Walk Like a Giant, Sell Like a Madman

Chapter 6. Hiring Your First Assistant

One of the first lessons I teach every person I coach is this: If you don't have an assistant, you are one. You are your own assistant; you have to do everything that an assistant could be doing for you. As a result, you have less time and energy to invest in dollar-producing activities, such as prospecting for new clients and improving customer service. You also have less time and energy for you and your family.

Consider yourself the CEO of a corporation—You, Inc. You want to produce and sell more product and earn more money. How do you do that? One way is to increase efficiency by putting better systems in place. We discuss this option in the next chapter, "Assembly Line Selling."

Another way is to add more equipment and personnel. You obviously cannot do it all yourself. Yet, that is exactly the approach many salespeople try when they want to sell more goods and services: They work harder and put in more hours. Eventually, they burn out. What they should be doing is adding personnel, at least one assistant to start.