Book Review: Read Frank Bettger to Increase Your Sales
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A true professional continues to learn and to grow. Developing our sales skills translates into more $$$. In this economic environment increasing lead conversions is vital to growth. The most productive part of my professional development has been reading books and applying new strategies and tactics in the field. Although I have read a lot of books on sales, I keep rereading a few key works because they still provide valuable guidance. Over the next few months, I’m going to share these classics with you. Here is my favorite (read that as most valuable) classic:
How I Turned Failure to Success in Selling by Frank Bettger
Frank Bettger’s book, How I Turned Failure to Success in Selling, describes in detail his rise from getting fired from his job as a baseball player for being ‘lazy’ to traveling the lecture circuit with Dale Carnegie as one of America’s top sales coaches. Along the way, he adopted proven techniques developed by business leaders from Ben Franklin to Brian Tracy to improve his performance. His story is not only inspirational – it serves as a practical guide to systematically increasing your income.
After getting sent down to the bush league for appearing lazy, Bettger decided to start acting enthusiastic on the baseball field and soon found himself playing for the St. Louis Cardinals with virtually no other changes in his performance. Although a broken arm ended his sports career, he learned to apply some key principles he learned on the diamond to build a highly successful sales career.
Although Bettger’s career spanned the early part of the 20th Century, this is still considered one of the top sales manuals today because people don’t change. He lays out systems for tracking the efficiency of sales contacts and planning techniques that are easily adapted to a computerized world. But most of his strategies still prove effective without any alteration.
At one time, my sales manager suggested that I read this book. As I began to try some of the methods, my sales increased. Some of the ideas seemed outrageous, but I gave them a try. My own successful experience lead me to share this book and demonstrate the methods to agents in the field. One new agent used this guide to rack up the second-best record in our county her first year, beating out several seasoned pros.
Frank Bettger taught me how to connect with people, discover their motivations, uncover and answer their true objections, then close the deal and get referrals. While it was somewhat uncomfortable trying new ideas, I never had to compromise my moral principles to make a sale. As a matter of fact, doing the right thing for the right reason helped to increase my confidence and personal satisfaction along the way.
I’ve learned to turn my failures into success by reading and rereading this book. If you are interested in earning more money and willing to follow some simple suggestions, then this is the one book you want to read this month. You can find this 192-page, easy to read paperback on my marketing books webpage for about ten bucks. And if it could net you ten extra sales during the next few months, wouldn’t that be worth your time?
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