For 28 years now, I have been speaking at conventions and sales meetings and I strongly believe that we’ll be most successful, and “Sell More,” when we are most happy as individuals.

Let’s examine this idea more closely.

#1) The “Sell More” Achiever Decides To Be Happy (And Organized)

That is a quote from Abraham Lincoln. He was right.

Why do people complain? Most likely it is because they have decided to—because they have lost hope.

Why are people pessimists? Probably because they have decided to be.

Why are people unhappy? Because they have decided to be.

Why are people disorganized and sloppy? Because they choose to be that way!

As a seasoned motivational speaker, I am always looking for good stories to tell.

Dale Carnegie told the story of two men who were out chopping wood. One fellow worked hard all day, took no breaks, and only stopped briefly for lunch. The other chopper took several breaks during the day and the woodsman who had taken no breaks was quite disturbed to see that the other fellow had cut more wood than he had.

“I don’t understand,” he said. “Every time I looked around you were sitting down—yet you cut more wood than I did.” “Did you also notice that while I was sitting down, I was sharpening my ax?” his companion asked.

Knowing when to stop, when to take a break, when you’ve had enough sleep, and enjoying the vacation . . . are all like sharpening our axes. We’ll be more productive, empowered and “Sell More,” if we know when to stop working and tend to some other essentials of life.

Even though I love my work, and want to work all the time, I know it’s not healthy to do so. My Dad used to tell me that we can’t work all the time and we were not expected to. Seasoned sales trainers and leaders know that we need to be encouraged to take time for our families and for ourselves. We need time to relax, to be renewed, and to enjoy recreation of some kind.

We cannot be fully empowered if we are out of energy and our stamina is at its lowest point. On a flight home from Dubai recently, I read a motivation magazine. One article dealt with a definition of success. After polling over 2,000 top executives, the results were as follows:

Every good manager, leader and sales person knows that giving more and going the extra mile is what winners do! In other words, give more than is required. Let’s suppose it costs you $6.00 to have your car washed. Suppose you told the manager of the carwash that you wanted to pay him $8.00 for the wash job.

What do you think he’d do extra for you? I suppose that the windows would be cleaner, the chrome more shiny, and the whitewalls whiter because you paid him to go the extra mile.

I remember the time the lawn care company came to my house to give me a price on spraying my lawn for weeds. After he had taken some measurements, he told me the job would cost me $175. I asked him if that was his best price. He said he might be able to shave a little bit off the price. I said, “No. Don’t knock any off. I want to pay you more! I’ll give you $200, but I want you to do the job as if it were your yard.” Earlier in the conversation, he had mentioned that he would be done at about 1:00 pm. However, he was still there at 4:30.

Good sales people and managers know that this is the advantage we have over robots. We’re able to collect information, sort it, analyze it, and make decisions. We think, and we can think big!

On the job, that means that we’ll think as we do our work. We keep our head in the game and that minimizes mistakes. Also, as we do our work, we think. We think about whether or not there is a better, faster way of doing it.

The goal is not to find shortcuts to doing mediocre work; that is not a part of the empowerment technology. But the goal is to find ways of improving the product or service, while at the same time being cost and labor conscious.

The point here is not to try to reinvent the wheel, but to make a better one. This is how companies grow, and mid-level managers get promoted to high-level managers. It’s how CEOs turn companies that are losing money, into companies that are making money.

It’s about thinking more, and thinking bigger. As a motivational speaker and sales trainer, I’ve been sharing this message across the globe for years now, and finally, I think it’s catching on!

Make it a great selling day and remember…

"If you don't sell more, you’re out of business!"

Alan W. Altmann

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