Lead or Mislead

I've been listening to Jim Rohn for years. He is an incredible speaker and motivator. His motivation doesn't end a day or two after his seminar does; it helps set a solid foundation for life.

I started listening to him back in the early to mid 90's with: The Art of Exceptional Living. Which, in my opinion, should be part of everyone's library.

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I've read and listened to plenty by Hopkins and Ziglar over the years.

I think Hopkins is very manipulative in most of his ways.

Zig, although I have picked up some of his energy and advice early on in my career, I don't really dig his style at this point and haven't for quite a while. He's kind of like fettuccine alfredo... Great when you first sit down but you can only take so much.

Here's a vote for SPIN Selling.

Quote:

Originally Posted by bluenote

I've been listening to Jim Rohn for years. He is an incredible speaker and motivator. His motivation doesn't end a day or two after his seminar does

I agree that Jim Rohn is an incredible guy.

I appreciate Brian Tracy's sales wisdom and his low-hype style; Stephen Covey, although not a sales trainer, has been an inspiration for me, as has John Maxwell.

Thanks Skip, I didn't know John Maxwell. I will look him up.

Okay, we have heard from Mitch, anyone else on who the best sales training materials comes from?

Maxwell, Rohn, Covey, Tracey, - we could each list a library A - Z of personal reading history - bluenote we could do that with music. I'v also self taught guitarist, cornet in high school band - lots of influences. I'm country/blues/folk not jazz though there are influences in some of my style.

On that note, when I was in the deepest study of music in the sixties and seventies listening/reading globally in as many traditions as I could, what amazed me was a couple of things.

One was the universality of certain musical themes, melodies, matrixes of composition other than the most esoteric. So much gets down to a few basics you trace from one culture to another.

Another was how influences came not only from musical interpretations in a cultural sense and wider range of interpretations for those who could expand their influences outside closed systems i.e. Mississippi Delta or Irish elbow pipes or West African percussion - but when it came to jazz or classical how so many students of the form(s) were inspired from sources outside music: Eastern philosophy, Caribbean folk medicine, math formulas, physics, etc, - mostly in the more esoteric students of music.

Anyway, it's also true in sales, isn't it! We go to sources relating to what we do looking for pleasure and inspiration, for self help and a little magic key here, an insight there to spice up the soup or package it better - the spice of life so to speak.

What I've concluded in my short span of time in sales, is that very successful people regardless of personality and individual external quirks and habits have some basic learned/instinctive skills or movements in life including self motivation that have commonalities: simplicity of action, consistency of that simplicity of action, uninterrupted focus, and a clear directional thrust that is not side tracked or doubted.

Personality/instinct, proper training, and whatever personal resources resonate - some we've posted here - AND outside interests that can make a powerful difference in performance come to play.

None of this is any more than commonplace observation I'm sure we all understand - with a literary background and additional major in sociology I'm one who takes an interest in these kinds of things - but certainly they're not necessary for success in sales.

Football strategy, golf game, Asian ba gua, musical composition, poetry writing - I wonder when I'm wondering about these things how much of what we attribute to our success comes from what we think it does and how much from other interests in our lives. Where do the best sales training come from. I've got opinions like everyone I've posted - this is a buffet topic of sorts.

The best to all.

MitchM

Yah, okay Mitch, we see your point. But what are the sales training or motivational materials that readers feel made the biggest impact.

There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that the training I have received has made me millions of dollars. And, while yes, I agree my worldliness adds to being able to relate to prospects and clients, without the training I would not have had many of the clients I now relate to.

This one time, let's stick to the thread please. Thanks.

?

Quote:

Originally Posted by bluenote

I think Hopkins is very manipulative in most of his ways.

Zig, although I have picked up some of his energy and advice early on in my career, I don't really dig his style at this point and haven't for quite a while. He's kind of like fettuccine alfredo... Great when you first sit down but you can only take so much.

Since the 80s, I've talked to a lot of people who touted Ziglar's and Hopkins books, but I have been hard pressed to get any feedback about what was actually learned. With Hopkins, some readers or listeners were never able to get by the "tag-ons" mentioned early in the training.

I prefer here to set Ziglar aside because he is not my cup of tea. But Hopkins had a big influence on me. I took his stuff seriously back then, and when I read his classic How To Master The Art Of Selling for the third time, I saw something in his work that he was not generally credited for.

Underneath the tactics he espoused, and the wordsmithing, was a deep, nearly profound understanding of what makes salespeople tick. Look closely, and you'll find perhaps the best sales text on motivation ever written. But it doesn't jump out at you. You have to listen to what the guy is saying when he uses terms like self-actualization.

Hopkins' is not the best book on selling ever written--not in my opinion. But it is probably the most comprehensive. It needs to be studied--not just read--to find the gold.

My vote for the best book on selling ever: How I Raised Myself From Failure To Success In Selling by Bettger.

As a young man, it launched my career, and much of my success in business and life came from that springboard.

Jerry Bresser ("List More, Sell More") for real estate listings. The material is the best I've ever seen.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gold Calling

Yah, okay Mitch, we see your point. But what are the sales training or motivational materials that readers feel made the biggest impact.

There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that the training I have received has made me millions of dollars. And, while yes, I agree my worldliness adds to being able to relate to prospects and clients, without the training I would not have had many of the clients I now relate to.

This one time, let's stick to the thread please. Thanks.

?

I think analogies are valid here, Gold.

Your analogy of the baseball coach the other day was well received. I don't know why someone's analogy of music should not be welcomed.

Lets be more tolerant of freedom of expression here. Everbody's blessed differently. I don't want to be you, Gold...you don't want to be me....and I'll bet that the guy who posted the music analogy would not want to be either of us.

Joe, as for my comment directed at Mitch, I might have misread something in my haste (to get to 50 posts). I will have to re-read the thread to see where the confusion comes from.
As for tolerance, there is no issue here.

Love your comments and comparisons between Zig and Tom. That is your opinion and well stated. What I was hoping this thread would generate, thanks.

Lead or Mislead

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