Saturday, July 3, 2010

Atilla and Me

If I'm going to make it as a saleswoman, I have to get people to say yes or no. The I'm not sures will kill me. They are killing me.

So I went in search of a book that was recommended to me by the secretary at our regional sales office. She heard me talking about this problem in another room. She got up and came in and told me, with a gleam in her eyes that told me she really understood my problem, "Patty, you should read 'The art of closing a sale." I looked for it. I couldn't find a book like that at any of our local stores. And I have to admit, I still have a few library-fine issues to clear up so I'm not borrowing books at the moment.

I went to my favorite used book store in Ann Arbor, The Dawn Treader (they have bumper stickers at the cash register that say "I'd rather be reading Jane Austin"). The bookstore clerk took me to the section where the book would be. I didn't find it. But I did find Leadership Secrets of Atilla the Hun and, I must admit, I just couldn't resist it.

Ok everybody. Seriously, no more missus nice guy! This week it's going to be Atilla and me and I'm planning to do some damage!

Happy Fourth of July and peace be with you and all that stuff.

But seriously -- it just can't be all butterflies and kittens. That gets me the appointments. It doesn't sell anything.

Yikes! It's a little frightening to think of having such a bad guy for a mentor but I just new when I held the book in my hand there was something to be learned from Atilla.

A blurb from Ross Perot on the cover proclaims it's a great book. I never liked him all that much to be honest. Somehow I just never wrapped my brain around the idea of a billionaire populist. But hey, really, if you sit and think about it, Ross Perot did accomplish quite a bit for a man who was born with such ears. And you had to appreciate THAT about him at least. I'm not being mean. I'm serious. He was obviously picked on quite a bit as a child. He must have been. Why else would he constantly mention his ears?

One thing I am swearing as I take up this reading project (it's a small book. I'll be done by Monday.), I'm not going to start acting like a man. I'm keeping my lipstick and everything as I try things that are Atillaesque. I say this because it is a really manly book. It begins with four full pages of promotional blurbs and each blurb is from a man. Not ONE blurb from a woman!

So, I might not exactly aim to be like Atilla. But I do want to know how he did what he did -- and how this might inform me in my quest to learn to close a deal.

Here's a quote from the preface that led me to think the book might have something useful for me:

"Few, if any, of his subordinate chieftains shared Atilla's dreams of world conquest and a Hunnish homeland. These chieftains had to be convinced, their objections listened to and overcome."

Hmmmmmm...

1 comment:

  1. Try anything by Brian Tracy or Zig Ziglar. And let us know how it works for you. They seem much more civilized than Attila.

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