Table of Contents
Burg and Mann have unlocked the key to superstar selling: focus on others and touch lots of lives with authentic, exceptional value. Successful people know this is exactly how its done. Prepare to follow their suggestions and create more abundance.
Michael Port, New York Times bestselling author, Book Yourself Solid and The Think Big Manifesto
Go-givers do sell more. Why? Because they shift their focus from getting to giving, and create value one customer at a time. Read and remember that its not about youits always about the other person.
Gary Keller, New York Times bestselling author,
The Millionaire Real Estate Agent and Shift:
How Top Real Estate Agents Tackle Tough Times
By building your personal brand as a go-giver, people will seek you out, you will get more customers, and your life will completely change for the better. Read this book and share it with everyone in your network!
Dan Schawbel, bestselling author, Me 2.0 and blogger at PersonalBrandingBlog.com
We love this book and think you will too. It deserves a place on your bookshelf right next to Og Mandinos The Greatest Salesman in the World.
Azim Jamal and Harvey McKinnon, award-winning coauthors, The Power of Giving
Go-Givers Sell More beautifully reveals the paradox of genuine sellingthat its all about the other person.
John Assaraf, New York Times bestselling author, The Answer
Every professional on the planet needs to read this book.
Libby Gill, bestselling author, You Unstuck
Destined to become a classic of selling from the heart.
Chris Widener, New York Times bestselling author, The Angel Inside and The Art of Influence
The Go-Giver has been a great eye- opener for our management team, and Go-Givers Sell More could not have come at a better timeworth its weight in gold!
Chef Charles M. Carroll, seven-time Culinary Olympian and executive chef, River Oaks Country Club, Houston, Texas
Burg and Mann have beautifully captured the highest purpose of business: to add value to other peoples lives. Go-Givers Sell More is simple, practical, and, above all, amazingly effectivea blueprint for achieving a successful life.
Loula Loi Alafoyiannis, president, Euro-American Womens Council
Go-Givers Sell More will not only teach you how to sell more, it will give you wisdom to live a rich and abundant life.
Grandmaster Jhoon Rhee, American Tae Kwon Do founding father, martial arts instructor for Bruce Lee and Muhammad Ali
For those of us who have always thought of sales as a dirty word or necessaryV evil, Burg and Mann remind us, brilliantly and compassionately, that it really is possible to do well by doing good.
Jennifer Kushell, New York Times bestselling coauthor, Secrets of the Young & Successful
Go-Givers Sell More will radically change how you see businessand make you radically more successful.
Cameron Johnson, television personality and international bestselling author, You Call the Shots
This marvelous book gets to the heart of successful selling: a genuine attitude and spirit of connecting with others. You will learn how to open your heart and mind in new ways to improve your sales career.
Dr. Nido Qubein, President, High Point University, chairman, Great Harvest Bread Co.
This extraordinary book is designed for anyone who wants to bring authentic value to others. A timeless classic with insightful lessons for business, marriage, or friendship.
Sarah Miller Caldicott, great-grandniece of Thomas Edison and coauthor, Innovate Like Edison
Yes, go-givers do sell more, in both good markets and challenging ones. But dont take my word for it; read this book and learn that you dont sacrifice profits by being principle-basedyou profit because youre principle-based.
Frank McKinney, bestselling author, The Tap
To all our faithful readers of The Go-Giver who have so generously shared our little story with so many others
Introduction: The Truth About Selling
Im no good at selling! Have you ever heard someone say that, or perhaps said it yourself? We hear it all the time. Everyone who is not in sales thinks, I could never sell.
Truth is, most people who are in sales secretly think the same thing.
There is a reason people feel this way: most of us look at sales backward. We may see it as convincing people to do something they dont want to do. But it isnt; its about learning what people do want to do and helping them do that. Or, we may think its about taking advantage of otherswhile in fact, its about giving other people more advantage.
But the biggest inversion of all, the great upside-down misconception about sales, is that it is an effort to get something from others. The truth is that sales at its bestthat is, at its most effectiveis precisely the opposite: it is about giving.
Selling is giving: giving time, attention, counsel, education, empathy, and value. In fact, the word sell comes from the Old English word sellan, which meansyou guessed itto give.
This is not how most of us have come to think about sales. Typically, sales is taught as a set of specific skills, reinforced by a range of techniques, aimed at putting your product into someone elses hands and their dollar into your pocket. From the prospecting dialogue and qualifying questions to overcoming objections and closing the sale, every step of the process is mapped out and nailed down. All you have to do, so the idea goes, is thoroughly learn and carefully practice everything in the salesmans bag of tricks, and you too will become a sales success!
At least, thats the theory. But it often doesnt work out that way.
Here is the reality: of the hundreds of thousands of entrepreneurs, small business owners, corporate salespeople, independent reps, and others in business who find themselves fulfilling any sort of sales function, most are having a hard time with sales and selling.
This difficulty does not typically come from a lack of belief. Most people who are involved in sales genuinely believe in what theyre selling. They are excited about the value they can add to other peoples lives while making a healthy living for themselves and providing for their families.
But when it comes to the actual selling part? Most of us dont believe were any good at it. We get performance anxiety or dont feel comfortable with the idea of pitching. We dont like having things pushed on us, and dont really expect others to like it either.
We want to sellwe just dont want to be in selling mode.
If this describes you, even a little bit, then much of what youre about to read may surprise you. The approach in this book may even seem backward compared to what you have learned before about sales. For example: