About Russ Berrie

• On his background
• On selling and entrepreneurship
• As a philanthropist

On selling and entrepreneurship, in his own words:

Russ and Angelica Berrie at the dedication of the Russ Berrie Institute for Professional Sales

“Nothing happens…until you sell something. You don’t need accountants, you don’t need an MIS department, you don’t need a credit department. You don’t have a business until you sell something. So that is basically the philosophy of our company. That the salesperson is king, that everything around our company is built as a support system for them.” (xvii)

“The spirit of free enterprise has been the core of the American dream. The driving force behind success of any kind is the entrepreneurial spirit. It begins with an idea and a driving passion to succeed. Ideas are the most valuable commodity in the world. Ideas are born from initiative. You need to know how to apply your ideas and follow through until they work. Everybody has ideas. The problem is following through. The idea is there but it has to go the whole route. If you have courage and sense of urgency to get it done, you will do so. You can achieve what you want if you want it badly enough.

An entrepreneur must have certain qualities. Commitment, vision, a sense of urgency, a need to succeed. What I mean is a fire in the belly, innovative ideas, ability to create change, persistence, perseverance, tolerance for uncertainty, the ability to take risks, and enthusiasm. You can develop enthusiasm for life. One day I asked our top salesperson out of 600 people, 'How do you do it?' The response was a very unusual one. She said, 'God didn’t make me with an off switch.'

You have heard about globalization, how the world has become one big global village – one big marketplace. You have learned that business has changed around the world. With business in Japan since 1969, China in 1978, and Europe and other parts of Southeast Asia since 1981, and sales in virtually every country in the world, I realize the importance of having to think globally. However, ideas and execution of ideas are more important. They are the driving forces that will get you where you want to go.

This is where professional selling comes in. I am sure that most of you in the audience would like to be president or CEO of a company in the years ahead. Today more CEO’s come from the ranks of salesman than any other type of background. It is the quickest way to the top. It is the key to a successful business career. One of the most critical elements of entrepreneurship is selling yourself, your product, and your ideas….

Business is all about people. It is dealing with people, understanding people, and communicating with people. It is learning what they want, making it and selling it….

The day that the Jewish or Italian mother talks about her son the salesman like she does her son the doctor or lawyer is the day that the business profession will take a leap forward.

Not everyone sells a particular product, but we all sell our ideas. Be proud to be a salesman. It will give you the impetus to move ahead in this world. Selling is the second oldest profession in the world. Even the oldest profession in the world uses selling as a tool. No business would be successful if they were not able to sell their product. Yet business schools treat selling as a stepchild.

I started as a salesman. It is a stimulating, challenging profession. There is no better challenge than have a customer say, “Not I don’t want it,” and later walk out with an order. Having built my career in sales, I believe that the best way to learn about any business is to be able to go out and sell. You will understand first what your customer wants. You will understand what objections they have to your product. You will understand what your competition is, and you will really begin to understand what products people are buying. You will develop street smarts that will serve you well for the rest of your life. The skills that are involved in selling are the basic skills that will help you most in the years ahead. This is the best way to learn about the business that you will be in and hopefully run someday…

…Be innovative as you follow. Do not try to build the first mousetrap. You can always tell who are the pioneers. They are the ones lying down in the wagon tracks with arrows in their backs. Make decisions. Try listening to your gut. You must learn to live with the results and your decision must be the final one. The world is moving so fast these days that when a person says it cannot be done, he is interrupted by someone who is already doing it….

The type of attitude you have as you live your life is the most important day-by-day decision that you make. We choose our attitudes. It is something we could all learn to control. No one can force us to change our attitude. A wise person once said that life really boils down to 10 percent of what happens to us and 90 percent how we respond to it. It is our decision whether we are going to be positive or negative. We decide whether we will carry on or give up, find solutions or throw in the towel. Our attitudes will determine how we respond to failure or success. In his great book War and Peace Tolstoy said, ‘We lost because we told ourselves we lost.’

Forty-two years ago I was a salesman. Today 42 years later, I am still a salesman. I had the right attitude then and I still have the same positive attitude now. So, set a goal, then persevere in that goal through thick and thin, overcoming all obstacles. As I mentioned before, if you have the courage and the sense of urgency to get it done, you will do so. You can achieve what you want if you truly want it badly enough. My wish for you is that you get in touch with the person that is uniquely you. I advise you to trust yourself enough to let the world in and savor all that it has to offer.” (xviii)

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