Do You Believe In Yourself? Do You Really?
There is an old saying, "If you believe something is true then it is."
- If you believe that you will succeed then you will.
- If you believe that you are going to fail then you will.
- If you believe that you will get a good job then you will.
- If you believe you will have a good time at the party then you will.
- If you believe that your not smart enough then you will not be smart enough.
You get the idea.
When I was 25 years old I became a stockbroker. I was so excited to get the job. I would make a lot of money, people (especially women) would want to get to know me because I was going to be so successful. I just couldn't wait to get started.
Four weeks into it I was a broken man. I had made hundreds, no thousands of cold calls. Each time I would relay to total strangers over the telephone how the stock I was telling them about was the best thing since sliced bread and how lucky they were that I had called to tell them about it. Absolutely nobody was interested in what I was saying or selling.
I was getting ready to give up. Giving something your best shot is one thing. Going hungry and desperate with no hope of better things to come is quite another.
Luckily for me the manager of the brokerage office took pity on my situation. He gave me a pep talk, probably the same pep talk he gives to all brokers that he is getting ready to fire. But then he gave me some real hope.
I was totally surprised that he would go out of his way to help me out. After all, his salary was dependent on how much stock I and all the other brokers sold in the office. And if he was anticipating a big pay day based on my sales he was going to be totally disappointed.
He handed me a piece of paper with a name and phone number on it. It was a good friend of his that he has known for over 20 years. The real sweet part was that his friend was looking to invest in the market and had the funds available to invest right now.
I couldn't believe my luck. This was the break that I was praying for. Finally I would make a big sale and all of my problems would become memories.
Back to my desk I went. I prepared for the big phone call like I had never prepared before. I was about to make the best sales presentation in the history of Wall Street. And then, over a cigar and glass of wine, I was going to brag to all of my peers about the sale and how I was on the brink of becoming this generations power broker.
Customer: "How did you get my phone number?"
Me: Bob the office manager down here suggested I give you a call and tell you about this great stock.
Customer: I'm not interested.
OK, now I'm thinking the office manager told his friend to expect my phone call and that he should give me a hard time just so that he could see how I would handle it.
Me: I can understand your reluctance to invest in a new company but let me tell you why this is really a no brainer and how it will payoff big time in about a year.
Customer: There is no reason for you to waste anymore of your time or mine, I'm not interested.
I'm telling you this guy sounded convincing. If the office manager hadn't personally given me the guys name and number I probably would have believed that he really wasn't interested. But I had figured out the game that was being played and plowed ahead. I wasn't going to take no for an answer especially since I knew for a fact that this customer wanted to invest.
Finally two hours later I got the order. The customer had made a $50,000 investment. I couldn't believe he had played the game for so long. But it didn't matter. All that mattered was that I got the order.
I wrote the Buy ticket up and submitted it for approval. It was time to go home and for the first time in over a month I drove home with a smile on my face.
The next morning when I arrived at the office the manager asked me to come talk to him.
"I see you got yourself a decent size order yesterday," he said with a smile on his face.
I'm sure I also had a mile wide smile on my face, "Well it's all thanks to you really. That lead you gave was bound to pay off.
"What are you talking about?" he seemed confused.
"That phone number you gave me yesterday. Your friend who wanted to invest, you know." I was starting to get worried. Was this a joke? I did make a big sale. God please tell me I made a big sale.
The manager looked at me quizzically and said, "I countersigned your buy ticket yesterday and the name on that ticket is not the name that I gave you. In fact I talked to my friend last night and he was wondering why you hadn't called yet."
At this point I didn't realize what I had done but I soon figured it out. I had mis-dialed the phone number and basically cold called someone believing that it was my manager's friend. It was a complete coincidence that they both had the same first name. Because I was told that the sale was in the bag it never dawned on me to take no for an answer. I had believed that sooner or later he would say yes and the sale would be finalized. And he did say yes.
I walked back to my desk in disbelief. I had cold called someone and made a tremendous sale. A sale to someone who was adamant about not buying anything.
I then called the manager's friend and made another big sale.
The story I just told you is absolutely true. I changed the names (of course) but the rest of the story actually happened. It took me a while to understand the lesson that I should learn from all of this.
It's actually a simple lesson: If you believe something to be true then it is.
I believed without a shadow of a doubt that the sale was a done deal. It wasn't but I believed that it was. My beliefs molded reality. And that is what I would like you to learn.
If you believe in yourself, believe 100% without any doubts, then you can mold the reality you want.
There have been many testimonies to this very same principle. I find it very interesting and motivating. Thanks for sharing this.
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T Bowcut....thanks for the comment. The experience changed my life. By the way I visited your blog...looks great. Everyboday should check it out: CLICK HERE
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That's something I want to read on blogs
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Matej, Thanks for the comment. Really appreciate it.
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wow that's an intriguing story. I'm totally not cut out to be a salesman, I would have hung up after the 2nd 'not interested'. However, I do agree that you have to believe in yourself to accomplish anything. Having a negative attitude is a guaranteed setup for failure.
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Thanks for commenting Cory.
By the way if anyone is interested in reading a top notch blog on all things "film" then you should go to Cory's Production Journal: CLICK HERE
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