音频下载[点击右键另存为][00:01.59]Ask, Ask, Ask?敢于要求
[00:05.30]Markita Andrews,
[00:07.71]the greatest saleswoman in the world today,
[00:10.57]has generated more than eighty thousand dollars selling Girl Scout cookies since she was seven years old.
[00:17.85]At age 13, Markita discovered the secret of selling.
[00:22.03]It starts with desire—burning, white-hot desire.
[00:26.06]For Markita and her mother,
[00:28.22]their dream was to travel the globe.
[00:31.20]So at age 13
[00:32.15]when Markita read in her Girl Scout magazine
[00:35.65]that the Scout who sold the most cookies would win an all- expenses-paid trip for two around the world,
[00:42.41]she decided to sell all the Girl Scout cookies she could.
[00:46.38]But desire alone is not enough.
[00:49.04]To make her dream come true,
[00:51.11]Markita knew she needed a plan.
[00:53.62]"Always wear your professional garb," her aunt advised.
[00:58.14]"Wear your Girl Scout uniform.
[01:00.43]Always smile, whether they buy or not, always be nice.
[01:05.12]And don’t ask them to buy your cookies; ask them to invest."
[01:09.52]Markita went off in her uniform each day after school,
[01:13.23]ready to ask—and keep asking—folks to invest in her dream.
[01:17.83]"Hi, I have a dream.
[01:20.14]I’m earning a trip around the world for me and my mom by merchandising Girl Scout cookies,"
[01:25.60]she’d say at the door.
[01:26.40]"Would you like to invest in one dozen or two dozen boxes of cookies?"
[01:31.19]That year Markita won her trip around the world.
[01:34.92]Markita is no smarter and no more extroverted than other people with dreams of their own.
[01:41.60]The difference is Markita had discovered the secret of selling: Ask, Ask, Ask!
[01:48.39]Many people fail before they even begin because they fail to ask for what they want.
[01:54.33]The fear of rejection leads many of us to reject ourselves and our dreams
[01:59.48]long before anyone else ever has the chance—no matter what we’re selling.
[02:04.28]And everyone is selling something.
[02:06.91]"You’re selling yourself everyday—in school, to your boss, to new people you meet," said Markita at 14,
[02:14.38]"My mother is a waitress: she sells the daily special.
[02:18.33]Mayors and presidents trying to get votes are selling ...
[02:22.13]I see selling everywhere I look. Selling is part of the whole world."
[02:26.88]It takes courage to ask for what you want.
[02:30.03]Courage is not the absence of fear.
[02:32.88]It’s doing what it takes despite one’s fear.
[02:36.30]And, as Markita has discovered, the more you ask, the easier it gets.
[02:42.95]