Table of Contents
This book is dedicated to our families: our wives, Michelle Riklan and Clare Taylor, and our eight wonderful children, Joshua, Jonathan, Rachel, Kelly, Mark, Zachary, Luke, and Jake.
Acknowledgments
Each and every one of us wants to increase sales and revenue for our associated business. In our journey toward optimum sales results, we frequently find that reaching our goals is a team effort. We rely on others to provide quality products for us to sell, enhanced by attractive marketing materials and superior customer support.
Similarly, the writing of this book was also a group effort. This book was truly created by a dedicated team that spent countless hours writing, revising, and updating. It could not have been created alone.
Wed like to acknowledge each and every author who contributed to this bookin fact, there would be no book without the inspiring wisdom and words of each of our contributing authors.
In addition to all of the contributors to the book, we would like to thank all of the amazing individuals at John Wiley & Sons, Inc., who enthusiastically brought this project to life, including Matt Holt, Shannon Vargo, Beth Zipko, and Lauren Freestone.
Thanks to our agent, John Willig, who is the real Jerry Maguire.
Finally, heartfelt thanks to our friends and family, who have provided much-needed support, encouragement, and patience throughout the process. A special thanks to our wives, Michelle and Clare, who are a continual source of motivation for everything that we do.
Foreword
I have been a student of sales since November 11, 1971. I was listening to a brand-new technology called a cassette tape when a guy named Jay Douglas Edwards uttered the sales tip, If the customer says, Do these come in green? you say, Would you like them in green? And I thoughtcool.
Thats the day I realized that there was a science to selling. I wanted to learn more.
I have read all or portions of hundreds of sales books over the past 40 years, but most of what I have learned has come from the spark of an idea gleaned from a book and then somewhat altered once I got out into the field and had to actually apply the strategy. Kind of like you.
All sales booksas well as sales expertsoffer some form of valuable information. As a student, its your job to determine how that information fits into your skill set, environment, marketplace, and customer interactions.
Mastering the World of Selling is loaded with sales experts and business experts offering some of their best ideas and their best strategies and their best tips and their best information.
Eric Taylor cold-called me in 2002, claiming he could put on a public seminar in my home state of New Jersey. He told me that he would fill the hall with people and sponsors and was willing to pay my fee in order to make that happen.
I had worked with many public seminar promoters, most of whom had failed miserably, and at that time it was my decision not to work with any public promoter, but rather to do the seminars myself. But there was something about Eric that I likedhis spirit, his ideas, his self-confidence, his ability to convey a message; so I decided to say okay.
Eric filled the hall that day, and my new friend Matt Holtan editor from John Wiley & Sons, Inc.came to see me.
Matt has risen much higher in the company and is publishing this book along with his talented editor Shannon Vargo. (It all comes full circle.) Eric filled the hall again in 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, and 2007. In 2008, we did an event called Jersey Boys where I partnered with two other sales experts who had grown up in New Jersey like I had.
Eric Taylor has done it again, this time with David Riklan, the founder of SelfGrowth.com. Eric is a world-class student, participant, and all-around father. In compiling this twenty-first-century best-of sales book, he has used his connections, his wisdom, and his moxie to create a book that contains way more than reading material. Study it, highlight it, implement it, and bank it.
How to read the book: Learning sales skills is a matter of understanding, adoption, application, and a bit of tweaking. I have found that unless the tip or strategy is comfortable to me, I wont use it. It has to fit with my personality and be in the framework of my comfortable conversation and ethics.
As a reader myself, I am challenging you to look at the ideas you encounter here with an open mind and strike from your mind the phrase I know that. Most salespeople already know everything; the problem is that they dont do it. Rather, ask yourself, How good at that am I on a scale of 1 to 10?
Then ask yourself:
How does this information apply to me?
Do I agree with this?
Am I comfortable with this?
Does it fit my personality?
Is this me?
If the answer to all of those questions is yes, then ask yourself the following questions:
Is this in the best interest of the customer?
Will this lead me to a long-term relationship with the customer? And finally the true self-test question:
Will this make my mother proud?
This book is all about what is working now. It looks at business, sales, service, and personal development for the second decade of the twenty-first century. The messages offered are from experts in their field who have actually used these methods and strategies to build their own success. And your job is to adopt them, adapt them, and turn them into money.
Jeffrey Gitomer, author of The Little Red Book of Selling
Introduction
Nothing happens until somebody sells something.
Arthur H. (Red) Motley (1900-1984), Master Salesman
Everyone Sells
Since you most likely sell something for a living, you know the value of self-improvement and building your sales skills. Like you, we are selling in the trenches every day, fighting to gain more market share and to keep our existing client base. Just one good idea from the hundreds in this book can give you a competitive advantage and repay your investment many times over.
The goal of Mastering the World of Selling is simple, clear, and focused; we want this book to become your ultimate sales resource.
This book was created to help you to sell something better... faster... smarter... and with more profit!
Whats in This Book for You?
Over 400 sales tips from the top sales training companies in the world.
More than 85 powerful sales articles you can use for sales meetings, to prep for a sales call, or to coach your sales team.
Detailed profiles and contact information to over 150 of the worlds greatest sales training resources.
Access to hundreds of products and services, online resources, associations, and sales communities you can learn from and contribute to.
The current economic climate has created new opportunities but has also made the competitive landscape fierce. Whether you are just starting your sales career today or have been closing complex sales transactions for decades, this book has sales answers that can help you sell more.
Selling is one of the most rewarding and noble professions in the world.
Thank you for investing in this book and in your sales success!
