Adam Riccoboni - Buy Me!: 10 Steps to Selling Yourself in Business

Buy Me!

An excellent read for anyone wanting to improve their ability to persuade others. Buy Me! covers all of the key areas needed to be a more effective communicator and salesperson.

Neal Gandhi, Author of Born Global, Entrepreneur and Investor

An incredibly useful, pragmatic and practical guide that should be read by all those searching for a framework for building a successful career and, perhaps, a successful journey through life. At whatever stage you are at in your career or life, this book contains information that will enable you to improve You if thats what you want to do! An enjoyable and easy read.

Roger Skinner, former Strategy & Business Development Director with Ally Financial Services Inc. and The Lombard Group.

A truly inspiring read that is a must for anyone in business with aspirations to stand out from the crowd.

Julian Humphreys, Managing Director, P2 Performance Squared Ltd

First published in Great Britain in 2011 by
Michael OMara Books Limited
9 Lion Yard
Tremadoc Road
London SW4 7NQ

Copyright Michael OMara Books Limited 2011

All rights reserved. You may not copy, store, distribute, transmit, reproduce or otherwise make available this publication (or any part of it) in any form, or by any means (electronic, digital, optical, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Papers used by Michael OMara Books Limited are natural, recyclable products made from wood grown in sustainable forests. The manufacturing processes conform to the environmental regulations of the country of origin.

ISBN: 978-1-84317-654-1 in hardback print format
ISBN: 978-1-84317-749-4 in EPub format
ISBN: 978-1-84317-750-0 in Mobipocket format

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Cover design by ab3design
Designed and typeset by ab3design

Printed and bound in Great Britain by Clays Ltd, St Ives plc

www.mombooks.com

This book is dedicated to our parents,
who gave us everything:
Paul & Elaine, Gerry & Carol

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank and acknowledge 3H Partners for their invaluable help and direct contributions to writing this book, including:

We would also like to thank our team at MBA & Company including Romy Fawehinmi.

Introduction

If we all did the things we are capable of doing, we would literally astound ourselves.
Thomas A. Edison

There is a broad choice of business and self-development books on the bookshop shelves. These books can help you win friends and influence people, achieve confidence, be a brilliant manager and show you how to get rich. It is now even possible to read books purporting to provide a 30-Day MBA, a 10-Day MBA and for the really time-strapped an 80-Minute MBA. This is even more startling knowing that many reputable business schools would charge in excess of $100,000 in fees and require attendance of a one- or two-year full-time course before awarding an MBA.

So, why have we had the audacity to write Buy Me! Ten Steps to Selling Yourself in Business? The simple answer is that learning how to sell yourself is the most important skill you can have in your working life. Selling yourself is crucial to influencing people, to having confidence, to being a brilliant manager and to becoming rich. (It wont, however, give you an MBA!)

Selling yourself is the key to success

The impact you have on your life will be fundamentally determined by how well you sell yourself. Selling yourself is the single most important skill you could have in your career. It is vital to every aspect of commerciality, and convincing others to buy you is the secret to unlocking your full potential.

Ask yourself:

Selling yourself is essential in the corporate world

Consider all the times you need to promote yourself directly in your working life: writing a CV, attending a job interview, convincing your colleagues of a new idea, attaining more responsibility from your boss, gaining a promotion, receiving a pay rise, etc. However, selling yourself is also necessary in all aspects of business, as people do not just buy your company, products or services, they buy you. It is vital in winning a new client, managing teams, public relations, establishing a strategic partnership, to name just a few examples.

Selling yourself is crucial as an entrepreneur

To be an entrepreneur it is essential that you have the ability to sell yourself to others. Initially, you have to sell a concept to the world, with the only physical representation of the business being you. When seeking funding for your venture, selling yourself is absolutely key venture capitalists or angel investors do not just assess your great business idea, they also assess you.

People at the top sell themselves all the time

Business leaders or CEOs are generally experts at selling themselves. Their role is to profitably grow a business and how they sell their own values, vision and strategy is vital to that success. Likewise, political leaders do not only present policy programmes; they also need to sell themselves so that you choose to buy them through voting for them.

The modern politician also sells his/her nation on the international stage. For example, in 2010 British Prime Minister David Cameron led a sales expedition of forty-three British business leaders to China. Cameron pledged to sign forty trade deals but he was outdone by French leader Nicolas Sarkozy who had secured 12.48 billion Euros of French goods to China shortly before. Many celebrities now sell themselves so effectively that they have become a brand; for every big company like Apple or McDonalds, think of JLO (Jennifer Lopez), David Beckham or Madonna.

The world is shaped by people selling themselves

The economy is a marketplace in which goods and services are transferred. However, there is not an objective criterion for what makes a good product or an excellent service. Everything in the business world is entirely subjective that is, its value is based completely on what other people think. The most flourishing people in business have convinced others that they themselves, or the products and services they can provide, are highly valuable.