ChrisNotes

The Benge Bible - Sales School Notes Compiled by Eddie Benge

• A great opportunity is worth to a person exactly what his preparation enables him to make of it
• The roughest people have the kindest hearts - do the unexpected
• Salvage something from every setback and you will never be defeated
• You are serving people of you leave them happier than they were before you came
• Service involves doing something for someone who cannot or will not do it for himself
• The antidote for fear is ACTION
• It is a mistake to try to be something that you are not
• Someone is going to find a propose for life because you knock on his door
• Pride goeth before not getting in the house
• If you give up, you will never know how close you came to success
• Salespeople fail for the same reason everyone else does --- laziness
• You can't say you love people until you love them all
• The time in the affairs of men is now
• The waterwheel spins with a great deal of momentum
• Smiles to people are what sunshine is to flowers
• You are just as good as anybody you meet, but you are no better
• Knowledge gives rise to confidence
• If you learn to smile when you feel like crying, nothing will stop you
• Big people are never upset by little things
• No one has the right to rob you of your attitude
• From the lowest depths, there is a path to the loftiest heights.  The tendency to persevere, to persist, in spite of hindrances, discouragements, and impossibilities; it is in this, in all things, that distinguishes the strong soul from the weak.

Mort Utley Keynote Address, May 24, 1985, Nashville, Tennessee

We woke super early this morning and waited outside the auditorium so we could run in and our team occupy the entire front row.  It was the last day of Southwestern Sales School and Mort Utley was about to send us on our way to our territories.

FIVE PRINCIPLES OF SUCCESS

1. Think BIG.  When you think BIG, something always happens.
2. Know what you want and set goals to get there.
3. Knowledge and skill breeds confidence.
4. Have a positive mental attitude.  Think yes, never no.  Smile, never frown.  Mort's Pony Story on You Tube 
5. Manage your T-I-M-E.  If you waste an hour, you can never replace it.   New Day Prayer

FIVE KEYS TO THE DOORS

1. Burning Desire- I wanna win.  There is no power of accomplishment greater than wanting it badly.
2. Fighting Spirit- Daddy I did it.  It is not what happens to you, it is what you do about it.
3. Striving to Improve- Be Ye Therefore Perfect.  In any area, if I do not try to be better every day, I am not the man God wanted me to be.  My last will be my best.
4. Faith in God- Pray for Guidance.  Faith is like the flange on the wheel of a train.  It is what keeps you on track.
5. Don't Quit.  Herman Osgood.  Never, never, never give up. 

 

The Gold Seal Gold Award

Win the Gold Seal Gold Award by working at least 80 hours every week this summer.

The most important thing you can gain this summer is the ability to WORK HARD.  Twenty years from now (25 years in my case today) you will not remember what is contained in this sales manual.  You won't remember how much money you made.  As the years go by, these tings will take a lesser place in your life. 

However, if you make this summer the summer you learn to work hard- the summer you learn the value of persistence- the summer you learn to apply self-discipline to your life, you will have gained what will be most critical to your future success. 

The ability to work hard will never take a place of lesser importance in your life.

 

 

More Notes From Southwestern Sales School

March 4, 1986    WHY I SELL BOOKS

• Because I learn to deal with every type of person; poor to rich, nice to mean, happy to sad.
• Becasue I have a chance to inspire people old and young alike.
• Becasue since I have the freedom to do anything, I choose to work hard.
• Because it's hard, and when you overcome a challenge, you grow.
• Becasue I and I alone am responsible for my success or failure, I don't depend on anyone.
• Becasue I am a servant, and all great leaders are servants.
• Becasue I learn to use my time constructively, every minute of it.
• Because when I am the leader of my own business, I will be ready.
• Because it teaches me to do my best and to develop a habit of excellence.
• Because it helps me to grow mentally, spiritually, and physically and when I am growing, I am happy.

AND MY PERSONAL FAV:

Because it teaches me to laugh at myself and not to take myself too seriously.

Some of my notes from Southwestern Company sales school notes in May of 1983

HOW TO INCREASE YOUR NUMBER OF DEMOS

1. Must give 25 bad demonstrations before you can give 25 good demos.
2. Take a mentally tough perspective toward giving a good quality demo to everyone you call on.  Learn to be politely persistent, relaxed, yet intense enough to give quality demos even if done at the door.
3. Get in and out of house faster.  Shoot for 20 to 25 minute long demos.
4. Make it a pride point not to come in or take a break without making your number.
5. Keep better preapproach so you will know when people are home; get in more doors, and know who are good prospects. 
6. Repeat positive phrases between houses.
7. Learn to approach 5 or 6 times without being pushy. 
8. Laugh, relax and use names.
9. Start, stop and take a break at a consistent time each day.
10. Take either none or ONE break during the day.  A 20 minute break takes you 40 minutes to get back to where you wrere before you took a break.
11. Make 5pm until 9:30pm the best part of your day.  Work more intensely than you have all day.  Finish each day strong as it sets the habit for finishing the entire summer strong.
12. Calculate the amount you make per demo and realize you are making money each time you show the books.

Why Business Network Groups Don't Work Anymore

Mostly I write about what I learn reading or listening to others.  This article I figured out myself.  Business networking groups don't work anymore.  Lead Groups, BNI Clubs, Juntas, Mastermind Groups, Chamber of Commerce Lead Meetings, all a bunch of useless timewasters. 

I get how these are supposed to work.  I have been a part of two very successful groups, but these were back in the 1980s and 1990s.  I understand that "givers gain" and "you have to put time in and build relatinships" before you profit from belonging.  And when I bring up the issue, I am seen as someone who feels "entitled" to business and only looking to "get".  This is not the case with me at all.

People joing these groups to get introduced and referred to their ideal clients.  You will not have success with networking groups and here is why:

1.  Most people who participate in these types of groups do not have any clients to refer you to in the first place. 

2.  If they do actually have a few ideal clients, they do not have enough control to introduce you, becasue they were referred by someone else.

3.  If you are fortunate enough to meet someone at one of these meetings who has good clients and control of them, they do not know how (or are not willing) to introduce you.

4.  If you are thinking, "Sorry, Chris, you must not be in any good groups," well, even if you are in a good group, the good people are in several of  these groups and your chance for a good referral is reduced.

I think modern technology killed these groups.  In the old days, you had to go and meet someone to network with them and the personal interaction led to meaningful relationships.  Today, you can email, Facebook, go on LInkedIn, and what all else, people are way too connected.  Their relationships are shallow and there's a lot of noise and little communication. 

Even Keith Ferarri says that he was wrong when he wrote Never Eat Alone.  He says now that it is not about having a tremendous Rolodex with 1000s of contacts.  It is about having 3 or 4 close relationships of people you can count on, hence the name of his new book Who's Got Your Back?