第5章 如何减少生意上50%的忧虑
如果你是一个商人，也许你现在正在对自己说：“这章标题实在荒谬，我干这一行已经19年了；如果有谁知道这个答案，当然非我莫属。居然有人想告诉我如何减少生意上50%的忧虑，实在荒谬。”
太对了！如果我在几年前看到这章的标题，也会有同样的感觉。它好像能帮你大忙，但这种空话根本不值钱。
让我们开诚布公吧：也许我不能帮你减少生意上50%的忧虑，因为从我前面的分析来看，除了你自己之外没有人能做到这一点。但我能做到让你看看别人是如何做的，剩下的全看你自己了。
你也许还记得我引用过闻名世界的亚历西斯·卡瑞尔医生的话：“不知道克服忧虑的商人，会短命而亡。”既然忧虑这么严重，那么如果我能帮你消除哪怕10%的忧虑，你是否会满意呢？会的？很好，我下面就要告诉你一位商人是如何消除忧虑，而且节约了以前用来开会、解决生意问题的70%的时间的。
当然，我不会告诉你那些无法查证的故事。这个故事的主人公是活生生的李昂·希姆金。他是纽约州纽约市洛克菲勒中心著名的西蒙舒斯特出版公司前合伙人兼总经理。
York 20, New York.
Here is Leon Shimkin's experience in his own words:
“For fifteen years I spent almost half of every business day holding conferences, discussing problems.
“Should we do this or that—do nothing at all? We would get tense; twist in our chairs; walk the floor; argue and go around in circles. When night came, I would be utterly exhausted. I fully expected to go on doing this sort of thing for the rest of my life. I had been doing it for fifteen years, and it never occurred to me that there was a better way of doing it. If anyone had told me that I could eliminate three-fourths of all the time I spent in those worried conferences, and three-fourths of my nervous strain—I would have thought he was a wild-eyed, slap-happy, armchair optimist. Yet I devised a plan that did just that. I have been using this plan for eight years. It has performed wonders for my efficiency, my health, and my happiness.
“It sounds like magic—but like all magic tricks, it is extremely simple when you see how it is done.
“Here is the secret: First, I immediately stopped the procedure I had been using in my conferences for fifteen years—a procedure that began with my troubled associates reciting all the details of what had gone wrong, and ending up by asking:‘What shall we do?’Second, I made a new rule—a rule that everyone who wishes to present a problem to me must first prepare and submit a memorandum answering these four questions:
“Question 1：What is the problem?
（“In the old days we used to spend an hour or two in a worried conference without anyone's knowing specifically and concretely what the real problem was. We used to
下面就是李昂·希姆金自己讲述的经历：
“15年来，我每天几乎用一半的时间开会和讨论问题。
“我们应该这样还是那样？或什么都不管？我们这时会很紧张，坐立不安，或在办公室走来走去，不停地争论绕圈子。到了晚上，我筋疲力尽。我原以为我这辈子大概只能这样了。我干这一行已经有15年，从未想过会有更好的办法。如果有人告诉我可以减去3/4令人忧虑的会议时间，可以消除3/4的神经紧张，我会认为他是一个盲目的乐观主义者。可是，我现在确实能够拟出一个恰好能做到这一点的计划。这个方法我已经用了8年，对提高效率、健康和快乐都有奇效。
“这像是魔术——可是正如所有的魔术一样，只要你弄清楚是怎么做的，就非常简单了。
“下面就是秘诀：第一，我立即停止了15年来我们会议采取的程序。以往，我的同事先会报告一遍问题的细节，最后会问‘我们该怎么办？’第二，我订下一条新规矩——任何人想要问我问题，必须先准备好一份书面报告，回答以下四个问题：
“一是，究竟出了什么问题？（以前我们这种会通常要开一两个小时，可是大家还不清楚真正的问题在哪里。我们总是讨论我们的问题，却不愿提前明确地写出我们的问题是什么。）
“二是，问题的起因是什么？（我回顾了一下，竟然惊奇地发现，我虽然在这
work ourselves into a lather discussing our troubles without ever troubling to write out specifically what our problem was.）
“Question 2：What is the cause of the problem?
（“As I look back over my career, I am appalled at the wasted hours I have spent in worried conferences without ever trying to find out clearly the conditions which lay at the root of the problem.）
“Question 3：What are all possible solutions of the problem?
（“In the old days, one man in the conference would suggest one solution. Someone else would argue with him.Tempers would flare. We would often get clear off the subject, and at the end of the conference no one would have written down all the various things we could do to attack the problem.）
“Question 4：What solution do you suggest?
（“I used to go into a conference with a man who had spent hours worrying about a situation and going around in circles without ever once thinking through all possible solutions and then writing down:‘This is the solution I recommend.'）
“My associates rarely come to me now with their problems. Why? Because they have discovered that in order to answer these four questions they have to get all the facts and think their problems through. And after they have done that they find, in three-fourths of the cases, they don't have to consult me at all because the proper solution has popped out like a piece of bread popping out from an electric toaster. Even in those cases where consultation is necessary, the discussion takes about one-third the time formerly required, because it proceeds along an orderly, logical path to a reasoned conclusion.
“Much less time is now consumed in the house of Simon and Schuster in worrying and talking about what is wrong; and a lot more action is obtained toward making those things
种会上浪费了很多时间，却没有清楚地找出问题的根源。）
“三是，这个问题可能有哪些解决方法？（以前，只要有一个人提出一种解决方法，就会有另外一个人跟他辩论，大家也都争论起来，常常扯到题外去，而开完会时还没有找到解决问题的方法。）
“四是，你建议用哪一种办法？（以前和我一起开会的人，往往为一种情况担心几小时，并且不断地绕圈子，却从没有想过什么可行的解决方法，然后写下来：‘这是我建议的解决方案。’）
“现在，他们很少把他们的问题拿来找我了。为什么呢？因为他们发现要回答上面的四个问题，就必须搜集所有的事实，仔细考虑一遍。当他们做了这些之后，他们会发现3/4的问题都不必再来找我商量，因为最合理的解决方案会不断地涌现。即使是那些必须跟我讨论的问题，所花的时间也不过是以前的1/3，因为讨论时有条不紊，最后都能得到明智的结论。
“现在，在我们公司不再花那么多时间去担心、讨论出了什么问题，而是以更多的行动来解决问题。”
我朋友弗兰克·贝特格是美国的保险业巨头之一。他曾告诉我，他不仅减少了生意上的忧虑，而且收入几乎增加了一倍，他用的也是类似的方法。
“很多年以前，”弗兰克·贝特格说，“我刚开始推销保险，对自己的工作
right.”
My friend, Frank Bettger, one of the top insurance men in America, told me he not only reduced his business worries, but nearly doubled his income, by a similar method.
“Years ago,” said Frank Bettger, “when I first started to sell insurance, I was filled with a boundless enthusiasm and love for my work. Then something happened. I became so discouraged that I despised my work and thought of giving it up. I think I would have quit—if I hadn't got the idea, one Saturday morning, of sitting down and trying to get at the root of my worries.
“1. I asked myself first:‘Just what is the problem?'The problem was: that I was not getting high enough returns for the staggering amount of calls I was making. I seemed to do pretty well at selling a prospect, until the moment came for closing a sale. Then the customer would say:‘Well, I'll think it over, Mr.Bettger.Come and see me again.'It was the time I wasted on these follow-up calls that was causing my depression.
“2. I asked myself:‘What are the possible solutions?'But to get the answer to that one, I had to study the facts. I got out my record book for the last twelve months and studied the figures.
“I made an astounding discovery! Right there in black and white, I discovered that seventy per cent of my sales had been closed on the very first interview! Twenty-three per cent of my sales had been closed on the second interview! And only seven per cent of my sales had been closed on those third, fourth, fifth, etc., interviews, which were running me ragged and taking up my time. In other words, I was wasting fully one half of my working day on a part of my business which was responsible for only seven per cent of my sales!
“3.‘What is the answer?'The answer was obvious. I immediately cut out all visits beyond the second interview, and spent the extra time building up new prospects. The
充满了热情和喜爱。但后来发生了一件事使我很沮丧，让我看不起我的工作，甚至想到过放弃。我几乎都要辞职了，要不是我突然想起了一件事。在一个星期六的早晨，我坐下来，想找出忧虑的根源。
“第一，我问自己：‘问题到底出在哪里？’我的问题是：我拜访过那么多人，可是业绩并不理想。直到成交之前，我跟那些希望很大的顾客谈得很好。然后顾客会说：‘啊！我想再考虑考虑，贝特格先生。什么时候再说吧。’于是我又得再次拜访，这样就浪费掉不少时间，使我觉得很沮丧。
“第二，我问自己：‘有什么解决办法？’可是要找出问题的答案，就得研究事实。我拿出过去12个月的记录本，研究上面的数据。
“结果，我有了一个惊人的发现！我所卖的保险有70%是在第一次拜访时成交的，23%是在第二次拜访时成交的！只有7%是在第三、第四甚至第五次才成交的。这让我觉得很难过，因为它很浪费时间。换句话说，我的工作时间几乎有一半浪费在实际上只有7%的业务上。
“第三，‘问题的答案是什么？’答案很明显，我立刻停止了第二次以后的所有拜访，多出来的时间用来寻找新的顾客。结果令人难以相信：在很短的时间内，我就把每一次的拜访业绩提高了近一倍。”
弗兰克·贝特格是美国最著名的人寿保险推销员之一，每年推销的保险都在
results were unbelievable. In a very short time, I had almost doubled the cash value of every visit I made from a call!”
As I said, Frank Bettger became one of the best-known life-insurance salesmen in America. He is with Fidelity Mutual of Philadelphia, and writes a million dollars worth of policies a year. But he was on the point of giving up. He was on the point of admitting failure—until analyzing the problem gave him a boost on the road to success.
Can you apply these questions to your business problems? To repeat my challenge—they can reduce your worries by fifty per cent.Here they are again:
1. What is the problem?
2. What is the CAUSE of the problem?
3. What are all possible solutions to the problem?
4. What solution do you suggest?
100万美元以上。可是他曾经想要放弃，几乎就要承认自己的失败——分析问题使他走上了成功之路。
你是否也能把这些问题应用到你的业务上呢？重复一下我的挑战——它们能减少你一半的忧虑。
第一，问题是什么？
第二，问题的起因是什么？
第三，解决问题的可能的方法有哪些？
第四，你建议用哪一种解决方法？