They did not spend time with the junior salespeople. They also spent their time
differently. When Bob got into work in the morning, the top salespeople were already there,
planning their days and working on the telephone and making appointments. Bob also noticed
that the junior salespeople would come in later, drink coffee, read the newspaper, and make
excuses for not making sales calls.

LEARN FROM THE BEST

Bob decided he was going to pattern himself after the top salespeople in the office. He looked at
the way they dressed and groomed, and he resolved to dress and groom the way they did. Each
morning, he would stand in front of his mirror and ask himself, “Do I look like one of the top
salespeople in my office?”
If the answer was “no,” he would go back and change his clothes until he felt that he looked as
good as the best people. He began to come into the office and organize his day before 8:30 A.M.
so that he was ready to make calls as soon as his customers were available to see him.

One day, Bob asked one of the top salespeople if he could recommend a book or audio
program that would help him. It turns out that top people are always willing to help other people
improve. When he got the recommendation, Bob immediately went out and got the book and sent
away for the audio program. He read the book and listened to the program and then reported
back to the top salesman. The top salesman gave him some more advice on things to read and
listen to, all of which Bob followed.

DO WHAT THE TOP PEOPLE DO

Bob asked another salesperson how he planned his day, and that salesperson showed him his
time management system. So Bob began to plan and organize his day the way the top salespeople
did it. By using these top salespeople as his role models and emulating them whenever possible,
Bob started to make more appointments, see more prospects, and make more sales. Within six
months, he was one of the top salespeople in the office as well.

By that time, the top salespeople had invited him for coffee and lunch, and he became one of
them, rather than one of the junior people. The next year, Bob went to the national sales
conference, where he met a lot of the top people from around the country. He deliberately sought
them out and asked for their advice: What books would they suggest? What audio programs
would they recommend? What seminars had they attended? What strategies did they find that
were the most effective in building their sales business?

FOLLOW THE ADVICE YOU GET

Bob did something that few people ever do: When he received advice, he followed it. He
immediately took action on the advice and then reported back to the people who had given it to
him.
Within four years, Bob became one of the top salespeople in the country. His friends and
associates were the other top salespeople in his branch and in the other branches. His income
had increased several times. He wore beautiful clothes, drove a new car, lived in a lovely home,
and had a wonderful wife. And he said that it all came about as a result of asking top people for
their input and then following that input and applying it to his sales activities.
But here’s the kicker: Over and over, the top people, the ones who had been winning the sales
awards year after year, told Bob the same thing: He was the first person who had ever come up
to them and asked them for advice. No one else had ever sought them out and asked them why
they were so successful.