The Case Of the $5000 A Year Salesman

From John D Murphy's book, "Secrets of Successful Selling"

Elmer Wheeler had been called in as a sales consultant to a certain firm. The sales manager called his attention to a very remarkable case. A certain salesman always managed to make almost exactly $5000 per year, regardless of the territory they assigned him or the commission he was paid.

Because this salesman had done well in a rather small territory, he had been given a larger and much better one. But the next year his commission amounted to almost the same amount as that he had made in the smaller one -$5000. The following year the company increased the commission paid to all salesmen, but this salesman still managed to make only $5000. He was then assigned one of the poorest territories - and again made the usual $5000.

Wheeler had a talk with this salesman and found that the trouble was not in the territory but in the salesman's own evaluation of himself. He thought of himself as a $5000-per-year man and as long as he held that concept of himself, outside conditions didn't seem to matter much.

When he was assigned a poor territory, he worked hard to make that $5000. When he was assigned a good territory, he found all sorts of excuses to coast when the $5000 was in sight. Once, when the goal had been reached, he got sick and was unable to work anymore that year, although doctors could find nothing wrong with him and he miraculously recovered by the first of the next year.

Although this story is very old, as is obvious with the $5000 annual salary, it clearly shows the amazing power of belief. In this case a negative, self-limiting belief.

Remember, one of the rules of the mind is, "What the mind expects, tends to be realised!" And this can work in either a negative or positive way.

Hypnosis is very effective in turning negative, self-limiting beliefs into positive, beneficial beliefs.

With hypnosis it would be very easy to turn this $5,000-per-year salesman into a $10,000-or $15,0000- or more per-year salesman. After all, he already knows how to believe . And he believes very, very well. He just needs a little "tweaking" to change his negative belief into a positive one. We all have a powerful subconscious mind, which works in the background for our benefit or to our detriment. The best part is, we can choose to have positive beliefs instead of negative ones. Sometimes we just need a little help.