The Rules of Success

The purpose of The Rules is to give you tools not always used by other sales people. These tools will expand how you think about selling and your customer. If you think outside the normal pattern of sales people, you will sell more. If you use the tools that have made others reach new levels of success, you will enjoy a better life and you will sell more.

During the boom of the internet people said, "All the rules have changed." The rules did not change, it is common for it to take 5 years for a company to be profitable, isn't that about what happened at Amazon.com? Good companies survived and prospered in the internet by playing by the basic rules of success. The rules I present are what I have seen in the most successful companies I have worked with or rules that have been put in place at companies that needed a boost. 

The rules of business then and now
For hundreds of years the rules have stayed the same, just the way we describe them has changed. 

I have a list of traits of successful people complied by Investors Business Daily. Next farther down the page are the 9 tenets of Miyamoto Musashi, as found in "A Book of Five Rings". These nine tenets will change your life if you are able to use them in all of your transactions with yourself and others. Compare the nine tenets of Musashi to the 10 secrets of IBD. Think about this, Musashi wrote his rules in 1654 and IBD wrote theirs in 1999. The Rules do not change!

Musashi was one of Japan's greatest writers. He was an amazing general and the various art works he created are considered masterpieces. His art is almost as famous has his skill with a sword. He never lost a "duel" in 64 actions. He personifies the master who is warrior and artist. For many years various business articles complain about people not having well rounded lives.  A Book of Five Rings deals with the issues that help you relax by using training skills to improve your level of concentration and awareness.  Having skills that relax your mind and increase your concentration is a type of cross training that I recommend in Lower Your Golf Score, Increase Your Sales.  

I have found that it is helpful to read about successful people every week.  One great resource for this is Investors Business Daily.  It is more important to emulate the best than to try to learn from someone's mistakes.

In an article about two years ago, at the time of his death, Investors Business Daily profiled Stanley Marcus and said he lived by the Rules and he did it on a very low tech system. 

I maintain that if he had a product like Act! he would have insisted that his sales people use it, because it would increase their sales skills. 

Mr. Marcus said, "We can look like gold if we work as hard polishing ourselves as the sailor polishing the brass on the ship," he told the group. "We can be better than we really are if we make the effort." 

Click on the links below in the Secrets of Success or in the Tenets to find how the rules apply to your use of Act! or other business situations.

The Zen master says, "One day with a master is better than one thousand books."  For about the cost of a car payment you can spend time with me as your business or sales coach for a month. My promise is that it will be equal to all the free stuff you read on the web this year. All coaching or training programs are done either on the phone, online or in person. You chose what works for you.

1.  How you think is everything:    Always be positive.  Think success, not failure.  Beware of a negative environment.

2.  Decide upon your true dreams and goals:  Write down your specific goals and develop a plan to reach them.

3.  Take Action:  Goals are nothing without action.  Don't be afraid to get started now.  Just do it.

4.  Never Stop Learning:  Go back to school or read books.  Get training and acquire skills.

5.  Be Persistent and Work Hard:   Success is a marathon, not a spirit.  Never give up.

6.  Learn to Analyze Details:   Get all the facts, all the input.  Learn from your mistakes.

7.  Focus Your Time and Money:   Don't let other people or things distract you.

8.  Don't Be Afraid to Innovate; Be Different:  Following the herd is a sure way to mediocrity.

9.  Deal and Communicate with People Effectively:  No person is an island.  Learn to understand and motive others.

10.  Be Honest and Dependable; Take Responsibility:  Otherwise, Numbers 1-9 won't matter.

If you would like to participate in a program that coaches you on how to live these rules visit Your Best Year Ever, the one year training that has changed peoples lives. You can call me at 800-735-5717  

Investor's Business Daily -

The Nine Tenets of Miyamoto Musashi 

from 

A Book of Five Rings

published by Overlook Press

translated by Victor Harris

Do not think dishonestly.

The Way is in training.

Become acquainted with every art.

Know the Ways of all professions.

Develop intuitive judgment and understanding of everything.

Distinguish between gain and loss in worldly matters.

Perceive those things which cannot be seen.

Pay attention even to trifles.  

Do nothing which is of no use.