Martin D. Shafiroff, a managing director of Shearson Lehman Brothers - American Express, has been the top retail stock broker in the United States for 10 consecutive years with gross commissions in 1986 totalling 12.5 million dollars. Shafiroff has all the credentials for giving sound advice. The suggestions he makes in the following article, based on a chapter in the book Ten Great Salespersons by Robert L. Shook (Harper & Row)* can be used by smart salespeople in any industry.

Martin Shafiroff sells hundreds of thousands of dollars in securities over the telephone to individuals he's never even met. If all 1,200 of his clients were to be assembled in a large hall to pay tribute to this dynamic stockbroker, Martin would know only about 300 of them by sight. The others would appear to be total strangers.

Of course those 900 clients would be strangers in appearance only. As Martin puts it, "Over a period of time, a very close relationship develops between us. It's an almost philosophical relationship, because we're communicating on a highly important subject - how to properly handle their investments. In this sense, a very strong bond evolves."

Martin continues, "I am interested in values, wherever those values may be, and because clients understand values, they can relate to that.

"I want to emphasize the importance of having conviction. All great business successes have strong convictions in what they are doing. Essentially, the first person whom you must sell to, if you want to succeed, is yourself. I believe this is vital. When you believe in what you are doing, the other party evaluating your comments is going to react accordingly. For this reason, I believe that an individual must seek out, that is study, review and analyze the entire investment spectrum until he can come up with a product and a strategy for which he can develop strong convictions.

"Now, product and conviction are only half of my success formula; the other half stresses cold calls and contacts. The conversion of these cold calls to legitimate prospects, that is, prospects that will have an interest in my philosophy, then converting those prospects into accounts, then building on those accounts, is my constant goal. The final result is building investment portfolios for all of my accounts.

"Every day I look at that formula," Martin explains, "and it gives me direction on where I should be going and what I should be doing. It's written out in front of me so I can review it.