SELL WITH DIGNITY SELL WITH CLASS BUT NEVER GET OFF YOUR PROSPECT'S ---

P R E F A C E

This book is unique in that it covers circumstances detested by all sales people. This includes deal stealing, rejection, buyer’s remorse, and charge backs. It details time-tested ways to increase your awareness, and what to do to prevent those circumstances from happening.

This book differs from others because it is not only for sales people, it is for sales people and prospects alike – all that sell or have sales people sell to them. It allows the reader to travel along with the sales person on his journey into the real world of sales. It gives prospects insight into what a sales person must do to accomplish his mission. This means getting the order, not a pledge, because pledges do not pay commissions. It explains what a sales personality is and how to use the science of selling to deal with all involved in the pre-sale, sale, and after sale. This includes prospects, their representatives, and the sales person’s company personnel, such as, peers, management, bean counters, and sales support personal.

This book also covers another very important part of sales, and that is how to interview well.

Sales is more than just words and deeds. It is how one uses these words and deeds to his advantage that counts. Throughout this book, I have addressed the questions often asked by people outside the sales profession:

Is it true that some are "Born Sales People?"
What is the "Science of Selling?"
Why do some sales people act cynically?
What do sales people really think of prospects?
Can sales people be trusted?
Can prospects be trusted?

To accomplish all the above and more, I have written as I speak, using terminology understood by sales people and questioned by novices. In some instances, this involves certain situations not flattering to all players. I tell it as it is, not as some may perceive it to be. All I have written, I have personally experienced during my forty years in the sales profession. From the beginning, as a novice sales person, then to sales manager, sales trainer, interviewer of more than 1,000 applicants, and finally, as the owner of manufacturing and leasing companies. I have done some mixing of situations in order to construct examples that are more meaningful and to emphasize certain points. I did this with the intention of teaching sales people to do what they set out to do each day – win the game. At times, I attempt to include some tongue-in-cheek humor and wit to lighten the subject, but a comedian I am not. There are passages and phrases that some will certainly consider to be cynical. If sales were peaches and cream, there would be no purpose for this book.

A sales manager’s most elusive task is to motivate his sales people, this is where this book comes into its own, by extracting from the reader what I call, the rewarding will. This is the will to overcome any psychological hang-up that seems to develop as he goes through his day, the will to possess intestinal fortitude, and the will not to be intimidated by others who could lead him to failure.

How many times have you heard someone say, "That person is a born sales person"?

Everyone must learn what to say and when to say it and use the science of selling and wrap it all up to form their sales personality. They must develop a strong psychological outlook, enabling them to always stay in a selling mode. This is how to deal with prospects, clients, peers, and management. THAT IS SALES. As far as I can figure, no one is born with all the qualities it takes to be a successful sales person.

Novices are told that as long as they like people, they can make it in sales. Liking people is a lot different than understanding people. The high divorce rate in this country proves that. Never mind liking each other, they start out loving each other and to find out later that they don't understand each other – or should I say they can't stand each other. Oh, some people are persuasive and people will say that they are a born sales person. While persuasiveness is a good start it is only the beginning, there is no guarantee that they can withstand all of the bric-a-brac that is inherent in the sales game. Not all of the so-called born sales people have intestinal fortitude – guts. Without guts, they would be dead in the water.

A sale occurs when a prospect agrees to exchange product for a fee. That is what the game of sales is all about. What motivated him to purchase? Unless the sale was made by an order taker, no matter what the order taker says, as long as he does not insult the prospect, the order is in the bag because Mr. Prospect decided to fulfill his need long before the order taker came into the picture. A sales person will occasionally run into one of these orders. It is called a "found deal" but there aren’t enough of these to keep a sales person afloat. For a sales person to be continually successful he or she must possess many qualities. Most likely, as a sales person, you have already formed your own selling personality. The intention of this book is not to change it but to make it more conducive to selling, in your actions and your words, both spoken and unspoken.

Sales is a person- to-person experience. If your personality is such that it bothers you to talk to people and you become grouchy, don’t change your grouchy ways. Keep plugging along, you may find your niche somewhere. Join grouches anonymous, if there is such a group; if not, start one. I know for sure that there are a lot of grouches out there. Wow, that’s a tough statement, but I did say I would tell it as it is. Of course, this is my opinionated point of view, but check it out. If most of the qualities I listed are not in a sales person’s selling personality, he or she is destined for tubesville regardless of how persuasive or silver-tongued they are.