Unlike some people, I draw a pretty clear line between “sales” and “marketing.” To me, marketing is everything you do to attract the attention of new prospects, while sales is what you do when you meet those prospects. Therefore, marketing involves things like radio advertisements, mailers, web pages, Twitter and Facebook posts, seminars, etc., while sales involves face to face discussions with prospects about your services.
This section of the book is about sales, the act of selling your consulting services.
My favorite book on sales
Note: Rather than repeat myself throughout this section of this book, I’ll try to just make this recommendation once here:
Buy a copy of the book, How I Raised Myself From Failure to Success in Selling, by Frank Bettger.
It’s an old book, but unlike other sales books that make selling complicated, this book makes selling simple.
My entire sales career is based on the advice in that very straightforward and excellent book, and almost everything in this section can probably be traced back to this book. If you were my own brother or sister, I’d tell you this same thing: His notes on enthusiasm, trust, asking questions, influencing people, keeping records make this book worth $50, $100, or much more. Think of it this way: If you went to college, what did you pay for one class? In my opinion, this book is worth much more to your career as a consultant than any college course.