Who's Buying You? Until You Sell Yourself, You Won't Sell Much

The Foundation of Selling

When you increase your influence, you will increase your sales.

“If you work hard on your job you can make a living, but if you work hard on yourself you can make a fortune.” ~ Jim Rohn

Influence is the foundation of selling. If you have enough influence, you will get the sale. If you don’t, you won’t. If you have enough influence, you will get referrals. If you don’t, you won’t. If you have enough influence, you will get repeat customers. If you don’t, you won’t. As Bob Burg said, “All things being equal, people will do business with and refer business to those people they know, like, and trust.”

Everything in sales rises and falls on influence. With influence, you will thrive. Without it, you will take a dive.

When someone buys from you, you have successfully influenced them to make two purchases. They first buy YOU. Then, they buy the product or service from you.

The lessons and principles found on the pages of this book are meant to motivate and inspire you to work hard on yourself. As a result, you will increase your positive influence in all situations and with everyone. If you do, your “fortune” will follow. If you don’t, someone else will enjoy your piece of the sales pie. The old saying “If you snooze, you lose.” comes to mind.

Influence is what I’m passionate about. I’ll begin by sharing with you what truly qualifies me to write this little book on sales. Everything I read about, write about, think about, and speak about relates to principles of character-based, positive influence. Or as it applies to sales, it’s all about integrity and character-based selling. I define leadership as one of my mentors, John C. Maxwell, defines leadership, “Leadership is influence.”

In 2008, I committed to becoming a lifetime student of character-based, positive influence. As a result, I have multiplied my hourly rate since then by a factor of 228. That’s based on what I was earning per hour in 2008 compared to what I have earned for my best hour since then. And, my rates continue to climb.

Let me simplify this a bit more to reveal how my character multiplied my competency. From 1988 to 2008, 20 years of working hard on my job, my hourly rate increased five times while gaining experience in my field (competency) and earning a college degree (more competency) which was required for better jobs. From 2008 to 2017, less than 10 years of working hard on myself, my hourly rate has increased 228 times while focusing only on learning and applying character-based principles of influence. I learned how to sell MYSELF.

Don’t miss it. My result to date is: 5 (first 20 years) X 228 (last 9 years) = 1,140.

I want to help you achieve amazing results too, but you’ve got to do the hard work on yourself as Jim Rohn stated so well. My intent is to help you learn to use who you are to leverage what you know.

In the context of sales, I have received strong five figure speaking fees to speak on the subject of influence. I don’t consider myself a sales professional. However, I am an influence professional. Or in my terms, I’m a leadership professional. By influencing others to pay many thousands of dollars to hear me speak, I have become an expert in selling my most important product: ME. We are all selling something. The first and most important thing we must all sell is ourselves.

You must develop your competency. But, that is only a small part of the equation as Napoleon Hill explains here, “The average person who wanted to get an education would probably think first of some college or university, with the false belief that these institutions could ‘educate’ their students…Don’t believe for a moment that you can buy an education for money. You can’t do it. An education is something you have to work for. Furthermore, it cannot be acquired in the usual four years given over to college training. If we are good students, we are going to school always. We never get through. Life is one continuous school, and the kind of students we are depends upon the kind of work we do as we go through this great university.”

A four year degree may take you to the base of the mountain of success, but it will take a lifetime of growth and development to get you to the top. If you’re not yet a student of leadership (influence), I hope after reading this book you will become one.

Leadership is influence, and influence sells.

SELLER BEWARE

1.   You must increase your influence in order to increase your sales. More influence leads to more options!

2.   You must intentionally work hard on yourself, not your job, to reach your full potential. Be more!

3.   Your competency will take you part of the way, but it is your character that will take you all of the way.

Like what you just read? This is an excerpt (Chapter 1 of 30) from my book, Who'$ Buying You? Until You $ell Yourself, You Won't $ell Much, which was just released on 3/29/2017. Note: You can preview all chapter headings below the cover picture and link to other chapters I have shared.

“The first thing prospects buy is the salesperson. The first sale made is you.” ~ Jeffrey Gitomer

As Daniel Pink made this great statement, "It’s no longer 'Buyer beware!' It's 'Seller beware!'" Why? Because today the buyer has the advantage over the seller. Most often, they are holding it in their hand. It’s a smart phone. They can learn everything about your product before they meet you. They can compare features and prices instantly. The major advantage you do still have is: YOU! IF they like you. IF they trust you. IF they feel you want to help them. This book is filled with 30 short chapters providing unique insights that will insure your advantage, not over the buyer, but over your competition: those who are selling what you’re selling. It will help you sell yourself.

Don't stop here. Get it now on Amazon.

Chapter preview:

Ch.1: THE FOUNDATION OF SELLING

Ch.2: SELLER BEWARE

Ch.3: WORD OF MOUTH

Ch.4: WHO’S BUYING YOU?

Ch.5: WHY SHOULD I BUY FROM YOU?

Ch.6: ARE YOU TRUSTWORTHY?

Ch.7: DO YOUR HOMEWORK

Ch.8: LEVERAGE YOUR CHARACTER

Ch.9: WHAT’S YOUR MOTIVE?

Ch.10: DON’T BE A SALESPUPPET

Ch.11: EMOTIONS RULE

Ch.12: THINK SHORT TERM

Ch.13: THINK LONG TERM

Ch.14: AUTHENTICITY SELLS

Ch.15: TRUTH SELLS

Ch.16: TRANSPARENCY SELLS

Ch.17: INTEGRITY SELLS

Ch.18: GRATITUDE SELLS

Ch.19: CONNECTION SELLS

Ch.20: PRINCIPLES SELL

Ch.21: RAPPORT SELLS

Ch.22: HELPING SELLS

Ch.23: RELATIONSHIPS SELL

Ch.24: UNDERSTANDING SELLS

Ch.25: SUPPORTING SELLS

Ch.26: ATTITUDE SELLS

Ch.27: RESPONSIBILITY SELLS

Ch.28: NETWORKING SELLS

Ch.29: WHAT IF THEY DON’T BUY?

Ch.30: SOLD!

FREE download available:

Click here now for a FREE download of the entire leadership principle-packed Chapter 11, "Get Out of the Way and Lead" from the first book in my Demystifying Leadership Series: Defining Influence. In this nearly 20 page chapter, I share about:

·      Managing vs Leading

·      Scarcity vs Abundance

·      Formal Authority vs Moral Authority

·      The 5 Types of Leaders

·      Compare/Contrast 17 Manager vs Leader Perspectives

Note: I encourage you to be a river, not a reservoir. Please share my blogs with others if you find value in them. I believe in abundance and write them to help others become more effective, successful, and significant.

Make an impact!

Mack Story

My passion is to help you live with abundance, achieve success, choose significance, and leave a legacy. In other words, I want to help you make a High Impact !