Entoosiasm!!!!

In another life, I worked as a sales person for a pharmaceuticals company called Warner-Chilcott. My favorite instructor in sales training was a guy named Hyat Kahn. Hyat had come from a wealthy family in Pakistan, but had decided not to rely on his daddy’s money, but to make it on his own in America. One of his assignments was to teach us how to sell Gelusil®, the company’s antacid product.

We had learned already that Gelusil had two ingredients--aluminum hydroxide and magnesium trisilicate. Hyat began one training session by asking us how many ingredients Gelusil had. We all answered, sort of bored, “Two.”

He replied, “No, it’s THREE!--aluminum hydroxide, magnesium trisilicate, and ENTOOSIASM!” This is how he pronounced enthusiasm.

He said that there was really not that much difference in effectiveness among the various antacids like Gelusil®, Mylanta®, and Maalox®, but we could make a difference in our sales with physicians by being enthusiastic.

At the time, I thought it was funny, and I tried to believe that physicians would respond better to rational arguments. Later, after selling to MDs for six years, I concluded that many are very rational, but in cases like Gelusil® and other drugs that are pretty much equal, enthusiasm does carry the day.

Enthusiasm is infectious! People like to be around enthusiastic people and people catch the enthusiasm. I think this is true in all areas from sports to business to religion to poetry and art. People feed off energy and conviction. Too much of our lives is dull and gray. Enthusiasm brings bright color to everything.

I once heard a motivational speaker say, “Enthusiasm creates in the listener the expectation that the speaker will find a way to accomplish what is proposed.” So, enthusiasm also creates credibility!

The conclusion is that anyone who is trying to persuade others to buy a product, an idea, or themselves, needs “entoosiasm” in their arsenal. That’s the secret ingredient for success. David Orr