Why I Wrote The Only Sales Guide You’ll Ever Need

My book, The Only Sales Guide You’ll Ever Need, will be published on October 11th, 2016.

The first publisher that reached out to me asking me to write a book didn’t want the book I wanted to write. They didn’t understand why I started the book with a chapter on self-discipline. In their view, the book only got worse. They wanted to know what things like optimism, caring, initiative, and resourcefulness were doing in a book on sales. I wanted to know how they couldn’t understand why these attributes were important, so I asked them if they ever sold or managed a sales team. Unfortunately, they hadn’t.

To be fair, they expected a book written by a consultant to help win new consulting clients. They thought the audience should be different, and therefore the book made no sense to them.

A second publisher that reached out to me pitched me on writing a book. They didn’t really care what the book was about. They cared mostly about how many books I thought I could sell, and how willing I was to commit to buying thousands of books from them myself.

I argued that they really didn’t pitch me with a good value proposition. They said that their imprint was impressive, that it would give me credibility. I couldn’t think of a single book I ever bought that I bought because of the imprint, and I buy a lot of books.

Going It Alone

I wanted to write the book I wanted to write. With a couple of unimpressive conversations under my belt, I decided to publish the book myself.

I wrote the book. Next, I hired a professional editor to edit the book with me. Editing is a painful process. In the first chapter, I used the words “dream clients” four times. His note said, “Am I supposed to know what this means? If I don’t know, how will the reader know?” I told him the people who read my blog would know what I mean when I say “dream clients.” He made me define it the first time it appears in the book.

This went on for 18 more chapters, and the book was greatly improved. When we finished, we started over.

I loaded the manuscript up on Createspace, and I began working through the process of self-publishing. Now I had total control.

With a Little Help From My Friends

Six weeks before publishing, I received a direct message on Twitter from an editor at Portfolio asking me why I hadn’t written a book. I explained that I had spoken with a couple of publishers, but I didn’t find the value proposition compelling, so I decided to go it alone. He asked if he might share a few ideas about how I might improve my results, and I agreed to connect.

We scheduled a call. He hated the title. He hated the subtitle. He wasn’t exactly sure that my book fulfilled its title’s promise with what was inside the covers. He told me if the book did well, he’d give me a deal on the next book. I told him I valued his advice, and that he should read the book and tell me everything I got wrong, and I would do my best to improve upon it.

Six days later he sent me a two-book deal. He said that he didn’t expect to like the book nearly as much as he did. Portfolio has been an exceptional partner, and because they publish sales books, they totally understood the book and why I wrote it.

Between the Covers

The book is made up of two halves. The first half of the book is made up of nine elements that, when mastered, will help you become someone worth buying from. The second half is made up of the eight skills you need to succeed in sales now.

I wrote this book for salespeople. I wanted to write a book that would help salespeople improve their results. If you want to do the work to produce better results, this book will be your guide. You can do the work alone, if necessary. You can also get a free workbook to help you.

If you are sales manager, this book will give you a new lens through which to view the individuals that make up your team. You will be able to quickly identify the areas where the individuals on your team need improvement, and how you can help them. There are also videos and tele-seminars available that you can use for team meetings when you pre-order.

If you are a leader, you are going to want this book for your managers and their people. You are also going to want to use it as a hiring guide and an on-boarding guide for sales operations and training.

If you are interested in preordering the book, there are amazing bonus offers for you here: preorder.theonlysalesguide.com.