Rating: 10/10
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Summary
One of the greatest books ever written about copywriting isn’t even a book about copywriting. Dale Carnegie called it “The most helpful and inspiring book on salesmanship that I have ever read.”
It’s the memoir/manual of Frank Bettger, a man who went from failed insurance salesman at 29 to the owner of a country estate and one of the best salesmen in America at 40. The tips Bettger gives inside the book are so drop-dead simple that anyone can buy the book and immediately start applying them to become a better salesman, a better copywriter or a better marketer who is more efficient, more profitable and more valuable to their company.
I particularly enjoyed the bonus chapter, Benjamin Franklin’s Secret of Success and What It Did for Me.
Notes
- You need to know how much your calls are worth. Bettger kept records of his sales calls for 12 months. He made 1,849 calls and earned $4,251 in commission (this was a lot of money at the time). This meant that every call Bettger made was worth $2.30. Keeping and analyzing his call records allowed Bettger to eventually earn $19.00 for every call he made.
- Enthusiasm is everything. If you don’t feel enthusiastic, just act like it anyway.
- When you show a man what he wants, he’ll move heaven and earth to get it.
- Ask more questions to increase the effectiveness of your sales interviews. The word ‘Why’ is your secret weapon.
- The biggest reason salesmen lose sales is because they talk too much. You can’t know too much, but you can talk too much.
- Always smile and remember people’s names. If you have trouble with this, fix it (Bettger goes into detail about how).
- One of the best ways to improve your salesmanship is to master public speaking.
- Looking back at his career, Bettger’s biggest regret was that he didn’t spend twice as much time calling on, studying, and servicing his customers’ interests.
- The average successful sale goes through four steps: (1) Attention, (2) Interest, (3) Desire, (4) Action.
Quotes
“Selling is the easiest job in the world if you work it hard, but the hardest job in the world if you try to work it easy.”
“The most important secret of salesmanship is to find out what the other fellow wants, then help him find the best way to get it.”
“Many times there is a parade of thoughts passing across the mind of a man, and unless we give him a chance to do some of the talking, we have no way of knowing what he is thinking.”
“Never forget a customer; never let a customer forget you.”
“Prospecting is like shaving … if you don’t do something about it every day, first thing you know, you’ll be a bum.”