There once was a Snake Oil salesman that eked out a meager existence peddling his wares from town to town.

The story was always the same everyplace he went. He would arrive at some new township, announce his presence, and then introduce his incredible elixir that was guaranteed to cure over a hundred and one various ailments, diseases, and maladies. After selling a few odd bottles here and there to a few desperate infirm and curious youth, without fail, within a few days, the salesman would be labeled a “huckster” and run out of town by irritated denizens.

Well, one day, the Snake Oil salesman entered a new town. But just as he began prospecting the best spot to make his pitch, a large crowd gathered around another man. Amazingly, he, too, was selling Snake Oil, but with much greater effect.

Curious, the first Snake Oil salesman pressed in close, and to his dismay, discovered that this man was selling the exact same brand of Snake Oil as he.

Grumbling to himself, the frustrated salesman determined that rather than press ahead to the next stop, he would stay and watch events unfold here (eager to witness his new rival get tossed out on his ear).

But day by day, greater numbers of patrons flocked to this man and bought his product. The unsuccessful salesman was beside himself when he even saw people herding in from surrounding areas, and he couldn’t believe his ears when he overheard them offering testimonials about the Snake Oil’s “healing powers.”

Finally, at the close of a third day of tremendous sales, the first Snake Oil salesman stomped up to the second and grabbed a bottle of his elixir.

“Tell me how you do it!” the first salesman snapped.

“Do what?” the second responded politely.

“Look here! I go town-to-town selling the exact same product out of Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada.”

“Congratulations, sir.”

“Don’t ‘congratulations, sir’ me! I get run out of every town I enter. All I want to know is what’s your secret?!”

“Secret, sir?” asked the dapper salesman as he began to prepare his trunk for travel.

“Yeah! How do you sell so much of this rotten Snake Oil?!” demanded the failed salesman.

“I don’t know any secret, sir. The medicine works. I use it myself.”

(Herein lies the power of a true believer).