A TALE OF PERSISTENCE

Last night I finished my regular reading of See You At The Top by Zig Ziglar and was looking at my bookcase for something good to read. I saw a book that I haven’t read in a few years. I pulled it out and started reading it. I was about 4 pages into it and I started to remember the movie about the hero of the book. I thought about the man and what it must have been like to walk in his shoes. I was moved.

The book I started reading is “Ten Things I Learned From BILL PORTER” written by his long time assistant Shelly Brady. For those of you who don’t know who Bill Porter is allow me to give you a brief background on him, and then you can Google him and read more about this remarkable man.

Bill Porter IS a salesman. He is also a gentleman who was born with Cerebral Palsy. Most people don’t put these two things together, and there is a reason, most people with Cerebral Palsy can’t do what Bill Porter did for decades, WALK! Bill Porter would walk over 10 miles a day peddling Watkins Products door to door in Portland Oregon. The story of what he did just to get dressed in the morning is enough to make most people without a handicap cringe, yet day after day, decade after decade, he did what he loved to do SELL.

Bill Porter takes the phrase “NO EXCUSES” to a new level and the word “PERSISTANCE” can be defined in his work ethic. He has accomplished more in his life than most people could ever hope for, and yet remains a SALESMAN first and foremost.

Today’s post is going to be short. Nothing I can write comes close to the true description of this remarkable man. I ask you to please take some time and look him up on the internet. Search for the movie “Door to Door” starring William Macy, search “Ten Things I Learned From BILL PORTER”, search “Life of a Salesman” an article in the Oregonian 11/19/1995, search BILL PORTER and read for yourself about the man who should be the hero of every sales rep alive.

Then go to his web site http://billporter.com and read his words and get an insight to what makes him what I believe is the best of the best.

I will end with a line from the 20/20 TV feature about Bill Porter, “The world needs more Bill Porters, we all need a little Bill Porter within us”

Lorin