Last week, I introduced the concept of “The Little Salesman That Could,” stemming from the book “The Little Engine That Could.” To get Part 1, just go to www.gitomer.com and enter the words LITTLE ENGINE in the GitBit box. Here is the continuation of what you need to “think you can” (and then actually do) to make it to the top of the sales mountain.

6. Take a course in writing to learn how express your thoughts as clear, concise written ideas. Read someone whose writing you like. Write your thoughts down. Refine your technique or style.

7. Take a course in something you love. Learning more about something you have a passion for will create a positive atmosphere and a positive mindset about learning and achieving. The combination of learning, achieving and passion can make for world-class expertise in anything you think you can excel in.

8. Become so Internet savvy that you can teach a 14-year-old rather than vice versa. Many adult businesspeople are functional computer illiterates. If you don’t have your own Web site, don’t have your own e-mail address and don’t access the Internet every day, but still think you are in the business world, think again. People who did not grow up in the computer age may have let it pass them by. It’s OK. Not everyone thought automobiles would make it either. Some people thought radios were stupid. And someone thought there would only be a market for two dozen laptops (this statement was made after extensive research). I believe that person is now a waiter at Shoney’s. If you are at the crossroads of Internet entry and computer literacy, I implore you to think you can.

Computers are cheap, Internet access is cheaper, and both are 21st-century tools that are the gateway to your fame, fortune, financial freedom, fulfillment and fun.

9. Begin clarifying your ideas in public – and become known as a person of value at the same time. After I began writing, people began to call and ask if I would speak at their civic organization. It gave me a chance to speak and listen to my written thoughts. Speaking, like writing, is a barrier to entry in the world of success. Rather than taking a course in speaking, join Toastmasters (www.toastmasters.org), which offers speaking opportunities from the first meeting. Speaking strikes fear in the heart of the unprepared, but it will position you as a leader and a thinker in your community or industry.

If you write your thoughts down, speaking becomes infinitely simpler. Once you get past a little bit of fear, it’s not only fun, it’s profitable. It’s also an open door (and an open wallet) to anyone in your audience. If they like you, it’s likely that they will pay to see you again.

10. Publish something. This column is my words of advice published by someone else. Being published has an authenticity about it. The written word is very authoritative. Being published means that someone believes your thoughts are worthy enough or sound enough for others to read. It’s an affirmation that your thinking is clear and your direction is sound. It is one of the ultimate “I think I can, I thought I could” achievements.

10.5. Give value first. This is a philosophy and a strategy that I learned by accident. Others “sell” while I create the atmosphere to “buy”. Here is the marketing strategy (another accident) that arose from that philosophy: I put myself in front of people who can say “yes” to me, and I deliver value first. The overused and baseless expression “added value” or its brother, “value-added,” means you have to buy first to receive any value. It’s referred to as an incentive. It’s somewhere between silly, non-existent, self-serving or begging.

Think you can? Begin by obtaining a copy of “The Little Engine That Could.” That’s an easy way to start your thinking process. I know, it sounds simplistic, almost hokey, but so does every other self-help book ever written. Hokey but accurate.

Free GitBit” I have a bunch more I-think-I-can quotes – two pages spoken by Orison Swett Marden in “He Who Thinks He Can,” published in 1908. Go to www.gitomer.com, register if you’re a first-time user, then enter MARDEN in the GitBit box.

President of Charlotte, N.C.-based Buy Gitomer, Jeffrey Gitomer gives seminars, runs annual sales meetings, and conducts Internet training programs on selling and customer service at www.trainone.com. He can be reached at (704) 333-1112 or by e-mail at salesman@gitomer.com.