Seven Secrets To Success

Second Place: First Place for Losers

Are you comfortable being in second place? A question was once asked of one of the richest men on earth, “How much is enough?”

The answer wasn’t a ton more.  It was, “Just a little bit more.” Do you have areas in your life or career where you could give a little bit more to get a ton more? If so, it could be time to reassess and think about what you can do to get more out of life and work. I will share with you my seven secrets to success. Sometimes life is just too easy, isn’t it? Everybody seems to be looking for the silver bullet, the magic pill, the shiny wand or the genie in the bottle. Get over it. I don’t think such a thing can be found can it.

Let’s look at my formula and then I will give you those seven secrets

Decide – Commit – Succeed – Win

Most people can decide what to do in a situation, but they don’t commit. That’s a huge problem. People decide to decide, but somewhere along the way they get lost on the trail to commitment. If your dealership isn’t hitting the numbers you would like to reach, go back and review your commitment.

How many dealers have started programs and then stopped them? Take training for example. You decide to improve your staff with a great training program. You get started by buying videos, DVDs and online training, and it goes like this: “Jonesy, we are going to start a new training program here. Get the boys and girls rounded up again, and every Tuesday we will train. I don’t care what the troops say. Force them into training again or bribe them with donuts again. But get them to training.” This goes on a for a bit, you get busy, people make up excuses that dealers and managers buy into, and salespeople are then left with scars. Have you seen that happen? It’s due to a lack of commitment again.

Let me ask you a question. Aren’t you tired of start and stop programs? What if you were on a long distance driving trip and got lost? Would you go home and start all over again? No, you’d make adjustments, wouldn’t you? Wouldn’t it be nice to have several No. 1 sales associates and managers? Wouldn’t you want your dealership to be at the top of dealership awards lists? You can be, however you must commit to success.

Seven Secrets

You must have all of the following qualities to be No. 1.

1.    Drive – It’s the ability to dash past where losers stop. The winners in life know the green grass grows where the desert ends. Winners eliminate stop and start training programs.

2.    Determination – Having determination means you can make a congruent committed decision to move forward in spite of fear, removing any options to going backwards. It means moving forward in spite of fear, which is also called courage or strength of heart

3.    Burning Desire – It is impossible to be burned out if you have never been on fire!  You must have a burning desire to succeed daily. If you can’t find it, it’s because you have lost sight of your goals. Keep your goals in front of you and keep resetting new ones to stay fired up!

4.    Passion To Help Others – Zig Ziglar said it best, “You can have anything in the world you want if you’ll just help enough other people get what they want.”  Give first; then receive. Serve first; then be served. Help them, and then they’ll help you. Give trust, and you will be trusted. Give respect; then others will respect you.

5.    Attitude of Gratitude – Divert more personal and mental energy into what you have instead of what you’ve lost or don’t have, and life will treat you well. Why is it that many people worry about what they don’t have, or clutch to their past habits, hurts and hang ups? Let it go; it’s tough to move forward when you are carrying suitcases of old worries or resentments.

6.    Skills – Don’t buy into the program called “time and experience” to help you develop your skills. The problem with time and experience is that the course takes too long. By the time you learn, life has passed you by. Get the training and education you need now.

7.    Habits – Look at your team. If your team is a bunch of below-average managers  and salespeople, I can assure you it’s because of their habits. Bad habits are hard  to break, but they can be replaced with good ones. Your habits determine your  success and your dealership’s success.

There you have my seven secrets to being No. 1. If you think of one I’ve missed, e-mail me at [email protected] and let me know what your secrets to being number one are.

Vol 4, Issue 4