And you call this a living?

The alarm clock read 4:30AM – and I was still awake.

Once again I was stuck with that cold-sweat fixation that tomorrow could very well be the end of my career; but with my anxiety growing, the reality of any sleep at all drifted further and further away.

Even worse, that pervasive thought of dread wouldn’t leave me alone.

Others are out there, better prepared and more determined than me. I’m fatigued, filled with uncertainty and stuck with the feeling that I’m going to blow another opportunity, one that I desperately need! The only thing I knew for sure was, something had to change.

If all this sounds all too familiar, you’re not alone. In fact, you really shouldn’t even be surprised.

After all, when you’ve been thrown in over your head to do a job for which you’ve had no effective training or practice, who could expect anything different.

In the absence of any real familiarity in the basic principles of sales, who can blame you for wanting to quit?

Now we all know that the wrong thing to do is nothing and the right thing to do is to get some effective help. So, if you’re still with me this far, there is hope, because of these three important things:

a) You feel that there is something to know and you need to find out what it is.

b) You’re serious enough about changing your life and willing to do something about it.

c) You’re open to getting some effective help.

This is why I wrote “The Sales Journal” – for working professionals just like you. It’s for those who know when they need help, are willing to get it, and then put it to immediate use in their own lives.

Bluntly, there is more valuable, usable information on any page in this book than in any other text I’ve read on the subject.

Why? Because the sole focus of this book is on fundamental principles underlying all selling.

Gaining an understanding of the basic fundamentals of selling combined with a disciplined practice of workable methods in applying them will give you the stability, certainty and effortless competence that is missing in your life and your career.

And, even better, you don’t have to study some dry, academic textbook for several semesters to accomplish the results you want.

Instead, just flip though this book at random and read any article that grabs your attention. I guarantee you will find at least one gemstone that you can use today to get you going on the right track, immediately.

And that’s really what you’re looking for isn’t it?

daniel w. jacobs
© 2008 -2030, all rights reserved

How it all started

I know what you’re thinking . . .

You can’t stand another sales book crammed with untried theories, meaningless buzzwords and academic graphs written by someone who has never been in-the-trenches; a text crammed with confusing acronyms ‘guaranteed’ to close any deal, but which only end up as more clutter in your mind.

I feel the same way.

If you’re looking for a sales book that is clear, brief, and relevant to your life, something that will give you new, fresh ideas for methods based on workable, common-sense basics and not some odd-ball fad or fashion, your search is over.

This Sales Journal was written for you, the working professionals in the field of sales. It was written for salespeople who know the ropes, but need a boost now and then to stay on top of their game.

And most importantly, every article in this journal contains a gemstone of inspiration that will motivate you to do better, today! You don’t have to read everything cover to cover before seeing results. Just pick any article that looks interesting, any one that grabs your attention and I guarantee that a careful reading will give you back more energy than it took to read it!

I started this journal as a series of weekly articles for salespeople at an international marketing company where I was employed. I worked with veteran sales professionals on all strategic and tactical aspects of the sales process, from giving presentations, developing RFP’s, planning, organizing  and closing sales and marketing programs with Fortune 500 Companies.

As these people were all top pro’s in selling, they were very clear about what they needed and wanted: a strong article that could cut through the bull and deliver a message that could inspire them to sell better, today!

They were also very clear about what they didn’t want: no ivory-tower, philosophical treatise on the theory of sales was needed. The focus had to be on instant application and only on what worked. Then later, when they had time and interest, these same articles could be used to dig into the deeper elements and basics underneath all selling.

Within the company, these articles started to be called, “the sales journal for working professionals” – eventually becoming the go-to book for every salesperson in the company, far outdistancing other sales texts.

Why? Because this was written for them. It was chocked full of real-life experiences, reminders of what they already knew, new ideas they could understand and use today, and relevant information for ready use in everyday selling activities.

Over time, it became clear that the journal contained new discoveries and clarifications not found in other writings on the subject. Complexities were faced and stripped away, false assumptions and unworkable fads were exposed and discarded, useless chatter was recognized and tossed aside.

Only the simple, proven, workable basics were underscored and strengthened by clarification, understanding and applicability in the real world of the working professional salesperson.

In short, the purpose of the sales journal was simple: focus on what works!

This single purpose, to focus only on what works, remained as the guide-on throughout the whole of this book.

Every article has a message on some vital aspect of selling. You don’t have to read the whole thing start to finish to benefit from this book. You can scan through the titles until something catches your attention, sparks your imagination and inspires you to read it and use it. The value of the information will be instantly apparent in your attitude and subsequent results.

Many of the articles are already in the hands of sales professionals, who (so I’m told) treasure them as gemstones of sales wisdom and jealously guard them as invaluable tools. Some of the articles have been published in highly respected magazines and E-zines.

Many have been reprinted online for use by salespeople in of all types of businesses. Many successful lectures and seminars have been given about the material in this book, which is a culmination of decades of research, study and real-world application.

And never before have all these articles been assembled in one place under one cover.

All the material in this book has been researched, tested and refined down to the universal simplicities underlying all sales activities.  Unworkable, complicated and unworkable methods were discarded leaving only the fundamental common-sense truths that you can use in your sales activities – today!

I consider it no accident that it is now in your hands.

Buy it. Read it. Use it.

You won’t regret it.

daniel w. jacobs
(c) 2009-2030, all rights reserved

The Fundamentals of Selling

We do indeed live in interesting and uncertain times; witness the turbulent, roiling seas of the business community as proof positive.

Competition domestically and internationally is intense and growing; firms are merging, outsourcing, acquiring, and divesting faster than can be reported; emerging technology is replacing traditional methods at the speed of light; products are becoming more complex; customers are demanding better service, faster delivery and lower prices; the list goes on.

Navigating these waters in an increasingly volatile and unpredictable world environment is a key challenge facing all businesses; few will survive without an effective sales force. Firms that want to survive in the 21st century must confront this all encompassing force that pervades every aspect of business.

After all, trained and experienced salespeople may be the last line of defense for the consumer because they alone are uniquely experienced in dealing with uncertainty; or at least they should be.

Because customer uncertainty is the primary barrier facing all salespeople.

The pressure on salespeople to develop greater skills to meet the challenges of this brave new world is palpable and cannot be ignored; but where can these skills be found?

With so many books in print on the subject of sales, finding anything new and relevant on the subjects seems an impossibility.

But with this book, the possibility of becoming securely grounded in the basics of human interaction (the key to all selling), combined with the ability to seamlessly adjust the methods of selling to fit each customer, becomes a reality.

This is new, and very exciting!

As a matter of fact, the principles of selling are basically no different than the common-sense laws of dealing with people. Given that a law is something with which one thinks, allowing one to accurately predict consequences.

Both principles and laws have everything to do with human beings; their emotions, reactions, drives, incentives and motives for doing anything.

Simply stated: Selling is always about people.

Understand people and you’ll understand all selling.

Some claim that this book could be a seminal work, one that changes the future of the profession. I think, after careful reading, you may agree.

For this book deals with the discovery of the primary reasons for all sales failure (hint: it’s not the techniques or methods of selling), and the exact way to correct this failing.

The purpose:
The purpose of this book was to reorient the focus of salespeople to the ageless laws of all sales and to provide a route for mastering the mystery of selling.

The strategy:
The strategy of the book was to discover, clarify and strengthen the fundamental principles underlying all selling activities and advise only methods and tactics which align with these principles.

The method:
The method of approach was to put the writing in the form of a sales journal for daily use by the working professional.

Then, armed with the truth of why the principles work, you can figure out how to build a successful sales career on bedrock rather than the shifting sands of fads and fashions commonly found in the business of selling. By understanding and using the time-tested, proven principles of selling, a degree of stability, not otherwise available, is attainable.

In this way the salesperson will no longer be at the whim or caprice of the newest and latest trend blowing his way.

This allows them to adjust to the customer’s needs and wants effortlessly and effectively, rather than forcing the customer to adjust to them. The result being that the sale is as comfortable and enjoyable for the customer as it is for the salesperson.

Now, the ball is in your court. The ‘heavy lifting’ has been done. The common-sense, self-evident laws of selling are standing at ready, as this quote from Thomas Jefferson correctly states:

“The truth can stand by itself.”

With this book, “The Sales Journal for Working Professionals,” the path from mystery to mastery and success has been found. All you need to do is start.

daniel w. jacobs
© 2012-2030, all rights reserved

Get Your Priorities In Order

A long-standing truism in the selling business is that the easiest way to jump-start your career is to go back to basics and get your priorities in order.

Accumulating endless numbers of the newest sales techniques, oddball methods, newest and latest gimmicky practices and other unusual solutions is not the answer to low sales closing ratios.

In my opinion, far too many sales texts are trying to solve a problem that doesn’t exist, because lack of selling techniques is not the problem.

Expertise in selling comes from mastery of the fundamentals not from accumulating more techniques, of which we’ve already got too many.

The real source of the problem is in a lack of knowledge in the ageless fundamentals of selling.

The time-tested, honored, basic principles of selling whose value have been conclusively proven to be effective over a long period of time is where you will find the true answers. The focus of this book is on these established truths of selling that have withstood the test of time and have remained fundamentally unchanged for ages.

After you get a few of the fundamentals under your belt, you can add all the techniques and practices you want. As long as they support and align with the principles, you’ll never go wrong.

Principles are few, methods are infinite, and the principles are far, far, more important in order of priority than techniques, methods or practices.

Get your priorities in order.

Focus on the fundamentals and the methods will take care of themselves.

daniel w. jacobs
© 2012-2030, all rights reserved

Master The Mystery

What would it be like if this book really could do what it says it can do?

How would it make you feel? How would this affect your your career or your life?

Well, now you have a chance to find out.

Treasure this moment because you may never be the same again. This sales book is different from any other book you’re ever read on the subject and it won’t take long for you to discover this for yourself.

There are approximately 16 million people involved directly or indirectly involved in the profession of selling. How many of them know the fundamentals of the subject? How many use methods that align with these fundamentals?

Unfortunately, not many.

This book, “The Sales Journal for Working Professionals” will identify the basic fundamentals beneath all selling and show you fresh, new, creative ways of applying time-proven sales methods, techniques and tactics that work in today’s selling environment. In short, it will master the mystery of selling.

The longest journey starts with the first step and this is that first step. It is the beginning of a new adventure that will open the door to expansion you’ve only dreamed about. It will also open your eyes to things that will seem like you have always known but are now re-discovering for the first time.

Now, here are ten reasons to buy this book:

1. It is a new fresh approach to the subject of sales.
2. It is based on a new look at familiar, workable fundamentals.
3. It does not demand an overhaul when all you need is a tune-up.
4. It recognizes and builds upon what you already know.
5. It does not reshuffle the deck of information, knowledge and experience that you already have acquired.
6. It provides a way to expand upon what you have already accomplished.
7. It takes the mystery out of your failures and strengthens the tools that led to your successes.
8. It places a higher importance on substance over style.
9. It values workable technology over fad terminology.
10. It embraces knowledge of the past just as it reveals and incorporates new important discoveries of today.

This book will help you in mastering the mystery of sales. It will show you how to do what you’re all ready doing, but do it better, easier and more profitably.

Now the ball is in your court.

daniel w. jacobs
(c) 2010-2030, all rights reserved

The Elephant in the Room

It’s a serious, pervasive problem, impossible to overlook.

But too many still pretend it isn’t there, preferring to concern themselves with relatively trivial matters to avoid dealing with the looming big issue.

It’s the “elephant in the room,” – that nobody wants to talk about but which affects everyone.

But, it’s even worse than that.

This is something that should be there, but isn’t!

What’s missing? A knowledge of the fundamentals of selling.

“The elephant in the room” is an idiomatic phrase stemming from an ancient parable of three blind men trying to describe an elephant by touching various parts of the animal. Being sightless, they arrive at widely divergent impressions, none of which describe an elephant as it actually is.

Too often, ignoring the fundamentals of selling and focusing exclusively on fad methods is very much like trying to describe an elephant blindfolded. You’ll always come up with limited, largely unsatisfying results. It’s time to get back to basics.

The real solution to this problem is as simple as it is obvious:

a) Refocus attention on the fundamental principles of selling.

b) Develop or adapt methods to put the principles to use.

This book was written to direct attention back to the basics and thereby help you accomplish three things:

1. Achieve a high degree of understanding of the principles underlying all selling.

2. Help you develop methods which align with the fundamentals.

3. Turn mystery into mastery in the profession of sales.

Once you identify and face the “unsolvable problem” you’ll see that the “elephant in the room” is not so tough after all.

Happily, solving the problem does not require a personal overhaul of everything you’re already doing right. All that is required is a tune-up. A slight adjustment in your focus to the fundamental, bedrock principles underlying all selling activities will make all the difference.

If you are already selling successfully, this will tell you why.

If you need help, this will tell you how and where to get it.

The resolution to 90% of all selling frustrations, difficulties, and headaches has been found. The solution to the problem is clear and easily accomplished. The path out of the quagmire has been carefully researched, mapped out, and is easily followed.

The “elephant in the room” has been vanquished and the answer of how to master the mystery of all selling is now in your hands, ready for use.

Your future is now your own.

daniel w. jacobs
© 2012 – 2030, all rights reserved

Effortless Excellence

Every sales rep knows that the easiest time to make another sale is when you’ve just finished a successful one.

But the mystery is: How do you make that first sale?

This question was the catalyst that prompted all my research and study of the field of selling.

Here is a thumb-nail sketch of what I discovered:

1. Look at what has worked for you or others (ideas, thoughts, actions, people) and strengthen them.

2. Isolate what has not worked for you or others (ideas, thoughts, actions, people) and knock them off.

3. Figure out what the exact next step is to get you going in the right direction again.

4. ‘Get ‘er done! then repeat steps 1-4.

When to use these steps:

1. When nothing is going right.
2. When everything takes more effort than necessary.
3. When you feel hopeless, lost, depressed and ready to give up.

(note: If you’re too depressed to even get started, take a good look around -  you may just be surrounded by assholes)

These steps above will put you back on the right track, back in the game, clear the fog of confusion and highlight the way out of the morass.

There is no mystery - all great truths are basically simple and this one is no exception.

Effortless Excellence: 

The fundamental principles have been isolated; the methods supporting these principles have been discovered.

Focus on basic principles (laws) first, and adopt or adapt methods (ways) of applying them = mystery solved.

Now practice and practice, then practice more on the methods that align with and strengthen your principles and you’re on your way.

Effortless excellence develops from the command of fundamentals, not the accumulation of technique.

Try it, you’ll like it.

daniel w. jacobs
(c) 2011-2030, all rights reserved

BACKGROUND

BACKGROUND

I began thinking about this area of sales, marketing and interpersonal relationships when I was an intrepid student  at the Michigan State University, employed, at that time, at a local accounting office on the path to becoming a CPA.

I had two realizations at that time that have served me in good stead ever since:

1.  I did not know everything there was to know or everything I needed to know.

2.  I was willing to listen and learn.

These two elements proved to be a winning combination as I became a life-long, interested student of sales, marketing and most importantly, people.

It didn’t occur to me to write these articles until a couple decades later while employed as the Senior Executive Vice President at a high-tech, business to business international marketing company.  A major target of my job was to streamline the efforts of the sales executives and develop a rapid-launch system of training to get more results with less effort.

It was then that I began a focused, dedicated study to look beneath the fads and fashions of every-day selling to discover what worked and what didn’t.

I studied the books, manuals, and writings of the experiences of the wisest and most experienced people I could find in the field of sales; attended sales boot-camps, lectures and seminars; listened endlessly to recorded lectures and watched videos on the subject and much more. Then I threw out everything that was overly complicated or uncomfortably unworkable and kept only what worked.

I then carefully and quasi-scientifically examined everything to find out one thing: why did the simple, common-sense basics work every time?

My conclusions were then thoroughly tested with a real, live, real world working sales force to refine my discoveries. The results were phenomenally effective. The sales executives began to get more results with less effort . . . exactly what we were hoping for!

I knew I was on to something important. With this series of articles, the ‘heavy lifting’ has been done; the secret code underlying all sales success has been cracked and it’s simple to understand and apply.

The underlying nature, fundamental qualities and bedrock basic principles supporting all selling activities has been discovered.

The basic laws of selling have been found and clearly outlined in these writings. Any “new discoveries” down the road will likely be refinements or extensions on the basic laws of selling contained in these writings.

And all of this is now it is now in your hands, waiting for you to begin.

It is my wish to help you excel to previously unimagined heights. And once these common sense sales basics are understood and applied you will be on your way to accomplishing these goals – and doing it with effortless competence.

Enjoy the ride.

daniel w. jacobs
© 2008 -2030, all rights reserved