A hypnotist, lawyer, and president of a software company serving the trailer and truck equipment industries presented sessions at the 10th annual National Trailer Dealers Association (NTDA) convention October 7-9 in San Antonio, Texas. Some attendees literally were spellbound by Tony Galie, psychologist, hypnotist, and motivational speaker, who encouraged independent trailer dealers to set high business goals and focus on achieving them. Galie demonstrated techniques for internalizing goals and twice hypnotized audience members to show the power of the subconscious mind.
High achievers typically do something, usually on a daily basis, to keep themselves fired up long enough to achieve their goals, Galie said. Some write their business goals on yellow note pads placed on their desks. Others listen to inspirational tapes or read the Bible.
A simple technique used by many successful business people is self-hypnosis, though they may not realize that's what they are doing, Galie said. "Successful people don't call it hypnosis," he said. "They call it their quiet time, dream, vision, or visualization. However, if you analyze what they are doing, you can see they are hypnotizing themselves. They sit down alone on a regular basis, deliberately put themselves in a trance-like state, and then program their subconscious."
Trailer dealers can apply self-hypnotism techniques to help improve their performance in sales, Galie said. "I believe the same principles apply in business situations," he said. "We all, to a certain extent, are programmed to behave in a certain way, and even are programmed to make a certain income. You dealers in this room have made up your minds about how much money you are going to produce this year.
"People focused on making $40,000 a year will continue producing that amount, regardless of their talent. If they have a terrible record in the first three quarters --making only $20,000 in sales -- they will work 80-hour weeks and make additional sales calls. By the end of the fourth quarter, they will make another $20,000. The reverse is also true. If they have a great first quarter and produce $20,000, they will slack off and produce only $20,000 more in the next three quarters."
The bottom line is that salespeople will make exactly what they think they deserve, Galie said. To improve their performance, they must change the picture in their mind. This is what top achievers do. They hypnotize themselves to become more prosperous.
Responding to a question about applying hypnosis techniques to employee teams in the workplace, Galie suggested that dealers develop clear mission statements. "Does everybody in your organization know the company's goals, sales figures, and projected sales figures? Do they know where your company plans to be in a year, two years, and five years? Do you have a mission statement that's clearly articulated for everyone in the organization? It's one of the biggest factors, I believe, in getting everybody moving in the same direction."
As for individual goals, they can be achieved by spending five minutes a day visualizing that these goals already are achieved, Galie said. "See yourself reaching the goal over and over, until the image becomes the motivator," he said. Self-hypnosis works well because it uses the powerful resources of the subconscious and unconscious mind, Galie said.
Galie has developed a series of audio tapes to help people practice self-hypnosis. For more information, call 1-800-GOALS-4-U, or write The Anthony Galie Seminars Inc, 2145 North Highway A1A, Indialantic FL 32903.