Growing Your Business the Old Fashioned Way

Today's article comes from sales trainer Jim Meisenheimer. It's a great one!

I like reading the Wall Street Journal and I'm often inspired by the articles I've read. In a recent addition, there was an article about Lillian Brownstein Chodash who is now 91 years old. The article describes how she landed a job back in 1938, in the days of the Great Depression.

She'd been out of work and looking for work for 15 months. One day she focused on a nine story office building in Jersey City, New Jersey. She took the elevator to the top floor and started knocking on doors. She was relentless in her pursuit of a new job. She faced rejection after rejection and kept knocking on those doors. When she got to the second floor her luck was about to change.

Did it have anything at all to do with luck or was it just her persistence that turned the tide in her favor?

On the second floor Lillian knocked on the door of a father and son real estate and insurance company. It turns out they just fired their secretary.

After she passed a shorthand and typing test they hired her right on the spot.

It seems to me the big difference between not working and networking is making personal connections.

Whether you're trying to find another job or trying to find new customers it requires a very strong personal commitment.

Let's review what Lillian did and how to apply it to you and your keen interest in finding new customers.

To do this let's use the acronym PROF.

P = Persistence. Lillian didn't stop looking until she reached her goal of finding a new job.

R = Repetition. She was knocking on doors. She kept knocking on doors until one of the doors finally opened for her.

O = Overcame rejection. She never stopped looking for work and you should never stop looking for new business. She quickly got over the last rejection and immediately started knocking on more doors.

F = Formula. Lillian had a simple formula that she followed. She just kept knocking on doors. Remember, not all doors will open for you, but for sure some definitely will


Here are a few more things to consider when you're focused on growing your business.

1. Establish goals that make you stretch.

2. Prepare and practice how you will ask your customers for referrals and introductions.

3. Think like Babe Ruth, who at one time was the leader in both home runs and strikeouts. He had a terrific attitude. Every time he struck out, he believed he was one strikeout closer to his next home run.

4. Plan your work and work your plan. Making sales calls without a plan is a total waste of your time. This isn't selling it's being ridiculous!

5. Skip the morning newspaper and don't listen to the news in the morning. It's 90% negative and won't contribute anything to your positive attitude and sales effort.

The keys to success are in your hands now.

Being a PROFessional sales representative should have a new meaning for you.

If Lillian could knock on doors to find a new job, you should knock on more doors and make more sales calls everyday to find your new customers.

And don't forget to ask the right sales questions when you're talking with your sales prospects and customers.

Jim Meisenheimer is a Professional Speaker and a Sales Trainer . He has just developed and released 2 new Training Programs for Sales Managers and Salespeople. He has worked with 533 Corporations during the last 23 years - and he had 72.7% repeat business last year. Jim delivers practical ideas that get immediate results.