R. David Sprinkle
Beta Gamma Sigma Chapter Honoree
November 18, 2013
Congratulations to those of you being inducted into Beta Gamma Sigma. In today’s very
challenging and rapidly changing world, your willingness to allocate precious time to continuing
your education and doing so at the highest level speaks volumes about your commitment to
being the best you can be.
What I’m going to share with you today is very personal not because I want you to know
about me but rather it sets the stage to help you appreciate the content of my message.
In 1966 I graduated from a good liberal arts college majoring in Economics and playing
football. I was very determined and very competitive. I went to a good MBA program and
graduated with an emphasis in Marketing. I kept the financial books for the library my first year
and sold life insurance for Northwestern Mutual my second. I then served two years in the army
as a lieutenant, spending my second year in Vietnam where I was lucky enough to work for a
two-star general. So when I returned from Vietnam and started in business, I was prepared
academically, competitively and psychologically to do well.
I interviewed a number of major companies and had some attractive offers but I had
tasted working for myself in MBA School by selling life insurance as a college agent and
decided to give it a try full-time even though I would be on commission only with no draw or
guarantees. I started full-time making call after call, seeing prospect and clients until 8 or 9 p.m.
three or four nights each week. In my spare time I took every course Northwestern Mutual and
the industry offered in financial planning, in estate planning, and in business planning. I was
convinced that if I knew everything technically there was to know then prospects and clients
would flock to me because I knew what they needed to know to meet their needs.
I continued this regimen for four years and did okay. I was supporting my family and
receiving some recognition but I was not doing as well as I felt I should be doing given my
education, my experience, my efforts and my long hours – something wasn’t right.
It was about this time that one of my colleagues introduced me to a series of tapes by Zig
Ziglar-a positive attitude advocate helping people learn how to sell and succeed in life. It helped
me realize that I had to learn how to present myself, my ideas, my services, and most important,
my commitment to help them, my clients, to satisfy their goals and meet their needs. Through
listening to tapes, going to seminars and presentations by Zig Ziglar, Earl N. Nightingale, Larry
Wilson and a number of others several themes started making a material impact on my success.
Let me share the top three of these themes:
1. “You can get anything in life you want IF you help enough other people get what they
want” Zig Ziglar
2. “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care” Zig Ziglar
These two themes changed my whole approach to my business. I started focusing even
more on my clients and how I could help them establish their goals, understand their goals and
what was required to meet those goals. I learned how to ask the right questions; how to listen,
really listen and how to use my body, my eyes, my posture, my voice to create the trust and
confidence in me they needed to open up. People don’t care how much you know until they know
how much you care. Knowing how to express how much you care is a learnable talent.
It wasn’t long until my business took off like a rocket and the only difference was that I
learned how to sell myself and my interest in them, their goals and their needs. I already had the
knowledge they needed but I had to learn how to convince them I really cared.
Now let’s move to the third theme. The first two were external-how to help others. The
third is internal-how to help myself achieve my goals. How to become the person I wanted to be.
3. “The person can achieve anything the mind can conceive”…Dr. Maxwell Maltz
Dr. Maxwell Maltz was a very successful plastic surgeon who found that even though he
could fix someone’s deformed face it often didn’t help the individuals heal internally because
they still thought of themselves as deformed. This caused him to go back to school to get his
PhD in Psychology and eventually writing his book, Psycho-Cybernetics-“The person can
achieve anything the mind can conceive.”
What I learned from Dr. Maxwell Maltz was that I had to decide what I wanted to be 5-10
years out, what I would be doing, who I would be working with, who I would be associating
with, and how I would be dressing and if I kept that focus I would gradually become that person.
It’s not about becoming something I wasn’t but rather gradually becoming the person I wanted to
be.
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Did it happen overnight?
Did I have failures?
Did I ever have doubts?
I built and reinforced my self image, my attitude about myself and my family, my talents
and my commitment to be the best that I could be. My business took off even more. I had the
confidence to make major changes in my business, my markets, my involvements, and my
interests. I reached plateaus but self assessment and visualization helped me make new goals
and establish new self images and it’s still working. Retirement was probably the most difficult
change I ever made and the same tools help me once again.
You say “yeah, it worked for him but he was in sales, he was in the life insurance
business. I’m in finance, marketing, supply, human resources. I want to be President or CEO
not a salesman.”
Let’s set things straight. Each of us is in sales-each of us sells many different things but
we all sell ourselves, our integrity, our self image, our knowledge, our understanding, and our
interest in others. We’re all selling all the time no matter what business we’re in or what level
we’re at or what position we hold.
Your clients may be your colleagues, the senior management team, shareholders. It
doesn’t matter. You’re always selling yourself, your determination, your commitment to
someone and knowing how to do it is a learned skill. Psycho-Cybernetics by Dr. Maxwell Maltz
and Zig Ziglar – they changed my life!
Three other thoughts that may prove of value as each of you prepare to enter or re-enter
the business world of today:
1. Things are changing every day and will change even faster tomorrow. To succeed going
forward you must not only accept change you must embrace it and capitalize on it.
Change always creates opportunity for someone. You need to keep your eyes and ears
open to not only what’s happening but why it is happening and what does that mean
going forward. Where are the opportunities and where will they be.
2. Live within your means. It’s hard to take calculated risks, make strategic moves, or
capitalize on an opportunity when you’re struggling to maintain a life style. People know
when you’re living above your means and they will not trust you or believe you’re there
to help them. To be the best that you can be live within your means.
3. Integrity – Never discount the value of integrity. People’s trust in you is a direct result of
your reputation and the experience they have with you. Integrity is a key ingredient in
dealing with colleagues, your boss and your clients.
Okay, that’s enough preaching for today. I appreciate being included in your ranks and
I’m proud of each of you. Remember as you go forward that people don’t care how much know
until they know how much you care. You need to learn how to communicate verbally and
physically, that your primary focus is to satisfy their needs and wants. You’ve invested a great
deal of time and money educating yourself and learning analytical, critical thinking, marketing
and other skills that will differentiate you in the work place. I would suggest you maximize the
value of those skills by adding selling talents and skills to the list.
Always keep on being and becoming the best you can be.