A while ago, I got a chilling reminder of the bad “Ghost of Christmas Future” I narrowly avoided all those years ago. Here’s what happened:
I was on my way to work with a new client when I stopped at Starbucks for a cup of coffee. As I stood in line, I glanced out the window and saw a city bus stop and a bunch of people got off. One guy – mid 40’s, tall and lanky – started walking towards the Starbucks, and there was something about the way he was walking that was familiar to me.
When he entered the store, I recognized him from many years before when we were both struggling inside sales reps trying to sell investments over the phone. His name was Mark. After I got my coffee, and he got his, he came up to me and said, “You’re Mike Brooks, right?” “Yes” I said. “Hey, we used to work together!” he said. “I remember,” I said.
He asked me what I was up to these days, and I told him I had become a consultant in inside sales, and that I was off to work with a new client. I asked him what he was up to and this is when the chill hit me. He said he was starting a new sales job today, and then he rolled his eyes as if to say, “And this one will suck, too.”
We walked out of the store together, and said goodbye and went our separate ways. He went to wait at the next bus bench, and I got into my Mercedes and drove away.
As I sipped my coffee and listened to the tunes in my plush car, I thought about how different our lives had turned out and wondered what happened to make them so different. As I did, I knew exactly what it was.
During our time together, the owners of the company brought in a superstar in inside sales, a guy named Stan Billue, to motivate us. Stan spoke to us for an hour about what makes up the difference between the top money earners in sales versus all the other sales reps. He said that you had a choice that very minute to either commit to learning and using proven scripts and techniques that would double or triple your income, or you would just keep doing what you were doing, and then you’d just keep getting what you’d been getting.
Stan said: “If you’re willing to do what most sales reps aren’t willing to do, then soon you’ll be able to enjoy the things, the lifestyle and the future that most sales reps will never be able to enjoy.”
I was sold. Mark wasn’t. I invested in Stan’s cassette series, “Double Your Income Selling Over the Phone.” I committed to learning, practicing, and doing what he suggested. My sales and income soared.
Mark thought what Stan taught was just a bunch of old sales techniques that wouldn’t work for him. Mark thought he knew better. Mark didn’t believe in using scripts, “I’ll sound like a telemarkerter,” he said. “I have to go with the flow because each prospect is different,” he said. Mark didn’t believe in putting in the time, energy or money to get better. So he didn’t.
Fast forward to our Starbucks encounter. Over 20 years had passed between that Stan Billue talk, and I realized that, that seminar was the moment I made the decision to change my life. When Mark showed up that day, he was the Ghost of Christmas Past that could have become my Ghost of Christmas Future.
My life had changed because of Stan’s material, my commitment to investing in it and then using it diligently. My life is infinitely better because I did, and I have no doubt that had I not bought it and studied it and used it, it would have been me that was taking a bus to my next, new job. It sends shivers down my spine just thinking about it.
The moral here is that you, too, can avoid the Ghost of Christmas Past from becoming your future. Stan just went back into the studio and produced another masterpiece of sales training that can and will double or even triple your income in 2015 – if you get it and use it.
Now I know only a select few of you will actually invest in this, but I also know that those of you that do, have a good chance of driving a Mercedes next year rather than taking the bus. It’s really up to you. If you want to avoid Mark’s “Ghost of Christmas Past,” then Act Now.
Believe me, there is not a day that goes by that I’m not thankful I did…