In any field, being good is one thing—but becoming a champion is quite another. Taking swimming as an example, some people swim very well. But to become a champion—such as 1972 7-time Olympic Gold Medal winner Mark Spitz, for example—it requires serious dedication, training and practice.
Fortunately, becoming a champion salesperson—what we call a salespreneur—doesn’t require the length of time and physical endurance necessary to become a champion swimmer. But it does require a level of skill and knowledge well beyond that what has traditionally been required of a salesperson.
This book covers what it really takes to become a champion salesperson—a salespreneur.
Chapter 1: Resolving a Bad Image
Although the two professions of champion swimmer and salesperson often have much in common in their dedication, courage, and success, the two differ tremendously when it comes to image. The image of a salesperson is somewhat tarnished, a bit seedy.
You as a salesperson have your work cut out for you. Much of the time your prospects have an innate distrust of all salespeople and automatically include you in that category. How do you overcome that barrier?
Chapter 2: The Born Champion?
The conventional wisdom is that you’re either born a salesperson, or you’re not. If you are, you can sell. If you’re not, you probably shouldn’t even try.
This is completely false. Just as it’s completely false that a champion swimmer “is born that way.” If that were true you could toss untrained children into the deep end of a pool, and a percentage of them would just start swimming. This has never been known to happen.
A champion salesperson, just like a champion swimmer, has trained.
Chapter 3: Perceiving Through the Water
A well-trained champion swimmer is keenly aware of their surroundings: their path in their lane, their closeness to the wall, their distance to the end. Similarly, a salesperson must have a keen awareness of the sales environment and all the factors in play.
Chapter 4: The Salesperson is A Servant/A Leader
Well, which is it? Let’s examine each role in detail—and discover that it’s both.
Chapter 5: The Servant and The Leader
Part of your alertness as a salesperson must be to know when to switch back and forth to either of these roles. This is also true of switching from a listener to a speaker and back.
Chapter 6: The Salespreneur
There is a considerable difference between a salesperson and a real salespreneur—just as there is quite a difference between someone who can swim and a champion swimmer. In addition to training, there is considerable difference in dedication, focus, in willingness to risk, and in responsibility.
So what are these differences, and how does a salesperson fully evolve into a salespreneur?
Download Cutting Through the Water: Becoming a Champion Salesperson now.
Comments (5)
This is an awesome e-book by Nikolaus Kimla, always mentoring the salespeople
i love the e-book it has lots of things for me to learn from.awesome
Far from having a catchy title, the book provides a simplified and practical solutions to shifting one’s mindset from that of a salesman to a salesprenuer. I wish I had landed on the book at my start of my career but have learnt a lot and will apply the same. In summary discovering pain points, switching from servant to leadership roles and becoming a salesprenuer has been graphicall and well illustrated even for a novice.
Great piece!
With this book you can clearly understand how to navigate in the sales profession and the analogy makes it quite straightforward. The analogy takes the message home
A wonderful addition to anyone trying to become a champion sales professional.
This books points you directly to the specific things that most sales people neglect and fail.Some of this important insight include aligning your sales process to buyers purchasing habits. Are you born a sales expert or is it learned? then ask yourself is a swimmer born with the skill or is it developed. There you have it sales is a skill and this book highlights more about it. How well are you conversant with your product/service you are selling,industry and the competitor? I simply love the E Book