I decided that sales was a topic that I needed to learn more about. It’s a useful skill for life in general, and I’ll probably need to get better consider I’m going to be selling merchandise for my comic. This was prompted by reading Don’t Send a Resume, which I mentioned in this group of reviews.

My dad gave me a pile of books to take a look at. I started with The 25 Sales Habits of Highly Successful Salespeople by Stephan Schiffman, published back in 1991. It was an easy book to jump into. It lists 25 habits and describes each fairly succintly — a few pages per habit, usually.

I didn’t bother memorizing all 25 because I’m trying to get an overview of things. I got two main points. One, you want to develop a relationship with your client. Two, you want to solve your client’s problem(s) — act like their consultant.

The first point is actually something I wanted to do with Chalkboard Manifesto anyway — that is, develop a relationship with my readers.

The second point puts Don’t Send a Resume in better context. That’s why you show how you’re going to help the company do X, Y, and Z.

One last thing. The habit about taking notes is one I’m going to memorize because I can tie it to a concrete example about how useful it is. Also, I’m about to start a teaching job and I think this will be useful:

Taking notes will encourage the prospect to open up. You may doubt this, but don’t knock it until you’ve tried it. Every time I conduct a seminar, I get further proof of how effective the simple act of writing something down (in this case, on an easel) can be in encouraging communication. When I simply stand in front of an audience and ask, “What was good about the presentation we just heard?” — nothing happens. When I stand in front of an easel and write “GOOD POINTS IN PRESENTATION” across the top, then ask for suggestion — wham! The room comes alive!