Hi Stuart, welcome to UKBF.
Another vote for
How to Win Friends...
Plus anything by Tom Hopkins or Zig Ziglar, and the sales ones by Brian Tracey.
What, I would say, is that you buy it and take from it what you want. And that is the same with any book. Also, don't just read it once, and leave it at that, you need to really study them to glean everything you can.
Also, remember, Stuart, whichever books you read then you will need to put any examples into your own words and how you speak. So, if you have a "script" or presentation then you need to make sure it sounds right for you. If you read it to yourself and out loud and it doesn't "sound right" then you have to re-write it. To put it another way, "it's got to sound right to Stuart, for other people to believe Stuart".
However. one word of warning, is you do not want to just assume reading a book will make you a great salesman. It will prepare you for selling, but you will only learn from actually being out there in real live situations and selling to people.
The best advice I can give you though, Stuart, is if the company you are selling for has other sales people, find out who the best ones are and offer to buy them coffee, or lunch or something in exchange for asking them how they go about selling the product or service.
I have to agree. It way too out-of-date. It prescribes a version of Sales 1.0.
In today's sales environment the approach needs to be version 32.0. For example, one of pieces of information he gives in the book is to call people by their first name a lot. Maybe this worked in 1960's America. But these days it comes across as cheesy and at worst patronizing especially in Europe.
It seems "cheesy", but it often works, I mean you don't over use the prospect's name, it's not like you say it every few words, but if you use it at the right time, it can make a real difference. But it's also making sure you personalise any sales or presentation to that customer, and using their name often helps to reinforce that. It's about what
they want and need, not what you
think they want.
So, in the above, I used "Stuart" five times, and while it may sound cheesy because it's written down, if I had spoken it, it probably wouldn't have seemed out of place. But look how many times I also used the word "you".
(Oh, and as for the "worked in 1960s America" - the book was published in the 1930s.
)
