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First published in the United States of America
by Portfolio, a member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc. 2010
First published in Great Britain by Penguin Books 2010
Copyright © Bob Burg and John David Mann, 2010
The moral right of the authors has been asserted
All rights reserved
Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book
ISBN: 978-0-14-196233-7
Introduction: The Truth About Selling
The Five Laws of Stratospheric Success
I. The Law of Value
1. Create Value
2. MacGuffin
3. Giving
4. Money
5. The Paradox
6. Your Economy
II. The Law of Compensation
7. Touch Lives
8. People
9. Rapport
10. Skills
11. Curiosity
12. Maturity
III. The Law of Influence
13. Build Networks
14. Fuzzy Influence
15. The Perfect “Pitch”
16. Great Questions
17. Follow-Through
18. Your Serve
19. Posture
20. The Competition
IV. The Law of Authenticity
21. Be Real
22. Present
23. Undersell
24. Listen
25. Objections
26. The “Close”
27. Silence
V. The Law of Receptivity
28. Stay Open
29. Left Field
30. Crisis
31. Trust
Acknowledgments
Bob Burg is a highly sought-after speaker who teaches the principles at the core of The Go-Giver to audiences worldwide. A former top sales professional, he is also the author of Endless Referrals. He lives in Jupiter, Florida.
John David Mann has been writing about business, leadership, and the laws of success for more than twenty years; he is also the co-author of The Secret Language of Money. He lives in Hadley, Massachusetts.
To all our faithful readers of The Go-Giver
who have so generously shared our little story
with so many others
GO-GIVERS SELL MORE
‘The great upside-down misconception about sales is that it is an effort to get something from others. The truth is that sales at its best – at its most effective – is precisely the opposite: it is about giving.’
With their international bestseller The Go-Giver, Bob Burg and John David Mann took the business world by storm, showing that giving is the most fulfilling and effective path to success. That simple, profound story has inspired hundreds of thousands of readers around the world – but some have wondered how its lessons stand up to the tough challenges of everyday real-world business. Now Burg and Mann answer that question in Go-Givers Sell More, a practical guide that makes giving the cornerstone of a powerful and effective approach to selling.
Most of us think of sales as convincing potential customers to do something they don’t really want to. This mentality sets up an adversarial relationship and makes the sales process much harder than it has to be.
As Burg and Mann demonstrate, it’s far more productive (and satisfying) when salespeople think like go-givers. Cultivate a trusting relationship and focus exclusively on creating value for the other person, say the authors, and great results will follow automatically.
Drawing on a wide range of examples of real-life salespeople who have prospered by giving more, Burg and Mann offer tips and strategies that anyone in sales can start applying right away.
Visit www.GoGiversSellMore.com for downloads and other goodies
‘Burg and Mann have unlocked the key to superstar selling: focus on others and touch lots of lives with authentic, exceptional value. Successful people know this is exactly how it’s done. Prepare to follow their suggestions and create more abundance’ Michael Port, The New York Times bestselling author, Book Yourself Solid and The Think Big Manifesto
‘Go-givers do sell more. Why? Because they shift their focus from getting to giving, and create value one customer at a time. Read and remember that it’s not about you – it’s always about the other person’ Gary Keller, The New York Times bestselling author, The Millionaire Real Estate Agent and Shift: How Top Real Estate Agents Tackle Tough Times
‘By building your personal brand as a go-giver, people will seek you out, you will get more customers, and your life will completely change for the better. Read this book and share it with everyone in your network!’ Dan Schawbel, bestselling author, Me 2.0 and blogger at PersonalBrandingBlog.com
‘We love this book and think you will too. It deserves a place on your bookshelf right next to Og Mandino’s The Greatest Salesman in the World’ Azim Jamal and Harvey McKinnon, award-winning co-authors
‘Go-Givers Sell More beautifully reveals the paradox of genuine selling – that it’s all about the other person’ John Assaraf, The New York Times bestselling author, The Answer
‘Every professional on the planet needs to read this book’ Libby Gill, bestselling author, You Unstuck
‘Destined to become a classic of selling from the heart’ Chris Widener, The New York Times bestselling author, The Angel Inside and The Art of Influence
‘The Go-Giver has been a great eye-opener for our management team, and Go-Givers Sell More could not have come at a better time – worth its weight in gold!’ Chef Charles M. Carroll, seven-time Culinary Olympian and executive chef, River Oaks Country Club, Houston, Texas
‘Burg and Mann have beautifully captured the highest purpose of business: to add value to other people’s lives. Go-Givers Sell More is simple, practical, and, above all, amazingly effective – a blueprint for achieving a successful life’ Loula Loi Alafoyiannis, President, Euro-American Women’s Council
‘Go-Givers Sell More will not only teach you how to sell more, it will give you wisdom to live a rich and abundant life’ Grandmaster Jhoon Rhee, American Tae Kwon Do founding father, martial arts instructor for Bruce Lee and Muhammad Ali
‘For those of us who have always thought of sales as a dirty word or necessary evil, Burg and Mann remind us, brilliantly and compassionately, that it really is possible to do well by doing good’ Jennifer Kushell, The New York Times bestselling co-author, Secrets of the Young and Successful
‘Go-Givers Sell More will radically change how you see business – and make you radically more successful’ Cameron Johnson, television personality and international bestselling author, You Call the Shots
‘This marvellous book gets to the heart of successful selling: a genuine attitude and spirit of connecting with others. You will learn how to open your heart and mind in new ways to improve your sales career’ Dr Nido Qubein, President, High Point University, chairman, Great Harvest Bread Co.
‘This extraordinary book is designed for anyone who wants to bring authentic value to others. A timeless classic with insightful lessons for business, marriage or friendship’ Sarah Miller Caldicott, great-grandniece of Thomas Edison and co-author, Innovate Like Edison
‘Yes, go-givers do sell more, in both good markets and challenging ones. But don’t take my word for it; read this book and learn that you don’t sacrifice profits by being principle-based – you profit because you’re principle-based’ Frank McKinney, bestselling author, The Tap
THE LAW OF VALUE
Your true worth is determined by
how much more you give in value than
you take in payment.
THE LAW OF COMPENSATION
Your income is determined by
how many people you serve and how well
you serve them.
THE LAW OF INFLUENCE
Your influence is determined by
how abundantly you place other
people’s interests first.
THE LAW OF AUTHENTICITY
The most valuable gift you have to offer is yourself.
THE LAW OF RECEPTIVITY
The key to effective giving is to stay
open to receiving.
“I’m no good at selling!” Have you ever heard someone say that, or perhaps said it yourself? We hear it all the time. Everyone who is not in sales thinks, “I could never sell.”
Truth is, most people who are in sales secretly think the same thing.
There is a reason people feel this way: most of us look at sales backward. We may see it as convincing people to do something they don’t want to do. But it isn’t; it’s about learning what people do want to do and helping them do that. Or, we may think it’s about taking advantage of others—while in fact, it’s about giving other people more advantage.
But the biggest inversion of all, the great upside-down misconception about sales, is that it is an effort to get something from others. The truth is that sales at its best—that is, at its most effective—is precisely the opposite: it is about giving.
Selling is giving: giving time, attention, counsel, education, empathy, and value. In fact, the word sell comes from the Old English word sellan, which means—you guessed it—“to give.”
This is not how most of us have come to think about sales. Typically, sales is taught as a set of specific skills, reinforced by a range of techniques, aimed at putting your product into someone else’s hands and their dollar into your pocket. From the prospecting dialogue and qualifying questions to overcoming objections and closing the sale, every step of the process is mapped out and nailed down. All you have to do, so the idea goes, is thoroughly learn and carefully practice everything in the salesman’s bag of tricks, and you too will become a sales success!
At least, that’s the theory. But it often doesn’t work out that way.
Here is the reality: of the hundreds of thousands of entrepreneurs, small business owners, corporate salespeople, independent reps, and others in business who find themselves fulfilling any sort of sales function, most are having a hard time with sales and selling.
This difficulty does not typically come from a lack of belief. Most people who are involved in sales genuinely believe in what they’re selling. They are excited about the value they can add to other people’s lives while making a healthy living for themselves and providing for their families.
But when it comes to the actual selling part? Most of us don’t believe we’re any good at it. We get performance anxiety or don’t feel comfortable with the idea of “pitching.” We don’t like having things pushed on us, and don’t really expect others to like it either.
We want to sell—we just don’t want to be in selling mode.
If this describes you, even a little bit, then much of what you’re about to read may surprise you. The approach in this book may even seem backward compared to what you have learned before about sales. For example:
Perhaps the biggest difference in what we describe here has to do with the concept of control. The traditional approach to sales, reinforced and fine-tuned by dozens of carefully honed techniques, aims to choreograph the process by putting control firmly in the hands of the salesperson—which is probably why neither party really enjoys it: it’s not much fun to have someone try to control you. For that matter, it’s not much fun to be the one doing the controlling, either.
The traditional sales process is typically viewed as a sequence of specific, controlled events:
prospect → qualify → present →
overcome objections → close →
follow up → provide customer service
Go-Givers Sell More takes a different approach. In our view, the sales process goes something like this:
create value → touch people’s lives →
build networks → be real → stay open
These five steps correspond to what in The Go-Giver we called the Five Laws of Stratospheric Success, which also form the five parts of this book. We’ll refer to those five laws often in these pages and even quote the characters from The Go-Giver—Pindar, Joe, Nicole, Ernesto, Sam, Debra Davenport, and others.
In fact, this book is based squarely on the premise at the heart of The Go-Giver:
Shifting your focus from getting to giving is not only a nice way to live life and conduct business, but a very profitable way as well.
Put another way: living with generosity creates a swelling tide that raises all ships. Not just yours; not just the other person’s; everyone’s.
Being a giving person, as it turns out, is not just an agreeable idea; it’s also quite practical. People who grasp and live the principles of giving not only live happier and more fulfilled lives, they are also among the most successful people we know. Go-givers really do sell more.
Now, we have a confession to make: these ideas did not really originate with us. In fact, what we’re describing in this book is simply how every truly great salesperson operates.
When you spend time with a genuinely successful salesperson, pay close attention and you’ll find something surprising: none of the hundreds of standard sales techniques are what makes them excel at what they do. Oh, they know about them, and when it will serve their customer, they may utilize some of them. But what makes a great salesperson great at sales is that he or she is wholeheartedly interested in the other person.
The truth about selling is that it’s not about your product, and it’s not about you—it’s about the other person.
Genuinely great salespeople are not great because they have mastered “the close,” or because they give a dazzling presentation, or because they could shoot holes in any customer objection from fifty paces. They are great because they create a vast and spreading sphere of goodwill wherever they go. They enrich, enhance, and add value to people’s lives. They make people happier.
But the most remarkable thing about these consummate salespeople is that they are not as rare as you might think. In fact, you can find them everywhere. This is because being adept at sales does not require mastery of complex or elaborate skills. As Debra Davenport says in The Go-Giver, “You want people skills? Then be a person.”
This is very good news, because it means that anyone can be great in sales. It means you can be great in sales.
You might think that to do so, you need to have an outgoing, naturally jovial, gregarious personality. Not true. Shy people create relationships and get married. Introverts make great friends. You don’t need to be a “people person,” or any specific type of person, to be great at selling. In fact, the idea itself—that you might have to be a certain sort of person to be great in sales—precisely misses the point:
It’s not about you; it’s about them.
If you take away nothing from Go-Givers Sell More but those seven words, it will have been worth the effort for us to write it and for you to read it—because your life in sales will transform. Focus on the quality of the relationship and on providing value to the other person, regardless of “making the sale,” and you will create an exchange that is both more satisfying and more profitable.
That in a nutshell is the message of this book: it’s not about you—it’s about them.
“I loved the story about Pindar and Joe,” said one reader of The Go-Giver, “and how everything came together at the end of the book. But I can’t help wondering, does this stuff really work—I mean, in real life?”
This book is our answer to that question.
It’s easy to get distracted by daily headlines and nightly newscasts that focus on the exploits of the well-heeled corrupt in high places. But far from the TV camera’s glare, the great majority of genuinely successful people quietly carry on with their lives in ways that bear a surprising resemblance to Pindar, Ernesto, Nicole, and Sam.
But don’t take our word for it. Our fondest hope is that as you read Go-Givers Sell More, you’ll put its ideas to the test and find out for yourself. And as you do, we invite you to share your experiences with our growing Go-Giver community in the Scrapbook section of the Go-Giver blog: www.thegogiver.com/scrapbook.
And not only your experiences with sales. Because Go-Givers Sell More is not just about selling more: it’s also about living more. As Pindar tells Joe in The Go-Giver, “These lessons don’t apply only to business, Joe. A genuinely sound business principle will apply anywhere in life—in your friendships, in your marriage, anywhere.”
If you are in sales in any form—as an account exec at a large firm, an independent rep working out of your home, a retail clerk, a professional marketing your own services—then this book is for you.
And if you’re not in sales? Then this book is for you, too. It’s for anyone and everyone who at any point in the course of everyday life finds themselves dealing with other human beings. Why? Because studying sales is really studying humanity. Understanding selling means understanding how people work.
Writing about The Go-Giver, one reviewer added this at the end of his column:
As a side note, I handed The Go-Giver to my thirteen-year-old son and made it a required read. Even if he never touches a sales job or owns his own business, I do believe he will be a much better person because of it.
The five principles explored in this book govern success in sales; they also govern successful friendships and partnerships, marriages and families, and organizations large and small. This is because the laws that govern good salesmanship are the laws that govern good relationships. Selling is not at its core a business transaction; it is first and foremost the forging of a human connection.
If your goal is to make a living through sales, then we’d like to challenge you to set your sights higher. The idea of “making a living” has the sense of breaking even, of keeping your head above water. But you can do more than tread water—why not soar?
Most often a goal of keeping your head above water will only end up sinking you. Approaching your work with the attitude, “I hope I make enough to get by” is deadly for sales—because attitudes are contagious. Regardless of what your particular product or service is, people are drawn to you (or not) because of how you make them feel. They don’t simply want to buy your product, they want to be uplifted, encouraged, changed in some way.
Our purpose in this little book is to help you not simply survive but thrive—through your encounters with other people, to enrich their lives on every level, and in so doing, to enrich your own life and the lives of everyone around you as well. The goal is not only to make a good living, but to create a great life.
Your true worth is determined by
how much more you give in value
than you take in payment.
I mean, no offense, but how does a hot dog stand manage to outrank the swanky sidewalk cafés in this neighborhood?
—JOE*
If you are hoping to learn how to make a sale, we need to make a disclaimer right here and now: in this book we are not going to teach you how to make a sale. We’re not going to do this for the simple reason that you can’t make a sale. No one can. It’s impossible to make a sale, because you cannot really make other people do what you want them to do.
If you cannot make a sale, then what can you do? You can provide the context that allows a sale to happen when the other person makes a purchase. This is not semantics; this is the secret of all great salespeople.
Your job is not to make a sale but to create something else: value. In fact, as a salesperson you can define your job description in three words: I create value.
Value is the relative worth or desirability of a thing to the user or beholder. It is those qualities or characteristics in a thing or experience that give it worth, importance, or preciousness—especially as compared to its cost, whether in dollars or other terms.
Four-fifths of selling is creating value. The final one-fifth involves the sale itself; however, even when the sale happens, you don’t make that sale—you receive it. We’ll get to the receiving piece of it in part V. For now, let’s look at the creating part.