I’ve read a lot of books over the past 2 decades. It’s a huge passion of mine as you can tell and it’s something that I truly believe can change your life….What you read and put into your mind has a huge effect on your business and life.
One of the first books I ever read was Jeffrey Gitomer’s Sales Bible way back in the early 2000’s. It changed everything I thought about ‘sales’ and I credit that book for helping me fall in love with self education.
So when I learned about Anthony Iannarino’s ‘Only Sales Guide You’ll Ever Need‘, I was excited to read a book that had reviews similar to Gitomer’s classic.
This did not disappoint.
What was so amazing about Anthony’s book was the way he framed sales as a personal journey in excellence.
What do I mean by that?
Sure sales is ‘learned’ and it’s a skill that you can improve upon daily, but Anthony argued that the biggest battle you will face to become a skilled salesperson happens between your two ears. How much you invest on ‘yourself’ will have a direct result on how effective you become at sales!
Your personal development and character skills have to be learned so that you provide value for your customers.
He breaks the book down into 2 parts.
The first half of the book deals with your ‘mind-set’, and developing the skills needed PERSONALLY to build your sales success. These are the behaviors that you exhibit and draw people towards you.
The second half of the book taught you the ‘skills sets‘, essentially the nuts and bolts of effective sales.
Let’s be honest, sales scared the bejeezies out of people. The ‘Always Be Closing’ pressure tactics. The cold calls. The slick pitches…You can understand why a lot of people in business not only shy away from sales but avoid it like the plague…
However this book truly brought sales into focus of not only an essential skill for business success, but also a rewarding experience for both….Salesperson and customer.
And that’s the huge take away! If both parties aren’t winning, the massive benefit of a sale is lost.
Interesting enough, that was the big message in Gitomer’s Sales Bible too! I loved both books because of this. We don’t need to be snake oil salesmen to prosper in business, we just need to make sure our clients win and we’re working on our skills daily!
Thanks for the great review Jon. I will add it to my list. Which reminds me I still have my top ten list to do. I wrote out the list and didn’t get around to publishing it.
Nick
LOL Yeah man, I’m waiting for that! Looking forward to reading and comparing lists.
Jon I could tell many stories on this topic,
I’ll share one of many that I will never forget.
I’ve called cold tens of thousands business owners
rather in person or on the telephone in many cities.
In this one city, I called new car dealership and spoke
with the general manager to advertise and
commit to giving away up to 5000 free oil changes,
includes Oil, Filter & Lube.
This was one of the standard offers I would have in my
advertising program.
Well, the GM declined the offer.
Some days, i would cold call in the mornings, run
my leads in the evenings and go get the advertisers
on contract.
Some days, I would hit the road and cold call on
the merchants in person.
On this particular day, I cold called in person to the
business I had already spoke with on the telephone.
I never paid attention to the ‘ No’s ‘ from the
merchants I spoke with over the telephone.
It takes 3 strikes for an out in baseball, so I had
two more pitches to throw in person by doing
a cold call in person.
Back to the new car dealership. I go walking in, dressed
in my 3 piece vested suit. A car salesman approaches me,
I asked for the Gen. Mgr.
I introduced myself to the GM, give him my pitch, then he
interrupts me and stated:
Didn’t you call me couple of days ago and I told you I wasn’t
interested and why are you here now.
My reply: Sir, you’re in the new car business and you have
several car salesmen on the floor. What would happen if
your salesman took the first ” No ” rejection from a prospect
on the lot and you’re salesman turned away and took that as
the final answer. You probably would be selling less cars!
His immediate reaction to me was, step in my office.
The GM was impressed with my rebuttal, told me
to go ahead and sign him up for the Free Oil Change
Offers, plus offered me a job if I ever decided to get
off the road traveling.
Just a wealth of stories Rod, thanks for sharing man. Appreciate the comments.
Thanks John, Sales expertise is a noble pursuit.
Thanks for the comments Grant, yessir…It’s a must 🙂
Jon, I have another story for you.
I know best.
This story took place in a town in Colorado.
I called on a Yuge Athletic club to give-a-way
a two week or a one month membership.
He jumped all over the advertising program
and eager to sign up.
Only one problem. he wanted to go extremes
with a three ( 3 ) month free membership.
Granted, it was a great offer, but the offer
was to great. It was not in his best interest
to do a Free ( 3 ) month membership.
I know best what works and what not works.
After all, I depend on the merchants renew
the following year, that is if I set up another
office in that town.
Well, I tried to convince the owner that three (3)
months was too long, then it got to the point,
he started to get ticked off.
So, before he got to the boiling point,
I went ahead and signed him up.
I knew exactly what was going to happen.
It did happen. Practically every person
who had that coupon offer redeemed
to get their three (3) month free
membership and he was swamped
Instead of the average 30% redemption
he took in over 80%.
Just as I figured, come the following year
he declined to participate again, plus
had a negative attitude. I knew he
would get blown out with a high
redemption.
The object is to provide a introductory
offer with a limited time, but for a
three ( 3 ) month free membership
and people show up daily, one can
get in shape in three months.
Apparently, he didn’t sell enough
yearly memberships to justify
the three ( 3 ) month membership.
At the end, he gave me an ultimatum,
sign him up for a three (3) month
free membership or forget it.
He found out the hard way.
I knew best, what would work
for him and what wouldn’t.
If the owner had done it my
way, it would of sold memberships,
he would of participated the following year.