Jeffrey Gitomer's Sales Caffeine issue 380 lists his formula for business success. I’ve repeated it here with my take on it in Italics.
Healthy + mental peace + focus + action + “help” + love of what you do = achievement.Healthy + mental peace + focus + action + “help” + love of what you do + putting customer needs first+ honesty = achievement.
• It helps to have a brand and a reputation. Be known for quality. Saelig’s brand/space that we’re growing is “unique electronics” – being known for introducing cutting edge, useful OEM electronics products.
• It helps to have a visible platform. Send a weekly value message to all customers and prospects. I think that’s too often – we send out a monthly newsletter to highlight new products.
• It helps if you write something new and valuable to others every day to create new ideas, build your own understanding, and clarify your current thinking. See above- nevertheless, this does apply to my interactions with Saelig employees, and to myself.
• It helps to have an audience of loyal customers who love you. Customers who will do business with you again and again, and who will refer others to you. It’s great to have customers come up to us at shows like ESC (we’ll be on the WIZnet stand again in San Jose in March) and have customers say they’ve been buying from us for years, or they “lust after all the great stuff we sell”!
• It helps to have the support of others. People who help you to succeed and encourage you to win. Saelig is a team enterprise – we all contribute and are vital to our success.
• It helps to have a bit of money in reserve. Money to invest in new ideas and new technology. Nice to know we’re debt-free, and have been profitable every year of our 21-year existence...
• It helps to have extreme self-confidence. Your personal belief system and positive attitude drives your entire success process. Yes, we’re humble, and proud if it …...!!! But seriously, folks, our shared values are critical to our way of doing business.
• It helps to have a past history of success. Knowing you have won before, and understanding what made those wins happen, will create more winning opportunities and the knowledge to capitalize on them. Since many businesses fail in the early years, it’s encouraging to have a 21 year history to look back on. We’ve encountered some characters whose activities were not honorable, while having to maintain our good name and reputation in the ‘marketplace’.
WE may be in a recession, but Saelig is going against the grain and in the process of hiring a Technical Sales Manager. One question I ask each applicant is "Who is Jeffrey Gitomer?" I'm amazed at how many "sales experts" are unfamiliar with this sales guru. Jeffrey Gitomer is the author of The Little Red Book of Selling and eight other business books on sales, customer loyalty, and personal development. Here's a profound, thought-provoking entry in his latest email letter Jeffrey Gitomer's Sales Caffeine issue 377.
"I’m going to visit my friend and mentor. For the last time.
For the past 35 years I have had the pleasure, honor, and good fortune to sit at the feet of Earl Pertnoy. Today I will be by his side. His bedside.
It is impossible to explain, much less elaborate on, the wisdom he so freely shared with me. Over the years, we have spent hours talking about business, family, children, money, sales, real estate, the Internet, email, ethics, marriage, friendships, and choices to be made. I always took notes. His manner was straight forward, pragmatic, and very accurate.
Earl was an early riser. We would often meet for breakfast – at 6 a.m. – he was NEVER late. Sometimes we would meet for lunch or dinner. He was NEVER late.
When I first knew him, I was traveling around the US with my young family going from city to city doing consulting. I called him bragging that I was making five grand a week consulting. After the fifth call he said, “Hey, Mr. Big Shot, you’re traveling here and there making five grand, wanna make a million? Stand still.” So I did, and I did.
Often he would drive me around Miami Beach, and show me the locations of his clothing stores – all the while telling me business stories that ranged from starting early and staying late, to guarding against employee theft. Sales stories, and stories of the struggle to succeed.
He also told me about others he knew. He showed me Angelo Dundee’s 5th Street Gym, where Muhammad Ali and Sugar Ray Leonard trained. One of Earl’s clothing stores was just below it. Cool.
I told Earl that I was trying to get on Larry King. Earl knew him well. Turns out that Earl had bought time on Larry King’s radio talk show in the 1960’s for his clothing stores, and Larry left the show before the ad money was used up. “If you get on, tell him he still owes me money,” Earl quipped.
Faithfully married to the same woman for more than 50 years until her death, he was traditional in his values of doing business, supporting family, and philanthropy.
He was well known and well loved. Not just by family, but by community. He was involved and generous with time and contribution. And mostly without fanfare or notoriety.
Whether playing golf with Jackie Gleason, having a cocktail with Sammy Davis, Jr., or greeting a doorman at a hotel, Earl was always humble in the presence of others.
We exchanged ideas. I would tell him about my experiences – and he would offer his insight. And he did it without measuring, and without the expectation of anything in return. Except friendship. Genuine friendship.
We always talked a little about money – but never his money. I never had a money motive when I spoke with him. No need to. I was interested in his wisdom.
This morning I got a call from his daughter telling me that Earl was taken to the hospital, and was not expected to live more than a week. Whatever I had planned for the day seemed small by comparison to the fact that my friend was dying.
Within an hour I was at the airport and boarding a plane. You can’t say goodbye on the phone to someone who has had a profound impact on your life. So I jumped on a plane. Hell, it’s only a thousand miles.
I wonder what I will talk about when I see him.
I arrived four hours after I received the call. Twenty people were already there. Sons, daughters, grandchildren, and assorted close friends. I introduced myself to everyone, and shook hands with and hugged everyone. Many thanked me for coming, and told me that Earl spoke highly of me. I felt flattered and honored after just five minutes in the room.
Earl looked pretty bad. Sleeping with all kinds of needles and tubes in him. I was encouraged to wake him, but I chose to wait. After a half hour, a doctor came in and woke him. He looked at me and said, “What are you doin’ here?” “I was in the neighborhood, and just stopped by to say hello,” I stammered. He smiled weakly.
He fell back asleep. I began speaking with everyone in the family. A lovely caring family, of which Earl was the patriarch. We all talked about his life and his blessings.
After about an hour, his rabbi came over. She is a young woman that seemed like she was one of the family. She gently caressed his face and began whispering in his ear. He woke and listened to her. She said some Hebrew prayers, and everyone sang, as a blessing to Earl. He was awake and alert. When he noticed me and smiled, I felt compelled to talk. “Thank you. I love you.” I spoke softly, and cried.
After the prayers, and with everyone in the room, I began to speak of my times with Earl, and the lessons and blessings he bestowed on me. I told the gathered that he loved his family. That every time we were together, he spoke of family with the highest pride and praise.
I told them that Earl was one of the most giving and generous people I had ever known, and how grateful I was for his wisdom and friendship. Earl looked at me and said, “Antennas up!” He smiled as he spoke. It was one of his early pieces of advice to me. “Pay attention to every detail around you. People and things.” I always did.
People were crying. So was I. And one by one, others took the lead and told Earl how grateful and thankful they were for his wisdom, his help, and his love. And how much they loved him. Kleenex was passed around more than once. It was sad, but it was beautiful. Genuine family closeness. Genuine love.
All of a sudden, Earl said, “It ain’t over yet!” And everyone laughed. But alas, it was about over. He died this morning. Eighty-two years of fight, struggle, victory, and family. He won.
Earl Pertnoy was a gentle giant. His advice and mantra was, “People do what they want to do.” And he did. And his family wanted to be there to say goodbye. And they did. And so did I.
Thank you for your time and your wisdom, Earl. I will do my best to honor your friendship, your mentorship, and pass it on to those that I love. Safe journey.
If you want more of Earl’s wisdom, go to www.gitomer.com, register if you’re a first-time visitor, and enter EARL in the GitBit box.
Who's influencing your life. Who am I influencing?
Our staff is always hard at work getting the word out about new products we've found. One British supplier told me at a West Coast trade show not to long ago, "I don't know how you do it, but you get better publicity than we do in UK!" I received another endorsement today:
Hi Alan, Hope all is well with you and all at Saelig. As ever we are indebted to your PR exposure in the US for Pico products. These came up so far this morning:
It's an enormous challenge to let folks know about the terrific, wide range of products we sell....
Saelig has found unique products like: oscilloscopes from Owon, Pico Technology, Rigol, Syscomp, Cleverscope, PoScope, Protek; wireless modules from LPRS, One-RF, Adeunis, Active Robots; antennas from EAD, Active Robots; ICs from FTDI, Atmel-Quantum, Holtek, Prolific, 3ALogics, WIZnet; Spectrum analyzers from Aaronia, Thurlby-Thandar; logic analyzers from Zeroplus and Cleverscope; USB bus analyzers from MQP, Ellisys; dataloggers from Gemini, Lascar, Pico Technology, ACR, MSR, T&D, Klaric; CANbusboards and gateways from Janz; I2C boards from CalibreUK, Devasys, Fiveco;Ethernet boards from Fiveco, WIZnet, Elexol; LCDs/displays from 4D Systems, demmel, Comfile; industrial PCs from Amplicon, Janz; RS232/422/485 converters from KK Systems, TOPSCCC; USB-serial adapters and cables from VSCom, Witree, Prolific, SystemBase; motor control products from Fiveco, Elexol, JRKerr, Active Robots; and 100s of others!
I wonder if YouTube is a good way to get the word out about new products?
I've tried a little experiment - take a look at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QnFgQCte6vI - created at enormous expense and let me know if you think this is helpful and worth pursuing! We're thinking of putting up tech notes and suggestions this way too.
We've not been slacking during the holiday period but have just signed up a Canadian company who make an exciting 7-in-one 20MSa/s 2MHz scope adapter. And it runs Open Source software on Windows/Mac/Linux systems - does Bode plots while-you-wait! You'll have to look at www.syscompdesign.com for tech details till we can get it in our webshop, but we have them in stock now at only $179.99. Every engineer should have one!
British ex-Kodak engineer who started Saelig (www.saelig.com) in 1988 to bring unique OEM electronics products to USA.
Active as local violinist (e.g. see www.penfieldsymphony.org).
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