The Street-Smart Salesman: How Growing Up Poor Helped Make Me Rich

Book description

"The benefit to my own company's fortunes, having worked with Anthony,has been a steadily expanding client roster, a leg up on my competition, and the ability to comfortably walk through any door knowing that the prospect who sits in judgment of my service needs me at least as much as I need them."—Rob Katz, CEO, Medical Eyeglass Center

"My time with Anthony Belli played an immeasurably important role in mytransformation from an engineer to hardcore, street-smart sales professional. Countless milestones later, I received [my company's] highest lifetime career achievement honor. Thank you, Anthony, for helping me write my own script in life."—Michael Burton, Principal Technical Consultant, St. Jude Medical Cardiac Rhythm Management

"Having myself grown up in an ethnic, blue-collar Boston community,the legitimacy of a 'street-smart' way of doing things intrigued me. Anthonycreates in the customer's mind a perceived value beyond product features,benefits, and price while building a sustainable relationship that few othersalespeople successfully accomplish . . . The lessons he teaches can, inmany instances, be applied to any profession, whether in sales or not."—From the Foreword by Joe Mandato, DM, Fellow, Advanced Leadership Initiative, Harvard University

When you start out with nothing in life, each and every mistake, misplay, andmissed opportunity can cost you dearly. But that lack of a safety net can hone your judgment and create precision radar for opportunity in a way that no cushy upbringing can. The Street-Smart Salesman shows how growing up poor teaches pricelesslessons that can make you a fortune in sales and business. Strategies include:

  • Channeling fear and stress into high-performance sales

  • Creating irresistible value propositions: Blazing a trail from the head to the heart to the wallet

  • Understanding that all prospects lie—and how to get to the truth

Table of contents

  1. Cover
  2. Title Page
  3. Dedication
  4. Copyright
  5. Foreword
  6. Introduction
    1. Dirt Poor to Worry-No-More: Here from There
  7. Part I: Eating Without Stealing: Useful Survival Strategies East Harlem, NY 1953–1971
    1. Chapter 1: Birth of a Salesman
    2. Chapter 2: The Million-Dollar Accident
    3. Chapter 3: Why Not Me?
    4. Chapter 4: Your Advantage Is That No One Takes You Seriously
  8. Part II: Street-Smart Selling
    1. Chapter 5: Game-Changers
    2. Chapter 6: Shut Up!
      1. The Cure for What Ails
    3. Chapter 7: Nothing Is As It Appears
      1. Case Study: How Did I Get This Customer Back?
    4. Chapter 8: Managing First Impressions
    5. Chapter 9: A Sense of Urgency: Setting Priorities
    6. Chapter 10: The Role of Emotion
    7. Chapter 11: Abandon Hope!
    8. Chapter 12: Charming Strangers: Prospecting
    9. Chapter 13: A Minute to Live: Cold Calling
    10. Chapter 14: What's Fair Is Fair
    11. Chapter 15: Ready, Set, Improvise: Using Visualization
      1. The Power of Improvisation, or Duct Tape to Win!
    12. Chapter 16: Defy Expectations
    13. Chapter 17: Getting to the Truth: Asking Effective Questions
    14. Chapter 18: The Will to Walk: Negotiating
    15. Chapter 19: Flag on the Play! Reading a Customer
    16. Chapter 20: Closing, or The Gentle Kill
    17. Chapter 21: Teaching Instincts
  9. Notes
    1. Introduction
    2. Chapter 2: The Million-Dollar Accident
    3. Chapter 4: Your Advantage Is That No One Takes You Seriously
    4. Chapter 5: Game-Changers
    5. Chapter 6: Shut Up!
    6. Chapter 8: Managing First Impressions
    7. Chapter 9: A Sense of Urgency: Setting Priorities
    8. Chapter 16: Defy Expectations
    9. Chapter 20: Closing, or The Gentle Kill

Product information

  • Title: The Street-Smart Salesman: How Growing Up Poor Helped Make Me Rich
  • Author(s):
  • Release date: June 2012
  • Publisher(s): Wiley
  • ISBN: 9781118388990