Today we have Part Two of my interview with Bob Burg. Yesterday was the official launch day for Go-Givers Sell More, his new book. If you haven’t already bought it, go do so quickly. It’s that good.

And now back to Bob.

Q: How is this book an extension of The Go-Giver?

Bob: What we did is we took the 5 Laws from The Go-Giver and we applied them directly to the selling process. We used quotes from The Go-Giver and peppered them at the top of chapters. And we’ve gotten just terrific feedback on that. That was John’s idea, and I thought that was wonderful.

We also provide examples of people who do utilize the principles from the book and have used them to really build their business. Plus we’ve included example from people John and I have known who were doing this long before The Go-Giver was ever written.

Q: You describe 5 Laws in the book: Value, Compensation, Influence, Authenticity and Receptivity. Which one do you think gives people the most trouble?

Bob: Without question, the biggest one is the Law of Receptivity. People have said to John and to me, “Wow, the first four laws I could get my hands around like they were polished wood, but this one, the Law of Receptivity, just gave me splinters.” It’s probably the one we’ve been able to help people with the most because it’s their biggest challenge.

It’s very easy to grasp the Law of Value, and the Law of Compensation makes perfect sense, you know, increase the number of people you’re serving. The Law of Influence, that’s a matter of understanding that putting others people’s interests first is a key to success. With Law #4, Authenticity, most people want to be their best authentics, so not a problem. But the Law of Receptivity: breathing in as well as breathing out. Being able to receive in abundance. That can give people some challenges.

So that’s why we made a real point in both books to really work with people on that and really demonstrate it in a way that people could very easily embrace.

Q: Let’s say you were speaking to some people who are just starting out in sales. What one thing would you most want them to know?

Bob: The first thing I would do would be to ask them to read and study it as a profession. To understand that sales is a profession. Not only do they need to be proud of their profession but proud of their product or service and so forth. They need to absolutely understand the selling process. So they need to study the sales greats. They need to study the Brian Traceys and the Zigs, and they need to study the people out there. They also need to understand, and this is the biggest one, that in sales, it’s not about you. It’s not even about your product or service. It’s about the other person. If you can go in learning as much about selling, and being totally focused on adding value to the life of the other person, you’ve got to succeed in sales.

Q: You say that they need to study sales and the sales process, but in the beginning of the book, you take a contrarian view to the standard sales process taught by many.

Bob: No, the good ones teach it correctly. In the book it sounds like we are downplaying sales skills. We’re not. We’re saying that selling skills by themselves are not enough to make someone successful. It’s like a baseball player has to be able to throw, to hit and to run. But those in and of themselves aren’t going to make him a successful ball player. That’s just baseline. And in the same way, what we say is people have got to have belief in what they’re doing and in their product. They’ve got to have great product knowledge. They’ve got to have the sales skills, but those things are just what it takes to be invited into the game.

The superstar sales people are not superstars because they have belief, because they have product knowledge or because they have great selling skills. They have them all, but that’s not what separates them from the rest. What separates them from the rest is their total focus on the other person.

You take a look at referral-based salespeople, Juli, and what is it about them that’s so prominent? It’s that wherever they go, they spread this great good will. They tend to touch people’s lives. They make people better. They make people happier. You know? That’s the difference. And you do that by having the focus on the value you can provide to other people.

Q: And now you’re talking to some who’ve been in sales for several years. They have the passion, belief and basic sales skills. What would you say to help them take it to the next level?

Bob: I would say if they are not as successful as they believe they should be, then it’s probably the focus. And I would simple say, “Shift that focus. Make sure your focus is on the right place.”

You know, back when I was just starting to get good at sales and starting to produce, I met a salesperson who was getting ready to retire, and he gave me some words of wisdom I’ve never forgotten. He said, “Burg, if you want to make a lot of money in sales, don’t have making money as the target. The target is serving people. Now, when you hit your target, you’ll get a reward. That reward will be money. And you can do with that money whatever you want, but the money is not the target. It’s merely the reward for hitting the target. The target is serving others. Keep your priorities straight.”

Q: Good reminder on the priorities. Any final words?

Bob: Just to keep in mind the basic premise that in sales, it’s not about you, it’s about them. And if you can keep that at top of consciousness, you’re always heading in the right direction.

Thanks, Bob. I very much appreciate you taking the time to talk with me. I hope all my readers enjoyed it as much as I did.

Network (and sell) well!

A couple of weeks ago, I reviewed Go Givers Sell More. Last week, I emailed Bob and asked if he’d be willing to be interviewed for my blog. To my everlasting delight, he agreed.

As you can see from the picture, today is the launch day! If you use the link above, you’ll be able to buy the book and get some great free extras. Go ahead, you can buy the book and then come back for the interview. We’ll wait for you.

Back from buying the book? So here’s the first of what I plan to be a periodic series of interviews with influential people in networking, both in face to face and in social media.

Enjoy hearing and learning from a master of sales and networking!

Q: I see you’ve been a speaker and presenter for 20+ years. What did you do before? Why did you decide to begin speaking, and why on the topic of networking and referrals?

Bob: I began as a television broadcaster, wasn’t particularly good at that and realized it wasn’t going to be my career. I graduated into sales but very quickly realized I had no idea what I was doing. Fortunately I found a book called How To Master the Art of Selling by Tom Hopkins, read that, and it immediately accelerated my sales. I then studied some books and tapes by Zig Ziglar, and I made a study of sales. Eventually I made my way up to sales manager of the company.

Q: Curious, what were you selling?

Bob: I started out by selling media time for radio and television commercials and then I sold solar energy hot water heating units to homeowners. That’s the one where I worked my way up to sales manager of that company. I found I really enjoyed that because I got to go out and sell, and I could lead a team of sales people. I enjoyed teaching sales. I enjoyed learning and then teaching what I had learned. Informally a couple of other companies asked me to come in and show their sales team what I was doing, and I thought wow, this is fun, and I think I could make a living at it. So I went into that business. And it’s been just about 20 years.

I found that the networking aspect was really my forte. Creating relationships with people that lead to a referral based business is certainly a lot more fun than gathering business in other ways. I found I was able to master the art of referral marketing, and then it was a matter of putting together a system for it that I had been using and being able to teach others how to do the same. And that’s where my first book, Endless Referrals, Networking Your Everyday Contacts into Sales came from. That’s been sort of mainstay book that’s been used by a lot of companies, and then with my excellent co-author, John David Mann, we came out a couple of years ago with The Go-Giver.

Q: You’ve shared the stage with many famous people, including former President Gerald Ford. What person were you most excited to be on stage with?

Bob: It’s tough because there have been so many: Zig Ziglar, Tom Hopkins, Brian Tracey. All those guys were more exciting than the celebrities to me because these are the people who helped shape my career. So to actually be on stage with them was just a huge thrill for me.

Q: You say in the book, Go-Givers Sell More, that the ideas didn’t originate with you, and I agree. Much of what you say I’ve heard in other books or presentations. So why this book? And why now?

Bob: Well, first I am fairly certain, Juli, that I have never had an original thought in my life. There is so much great information out there, dating back from thousands of years to a hundred years to new books coming out all the time that I just find terrific and so helpful.

I think the key is not so much coming up with something new as either a new application of an idea or putting something together in way that is relatable and duplicatable. I have to totally credit my co-author John David Mann here. He is the writer. I’m a how-to guy, but John is a storyteller, and boy is he good. He can take an idea and just absolutely masterfully word it.

But we’re a little bit contrarian in Go-Givers Sell More. As you saw, we say most people look at sales backwards. Most people think it’s trying to get someone to buy something they don’t want to buy when sales is finding out what someone does want to buy and helping them get it.

The biggest misconception is that sales is a matter of getting from others. It’s not. Sales at its highest level, at its most profitable, at its best, is all about giving. And as you saw, the Old English root of the word “sell” is “sellan” which means “to give.” So when you sell, you are giving. You’re giving time. You’re giving attention. You’re giving counsel. You’re giving empathy. And most of all, you’re giving value.

We take some of those ideas and we turn them on their head a little. However, and this is important, these ideas are only contrarian to those who are the average producers. The superstar, mega-producers: it’s not contrarian to them. This is just how they’ve been doing business.

—————————————————–

Thanks for that, Bob. Tune in tomorrow for the rest of the interview where Bob tells us a bit about the 5 Laws presented in the book, including which one is the hardest for people. He’ll also give us some words of wisdom for both new and established sales people.

Until then!