This Memorial Day weekend, I hope you enjoy the time off, and relax with family & friends. But please remember those who served and made this holiday weekend possible for all of us. The following poem, written after WWI by a field doctor, tells of the cost and the reverence that should be accorded the memories of those young men and woman who have served this country. Remember also the fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters, and all those who have lost one of their own. It should be noted that some people and nations want to destroy our nation. Take a moment to read this poem, reflect, and give thanks.

In Flanders Fields

By: John McCrae, MD (1872-1918)

In Flanders Fields the poppies blow

Between the crosses row on row,

That mark our place; and in the sky

The larks, still bravely singing, fly

Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead.

Short days ago

We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,

Loved and were loved, and now we lie

In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:

To you from failing hands we throw

The torch; be yours to hold it high.

If ye break faith with us who die

We shall not sleep, though poppies grow

In Flanders fields.

—————-
“McCrae’s “In Flanders Fields” remains to this day one of the most memorable war poems ever written. It is a lasting legacy of the terrible battle in the Ypres salient in the spring of 1915. Here is the story of the making of that poem:

Although he had been a doctor for years and had served in the South African War, it was impossible to get used to the suffering, the screams, and the blood here, and Major John McCrae had seen and heard enough in his dressing station to last him a lifetime.

As a surgeon attached to the 1st Field Artillery Brigade, Major McCrae, who had joined the McGill faculty in 1900 after graduating from the University of Toronto, had spent seventeen days treating injured men — Canadians, British, Indians, French, and Germans — in the Ypres salient.
It had been an ordeal that he had hardly thought possible. McCrae later wrote of it:

“I wish I could embody on paper some of the varied sensations of that seventeen days… Seventeen days of Hades! At the end of the first day if anyone had told us we had to spend seventeen days there, we would have folded our hands and said it could not have been done.”

One death particularly affected McCrae. A young friend and former student, Lieut. Alexis Helmer of Ottawa, had been killed by a shell burst on 2 May 1915. Lieutenant Helmer was buried later that day in the little cemetery outside McCrae’s dressing station, and McCrae had performed the funeral ceremony in the absence of the chaplain.

The next day, sitting on the back of an ambulance parked near the dressing station beside the Canal de l’Yser, just a few hundred yards north of Ypres, McCrae vented his anguish by composing a poem. The major was no stranger to writing, having authored several medical texts besides dabbling in poetry.

In the nearby cemetery, McCrae could see the wild poppies that sprang up in the ditches in that part of Europe, and he spent twenty minutes of precious rest time scribbling fifteen lines of verse in a notebook.

A young soldier watched him write it. Cyril Allinson, a twenty-two year old sergeant-major, was delivering mail that day when he spotted McCrae. The major looked up as Allinson approached, then went on writing while the sergeant-major stood there quietly. “His face was very tired but calm as we wrote,” Allinson recalled. “He looked around from time to time, his eyes straying to Helmer’s grave.”

When McCrae finished five minutes later, he took his mail from Allinson and, without saying a word, handed his pad to the young NCO. Allinson was moved by what he read:

“The poem was exactly an exact description of the scene in front of us both. He used the word blow in that line because the poppies actually were being blown that morning by a gentle east wind. It never occurred to me at that time that it would ever be published. It seemed to me just an exact description of the scene.”
In fact, it was very nearly not published. Dissatisfied with it, McCrae tossed the poem away, but a fellow officer retrieved it and sent it to newspapers in England. The Spectator, in London, rejected it, but Punch published it on 8 December 1915.

- From ArlingtonCemetary.net

What does it take to be successful in sales?

Some say the most important thing is Enthusiasm.

en·thu·si·asm n.

1. Great excitement for or interest in a subject or cause.
2. A source or cause of great excitement or interest.
3. Archaic

• Ecstasy arising from supposed possession by a god.
• Religious fanaticism.

While you need to have a passion for what you do and what you sell, it takes more than enthusiasm to be successful.

Selling is not just “telling.” Successful selling takes more than just spewing facts about products and services. It is relationship development, prospecting, making the approach, interviewing, presenting, answering objections, asking for the order, and keeping promises. Selling requires enthusiasm, product knowledge (yours and your competitors), and confidence.

con·fi·dence n.

1. Trust or faith in a person or thing.
2. A feeling of assurance, especially of self-assurance.
3. A trusting relationship: I took them into my confidence.
4. The state or quality of being certain: I have every confidence in your ability to succeed.

Expertise breeds confidence. Confidence results from knowing you are prepared, and that you can deliver and keep promises. Confidence forms the basis for enthusiasm. Enthusiasm is a choice. But still you don’t want to run around screaming about your product. Unbridled enthusiasm results in a lack of focus. It takes more to truly succeed in sales.

pro·fes·sion·al·ism n.

1. Professional status, methods, character, or standards.
2. The use of professional performers, as in athletics or in the arts.

Professionalism takes all of the factors listed above to a higher level. It helps you form a cogent story, run your business like a business, build and work a plan in an organized, focused manner.

So what is the most important factor?

There is no one most important key to success in sales; they are all important! Your success is a product of how well you execute on the activities and behaviors listed above, and the attitude that you bring to these tasks.  Successful salespeople are confident in their abilities, enthusiastic about their solutions, and professional in their execution.

Good selling!

Last night at the University of Minnesota Men’s Basketball game, Coach Tubby Smith presented senior guard Lawrence Westbrook with a commemorative basketball in honor of Westbrook joining the “1,000 Point Club.” This occurred at center court prior to the game with much applause and many photos. I commented to my wife that, “He will cherish that ball and the photograph for the rest of his life.”

Westbrook earned the ball not for anything he did yesterday, but for what happened over the last three and a half years. The photograph merely captured a moment of glory, which represented many hours of hard work leading up to the resulting achievement and subsequent honor. However, that photo becomes a touchstone for Westbrook that will always remind him of his achievement, and the dedication, choices, and actions that led to this moment in time.

Consider this question:

“Will you cherish the photograph of what you did today for the rest of your life?””

The things we do are a reflection of what we think about. So what did you think about today, and what did you do about it? Some additional questions are in order:

• “Did I work for the best interest of my clients?”
• “Did I treat them with respect, while seeking to help them make good decisions?”
• “Did I treat my colleagues and staff with respect and did I help them serve our clients while bettering themselves?”
• “Did I tell my story to new relationships to allow them the benefit of my services?”
• “Did I do these things without sacrificing my integrity or my family values?

Make certain that the photograph this day of your life includes you with a smile upon your face, for you did the things you needed to do today to serve those who depend upon you.

To Lawrence Westbrook: Never forget that night, not because of the destination, but because of the journey that led you there. The lessons you learned will help you continue to achieve, no matter what dreams and goals you pursue.

To You: What do YOU choose to do TODAY?

Good selling!

In Thomas Merton’s autobiography, The Seven Storey Mountain, Merton is pondering his life’s work. At some point in their lives, successful people struggle with their purpose, goals, and direction. In a conversation with his friend and mentor, Robert Lax, Merton is confronted by Lax, who suggests Merton should aim higher with his ambitions than being a writer:

“’What you should say’- [Lax] told me-“what you should say is that you want to be a saint.’”

“’By wanting to,’ said Lax.”

If you are to do great things, you must first choose to do great things. This is not always easy, not always fun. However it is simple. In his famous speech titled, “The Common Denominator of Success,” first delivered in 1940 at the NALU Convention in Philadelphia, Albert E. N. Gray uttered a timeless truth:

“The common denominator of success — the secret of success of every [person] who has ever been successful — lies in the fact that he formed the habit of doing things that failures don’t like to do.”

So what do you choose? Will it be to aim higher? You must first decide, then gather your resources, develop a strategy, put it into a plan, then do it. As I said, a decision for greatness is not always easy, but very simple.

It’s time. Make the decision. Choose.

On my way home one day, I stopped to watch a Little League base ball game that was being played in a park near my home. As I sat down behind the bench on the first-base line, I asked one of the boys what the score was. “We’re behind 14 to nothing,” he answered with a smile. “Really,” I said. “I have to say you don’t look very discouraged.” “Discouraged?”, the boy asked with a puzzled look on his face. “Why should we be discouraged? We haven’t been up to bat yet.”
Never quit. Never give up.