Jeffrey Gitomer ROCKS!
The man tells it like it is. No holds barred, Philly style! 😉
He is harsh, rash, humorous, and likable all at once.Why? Let me try to narrow it down to 7 key reasons.
#1 Prepared
Going back all the way to 1972 when Jeffrey was working with Glenn Turner who had his Challenge to America video and Dare to Be Great program Jeffrey and his colleagues would study attitude and success from 8 am to 12 noon every day and also prepare reports on each chapter of Napoleon Hill’s ‘Think and Grow Rich.’
Jeffrey even admits times were tough during those times. His twin daughters were just born, he didn’t have a ton of money, and his marriage was ‘crappy.’ Yet, when people asked him how he was doing it would always be an enthusiastically positive answer.
In my opinion, that time laid the very foundation for Jeffrey’s tremendous success today, which has also come from tremendous preparation. He consistently is reading, writing, studying and focused on how to deliver even more value to his loyal followers and how he can break into new groups of people who have yet to hear of him.
#2 Focused on relationship
I know many top speakers and rarely will you see one as accessible and down to earth as Jeffrey. In the beginning of the morning as people are just arriving and getting their seats, there is Jeffrey in the front drinking some water, getting mic’d up, and fiddling with his Apple laptop. And the second anyone from the audience comes up to say “Hi!” Jeffrey stops whatever he was doing to pay close attention to them. And it wasn’t just surface conversations, it’s real friend type of talks.You can tell that means a lot not only to the audience member but to Jeffrey as well.
Jeffrey told my sister something prior to his presentation beginning, and I couldn’t agree any more. He said, “Be ready when you get what you ask for.” Life has a way of delivering upon that old truth of “Ask and you shall receive.” Especially when you apply these 7 principles in your life along with the asking. 😉
#3 Focused on value
Simple. Real world. Easy to grasp/apply/implement.Those are some words that come to my mind when reflecting on the value that Jeffrey shared that morning. Many people train on topics or strategies that lose their audience 5 minutes into it. Jeffrey’s valuable insights kept everyone nodding their heads in the “A-ha!” moment when they got what he was trying to get across to the audience.
#4 Total belief in his company, his products, and himself
Jeffrey knows what he does and what he trains on works. He knows that if you follow it with dedication and commitment the results will come. He knows if you choose a different route, you’ll soon be back to his stuff or out of sales.
And the first step in your introspection is to ask yourself if you believe whole heartedly in your company, in your products, and in your SELF. Because if you don’t have all 3 of those as “YES!” it will be a long journey for you to succeed. Step one is to find the company, product, and self esteem to where you can believe in all three whole heartedly.
#5 Not afraid to ask for the sale
It amazes me how may sales professionals and business owners just think that they can give a presentation and NOT ask for the sale. If you have principle #4 you know that you would be doing your clients and prospects a disservice if you didn’t share your products or services with them.Yes, the people in the audience saw the tables outside the room full of books, cd’s, dvd’s and other products, but Jeffrey wasn’t afraid to remind us of them and even put together special deals for the break…and threw in some humor. “The Cheap Bastard Special” for $100 and it had a picture of his granddaughter holding a $100 bill and the quote next to her said, “It’s only $100 you cheap bastards!”
When the morning training was over, the cases and cases of products had vanished from the tables and into the attendees cars. And they will be thankful for their investments later too, because Jeffrey focuses on over delivering in value.
#6 Not afraid to speak his mind
Jeffrey cold called in Manhattan back in the day. Playing in traffic is more fun that that, but that school of hard knocks, plus his upbringing around Philly, planted the seeds for sales greatness. When a person would slam a door in his face saying he didn’t have time for him, Jeffrey would knock again and say, “You mean no time now? No time tomorrow?” LOL! The guy at the door would usually laugh and invite him in.
Fast forward to today, and he cuts through the small talk and say something like, “Are you gonna buy now or do you need to hear the pitch?” Or, when someone asks for a proposal, “Proposals are a pain in my butt. Are you going to buy or not?”
Obviously it takes confidence, preparation, and knowing what the heck you are doing in your profession to have that type of bravado. But, when you have the guts or "sales balls" to do so, it snaps your people out of their normal mindset and sets you apart from your puppy competition who rolls over at any type of request.
#7 Is passionate and committed to being the best
When Jeffrey first entered the world of sales training there were already several big dogs in that industry who had sold a ton of books and had all sorts of huge company training contracts and speaking gigs. That didn’t stop him from setting his goal on being the best…and eventually market domination.
As he told my sister and I, “Be ready for when you get what you want,” because a little over a decade later he’s in over 100 business journals and has over 4.5 million readers of his weekly article, plus over 250,000 people who look forward to his weekly Sales Caffeine in their email Inbox.
This is just a few of the traits that I have noticed in Jeffrey since meeting him 12/31/01 at Einstein Bagel’s. There are many more that attribute to all his success, and I hope these have been as helpful to you as they have been to me.
Oh yeah, the 7.5 key is: Working his butt off!!! As Jeffrey puts it, there is no free ride to sales success. It takes going the extra mile, meeting those deadlines and commitments. Staying up late and rising early. Writing as often as he can. In cars, on planes, in hotel rooms, wherever and whenever. When you do what you love, it’s not work though, it’s passion and what you enjoy doing, it brings you joy. At least it does for me…and I feel if it doesn’t for you then you haven’t found what you’re passionate about yet.
Until next time…Make Today Great!
Tom Beal
PS – Go learn ALL you can about Jeffrey here: Jeffrey Gitomer. Thank me later!
