Success Newsletters

New Year is a time to reflect and reminisce about the last year and plan for the upcoming year. As we enter 2007, what comes to mind for me is how many people focus on the negative instead of the positive. Life is all gloom and doom to them. They see the glass as half empty instead of half full. If this is sounding a little familiar, at least sometimes, let me share with you an exercise I do myself and with some of my clients in my workshops. It is a powerful yet simple exercise, and shows me that those sometimes negative attitudes that we tend to have can be changed.

Real success is based on truly identifying your target markets, your ideal client base.
Prepare a list of your 20 top clients and your 20 top prospects, and never let more than 30 days go by without being in touch with them.

Many of you have asked me to share my personal story and journey with you over the past six years of me writing these newsletters. I was just recently honored to be asked to submit a story for consideration to the famous New York Times # 1 Best-selling Series of Chicken Soup for the Soul books. I thought I would share my submission with you. I hope you enjoy reading it. Please let me know your comments and feedback to info@cmarcus.com

Excellence is about discipline. Being the best you can be, I believe, relates directly to your ability to practice the following “self” disciplines that set you up for success.

Have you ever asked yourself “what if”? or said to yourself “I should have, could have, would have”? Have you ever lamented “if only the time would have been right”, or “if only they had played fair”? Too many people postpone greatness. They do not realize the power they have or take advantage of the opportunities that abound. Success, in whatever it is you want to achieve, comes from a state of mind that believes you can achieve what is in your heart. Do not be intimidated by the initial gap between your dreams or your ultimate goal and where you are now. If you can dream it or visualize it, you can achieve it. Just don’t let yourself get caught in the “what if”.

Real success is based on truly identifying your target markets, your ideal client base.
Prepare a list of your 20 top clients and your 20 top prospects, and never let more than 30 days go by without being in touch with them.

Success in the world of sales will be determined by how much confidence you have in your ability and in yourself, by the courage you display in your interactions with each new contact, and the discipline you invest in your sales process, follow-up, networking, and prospecting.

The Rolling Stones were in my city of Toronto last month playing at the Air Canada Centre as part of their latest world tour. The show was a huge hit, with rave reviews. What struck me was why the Rolling Stones, four guys who are almost old enough to collect their old age pensions, are still on top of their game after over 40 years in the music industry!, and they still are one of the highest gross earning and top bands in the world today. (And as we all know in the business of selling, the numbers do not lie.)

If you want to lead a world class life, guess what? You have to become a world class person first. The big question is, how? Here are six things to consider on your journey to World Class.

As a professional speaker I find myself flying quite frequently and am regularly at airports. Like many frequent flyers, I try to stick to one particular airline or airline association; frequent flyer points do generate loyalty. In my case, I try to stick to Air Canada or its Star Alliance partner airlines. This will generally get me anywhere I want to go with a convenient routing and schedule. However, I fly with these airlines because of convenience not necessary always by choice. The service is okay, but nothing special. Do I feel like I am a valued customer? Not really. The staff is pleasant, usually. They are also occasionally rude and sometimes surly, but rarely memorable.