Change Your Thinking, Change Your Life: How to Unlock Your Full Potential for Success and Achievement

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CHANGE YOUR THINKING, CHANGE YOUR LIFE
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cellent in the work that you do so that you can rise to the top of
your field. Your choices and decisions about what your competitive
advantage is, and will be, are the critical determinants of your finan-
cial success in your life and career.
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SUCCEEDING THE HARD WAY
Some years ago, a friend of mine went to work for a stock brokerage
firm. The recruiting and training program was highly technical and
the sales training was virtually nonexistent. When he finally got his
brokerage license, he was given the yellow pages and told to begin
“dialing for dollars,” phoning anybody he could get on the other
end of the line and pitching them on his products. He soon learned
that this was one of the hardest ways in the world to crack the pro-
fessional sales field and make a living.
One day he had a sudden insight that changed his career, and
eventually made him one of the top financial advisers in the coun-
try. He realized that his entire career, and everything that happened
to him—his family lifestyle, his bank account, and his future—
would be determined by how good he was on the telephone. So he
made a decision to become absolutely outstanding at using the tele-
phone as a prospecting and selling tool.
He read every book he could find on effective telephone tech-
niques. He took every course and studied every piece of informa-
tion on the subject. He became so good at using the telephone
that he could recognize 19 different kinds of hesitancy in the
voice of the person he was calling. He developed appropriate 
responses to each one so that he could reassure his prospects 
and clients that what he was recommending was the right thing
for them.
Today, he earns more than five million dollars per year buying
and selling investments for his clients over the phone on straight
commission. Fully 99 percent of his business is done by telephone
and now by computer, e-mail, and fax. He seldom meets his clients
personally. But on the phone, he is a master communicator. He def-
initely and specifically identified and developed a competitive ad-
vantage that he used to move to the top of his field. What could it be
for you?