How to Be The Complete Professional Salesperson

Approach

PREFACE

I hope you’re not like me and have a tendency to skip prefaces. Generally that’s what I do because I’m anxious to get right into the book itself. So if you’re this way too, I urge you to take the time to read this one because it contains a special message.

For the past 17 years, I have been working full time as an author, having recently completed my 36th book. This book has a warm spot in my heart, however, because nearly 20 years ago, I coauthored How to Be The Complete Professional Salesman with my father, Herbert M. Shook. We wrote it when the two of us were running Shook Associates Corporation, which, at the time, was one of the nation’s largest private health insurance agencies. We also founded a new company, American Executive Life Insurance Company for which I served as Chairman of the Board and my father was President.

Back in those days, we were considered experts in the sales field, and now, after having written a dozen books relating to selling, I must confess I am still regarded as a super salesperson. In all modesty, I must concede that I am a super salesperson—and I tell you this with a great sense of pride. As I have often told large audiences of salespeople, Hell, anyone can write. You learn to write in the first grade. But only a relatively small percentage of people are proficient at selling, and only a handful of this singular group rank among the elite. So for the record, yes, I am a salesperson first and a writer second.

My second reason for this book being sentimental to me is that my father passed away during the past year at the ripe young age of 80. He was truly one of the most delightful men I have ever known, and God truly blessed me by giving me such wonderful parents (my mother is also a saint). My father served as a perfect role model while I was growing up—he was hard working and a man with a deep sense of integrity. As a young boy, I spent Saturdays and everyday after school during the Christmas season working at his jewelry store in downtown Pittsburgh. There, my father would teach me how to sell, always emphasizing that salespeople were very important members of our society— without them, nothing happens, he’d preach. And if you can sell, he’d say again and again, you will always be able to make a good living in this world.

So while many people grow up with a negative image of salespeople—you know, the high-pressure, slick salesman who’d sell his own mother for a buck—I always had high regard for salespeople. I still remember how my father would routinely make a big fuss over the diamond and watch salespeople who called on his store, and whenever he’d invite one of them out to lunch, I’d be included too. I used to love to hear their stories. It’s no wonder I decided at an early age that I’d someday be a salesman.

Looking back, it’s as if my father had trained me to be a salesperson even as a kid. In addition to my exposure at the store, he encouraged me to participate in two unusual sports when I was a teenager. He was on his college boxing team at Duquesne University during the Depression, so like him, I wanted to box too. So I was a boxer for about a year, and although my career was shortlived, I retired with a 3-0 record, never having been beaten in the ring. As my coach, he always exhorted: The true test of a champion is the man who is knocked down for the nine count and gets up and wins the fight. That’s a pretty good lesson on life for everyone, especially a salesperson. When I started to become a really good boxer—and started to think about doing it as a career, he told me that it was time to do another sport. While I remember arguing with him about it, those were the days when kids always listened to whatever their parents told them—so I stopped boxing.

I was also on the swimming team. I swam the butterfly stroke in high school and as a freshman at Ohio State. In retrospect, I’d say these two sports were wonderful training for me to succeed in the real world because I never enjoyed either sport. After all, there is no fun in hitting somebody so hard in the head that you cause him to have a mild concussion and fall to the canvas in a state of unconsciousness. Nor for that matter is it particularly enjoyable if the other guy does that to you. Then too, swimming 200 laps of the butterfly stroke every day is not exactly a fun way for a young person to spend his or her time either. So while other kids were enjoying sports, I was learning a lot about discipline. Although I should have been having fun, which I was not, I was, in fact, in training to push myself to extremes in order to succeed. As you read this book, you’ll discover that I feel very strongly about applying self-discipline to one’s sales career.

In college I paid for most of my education by working as a salesperson, always on a straight commission basis. My jobs ranged from selling bibles door-to-door to selling health and accident insurance policies.

My father continued to teach me how to sell after college when we started a small insurance agency in the basement of his home shortly after his jewelry business went belly up. I had just graduated college and was 22-years old at the time. He was starting a brand new career at the age of 49. Looking back, it took a lot more courage on his part (he had a wife and four children to support) than it did for me who was single and fancy free. So while continuing to learn on-the-job about selling, my father served as my mentor whenever I needed some quick answers, was feeling down, and so on.

We started our insurance agency on a shoe string and within a decade, we had a large sales force in 22 states and had become far more successful than we had ever anticipated. It was a great father-son team. I don’t recall a single argument we ever had during a 17-year period we were partners. After we wrote How to Be the Complete Professional Salesman, I went on to write two more books while we continued to build our companies. Back then, the insurance business was going through some major changes, and I was enjoying my writing career, so when we had an opportunity to sell our business in 1978, we did, and I have been writing full time ever since.

As I previously mentioned, I take great pride in my sales background. To this day, I miss the excitement of closing a difficult sale. I also miss the instant gratification that comes with making a sale and being compensated for it within a relatively short time. And I miss working with people. As a writer, I work in solitary confinement for months at a time and afterward, it takes a book publisher as long as a year to publish a completed manuscript. So much for instant gratification! Between the boxing, swimming and selling I’ve done, I suppose my strongest asset as a writer is my self-discipline. It’s helped me in everything I’ve ever accomplished.

I’ve told you what I miss about no longer being a full-time salesperson, but most of all, I miss my father. And after having been asked to rewrite this book, which I haven’t read for many years, I recall so many fond memories that he and I shared together as business partners and as co-authors. So while I am the one who must revise this book to bring it into the 21st century, I emphasize that so much of it will contain my father’s personality, wit, and creativity.

He was an unusual individual, and I invite you to meet him through the pages of this book. In doing so, may a touch of him rub off on you as so much did on me.

INTRODUCTION

A career in sales can cover a lot of ground. It can range from the door-to-door pots-and-pans salesperson to the highly astute businessperson who sells multi-million-dollar deals. Without question, no other profession in the world consists of such a diversification in terms of product, education, background and income. There are people who call themselves salespersons whose earnings border the poverty-income levels, and there are those who generate annual multi-million-dollar incomes.

Then there are some who literally make hundreds of times more income than others selling identical products … and, in many cases, even for the same company! Observe, for instance any large life insurance company whose licensed agents have identical policies to sell, and you’ll discover that the top producers are earning more than a hundred times what the lowest producers are making. A quick review of real estate salespeople in any major city will reveal a similar situation. One may ask, How is this possible? What is it that the leading salespeople do that projects such a vast difference in their performances?

A quick analysis will reveal several answers. A person who is unfamiliar with the sales world will discover that the big producers, as a group, do not necessarily possess the advantages which a higher education would permit. Nor do they possess the charm and sophistication that only a privileged, social-registered, prep school graduate would be expected to have. Contrary to public opinion, a survey of the top producers in this country would show that a high percentage of these leading salespeople was the product of lower and middle income families.

There is also an American myth that says success in the sales field comes only as a result of a dynamic sales personality. Again, a survey of a large group of leading salespeople from different fields would reveal that they do not possess the stereotyped sales personalities which would be expected of them. Sure, a few of these top producers will have a dynamic sales personality, but that quality in itself would not be an important factor in their success (it can be assumed that a survey made among any group of individuals in any particular occupation will reveal the same percentage of dynamic sales personalities). What is it, then, that causes such a tremendous different in the fluctuation of sales production? What is the secret which a successful salesperson can possess that literally earns him or her an income equivalent to that of a hundred of his or her cohorts?

I believe the combination of mental attitude, work habits and professional salesmanship is the three necessary qualities that most accurately describe the highly successful salesperson. Although each of these qualities is of equal importance, this book will not dwell on mental attitude in detail (see Chapter 3) since this subject can consist of a complete volume of books by itself. Nor will I discuss in detail proper work habits, since the subject of self-discipline is also a complex topic in itself. Instead, the contents of this book will be confinedto the discussion of proven successful selling techniques which are part-and-parcel with professional salesmanship.

The philosophy of this book is to approach salesmanship as a career. The field of selling requires the same professional attitude as do our sciences. Likewise, the student of salesmanship should not accept the ordinary hit-and-miss techniques which are so commonly employed by the vast armies of salespeople throughout the United States. Instead, my school of thought demands a more scientific approach which will fully develop any individual who has the desire to be successful.

It is suggested that you read this book in its entirety, and then on a weekly basis; read each chapter on a Sunday night and consciously apply its lesson to your sales career Monday through Friday. The mere reading of the contents of this book will not by itself make you a professional salesperson. It is suggested that you read it, digest it, practice it, and then execute it. Don’t expect overnight results, although some of what you read the night before can be applied the following day and additional sales can result. Becoming a professional salesperson is, however, a long-term process. So be patient, remain dedicated—and you will persevere.

1

SO YOU WANT TO BE A SALESPERSON

Wonderful! If your desire is sincere, if you have enough ambition, and if you have self-discipline-then you can become a successful salesperson.

But remember: Success is a demanding mistress. She is jealous! Her favors come only at a high price, and you must be willing to pay it! If you want success, it must be earned.

Salesmanship is one of the finest professions on earth, and since you have chosen it, you are to be congratulated for a wise choice. It’s a choice that can lead you and your family to a lifetime of prosperity and security. And, having made this choice, you can never again claim that the opportunity for success did not present itself. The rewards for the professional salesperson are practically limitless.

But all this doesn’t mean that you will automatically prosper—that you can simply sit back and wait for the rewards. In sales, as in anything else that pays high dividends, you have to invest something first. This old lesson, of course, has been preached to us over and over again. When we were students, we were told this about our school work. Our coaches also drilled this message into us in their pep talks. Even our clergymen preach it. It applies to all walks of life. If you want something of value, you must reach for it.

There are certain ingredients that make a winner, no matter what field you’re competing in. The two most basic ingredients (assuming that you already have the desire, ambition and self-discipline) are hard work and knowledge.

We all know the importance of hard work. Few of us have ever known a successful lazy man!

This book will not dwell on the subject of hard work, because hard work is a habit that only you can develop for yourself.

Assuming that you either have this habit or you’re successfully developing it, I can, however, offer some help on the subject of knowledge.

You must realize that selling takes a great deal more than simply knowing the product, knowing the company, knowing the territory and understanding the terms. The science of selling must be mastered like all other professions. The golf pro, for example, must master the science of his game through lessons and practice. Likewise, a man doesn’t become a doctor merely by wanting to be one and working hard at it. He must learn the science of medicine through years of studying at medical school and more years of practicing as an intern and resident. Obviously, you too must know both the science and the art of salesmanship if you are to become a professional salesperson. You must learn how to apply certain scientific principles of selling, and you must practice to fine-tune the artistry in selling.

The entire purpose of this book is to help you develop scientific knowledge in the art of salesmanship and to teach you how to become a professional salesperson.

The Salesperson’s Role in Society

Selling is a key part—an indispensable part– of a free enterprise system. You, as a salesperson, occupy a special niche in this system. Without you and your fellow salespeople, our standard of living would be far different, and our system would probably collapse. To a very great extent, we owe our affluent way of life in the Western World to the salesmen, past and present, who move the goods and services from producers to users. Because of the salesperson, the wheels of industry are kept turning; income is created; and our standard of living flourishes. So—you see—the salesperson can have a very important role in our society and, as a salesperson, you should feel tremendous pride in your work.

Basically, of course, almost all of us are salespeople in one sense of the word or another. Everybody is selling something—either themselves or their talents, a product, a service, an idea or a way of life. The fact is that, no matter whether you live in a capitalist society, a communist society, or on some remote island in the South Seas, you are selling something every time you smile or open your mouth. This, of course, is not professional selling. And professional selling is the real subject of our book. A capitalist society such as ours has to have large numbers of professional salespeople. Our economy is so finely tuned that the role of the salesperson has become progressively more important and more complex. In this era of