The-Slight-Edge

164 The Slight Edge
Finally, I found a line that worked. As one person walked past me to go see the
Bear Man’s balloons, I caught his eye and said, “Would you be interested in some
great propaganda?” He stopped and laughed, and said, “Sure.” I used that line for
the entire weekend, gave out all three hundred packages and got about twenty names.
One of them happened to be a doctor named Shapiro. The next week, I
called Dr. Shapiro; we had a pleasant conversation, but nothing happened as a
result. I called him again, and kept calling him. After about a month and a half
of following up with him, he came to meet with me, liked what he saw, and got
involved with my business.
About this same time, I learned that our company was planning to open in
Germany in about six months. I got my Mastermind group together and said,
“Guys, this is it, we’re going to open up Germany.” They said, “How?” I had no
idea how. The only thing I knew how to do was double my rate of failure ... Do the
thing and have the power. We thought about it, and I decided what we needed to
do was find Germans.
So at our meetings, we began teaching this amazing, sophisticated strategy
we had developed: Find Germans.
Eventually somebody came up with the idea of dropping in on the local
Mercedes dealership; someone else visited the local German club. One by one,
ideas started to percolate.
About two weeks later, Dr. Shapiro showed up at a meeting and said, “Hey,
I found a German.” I asked him, “What do you mean?” He said, “I’m talking
to my neighbor while he’s mowing his lawn and I say, ‘Hey by the way, Bob, do
you know any Germans?’ and he says, ‘Well, yeah, I know a guy who lives in
Germany,’ and I say, ‘Really?!’ ”
I told Dr. Shapiro to send this German person all my information because
I was planning to go over there in a few months. He said, “Hey, Jeff, aren’t you
speaking over in Miami in a few months?” Yes, I was. “Well, this guy’s coming
over to the US and I think he’s going to be in Miami then, too!”
A few months later, I go to Miami and sure enough, this fellow comes up to me
afterward and talks to me: his name is Vin, he’s from Germany, and he gets quite
excited about going back to Germany and helping us open up there in a few months.
Except after Vin flies back to Germany, three months go by—and the
company doesn’t open in Germany after all. We have to delay the opening by at
least another three or four months.
So I call Vin and tell him, “Hey, we’re open in England, why don’t you go over
to England and start working over there? You can get some practice, and then when
Germany does open up, you’ll already know the ropes and be really ready.”