Markita Andrews is probably the greatest saleswoman in the world today. She earned more than eighty thousand dollars by selling Girl Scout cookies when she was only seven years old.
Markita is no smarter than thousands of other people. The difference is that Markita has discovered the secret of selling: ask, ask, and ask! Many people fail before they even begin because they fail to ask for what they want. The fear of rejection leads many of us to reject ourselves and our dreams long before anyone else reject us—no matter what we're selling.
Everyone is selling something. “You're selling yourself every day—to your teacher, to your boss, to new people you meet,” said Markita. “I see selling everywhere I look. Selling is part of the world.”
It takes courage to ask for what you want. The more you ask, the easier and more fun it gets.
Once, on live TV, the producer decided to give Markita her toughest selling challenge. Markita was asked to sell Girl Scout cookies to another guest on the show. “Would you like to invest in one dozen or two dozen boxes of Girl Scout cookies?” she asked.
“Girl Scout cookies? I don't buy Girl Scout cookies!” the guest replied. “I'm a warden. I put 2,000 criminals to bed every night.”
Unruffled, Markita quickly said, “Mister, if you take some of these cookies, maybe you won't be so mean and angry. And, Mister, I think it would be a good idea for you to take some of these cookies back for every one of your 2,000 prisoners, too.” Markita asked.
The warden wrote a check.
【助读词汇】
-producer n. 生产者，制作人
-warden n. 监护人，看守人
-unruffled adj. 沉着的，不慌不忙的
【参考译文】
问，问，问！
玛珂塔·安德鲁斯也许是当今世界上最厉害的销售员。当她只有7岁的时候，她就通过卖女童子军饼干挣了八千多美元。
玛珂塔并不比其他万万千千的人聪明。但是她有一点不同，她发现了销售的秘密：问，问，问！很多人甚至在还没有开始前就失败了，因为他们没有提出他们想要什么东西。我们当中许多人因为害怕被拒绝，所以在别人拒绝自己之前就先否定了自己，否定了自己的梦想——无论自己销售的是什么。
每个人都在销售。“每天你都在销售自己——向老师，向你的老板，向每个新结识的人，”玛珂塔说，“随便往哪看我都能看见销售。销售是这个世界的一部分。”
提出自己想要什么是需要勇气的。你问得越多，得到自己所要的东西就越容易，其过程也就越有趣。
在一次直播的电视节目中，制作人决定给玛珂塔一次高难度的销售挑战。要求她向另一位出席的嘉宾推销女童子军饼干。她问：“你有兴趣投资一二来十盒女童子军饼干吗？”
“女童子军饼干？我才不买女童子军饼干！”那位嘉宾回答说：“我是个监狱看守，每晚我负责让两千名犯人上床就寝。”
很快镇定的玛珂塔就做出了回答：“先生，如果你买下些饼干，也许你就不会这样刻薄、生气了。而且，先生，我觉得买些饼干带给你管的两千个犯人也不错。”
最后，这位监狱看守给她写了张支票。
【人生启迪】
我们不难发现那些成功人士并不比普通人聪明，条件环境可能还差一些。但是他们勤奋执着，不折不挠。1941年，英国首相丘吉尔发表了他生命中的最后一次演讲，他只重复了一句话，那就是永不言弃。