[gumby]

Many years ago I took the Dale Carnegie Sales Course. It and the Xerox course were the ones everyone talked about back then (90s). It was practical and I used the material each week (I was also a company founder, but by the time I did that we were doing a couple of million a month).

The students included a couple of guys with a T-shirt stand on the beach, a woman who sold ADT security systems and a couple of people, who sold semiconductor manufacturing equipment. I didn’t just learn a good model and get practice with it but the fact that much of what we learned applied to all the sales cycles (from 3 minutes to 3 years) was itself quite enlightening. I still use today what I learned back then.

Also, later: I “carried a bag” meaning I had a mortgage in Palo Alto, a wife whose visa didn’t allow her to work, and lived on commission. Really taught me to sell!

Like riding a bike, you can get tips from books and video but you just have to get out there and sell.

(I have never become comfortable with cold calling, though I can do it)