In the film "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly" the main character is completely paralyzed except for his hearing and the ability to the blink his left eye.

In order for him to communicate his attendant sounds out letters and when the correct letter is sounded out he blinks. The attendant writes the letters down to form the words and sentences. The attendant then reads the sentences to confirm the accuracy of the sentence. This great man has a physical handicap but not a mental handicap.

As the movie progresses he writes a book. How? By blinking when the correct letter is sounded out to create a word, to create a sentence, to create a paragraph and then the book.

The paralyzed man writes a book ONE BLINK AT A TIME.

Before we go to the business application I want to share with you statements that I would hear when I did sales training.

            "I can't get past the gate keeper."

            "If I had a lower price I could sell it."

            "Our brochure is out of date."

            "They won't return my phone calls."

            "I am not getting any leads from the company.'

            Etc., Etc., Etc.

When I would hear these excuses I would tell the salespeople in training, "Don't tell me you can't. Just say you don't know how yet." Some people would say, yes, you are right, how do I change my thinking? Others would get upset and say, you don't understand, what do you know about our business?"

Here is the business application. If the salesperson believes they can't, they might as well pack up their tent and go home. Nothing is going to happen, nothing is going to change. They have written the book of failure. When the salesperson says, "I don't know how yet," they have opened the door to exploration, opportunity and change.