Enjoy this episode from the podcast “Let Me Tell You a Story with Mark Bowser.” Subscribe to the podcast feed at your favorite place for listening to podcasts.
Is there one ingredient on the journey to success that is more important than all the others? What was the philosophy that Zig Ziglar focused his entire career and business around? And, will it work for you too?
Well, let me answer the last question first. Yes! This will work for you. It is less of a philosophy and more of a life world view. And, that is why it works!
What is that life world view that Zig lived by?
“You can have everything in life you want, if you will just help enough other people get what they want.”
Zig Ziglar
This philosophy is a contemporary way of expressing the Golden Rule. The Golden Rule is found in the Bible in the book of Matthew. It says this: “Do to others whatever you would like them to do to you. This is the essence of all that is taught in the law and the prophets.” (Matthew 7:12 NLT)
Unfortunately, it has been my experience that many people — good hearted people — misinterpret the true meaning of this rule. I believe it is important that we truly understand how to live the Golden Rule before we can dig into Zig’s philosophy a little deeper.
Let me give you an example. My favorite soft drink is Dr. Pepper. It is either a drink you love … or hate. There doesn’t seem to be too many people in the middle.
Because I am focused on Dr. Pepper, many days you can find it in our refrigerator — that is if my son and I haven’t already drank it all. Let’s suppose that you come over to our house for a cook out. You sit down in the back yard by the pool and are enjoying yourself. It is pretty hot out, so I stroll up to you and hand you a can of Dr. Pepper. The challenge is that you may hate Dr. Pepper. I don’t know if you do or don’t because I didn’t take the time to ask you.
“Do to others whatever you would like them to do to you” doesn’t mean I give you what I would want you to give me. I can’t assume you would enjoy Dr. Pepper just because I would like you to give me a Dr. Pepper if we were sitting in your backyard.
I have to go the extra mile before the cookout and ask you what your favorite soft drink of choice would happen to be. And, if we don’t have it, I go to the grocery store and pick it up. That is the true essence of the Golden Rule and the cornerstone of Zig’s philosophy of “You can have everything in life you want, if you will just help enough other people get what they want.”
So, how do we live this out? There are five principles we can extract from this philosophy — and when we take action on each of them then we are truly living the kind of life that Zig lived.
Principle One: How We Treat Others
In my book, Jesus, Take the Wheel: 101 Inspirations for Your Daily Christian Walk I tell a story of an event that happened at the Seattle Special Olympics many years ago.
The nine fine-tuned athletes lined up at the starting line. This is what they had trained for. The race was the 100-yard dash. As the gun was raised, tension filled the air. BANG! The gun was fired. The athletes broke out in an awkward trot instead of a graceful gait. You see, this was the Seattle Special Olympics. Special was an understatement for this race of champions.
One of the contestants stumbled and fell to the ground. The young boy began to cry. The other eight athletes heard the cry in pain. They paused, turned around, and went to help their fallen comrade. One girl with Down Syndrome kissed the fallen athlete. She said, “This will make it better.” They helped the little boy to his feet and they all joined arms and crossed the finish line together.
Living out Zig’s philosophy means being willing to give something up in order to help someone else. Eight athletes were willing to give up the gold medal in order to help another who was in need.
I love that scene in Disney’s Cars when Lightning McQueen is about to win the Piston Cup when all of a sudden, on the Jumbotron he notices that The King has crashed. Instead of racing ahead, Lightning stops, hesitates, and then backs up to where The King is laying in a heap.
Lightning pulls up behind The King and gently pushes him over the finish line. The King asks, “What are you doing kid?”
Lightning says, “I think The King should finish his last race.”
“You just gave up the Piston Cup, you know that?”
“This grumpy old race car I know once told me something — ‘It is just an empty cup.’” Said Lightning.
How we treat others is key. Are we selfish and think of ourselves only and first … or do we look for ways to make another person’s day more successful?
Principle Two: Success is Serving
Many years ago at the very beginning of my career as a Professional Speaker, I wrote Zig Ziglar for advice. I was a brand new speaker, had no clue even how to begin, and was in desperate need of some insight.
So, I wrote a letter to the master — Zig Ziglar. Zig was the number one speaker on the planet so my reasoning was who better to get advice from. I knew it was a long shot if I would ever hear back from him, but I put a stamp on my letter and dropped it in the mail.
After a number of days, a letter was in my mailbox from the Zig Ziglar Corporation. I hurriedly and I might add a bit nervously opened the letter. It was a personal letter from the man himself.
In that letter, Zig outlined step by step what actions he recommended I take to launch my speaking career. It was great advice!
But, why did he take the time to answer a letter from a kid in Indiana? He must have received thousands of such letters all the time. Answering all those letters must have taken tons of time. So, why did he do it? Simple! Because he was a servant. Success is serving other people. This goes hand in hand with principle one. Zig took the time to serve me when I couldn’t do anything for him in return. That is why he was successful. But, he didn’t serve just in order to get. He served for service alone. Success just happens to be a by product of success.
Principle Three: Value
Our importance to the marketplace is the value we can bring to it. In many ways, this is true in our relationships too. Please don’t misunderstand me. I am not saying that I agree or even like it when someone values me only for what I can give or provide for them. All I am saying is that is the way it is for the marketplace and for many people.
So, the question you have to ask in every situation and with every relationship is what value can you bring to the situation? Or, you might ask, how can you improve the situation?
As a selling professional and sales trainer, I stress to my audiences the importance of creating value first. Before they can expect a prospect to purchase their goods or services, they first need to create value for the budding customer. What can they give them that is not a trinket, but actually builds value for them by helping to solve at least part of their situation or challenge?
Problem solving is the key. We must become champions at solving problems. The more problems we can solve for people … then the more valuable we become to them.
Principle Four: Actions Always Come Back To You
Have you ever stood on a sunny beach and thrown a beach ball into the ocean? What happens to it? It comes back, doesn’t it! That is the same with life. What we give out always comes back. The Bible says, “Give and it will be given to you.” The Bible also says that it comes back to us in larger quantities.
So, does that mean if I give a hundred dollars to a charity or to a person in need that I am going to get more than a hundred dollars back? Wow, that sounds like a good investment.
No, it doesn’t work that way. You may not get money back at all. That may not be what you need. When we give, God gives back to us exactly what we need. That may be in finances, an opportunity, or in some other blessing that is perfectly suited for us. That is the beauty of it.
Let me stress again that our main motive must never be in what we may get back, but instead in what we can do for that person or charity. But, you may be asking, “Mark is it ok to WANT to receive back? Or, is that greedy?”
Hmm, I don’t think it is greedy as long as receiving isn’t your only motive. I believe that it is healthy to want to receive. That is part of the motivation.
I believe that many Christians put God in a box. God is too big and too wonderful for a box. He has put in multiple levels of understanding and success in a verse such as “Give and it will be given to you.” On this earth, we may never understand the total depth of that truth … and that is ok. We don’t have to understand a principle completely in order to live by it and be rewarded by it’s truth.
Principle Five: It is a Mark of Your Integrity
The last step is that Zig’s principle speaks to your integrity. So, what is integrity? The dictionary will define it with words such as wholeness. Wholeness to what? Well, to values such as honesty, truthfulness, and uprightness.
We’ve all heard the old phisophy that says honesty is not only the best policy, it’s the only policy. Those words sound nice, but are also very, very true.
So, logic would say that the first step is to be honest in all your dealings with other people. It is true that you need to be honest in everything that we say and do with other people. But, I believe there is a step before this step. That step is to be honest with yourself. If you’re not honest with yourself, then that will impact how you deal with other people. Sowing within comes before sowing without.
In recap, in order for us to live out Zig’s philosophy of “You can have everything in life you want, if you will just help enough other people get what they want” we need to:
• Principle One: How we treat others
• Principle Two: Success is serving
• Principle Three: Value
• Principle Four: Actions always come back to you
• Principle Five: It is a mark of your integrity
And once we have that foundation in place then we are ready to take on the next step which leads us to our next Ziglar Principle.
*Excerpted from Mark Bowser’s upcoming book “Zig Ziglar’s Secrets of Success.”
ANNOUNCING! A New Podcast Gaining Attention — Let Me Tell You A Story with Mark Bowser
Stories are everywhere! We all love them! We love them in books, at the movies, and in our favorite podcasts. But, what if a story could be — more? What if a story could change your life in a substantial, positive way? What if a story could take you to the pinnacles of success and show you how to scale life’s mountains too?
Well, that is what Let Me Tell You a Story podcast with Mark Bowser is all about. Professional Speaker & Author Mark Bowser will take you behind the scenes of some of history’s greatest feats and unknown achievements so that their stories can be a city on a hill shining like a beacon in the night inspiring us to live our best! Come join us every Monday and Thursday! Please subscribe now so that you won’t miss one exciting episode.
The impact Zig Ziglar has made on my life can’t be measured — at least in terms of value. That is because the value he planted into my life is still growing, and I dare say will grow for the rest of my life. It is a fertile garden that continues to ripen into the most delicious fruit.
Of course I had heard of Zig Ziglar, but I really hadn’t dug into his plethora of books and programs in great depth. For I was quite young and still trying to find myself. I was in my early twenties, fresh out of college, and trying to figure out what I wanted to do with my life.
While in college, I had studied leadership under the tutelage of the Air Force ROTC program. Our commanding officer was Colonel James Biltz. A fine officer who had flown in Vietnam. Since I was a pilot candidate, the Colonel had become one of my heroes.
Colonel Biltz had taught our military history course and had assigned us a project of giving a speech in front of the other cadets in the class. I remember that my topic was on the space program. I will have to admit, that I don’t remember much of anything else about my project except that Colonel Biltz praised me so much after I was finished that it changed the trajectory and altitude of my career.
After graduating from college, Colonel Biltz’s high praise for my performance that day kept bubbling up to the surface of my thoughts. As a result, I began a discovery program on the personal development industry and the possibility of becoming a professional speaker.
As part of this research, I volunteered to help out behind the scenes at the 1993 Indianapolis SUCCESS Seminar presented by Peter Lowe International. On that platform that day was a wonderful collection of motivational speakers including Zig Ziglar. I was hooked.
Shortly thereafter, I joined the Peter Lowe Production Team and began traveling around the country learning how to produce and present the largest business seminars in the world. I worked behind the scenes and learned valuable insights that would later help me as professional speaker on the platform in my own seminar engagements.
Around this same time, I began doing some other work with the Ziglar organization from selling some of Zig’s products on the internet to partnering with them as a Zig Ziglar Certified and Endorsed speaker of Ziglar content.
Over those many years, even though I didn’t know Mr. Ziglar very well, he was always willing to respond to my letters with advice and appreciation. Over time, I became friends with his team, including his son Tom who leads the organization today.
One of the greatest honors of my career to date, is that I had the opportunity to write the book Sales Success with contributions from some of the best sales coaches in history including Tom Hopkins, one of my mentors Scott McKain … and none other than Zig Ziglar himself.
It was a wonderful experience. Unfortunately, Mr. Ziglar passed away before the book hit bookstores. But, his legacy continues.
Legacy — and that is one of the purposes of this series of articles in which you now hold the first one in your hands. To share with you some of the wisdom and insights of Zig Ziglar. Each article will start with a quote of Mr. Ziglar’s. I then will explain what it means and how — if adopted into your life — will help you climb the stairway to success.
So, hold onto your hat — because the best is yet to come! Thanks for reading today.
*Excerpted and adapted from an upcoming book by Mark Bowser
ANNOUNCING! A New Podcast Gaining Attention — Let Me Tell You A Story with Mark Bowser
Stories are everywhere! We all love them! We love them in books, at the movies, and in our favorite podcasts. But, what if a story could be — more? What if a story could change your life in a substantial, positive way? What if a story could take you to the pinnacles of success and show you how to scale life’s mountains too?
Well, that is what Let Me Tell You a Story podcast with Mark Bowser is all about. Professional Speaker & Author Mark Bowser will take you behind the scenes of some of history’s greatest feats and unknown achievements so that their stories can be a city on a hill shining like a beacon in the night inspiring us to live our best! Come join us every Monday and Thursday! Please subscribe now so that you won’t miss one exciting episode.
Learn how to close more sales, build more credibility, and become financially free with “Sales Success” by Mark Bowser with Zig Ziglar, Scott McKain, & Tom Hopkins
Why do leaders fail? This is a tricky question. One with multiple depths of answers. However, I believe there are two shining pillars that are always missing from leaders who fail. Sometimes, these failing leaders are missing both of these pillars and at other times they are missing just one of them. But, if either is missing, failure is inevitable.
What are these missing pillars? They are Character and Vision. Let’s take a few minutes to explore these pillars a bit deeper. Hitler was a man of great vision. A man who succeeded a great deal. But, Hitler was a lousy leader. Why? Because of a lack of moral character. Yes, he thought he had character. Yes, many others around him thought he had character too. But, to the masses of the world and to history, he lacked the basic moral character of honesty, uprightness, and love for fellow human beings. Because of this, he eventually failed and caused misery to millions of people. We could get into the theological reasons for this failure, but that is one for another discussion. All leaders who lack character at their core will fail. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but someday. To know this is true, all we have to do is look back at the last fifty years of contemporary history and look at all the people who have fallen from the heights of success to the depths of despair. Just to mention a few, we have evangelist Jim Baker, politician Gary Hart, and companies such as Enron. Unfortunately, the list could go on and on and on.
The second pillar that is missing from leaders who fail is vision. Vision is vital. Vision is critical. King Solomon in the book of Proverbs said, “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” And perish indeed they will. Where there is no vision or direction, people wander around in chaos with no purpose. The human experience needs direction and purpose. We not only need purpose, we crave it. Vision provides not only the direction but the purpose of the destination before the journey ever begins.
Successful leaders continually develop these two pillars. They are mindful of their character and where they are going. Would there be an America without a Washington? Would there be two countries if not for Lincoln? Would England have survived World War Two without Churchill, and would there be a Walt Disney World without a Walt? Will your organization thrive without you? A “you” who is focused on incredible character and a vision worthy of the moon. Some thoughts for us all to ponder. Thanks for reading today. God bless!
*Mark Bowser is a leadership and sales expert and for the last 27 years has traveled throughout the United States, Canada, and even Australia presenting business seminars. He is the author of several books including “Nehemiah on Leadership,” “Sales Success” with Zig Ziglar, “Some Gave It All” with Danny Lane (endorsed by Chuck Norris), and “The 3 Pillars of Success.” Mark Bowser can be reached at his website www.MarkBowser.com or email mark@MarkBowser.com. Schedule Mark for your next conference or training event. Online Seminars available too.
What does Sales, Zig Ziglar, Funeral Directors, Rock Apes, and Chuck Norris have to do with each other? Well, they are all in this interview with Mark Bowser.
To live an empowered life in a sales career, character is a requirement, not a choice. It has been expressed that character is doing the right thing when nobody is watching.
Many, many years ago in ancient Greece, an old sculptor worked hard on a piece of stone. He took much care as he chiseled a little at a time. The sculptor was careful to make every detail as perfect as possible. When finished, this piece of stone would sit high above on top of a shaft and would become the top part of a column. The column in turn would help support the roof of the temple.
A government official was walking by and noticed what the sculptor was doing and asked, “Why spend so much time on that section? It will be fifty feet in the air. No one will be able to see those details.”
The old, wise sculptor looked at the man and said, “God will see it.”
Character is a must for your life. In fact, that is what life is about. It was Samuel Johnson who said, “Life, like every other blessing, derives its value from its use alone. Not for itself, but for a nobler end the eternal gave it; and that end is virtue.” My friend, if you live a life of character, whether you close a sale or not, you are still a winner.
*Excerpted from “Sell Your Way to Success” by Mark Bowser. Mark Bowser is a professional Speaker and Corporate Trainer and the author of several books including “Sales Success” with Zig Ziglar and Scott McKain, “Nehemiah on Leadership,” and “Some Gave It All” with Danny Lane (endorsed by Chuck Norris).
*To book Mark Bowser to work with your team (live in person seminar or online remote seminar) then contact him at http://www.MarkBowser.com
Social Media Marketing is a necessary evil in today’s business environment. Now, that is a provocative statement and I am quite sure I have ruffled some feathers already. Does that mean that I don’t believe in social media marketing and refuse to participate in it? Not at all. Every week, I post content on several platforms and engage with other’s content to create attention, influence, and results toward my objectives.
But, I still say it is a necessary business evil. Why? Because it is not direct marketing. I am a big believer of what marketing king Dan Kennedy preached for years that the best marketing is one that goes direct to the buyer. One on one, whether it is a sales letter speaking directly to the consumer or a sales professional speaking to the decision maker is always the best type of marketing.
If that is the case, and it is, then why do so many people shy away from those direct marketing endeavors into the world of social media marketing? Cost! Pure and simple. It is all about the cost. For example, a direct mail campaign is very expensive. You have to obtain a mailing list, hire a copywriter (or write it yourself), print the piece, buy the postage, prepare the mailer…all before you send your marketing piece out the door toward the prospect. On the hand, Social Media Marketing is free or relatively inexpensive accept for your time.
My main point is to encourage organizations and individuals to not throw the proverbial baby out with the bath water. The great failure is when we choose one over the other. The truth is for you to reach your full exposure and results you need both Direct Marketing and Social Media Marketing.
Having said that, let me give you four quick steps on how to make your Social Media Marketing & Selling more effective.
1. Know Your Audience. It doesn’t matter how good your bait is if you land in the wrong pond. You have to go where the fish are who love your bait.
2. Choose the Right Platforms. No platform fits all sizes. Know your objectives and do your research on the plethora of platforms to choose a few to start engaging with. Choose three or four and stick with them.
3. Post Quality Content. What is quality? It depends on your audience. Make sure it creates value for them. Leave them with something they can use immediately.
4. Keep It Simple. One of the most common mistakes I see as a sales and marketing consultant is that people don’t make it easy to succeed. If you overcomplicate your process, then in time, most people quit doing it. Create a simple process you can put in motion every week.
There you have it. Now, it is your turn. Go and make it happen!
*Mark Bowser is a Professional Business Speaker and the author of several books including “Sell Your Way to Success,” “Sales Success” with Zig Ziglar, “Some Gave It All” with Danny Lane (endorsed by Chuck Norris), “Jesus, Take the Wheel,” “Nehemiah on Leadership,” and the soon to be released “Leadership Mastery.” Check out his books on Amazon.
*To schedule Mark Bowser to speak at your next conference or business training meeting please email him at info@MarkBowser.com or visit www.MarkBowser.com. Remote learning training seminars are also available.
Welcome to my blog. As an author, I love to share ideas. But , I also love to hear ideas. This is a place where I can share my thoughts on success and life with you. It is also a place where you can share your ideas with me. It is a place where you can experience my writing style and hopefully be inspired by what you read. It is a place where we can experience the road of success...together. I look forward to the journey.
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