The Secrets of Closing a Sale by Zig Ziglar

My Rating of “The Secrets of Closing a Sale” by Zig Ziglar: 7 / 10

I’ve heard of Zig Ziglar as he has left certainly left his mark in the world of sales. I listen and read a lot from Seth Godin and he mentions Ziglar as one of his mentors. Although this is an older book, it is a combination of an audiobook crossed with a number of recordings of Ziglar’s live events.

After finishing the book I’m a little torn as to what I think. From one perspective, the advice provided in this book was focused primarily on the door to door salesman (I’m using that term quite loosely), versus the world of enterprise software where I focus on. Furthermore, the techniques and approach given are not as relevant as they were back in the time they were written. That said, there are plenty of takeaways, fundamentals and ideas that I can use in my day to day role.

Three key takeaways from the book:

1. Sell what the product does, not what the product is.
2. Thinking versus feeling. The feeling brain is 10x larger than the thinking brain, therefore angling questions to the feeling brain are key.
3. Aspects such as being a teacher, a sales person in all that we do and above all to be an integral person resonates in everything Ziglar does in this book and in his life. Always important to keep this in perspective.