Knock! Knock! - Douglas G. Thompson

For the past five decades, I've made my living in sales, and an excellent one at that in one of the toughest sales arenas out there: selling accident, health, and life insurance door-to-door. I decided I was going to make the sales process a fun experience for both the consumer and myself. I cannot recall meeting a single soul who told me of a childhood dream to be a salesperson. In fact, a lot of folks may even have a negative attitude toward the sales profession. My mission is to replace that preconceived notion with a positive one. Even if you have an aversion to the very word sales, at some point in your life I guarantee you will find yourself needing to sell something. It may be your talents and expertise to a potential employer or client. You may wind up in a job where some aspect of it involves sales. Your role as a leader may involve selling your ideas to your team. If you own your business, you are in sales. Or after reading this book, you may understand the tremendous opportunities that a career in sales can yield- if you just approach it with the right mindset and with integrity. 

The pandemic presented those of us in the business of selling Medicare supplemental insurance an enormous challenge. We needed to learn and do things differently to get over the many roadblocks to making sales in March and April 2020. With many of our potential clients quarantined in their homes, they were much easier to reach. So we started training agents on how to sell over the phone better and how to host mini-webinars with potential clients, so they could show them all the features of the plans available to them via their computers. Our willingness to learn and do things differently immediately increased our sales by 12% for the month of April 2020, and our sales continued to grow into a 140% increase for 2020 over the previous year. Keep in mind, this all occurred when other businesses were forced to shut down. That is pretty powerful evidence that when you are willing to learn something new and then pivot using that knowledge, you can still thrive even under the toughest circumstances.

I invite you to join me on what salespeople call "a ride along," which is where a senior salesperson shows a newbie the ropes. This book delivers a winning sales philosophy illustrated by real life stories and Knock-Knock Moments - lessons and revelations that have fueled my career and that will help yours.