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Bill
Brooks is one of the world's premiere resources for sales and business
leadership. Known for his success as a corporate coach, sales visionary,
consultant, speaker and entrepreneur, Bill brings real-world advice,
carefully researched facts, memorable humor and powerful stories to
the platform in order to shake up, wake up and motivate audiences
in ways that produce lasting results. His goal? To give individuals
and organizations the tools and vision they need. whether it be
in sales, leadership, management or change. in order to succeed
in the diverse marketplaces of the world.
Bill
speaks from a lifetime of accomplishment and firsthand experience.
Besides his award-winning career as a speaker for over two decades,
he has a wealth of industry knowledge and skills to draw from after
delivering programs in over 350 different industries. During a 25-year
career, he has been CEO of a $300 million corporation, top sales producer
in an 8,000 person sales force, business award winner, corporate board
member, a winning football coach for fourteen seasons and CEO of an
international consulting firm. Bill knows what it takes to motivate
and lead teams to victory. An inductee of the Professional Speaker
Hall of Fame, he is an acclaimed communicator, coaching such top firms
as Andersen Consulting, BMW, Hewlett-Packard and hundreds of others.
Bill also holds the two highest designations awarded to management
consultants. |
| GS: |
How
did you get started in your current line of work? |
| BB: |
I
was a college football coach for many years, and I used to speak a
lot as coach. The problem was I had nothing to say, and I didn't get
paid for it! (Laughs) What I discovered was if I could develop some
expertise in something, I could be good. I had been in sales prior
to that, and I had been a pretty effective recruiter. So I started
on a part-time basis in 1976 talking about sales, communication, persuasion
and recruiting. I went full-time in 1980. |
| GS: |
What
were the 3 biggest obstacles you had to overcome? |
| BB: |
The
biggest obstacle was I wasn't born on third base and I thought I hit
a triple! (Laughs) I didn't have any money. I had about $400 to my
name. The second obstacle was a lack of confidence in terms of intellectual
property. I thought you had to be a major guru to come up with ideas.
The third challenge was developing things that could be replicated
by other people, because you're limited by what you can do on your
own. |
| GS: |
The
famous book As a Man Thinketh by James Allen tells us when we "Conquer
doubt and fear.we conquer failure." Let me ask you.What is the
biggest thing you do to help you conquer doubt and fear? |
| BB: |
I'm
part of the Psycho Cybernetics foundation, and we own all the material
that Maxwell Maltz first developed in the 60's. What I do is go to
my Maxwell Maltz library. I really believe that the subconscious mind
rules the conscious mind. I'm able to focus by compartmentalizing
my thinking. Just because I'm failing in one area doesn't mean I'm
going to let it affect me in another area. So I've mastered autosuggestion,
self-suggestion, graphic representation, visualization and all those
things. |
| GS: |
What
2 books have influenced you the most? Why? |
| BB: |
Think
& Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill, and How I Raised Myself From Failure
to Success in Selling by Frank Betcher. These books were clearly the
most dramatic for me. |
| GS: |
What
is your greatest Bill Gove story you could share with our readers? |
| BB: |
One
of the most special things about Bill Gove is the way he embraces
everybody. I have a son named Jeb, and he met Bill when he was 14.
Bill always goes out of his way to talk to him, spend time with him,
joke with him, communicate with him, share an idea or a lesson with
him. Jeb is 18 now, and I can honestly tell you that Bill Gove is
one of his role models - one of his gods, almost. It's very unusual
to have someone of Bill's stature and experience take that amount
of time with a young kid. That tells you a lot about Bill Gove. |
| GS: |
You
have already made your first million. What advice can you give the
rest of us who may still be looking to make our first million? |
| BB: |
Nothing
comes very quickly. It took me about 15 years in this business to
break into a six-figure personal income, because I was putting so
much back into the business. It always takes longer than you think.
I think it's very important to niche yourself in something you're
known for. In sales and marketing it's not important who you knowIt's
important who knows you. You have to be able to create some awareness
and some pull, and you need to do that in a very niched way. Don't
try to be all things to all people, and be patient in terms of what
you do. |
| GS: |
How
importantly would you rank mental toughness and the ability to communicate
as it relates to your success and why? |
| BB: |
I
often say in the programs I do that compartmentalizing is absolutely
essential to success. Mental Toughness is nothing more than the ability
to compartmentalize your thinking. It's focused, disciplined compartmentalization. |
| GS: |
If
you had to start over again.what would you NOT do again? |
| BB: |
I
would have more confidence. When I first started, I wasn't very confident.
I probably mastered in bravado, being boisterous and appearing more
confident than I really was. Perhaps I even came across as arrogant.
I think that if I had to start over again I would find a way to get
more confidence earlier on in my career. |
| GS: |
What
is the reason most people don't achieve their major goals and dreams? |
| BB: |
I
don't think that they know what they really are. They kind of settle
for short-term thinking, or they don't believe they can achieve whatever
they're after. I think that everything you do starts out with a very
strong commitment of time, energy, and effort to develop what it is
you want it to be like once you get it. If you know what you're aiming
at, you'll hit it every single time. Most people don't achieve because
they don't know what it is they really want to achieve. For those
who do know what they want, I think it's a lack of confidence, or
they are unwilling to work hard enough to make it. They lack mental
toughness and discipline. I mean, I'm not the smartest guy, or the
sharpest knife in the drawer, but I can tell you that for many years
I have outworked most people I know. |
| GS: |
Who
were your role models/mentors, and what was it that you saw in them? |
| BB: |
I've
always had role models for different areas of my life. My first one
was my high school football coach, Jim Combs. We went through high
school football in the 3 years I played varsity and I think we had
one defeat in three years. When I was a senior we gave up one touchdown
all year. Jim Combs had been a WWII combat vet; he played football
at Washington & Lee when they were a football power, and he played
for the Washington Redskins. He looked the part and acted the part.
We never thought about losing. All we ever thought about was how much
we were going to win by. Our uniforms were sharper, our discipline
was better, our lines were straighter and we were better coached.
My Dad was my role model in sales. He was the # 1 sales person in
his company every week for 43 consecutive years. He never knew his
parents. He grew up in orphanages and foster homes and didn't graduate
from high school. Ron Willingham was a great mentor and teacher of
mine. He was one of the great sales writers in this country. Part
of what I do when I'm facing a challenge is say to myself, "How would
so and so handle this? How would they have done this?" I cast myself
into their role. They've had that much of an impact on me. |
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Contact
Info.:
The
Brooks Group
1903 Ashwood Court, Suite C
Greensboro, North Carolina 27455
Toll Free: 1 (800) 633-7762
Tel: (336) 282-6303
Fax: (336) 282-5707
E-mail: sales@thebrooksgroup.com
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