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Chapter One

Jeffrey Gitomer's 10.5 Commandments of Sales Success

The guiding principles of sales mastery

1. Think. The sale is in your head.

The mindset by which you approach the sale will determine its outcome more than any other element of the selling process. Frame of mind and mindset. Friendly, smiley, enthusiastic, positive, confident, self-assured, likeable, and prepared beyond nervous. It's in your head, way before it's in your wallet.

Ever walk into a sales call thinking to yourself, "This is not a great appointment. The sale is probably not going to happen. And even though I'm kind of wasting my time—what the heck, I'll give it a shot." Sure you have. Every salesperson has had that happen 100 times.

You've also had the opposite happen. Walking in, thinking to yourself, "This is a great prospect. They need my stuff, they love my stuff, and they love me. The sale is in the bag."

Whichever way you walked into the call, you set the tone for the probable outcome. You also set the tone for your attitude, your enthusiasm, and putting your belief system into motion.

The reality is: no salesperson on the planet makes every sale. But that doesn't mean that you should ever, ever, ever walk into a sale with anything less than a feeling of certainty that you will make the sale because the customer needs you, and that you are the best. Not the lowest price, but the best value.

Everybody has a different way of creating his or her mindset prior to a sale. Mine has always been getting thoroughly ready, which includes thinking of ways to immediately engage the customer, and listening to rock n roll music until I enter their office. In my early days of selling, I listened to inspirational messages.

In the '70s, my two favorites were The Strangest Secret by Earl Nightingale and The Psychology of Winning by Denis Waitley. Both messages put me in a frame of mind to think about myself and pump myself up—when, in reality, I should have been thinking about my customer.

Over time I learned that being totally prepared in terms of the customer gave me that self-assurance, and listening to music made me feel good and gave me rhythm. Music and preparation created mindset. I was ready, happy, and certain I was gonna make the sale. That is still the case today.

Action: Before your next 100 sales appointments (yes, I said 100), write down what can happen that's good. What you expect the positive outcome to be. And at the end of the call write down what you could have done to make it better.

Thinking you will is dependent on your self-confidence. Your self-confidence is based on your preparation. Thinking you will, and letting your thoughts guide your success on a daily basis, will help you become proficient. This daily exercise will eventually become ingrained. It has for me, and I promise it will for you—but it must be daily.

Thought mastery: The secret to mastering your thought process, and believing you can and you will, was written by Jefferson Airplane, and the immortal lyric sung by Grace Slick: "Feed your head, feed your head, feed your head."

The next 9.5 commandments will lead you to the understanding of what it takes to create a relationship, and become successful—not just make a sale. They're the core principles—commandments—that will form the foundation of your sales success.

Each commandment is integrally linked to one another All 10.5 must be practiced and followed in order for you to achieve the mastery and the results (the success and the money) that you're hoping for But let me assure you that it's not only possible, it's probable that you can achieve—if you first think you can.

"I think I can. I think I can"
from The Little Engine That Could
by Watty Piper, 1930

2. Believe. Develop a four-part belief system that can't be penetrated.

Believe in your company, your product, and yourself—or you won't sellBelieve the customer is better off buying what you sell, and buying it from you. Know who the most important person in the world is... It's you!

Your belief system determines your fate. Not just in the selling process, but also in your career. Every seminar I've ever done, I talk about belief. Every book I've ever written talks about belief. And yet there are thousands, maybe millions, of salespeople who don't believe in anything but the money they might earn if they make a sale. As you look to succeed in your career, you have to believe in the company that you represent, and you have to believe that it's the best company in the marketplace offering or creating what you're trying to sell. You have to believe in their ethics. You have to believe in their ease of doing business. You have to believe in your co-workers. And you have to believe that the company will deliver what you sell in a manner that will create customer loyalty.

You have to believe that your products and services are not just the best in the marketplace, but that they're also the best value for the customer. You have to believe that you can differentiate yourself from your competitor, and that you can prove (through testimonials) that your product is what you say it is.

You've often heard it said that the first sale made is the salesperson—that the customer must buy you before they buy your company, your product, or your service. In order for this to take place, you have to believe in yourself. In order for that sale to be made, you must first sell yourself.

That self-belief will be evident in the passion that you create in your presentation as you try to transfer your message, engage the customer, and get them to buy from you. Your self-belief will be evident in your enthusiasm and in your self-confidence. And that self-belief begins with the mindset I spoke about in commandment one. Your belief is in your head, the same way the sale is in your head.

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Excerpted from The Sales Bibles by Jeffrey Gitomer
All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.