Conrad Hilton Says…
May 28, 2009
Conrad Hilton founded the Hilton Hotel chain, along with several other businesses. He also has the dubious distinction of being Paris Hilton’s great-grandfather. I think we’ll stick with the hotels – these business strategies are far more interesting than Paris Hilton and her latest antics.
A copy of his autobiography, Be My Guest, published in 1957, is placed in every room of every Hilton hotel, and that’s where I found my copy.
As I was reading it, one quote in particular jumped out at me because it’s especially relevant to these interesting times: “Success seems to be connected to action. Successful people keep moving. They make mistakes, but they don’t quit.”
This quote, written over 50 years ago, cuts right to the core of what separates successful people from those who choose to be spectators, letting life happen to them instead of working diligently and tirelessly to create the reality they truly desire.
It’s almost word-for-word the same quote from Lance Armstrong that I shared with you last week. And if I wanted to, I could find enough similar quotes from 50 different people and include in this newsletter one each week for an entire year.
The problem is that people either get it, or they don’t, and no amount of coaxing, coaching, or cajoling will change people’s basic belief systems on how things should work.
In yet another version of a situation that occurs with frightening regularity and frequency, I brought our new car into the dealership for the 5,000-mile service and to fix a wobbly rear-view mirror. We parked in front of the used-car building which was right near the service area. Two “salespeople” (and I use the term loosely) were milling about, leaning on the cars parked in front of the building, and waiting to pounce on us…until they realized we were there to service a car, not buy one.
Big mistake, because if they had even half a brain, they might have struck up a casual conversation with my wife while I was checking in the car. They would have discovered that we were in fact going to be looking for a reliable used car for our daughter to use when she starts college in August.
For that matter, I’ve not heard anything from the salesperson who sold us the new car – no personal newsletter, no three-month follow-up call to see how he might be able to help me – nothing!
And it gets better (it always does, doesn’t it!) – my daughter, who has been scouring the internet looking for her ideal car, actually found the exact model she was looking for at a dealership about 50 minutes away.
Lorie called to find out how we would get the car to our mechanic to look it over; he explained their easy procedure…and then thanked Lorie and ended the call.
Not, “My name’s Bob; can I have your name and we’ll schedule a time for you to come in for a test drive?” Not, “So you live in Raleigh, would it be easier if we brought the vehicle up to you so you didn’t have to drive all the way down here?”
All four of these individuals will go home at the end of the day and complain to their friends and families about how bad business is, and blame the economy, when in fact, they squander opportunities to generate business and choose instead to lean against cars on the lot for a living.
Maybe they should follow Conrad Hilton’s advice: take action, keep moving, and don’t quit.
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You and I think alike…I am IN sales! My daughter totaled her car last week and we went back to the dealership where she had purchased it last August. Asked for the same salesperson but he wasn’t available at the time…no one asked for our name, number but said they’d let him know…the guy lost the sale…we went to another dealership who took our sale. Funny! We would have been a lay-down as they say in the sales business. I hear there is good money in used car sales.