Attitude is paramount, as everyone on earth knows. People often say that attitude determines behavior, behavior determines habits, habits determine character, and character determines destiny. In the end, what influences destiny is still attitude. For ordinary people like us, to succeed in anything, we must have a good attitude; this is also a consensus among the general public. To achieve extraordinary sales performance, many good attitudes are needed. So, which attitudes require the most attention and cultivation? In sales, through continuous practice and verification, the author has found that ten attitudes are particularly important: confidence, positivity, persistence, tolerance, willingness to give, empty cup, humility, gratitude, good karma, and self-reflection. Among these, there is overlap and mutual influence; the key is to understand and absorb the core principles.

  1. Confident Attitude Starting from reality, believe that you can definitely do it. This is confidence. If I am 1.58 meters tall and insist on playing in the NBA with full confidence, that is not confidence but self-harm, harming one's own spirit. The popular "Sister Feng" last year said: "I read widely at nine, reached my peak at twenty, and within six hundred years (three hundred years back and three hundred years forward), no one can surpass me." Sister Feng is not confident but arrogant, super arrogant. We should still oppose excessive confidence. The world-renowned sales master Yamaichi Hara, when he went for an interview at an insurance company, was looked down upon by the chief examiner. Hara said: "I am only 145 cm tall, thin and small, weighing only 52 kg, but I do not feel inferior." The examiner said: "The job of selling insurance is too difficult; you are not competent." Hara, like a fierce fighting cock, asked aggressively: "May I ask, how much business must one achieve to enter your company?" The examiner said arrogantly: "Ten thousand yuan per person per month." Hara said with strength: "If that's the case, I can also sell that much every month." If this were today, encountering such an examiner, the applicant might sneer, thinking, "Such an idiot, this company must not be good," and then leave arrogantly, even glad they were not hired. Confidence can create momentum, a powerful aura, and a force that intimidates. Chairman Mao's "Confident of two hundred years of life, I will strike the water for three thousand li" shows great momentum.
  2. Positive Attitude Positivity and initiative are twins; positive people are definitely proactive and enthusiastic in facing reality. No matter what happens, they can view it optimistically and handle it calmly. If you fancy a girl, you may have confidence to win her over, but without proactive action, it won't work. So, be confident, but more importantly, act positively. Proactivity is the external manifestation of confidence. After making his promise to the examiner, Hara began his arduous sales journey. He did not expect it to be so difficult; he went seven consecutive months without a single order, could not afford rent, and was kicked out by the landlord to sleep on a park bench. Hara often joked to himself: "Although today is miserable, the park is not bad; it's quiet and cool." More often, Hara would encourage himself: "As long as your spirit is standing, nothing can make you fall!" Every morning at 5 o'clock, Hara "got up" from the park bench and walked to work. Along the way, he was energetic, without any signs of sleep deprivation. Sometimes he even whistled and greeted passersby warmly. One day, a big boss who often walked in the park saw Hara in such a predicament yet still smiling at life, and curiously struck up a conversation with him. Unexpectedly, after hearing Hara's story, he was infected by his positive and optimistic attitude and happily bought an insurance policy. This was Hara's first business since starting sales. A few days later, this big boss introduced many business friends to Hara. Hara's positive attitude towards life infected more and more people, and his business grew larger and larger. Life is like a mirror; when you smile at it, what it returns to you is also a charming smile. The world's greatest car salesman, Joe Girard, once said: "When you smile, the whole world smiles with you; a bitter face gets no attention." Positive people need to laugh at the winds and clouds.
  3. Persistent Attitude Confidence can be achieved, and positive action and optimism are no problem, but before the goal is achieved, whether you can persist is the greatest test. Why can't you win over the girl you like? Because you only have three days of enthusiasm; the fire starts strong but gradually goes out. A person who truly dares to persist is like the never-extinguishing Olympic flame, burning fiercely. Tom Hopkins was the real estate agent who sold the most properties in a single year worldwide, selling an average of one house per day. Later, his name entered the Guinness World Records, and he was called the legendary champion of the international sales world by many international newspapers. When his career reached its peak, someone asked him: "What is the secret to your success?" He replied: "Whenever I encounter setbacks, I have only one belief: act immediately and persist to the end. Success never gives up; those who give up never succeed!" You are surely familiar with Hollywood action star Sylvester Stallone. His path to fame began with selling his own script "Rocky" and insisting on playing the lead role, which many producers and directors flatly refused. It is said that Stallone did not give up and was rejected 1,850 times before succeeding. There are many versions of this number; I have not verified it, but it was over 1,800 times. However, I think this number might be a bit off, but being rejected hundreds of times is possible because Stallone is not handsome and also disabled, with facial paralysis and slurred speech. It is said that the midwife's scissors caused damage to his facial nerves when he was in his mother's womb. It seems there were many quack doctors in America back then. Stallone believed in himself, persisted to the end, and finally achieved great success.
  4. Tolerant Attitude In sales, you must know how to be tolerant. You should not be bothered by some people or things that go against common sense. Do not care about personal gains or losses in small matters; forgive others whenever possible. When your goodwill is not understood by customers, when customers make unreasonable demands, or when customers reject you mercilessly, can you maintain a calm attitude, as always, and never retreat? Of course, if a customer tries to harass you, you still need to stick to your principles. Once, while selling insurance, Hara said: "Hello, I am Hara from Meiji Life Insurance." "Oh, sorry, I don't need insurance; I have always hated insurance." "Can you tell me why?" Hara said with a smile. "Hating doesn't need a reason!" The customer suddenly raised his voice, seeming a bit impatient. "I heard from a friend that you are very successful in your industry. I envy you. If I could do as well in my industry as you do in yours, that would be a great thing." Hara still looked at him with a smile. Hearing this, the customer's attitude improved slightly: "I have always hated insurance salesmen, but your smile makes me unable to refuse to talk with you. Well, go ahead and tell me about your insurance." If a customer gets angry at you, if a customer doesn't understand you, if a customer doesn't care about you, can you still keep smiling? Tolerance is a kind of broad-mindedness. As the saying goes, the broader your mind, the bigger the stage you have. It is not originally your fault, but when facing customer complaints, can you "bravely take responsibility"? One of Tom Hopkins' clients, after buying an accident insurance policy, forgot to take back a very important document. Tom put it away with other files and didn't know about it. Three months later, the client unfortunately fell and got injured. When handling the compensation, he needed that document. Later, Tom took out the folder to search. When the client saw the document, he blamed Tom for being irresponsible. But Tom sincerely said: "I'm really sorry. It was my negligence. I didn't remind you to take this important document, and it almost delayed your matter." Later, because of this incident, the client trusted Tom even more and introduced many more clients to him.
  5. Willingness to Give The way of giving and taking is the crystallization of thousands of years of Chinese culture and wisdom. Big giving leads to big gains, small giving leads to small gains, and no giving leads to no gains. I heard a story. A child's coin fell into a vase. He reached in to grab it, but because his hand was clenched into a fist holding the coin, the mouth of the vase was too small, and his fist could not come out. The mother had to break the vase. When she learned that the child couldn't get out because he was holding the coin, she almost fainted with anger because the vase was worth 30,000 yuan. However, if the mother had seized the opportunity to teach the child the principle of giving and taking, its value would have been more than 30,000 yuan. Ordinary people often lose more because they cannot give up a little something. Such cases are not uncommon in life. Once, to save a few yuan in parking fees, I parked on the roadside, but when I came out, the car was gone. It wasn't stolen but towed by the traffic police. So, saving seven or eight yuan cost me several hundred yuan and a lot of trouble. Beijing's famous hotpot chain Haidilao provides many free services while customers wait: free fruit, free nail polish, free drinks, and countless free items that make you dizzy. As a result, the first wave of customers may not bring profit. But Haidilao is profitable and popular because it dares to give; it gives small and gains big. Giving is a wisdom and even more a courage. This reminds me of our lovely comrade Ma Yun. At that time, Taobao was completely a little kid compared to eBay EachNet. EachNet was the world's largest and at its peak, holding over 90% of the Chinese market share. Taobao took only two years to capture over 70% of the share and forced the former to undergo strategic restructuring. This is also a miracle, a great miracle in business history. This miracle is closely linked to Ma Yun's willingness to give. EachNet charged sellers, but Taobao announced it was free. Since it was free, people would definitely come because we all love free things. Ma Yun's big giving back then brought today's big gains.
  6. Empty Cup Attitude The prototype story of the empty cup attitude is well-known to everyone, so I won't repeat it here. The main idea of the empty cup attitude is to teach us the way of learning. We must continuously learn new knowledge and skills, humbly learn from others, and be willing to accept others' opinions. There is no true sage in the world who knows everything, can do everything, and never makes mistakes. We are now in an information age, and the half-life of knowledge is getting shorter and shorter. By the time you graduate from university, half of your knowledge is already outdated. Even today's knowledge may be obsolete as soon as it is printed in a book. If a person does not learn or stops learning for too long, they will soon become disconnected from society. Learning is something that should be done every day. Some people don't mind spending hundreds of yuan on clothes, but think it's expensive to spend tens of yuan on a book. Learning is an investment, not a cost or consumption. French thinker Romain Rolland said: "The biggest reason adults are eliminated by the times is not the increase in age, but the decrease in enthusiasm for learning." If you cannot maintain enthusiasm for learning, you will not only fail to succeed but will inevitably be eliminated by the times. This is an era of lifelong learning. Companies spend money to train employees. Some employees learn something, while others complain it's useless. In fact, the key is whether you have an empty cup attitude. Sales master Tom Hopkins said: "I will never forget the sales training class I attended. All my gains came from what I learned there. Later, I devoted myself to studying psychology, public relations, marketing, and other theories, combined with modern sales techniques, and finally achieved great success."
  7. Good Karma Attitude Good karma here can be understood as doing more good deeds and helping others more. When you help others, they will also help you grow and succeed. Good karma can improve your interpersonal relationships, and often brings unexpected rewards. There are many such stories. Wang Yongqing's caddie, Tsai Ho-cheng, is also a wonder in Taiwan's sales world, creating many sales miracles, such as selling 99 Mercedes-Benz cars in half a year, and going from unemployment to becoming the insurance king. Mr. Tsai was cheated out of his property by a friend and had to sell his house. On a typhoon day, no one came to see the house. An elderly woman's umbrella was blown apart by the strong wind. She looked like a typical frugal rural old lady, unlikely to have money to buy a house, but Tsai lent her an umbrella and then casually invited her to look at the house, without any hope. But surprisingly, the person who finally bought the house was this elderly woman. Another rainy day when everyone felt annoyed, Mr. Tsai, while waiting to cross the street, saw a lady covering her head with her hands at the traffic light. He proactively walked over and shared his umbrella with her. She lowered her hands from her head and also lowered her guard, from one side of the street to the other. Mr. Tsai learned that she was the deputy manager of a trading company across the street, and soon closed a policy worth 70,000 or 80,000 yuan. Helping every person you can help, whether you know them or not, is a good karma attitude. Your purpose is not necessarily to make them your customer, but just a grateful attitude, a joy of helping others. In fact, when you build good relationships widely, you will gain more opportunities for success.
  8. Humble Attitude In the sixty-four hexagrams of the I Ching, every hexagram has both good and bad omens, except the Humility hexagram, which is auspicious in all six lines, making it truly great luck. The Humility hexagram advocates humility; as long as you are humble, you will be lucky. From this, we can see how many virtues and cultivations humility encompasses. In sales, humility is not only an attitude but also a technique, a technique that never fails. If you speak to customers with righteousness and strong momentum, you will not give a sense of closeness, making it hard to get close to customers, thus difficult to communicate and easy to lose opportunities. Once, Hara visited the owner of a shop. "Sir, hello! I am Hara from Meiji Life Insurance. I just arrived in this area today, and I have a few things I would like to ask you, the famous boss around here." "What? A famous boss around here?" "Yes, according to my investigation, everyone says I should ask you about this." "Oh! Everyone says that about me? I don't deserve it. What is the question?" "To be honest, it is..." "It's inconvenient to talk standing; please come in!" If Hara visited someone and said, "I am the best sales manager, I must visit you, and if you don't let me, I won't leave," I think few people would let you be so arrogant. A modest gentleman is as gentle as jade. Being respectful to others and cautious in handling affairs is a realm of life. There is a classic case like this; I don't know who the original author is. A university planned to build a modern audio-visual education building. Many manufacturers came to negotiate with Professor Zhang, who was in charge of equipment. Some introduced how good their products were; some hinted at commissions; some brought beautiful women. But Director Wang of a certain factory took a different approach. He wrote a letter to Professor Zhang, roughly as follows: "Dear Professor Zhang, we know you are an expert in audio-visual teaching equipment. We are writing to disturb you because we have a matter on which we hope you can help. Our factory has recently produced a set of audio-visual equipment. Before mass production, we would like your guidance on what areas need improvement. We know you are busy, so we are happy to send a car to pick you up at any time you specify." Professor Zhang was very pleased after receiving the letter and immediately replied to Director Wang: "I am willing to go this weekend." Accompanied by Director Wang, Professor Zhang carefully observed and tried operating the factory's products, and only made some suggestions for improvement on small details. Three days after returning to school, the factory received a letter from Professor Zhang: "After research and decision, we will purchase your factory's audio-visual products..." Director Wang used a humble approach to achieve sales success.
  9. Grateful Attitude When we are smooth, when we are happy, when our dreams come true, we need to thank others for their help and be grateful to the relatives and friends who support us behind the scenes. We should get used to saying thank you and expressing gratitude through actions. A person without gratitude is terrible. Indeed, many people today do not know how to be grateful, do not know how to be grateful to their parents, only act willfully, only squander, and only make unreasonable demands. China's top philanthropist, Mr. Chen Guangbiao, although his high-profile charity conflicts with our traditional "low-key conduct," I firmly support and use him. You must know that tens of billions of real gold and silver are not something anyone can produce. Those who have been helped should have a grateful heart, thanking society and philanthropists like Chen Guangbiao. But according to Mr. Chen, 80% of the people he has helped have no gratitude. This makes Mr. Chen very sad. This reminds me of Lu Xun's words when he gave up medicine for literature: "I felt that studying medicine was not an urgent matter. People with weak and ignorant souls, no matter how healthy and strong their bodies, can only serve as meaningless materials for public display and as onlookers." Mr. Chen Guangbiao mainly does charity in material civilization. I wonder if there is a way to do spiritual charity? We should not only thank those who help us, but also those who reject us, and even our enemies. Face success and failure with a grateful heart, and you will not have complaints, hatred, or lose confidence. Stevens was once a programmer who worked for a software company for 8 years. Just when he was working smoothly, the company went bankrupt, and he had to find a new job for a living. At that time, Microsoft was recruiting programmers with quite good treatment. Stevens went to apply with confidence. With his solid professional knowledge, he easily passed the written test, and he was also confident about the interview two days later. However, Stevens was eliminated in the interview. Stevens felt that Microsoft's understanding of the software industry was refreshing and inspiring, so he wrote a thank-you letter to the company, roughly saying thank you for giving him the opportunity and increasing his knowledge. The letter was later delivered to Bill Gates. Three months later, a position opened up at Microsoft, and Stevens received a job offer. More than ten years later, with outstanding performance, Stevens became a vice president of Microsoft. Gratitude is a virtue, an attitude towards life, and the basic cultivation of being a person. Let us be grateful to our parents, life, teachers, friends, and nature. Every day, let us hold a grateful heart, and then society will truly be harmonious.
  10. Self-Reflective Attitude Confucius's proud disciple Zengzi told us: "I daily examine myself on three points." The original meaning is to reflect on oneself from three aspects every day. In today's context, we should reflect on ourselves every day. What did we do wrong today? What did we not do well? What can we do better tomorrow? If we continuously pursue this, progress will be obvious, and surpassing ourselves is not empty talk. In actual work, have you done well in the nine attitudes above? Should you often reflect on where you need to improve and which attitude is still lacking? We must not only reflect but also put the results of reflection into action. When Hara first started selling insurance, he persisted for 7 months without any results and was kicked out by the landlord. One day, he met an old monk. Seeing his calm and composed demeanor, he couldn't help but ask for advice, and it was like a revelation. The old monk said: "Young man, before selling, sell yourself first!" The monk's words were like a lighthouse for a lost helmsman. The sudden enlightenment in thought led to a change in action. So, Hara invited five colleagues to evaluate him, and the results exposed his character flaws:
  • Impatient and unable to stay calm;
  • Bad temper and careless;
  • Too stubborn and often self-righteous, which leads to failure; he should listen to others' opinions;
  • Insufficient knowledge; he needed to study more because he faced all kinds of people, so he needed rich knowledge to become a "life guide" for others;
  • Aiming too high and ignoring the present. After recognizing his shortcomings, Hara was determined to correct them one by one because he knew that the biggest prerequisite for success is to discover one's own weaknesses in time and effectively eliminate them. The biggest enemy of a person is oneself; this is a consensus. The hardest obstacle to overcome is oneself, and the hardest shortcoming to correct is also oneself. But as long as you often reflect and have the courage to correct yourself, the future is definitely bright. Those who can introspect are certainly not vulgar people. So said the English novelist Browning.