Written By
Lori Richardson
What a treat to speak with Gerhard Gschwandtner, publisher of Selling Power Magazine yesterday. If you don't subscribe to Selling Power, and regularly view their website, well... give it a try. I have trusted this magazine - and the website now - for (in their words) -
The most trusted site for professional selling skills, motivation and sales management know-how in the business- to-business environment.
Gerhard wrote some thoughts in the August 2004 issue and titled it, "How To Stop A Train" - I didn't find it online, but just go to your local newsstand and buy one this time - then subscribe, for many reasons. I have given this magazine to various sales reps over the years and always hear about the value gained from reading the many tips and ideas listed.
In "How To Stop A Train" - he talks about making something happen (the holding of a train at Penn Station) simply by asking. I have my own story, and most of us do - on how we vividly learned this lesson. For me, it was showing my son how you could get into a clothing store before it opened - in a large mall - because of the emergency situation (he was interviewing later that morning with a top college coach and had a wardrobe malfunction). The point is clear, as Gerhard puts it:
I believe that selling requires an open mind that allows you to connect with people, no matter who they are, no matter how much money, knowledge, or power they possess. Selling demands a state of mind where we are open to all opportunities and unafraid to ask for what some people might think is totally impossible.
Bottom line: If you don't ask, you can't get. ASK something big today - bigger than you normally do - and bigger than is comfortable, which fits into your larger vision and will help push you forward.