Automobile Magnate Walter P. Chrysler Shares His Success Secrets

Walter P. Chrysler, the man who started an automotive empire from scratch, did not consider himself a salesman, but he spent his entire life selling. In an interview with a magazine called Sales Tales published in 1921, Walter P. Chrysler outlined five principles for achieving success in selling:

There is no such thing as the secret of success in selling or anything else. There are, however, five definite elements which are essential to success and when all of them are found in a single person, he is what is commonly known as a success.

First of all, you need to have a certain ability. The ability may be inherent, it may be acquired as the result of academic learning, or it may be the result of practical experience. But if you never increase or develop this ability, you won’t go far. You must continually improve yourself. Someone who utilizes his leisure by studying at home is usually increasing his ability. I can subscribe to that method because I studied that way and know its benefits.

The second element essential to success is the capacity to grow and develop. We will assume that a person has ability. He studies and increases this ability, he grows and reveals capacity. That’s progress.

Thirdly, a person must have energy. A salesperson may have ability and capacity, he may be a crackerjack salesman, but unless he is industrious, he will never get anywhere. The man who spends his mornings sleeping late instead of being out selling, and his afternoons in a movie picture house because the fast few prospects on whom he called were not at home, will spend most of his life wondering why he does not achieve success. So many successful people who have been asked to explain their success have answered simply: by hard work. That answer has been given so often that it has lost much of its meaning. But it still contains a lot of truth. Study the lives of great people and you will invariably find that they are hard workers.

Next, a person must have opportunity. With ability, capacity and energy coupled with opportunity, success will naturally follow. Probably you are already framing the question, “Where am I to find the opportunity?” Well, some people create their own opportunities; others go where opportunities are the greatest; others fail to recognize opportunity when they are face to face with it.

I would like to add a fifth element to the list and that is enthusiasm. When I am approached by young men who want to get into the selling business, I begin the interview by asking just how anxious they are to get into the business. I can always tell by their display of enthusiasm, or their lack of it, what they really want for themselves. I know immediately whether they at least stand a chance of success. I feel sorry for the person who can’t get genuinely excited about his work. Not only will he never be satisfied, but he will never achieve anything worthwhile.