Law Of Attraction
Then turning to a small colored boy who sat near by he ordered the
boy to bring his shoe-shine outfit and shine his shoes, right where he
stood, on top of the table.
The salesmen in the audience were astounded!
Some of them thought that Mr. Chalmers had suddenly lost his mind. They began to whisper among themselves. Meanwhile, the little colored boy shined first one and then the other shoe, taking plenty of time and doing a first-class job. After the, job was finished Mr. Chalmers handed the boy a dime, then went ahead with his speech:
"I want each of you," said he, "to take a good look at this little colored boy. He has the concession for shoe-shining throughout our plant and offices. His predecessor was a white boy, considerably older than himself, and despite the fact that the company subsidized him with a salary of $5.00 a week he could not make a living in this plant, where thousands of people are employed.
This little colored boy not only makes a good living, without any subsidy from the company, but he is actually saving money out of his earnings each week, working under the same conditions, in the same plant, for the same people. Now I wish to ask you a question: Whose fault was it that the white boy did not get more business? Was it his fault, or the fault of his buyers?"
In a mighty roar from the crowd the answer came back: "IT WAS THE BOY'S FAULT, OF COURSE!" "Just so," replied Chalmers, "and now I want to tell you this, that you are selling Cash Registers in the same territory, to the same people, with exactly the same business conditions that existed a year ago, yet you are not producing the business that you were then.
Now whose fault is that? Is it yours, or the buyer's?"
And again the answer came back with a roar:
"IT IS OUR FAULT, OF COURSE!"
"I am glad that you are frank to acknowledge your faults," Chalmers continued, "and I now wish to tell you what your trouble is:
You have heard rumours about this company being in financial trouble and that has killed off your enthusiasm so that you are not making the effort that you formerly made.
If you will go back into your territories with a
definite promise to send in five orders each during the next thirty days
this company will no longer be in financial difficulty, for that additional
business will see us clear.