SUCCESSFUL PEOPLE
Surround Themselves With POSitive People
By Rich "MR POS" Wilkins

I was recently invited to Washington, D.C. to conduct a luncheon keynote presentation for the Internal Revenue Service. Knowing that I was going to be finished by 1:00 p.m., I called a friend of mine and asked her if she would like to meet me for a couple of hours in the afternoon to network and share ideas together. She readily agreed and we picked a place and a time, and I looked forward to our meeting. My friend is a very successful person in the Network Marketing Industry and she has been responsible for my obtaining several speaking engagements in her industry. As we talked about several topics of interest, I asked my friend what she attributed her success to in the Network Marketing Industry. She simply said, "I have the habit of surrounding myself with POSitive people." Her answer was intriguing to me and I said, "How do you determine who to bring into your organization." She said, "I simply conduct what I call my attitude test. As I encounter people on a daily basis, I simply look them in the eye and say, "Hi, how are you doing." If they respond by looking me in the eye and saying, "I'm doing great", they have passed my attitude test. If they don't look me in the eye and say, "Oh, I'm doing okay, however, I would be happier if it were Friday", they failed my attitude test."

Interestingly enough, I find that my friend's approach to identifying POSitive people gives her a high return on her investment. Successful people understand that their success is totally due to surrounding themselves with others who are successful and POSitive about their success.

Why do you want to surround yourself with POSitive people? For these three reasons:

1. People rise to the level of others around them.

2. Successful people have similar values and desires to succeed.

3. POSitive people are solution conscious and see problems as opportunities to grow.

There once was a story told about Henry Ford as he was being cross examined by an attorney in a court case. As he was cross examined, the opposing attorney kept asking Henry Ford questions that he couldn't answer and Mr. Ford kept referring the answers to others in the court room that were on his staff. Finally, the attorney stopped and said, "How come you don't have the answers to my questions?" Henry Ford simply replied, "Why should I bother myself with the answers when I can pay my staff who are success oriented like myself to come up with your answers." Henry Ford saw the value in surrounding himself with positive/ successful people who would support him in his efforts to build a car that would revolutionize the automobile industry.

We often hear the saying, "Together we stand, divided we fall." This is very true with people and organizations. The more customers you develop and surround yourself with that want to see you succeed, the harder it is going to be for your competition to negatively impact your business. Make it a point to constantly ask what is important to your customers in terms of products and services, and watch how easy it is to build long-term selling relationships.

The more people you surround yourself with that are interested in being a part of your sales success, the more empowering your attitudes are going to become toward yourself and others. Be on a daily search for those people who fit the characteristics of success that work for you. The exciting thing about life is that when you decide what you want, and are committed to making it happen, you will begin to encounter others who will want to help support your sales success!