Learn to sell . When Foreman went back into boxing , he was getting a lot of criticism in the newspaper and on TV . Reporters were making jokes about his age and weight and talking badly about him . Foreman investigated buying newspaper ads to promote himself , but when he discovered a full-page ad in USA Today was almost $ 100,000 ,
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he decided he needed to learn to appreciate the criticism . “ I learned to play with it ,” Foreman said . “ I ’ d talk my head off when I ’ d get on television . I learned to sell George Foreman , the boxer , and Madison Avenue started to pay attention .” Foreman did commercials for Pepsi-Cola , Doritos , hotels , Meineke , and so on . After selling a lot of products for other people , a friend suggested he get his own product to sell . This is how he came to partner with Salton , Inc . for the George Foreman grill . “ We did an infomercial and talked about how it worked ,” Foreman said . “ I ’ d see people at the airport , and they ’ d yell , ‘ We love you , George .’ … They loved the grill and it started to sell . I would mention it everywhere . I was a favorite of Jay Leno , David Letterman , and all those guys . They ’ d invite me over and want to make fun of the grill . I ’ d bring one over , and I ’ d cook on their show . It became the talk of the town because I sold it .”
Don ’ t destroy someone else to make yourself look better .
Foreman refuses to tear down another person . When shooting the first infomercial for the George Foreman grill , the script put down competing products . “ I looked at the script and said ,
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‘ Nah , I ’ m not going to do that ,’” Foreman said . “ I ’ m not going to tear up someone else ’ s product just to make mine good . We ’ re going to make it good . We ’ re not going to destroy anything that someone else is working on to make my products the best . It ’ s got to be the best because it is . They took my advice and said , ' You were right ,' and I said , ‘ No , THAT is right .’”
Be kind . Foreman was inspired to change to a likable person after observing how kind people were to him . “ They didn ’ t care about money ,” Foreman said . “ They just liked me … and they treated me so nice . You don ’ t have to be the champion of the world .
You don ’ t have to be rich or have a nice custom car . People are kind to you . I wish I would have known
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that when I was champion of the world ; I would have treated people so much better .”
Experience taught Foreman that people buy you , not your product or service . “ It doesn ’ t matter what you have ,” Foreman said . “ People buy you . So don ’ t hurt anybody . Don ’ t disappoint everybody . If you meet that expectation of yourself , then they ’ ll buy your product because they feel like they ’ re buying you . Be the nicest human being in the world , not the second nicest . Find out who ’ s the nicest and see what he ’ s doing so you can ‘ out nice ’ him — and you can sell anything .”
Foreman ’ s journey has taken him from poverty to being a multimillionaire to being broke and back to where he now has a $ 330 million net worth . He ’ s displayed courage and resilience and says without principles , fight , and conviction , “ You ’ re not fit . No one is going to give you anything . I never let anything discourage me . As long as I had my principles , my fight , and my conviction , I can succeed .”
His positive attitude and belief that the best is yet to come reminds him to be thankful and that bad times don ’ t last forever . “ Every day I put my feet on the ground and be thankful for that day and happy I ’ m alive ,” Foreman said . “ Because there ’ s a possibility of me doing great things if I can just stay alive this day .”
Check out this inspirational clip from Robin Robins ' interview with George at one of our 2021 Producer ’ s Club meetings at MSPSuccessMagazine . com / george . n
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