As a sales trainer and author, I always advise anyone interested in becoming a high performer to “read more.” I often find that this advice is not as easy to follow as it seems; We all have other commitments that make it difficult to spend time opening a book. But when it comes to Spencer Johnson’s “One Minute Salesman,” you have no excuse: the book is barely 100 pages long.
In addition to being a quick read, it has an entertaining story, revolving around a young salesman who decides to track down the mythical colleague who is said to be a sales master. Along the way, he learns an important lesson from this other man: that we’ve all been selling our whole lives, whether we know it or not.
Think about it for a moment: As a kid, you sold your parents to let you have ice cream or stay up a little after bedtime. You’ve convinced your friends in your favorite band or restaurant, and most likely more than one person of all the reasons why they should consider going out with you. The impact of Spencer Johnson’s message here is profound: we are all born salespeople, one way or another, we just have to let our natural abilities shine through.
The second key lesson the young salesperson learns is that visualizing a successful outcome is an important step in making it happen. In other words, if he can see success in his mind, then he is well on his way to achieving it.
That idea is a constant theme in my own books, as well as in many of the best sellers in the sales category. There is a good reason for this: Works. You will constantly discover that the best in every field, from sales to medicine to athletics, have a habit of picturing themselves succeeding. After that, they just have to follow the plan they have created in their minds.
And finally, the third important point that Dr. Johnson leaves for readers is that for a salesperson to turn his work from the daily grind into a pleasure, he needs to learn to get out of his own perspective. In other words, they need to see the world through their customers’ shoes.
As with the other points, this is something that should be reminded from time to time by any salesperson who is serious about becoming one of the best. People don’t buy for our reasons, but for their own. As soon as we can figure out what they really want, we can help them find it…and shouldn’t that always be our goal as a seller?
The One Minute Salesperson by Spencer Johnson is a fantastic read for any salesperson, sales manager, or professional who needs to bring new accounts and revenue to a company. If you haven’t had a chance to read it yet, I encourage you to spend an hour or two on this sales classic.
