Year after year, new sales gurus, sales techniques and sales systems emerge.
However, there are always common threads of best practices and principles that stand the test of time. When I was a young college student, I started my sales career selling study guides to families door-to-door (unthinkable to many people today) I was given Og Mandino’s book, The Greatest Salesman in the World. I’m not writing this to sell you this book. It was written in 1968 before there were smartphones, computers, faxes, and the Internet. I’m sure many young technology savvy and “new” sales gurus won’t even look at a book about sales that wasn’t written in the last year. In fact, much of today’s wisdom in my own industry (online marketing) suggests that you never have to cold call or even meet face-to-face. Baloney! While, Social Media, Search Engine Optimization, video, etc. can help position your company as an authority for your services and develop online leads; We are all still human and “People buy from people.”
What separates a successful salesperson or company (even in today’s “there’s an app for that” online world) is their ability to communicate from the heart, bounce back from rejection, stick to the principles they believe in, and truly help their customers solve their problems by realizing how their product or service truly is the answer. Most salespeople fail because they either don’t believe in their product, can’t get over rejection, can’t communicate effectively, or they fail to persist.
What’s your most inspirational sales book?
