We’re going to talk about the inner game of building your business. I believe that the inner game is simply all-important. “The inner game” is a new term for a classic idea explained many different times, many different ways by virtually every success educator, and even philosophers.

In the book Think and Grow Rich, Napoleon Hill reveals the secret using the words, “thoughts are things.” Dennis Waitley has worked with U.S. astronauts and Olympic athletes on their inner games. Author Tim Galloway explores the ideas of his books, The Inner Game of Golf, The Inner Game of Tennis and The Inner Game of Selling.

Interestingly, there is a never-ending connection between the inner game in sport and the inner game in business, allowing experts like Waitley, Galloway, ex-quarterback Fran Tarkenton and golfer Arnold Palmer, among others, to step back and forth between expounding on success techniques in the athletic and business worlds. (more…)

As I began my long journey from complete failure in selling to millionaire success, I had a lot of self-image building to do. You see, I was the kid in school who was too shy to read out loud in class. I was more interested in playing sports and making mischief in high school than in studying. I dropped out of college after 90 days because it just wasn’t “for me.” When I did that, my dad told me, “Son, your mother and I will always love you…even though you’ll never amount to anything.” You can imagine where my self-image was as I took on the responsibility of a wife and baby with no real plan for my life. Not being a great student, it was a real struggle for me to get my real estate license after deciding construction work had no future for me.

Once I got my license, though, and started hanging around people who were making pretty good money, I wanted to do the same. I wanted it bad enough to do whatever it would take to succeed. I started learning what they knew. Every personal development seminar that was available had Tom Hopkins sitting in the front row absorbing every word the speakers uttered. This was a whole new world for me. (more…)

Here’s the best way I’ve ever found to pull the best performance out of yourself. It’s an extremely simple method. Not easy, simple. First, hang copies of these twelve words where you’ll see them at work, in your car, and at your home:

I MUST DO THE MOST PRODUCTIVE THING POSSIBLE
AT EVERY GIVEN MOMENT.

Now comes the important part: Dedicate yourself to living that declaration.

It doesn’t help to look at those words once in a while and think, “That’s what I’m going to start doing just as soon as I can get myself together.” If you really want to achieve, start living by those dozen words now. (more…)

If you truly desire to succeed in your selling career, dedicate yourself to being a student your entire life. It’s sad but true, that too many salespeople believe and act as if their education is complete once they’re out of the formal school environment. The sign of a true professional is how much they can learn after they “know it all.”

In sales, one of your most powerful learning tools is your power of observation. Many valuable selling skills and nuances can be picked up just from observing various business and personal situations.

• Watch how a child gets his or her way with adults. They’re usually very specific about what they want and persistent.
• Observe waiters and waitresses, retail clerks and family interactions.

Who gets the “sale” of their point or desire? How did they do it? Did they say something verbally or use body language or both to close the sale? Constantly think about how you can apply what you observe in your selling situations.

I’ll keep posting sales training strategies and tactics for closing more sales. To succeed in selling, keep learning!

Most sought-after audio sales training program: How to Master the Art of Selling Anything

This information is copyrighted by Tom Hopkins International, Inc. for reprint permission, contact Judy Slack (judys@tomhopkins.com).