ a view of Big Picture strategies, methodologies and recommendations. This is a creative way of re-treading old knowledge to enable executives to master change rather than feel as they’re victims of it.

Power Stars to Light the Business Flame is now out in all three e-book formats: iTunes, Kindle, and Nook.