Book Summary: The Ultimate Sales Machine | Book Review

Step 2: Instituting Higher  Standards and Regular Training

When I was an airplane technician in the Air Force – We used to have a thing called a job guide for every maintenance activity on the plane. Whether that be cleaning a window or checking the wheels for damage – Everything was written in detail. This kind of management allows for no mistake and makes all the activities a lot more effective,  because you know exactly what you have to do,   no more, no less. This results in doing the tasks completely and not forgetting anything. Doing the tasks in a predictable way so that it doesn’t depend on the mood of the person on the same day. Doing the tasks faster because you already knew what you had to do before even starting the task.   On the contrary, a bad example of a hiring and executing process might be for a new hire just to see what a random senior employee does, and repeat after him,   because that’s completely unpredictable. If you’d like to read more about this process a truly excellent book on the subject is the E-myth Revisited by Michael Gerber.

Step 3: Executing Effective Meetings

What better way is there to improve your company than brainstorming all its problems together with the entire team and then coming up with solutions, also together? That’s why Chet started holding weekly one-hour meetings where he would tackle one problem with the processes at a time. He would come to the board, write one question, and ask people to brainstorm solutions for it.   Then, with all the solutions written on the board, he would have a vote on which one to use and proceed to delegate it to someone for detailed implementation. This way, the staff would be more eager to apply the new process, because they participated in its inception, and also,   it would probably be very effective because it was chosen out of a very wide variety of solutions.  Note: This chapter is for people who have employees.   Nonetheless, a possible interpretation for solopreneurs is to do this process by yourself once a week.

Step 4: Becoming a Brilliant Strategist

Imagine yourself standing in a  stadium full of your target audience and as soon as you open your mouth to talk about your product,   ninety percent of them leave and you continue your pitch with a broken spirit. The thing is,   that on average any given product has 10 percent of its target audience potentially ready for its purchase at the moment. That’s why when you start your pitch it should start with something broad that applies to all your audience, and then slowly narrowing down to your specific product.   For example, the heading of that pitch might be  “The Five Biggest Problems That Entrepreneurs   Face” and then, you could slowly go down to education elaborate on a few things you could educate yourself through, and then elaborate on the one that you’re using. For example: Books. And deeper and deeper you go.

Step 5: Hiring Superstars

Hiring someone is not for my sort of business you might think. “I’m doing creative work and my business is different”. Nonetheless, so long as your business relies solely on you,   and your mood – It’s not a business, it’s a job. That’s why as stated in step 2,   we must document our processes so that we will know what jobs are the most valuable and then be able to hire someone to do those jobs. Then, when you’ve written down all your tasks, consider how much you’re willing to pay for a given job so that it will still be profitable for you. That process might take some time but don’t get discouraged because it’s the only way to truly own a business.   P.S. Once more, a book I highly recommend on the subject is the E-myth Revisited by Michael Gerber.

Step 6: The High Art of Getting The Best Buyers

When I doubled sales three years in a row Charlie Munger said:   “Are you sure we’re not lying, cheating, and stealing? In all my years I’ve never seen anybody   double sales three years in a row.” ” -Chet  Holmes, The Ultimate Sales Machine, Step 6. When Chet started working for Charlie Munger,  their magazine “California Lawyer” had a 2 percent national advertising market share. Leaving them in 15th place out of 45 in the industry.   Then, Chet decided to concentrate on the 167  biggest advertisers in their field. An effort which he called “The Dream 100”. He began sending them letters and gifts every two weeks. For the first four months, he had zero sales. But then,  within six months, he had 28 of those advertisers on board. Thus, doubling the sales of the magazine and bringing the magazine all the way from 15th   place in advertising market share to first place.

Step seven: The Seven Musts of Marketing

Imagine yourself watching a YouTube video and an ad comes up. During this, a car pulls up to another and an angry woman with a baseball bat steps out and starts breaking into the parking car.   Then, a man in an identical car stops next to her and says something that you cannot hear.   Just then the true owner of the car shows up and seems in shock. Then,   you see the logo of a local body shop.   Would you unmute this ad just to hear what the man is saying? Would that ad draw your attention?   In order to bring our business to become an ultimate sales machine,   one of the areas we need to master is marketing.  That’s why in this step, Chet describes tips about the seven different marketing weapons. The first of which is the one I’ve just described:   Advertising.

Step 8: The Eyes Have It

“We human beings remember 20 percent of  what we hear 30 percent of what we see,   but 50 percent of what we both see and hear.”  Chet Holmes, The Ultimate Sales Machine, Step 8. On one occasion, at a seminar,  Chet was giving a speech and flashing slides rapidly every few seconds.  Then, when he came to talk about the importance of visual aids – He blanked the screen.  He could feel straight away that everyone in the room felt how the communication degraded. To improve our presentation,   we should always think of ways to present visually in addition to orally.

Step 9: The Nitty-Gritty of Getting the Best Buyers

This step goes into detail about how to apply the Dream 100 strategy.   Because it is quite difficult to describe a detailed chapter within a summary,   here are just the names of the steps for you to grasp the idea.

1. Choose your dream 100

2. Choose the gifts

3. Create your dream 100  letters

4. Create your dream 100 calendar

5. Conduct dream 100 follow-up phone calls

6.  Present the executive briefing. All that is left for success is pig-headed determination.

Step 10 is Sales Skills

When Chet was working with Charlie Munger on their magazine, a competing magazine opened just to compete with them. Chet’s clients then came to him to ask what he thought of that new magazine. He then said: You know what my philosophy is this:  Let them get successful and once they’ve proven themselves, then put your money in there. I would not let them build their success by experimenting with your money. And so it was. None of them went to advertise there, and the magazine closed within six months flat. That is the power of having clients who are also your friends. They’ll feel as if it’s a betrayal to go with another magazine.  Making your clients your friends is just one of the six sales skills that could turbo-charge your sales, according to Chet.

Step 11: Follow-up and Client Bonding Skills

Suddenly, the owner of the restaurant and celebrity chef approached Chet’s table with free samples of an appetizer and said: “It is so nice to see you, Chet.   And shook his hand. This was a meeting that Chet organized because of a trade show that was going on in town, bringing 18  of his advertisers together in one location.   The restaurant owner, seeming to know Chet,  impressed his advertisers and made the chat feel very special. So much so, that Chet is talking about it 20 years later. And that is an example of a masterful client bonding procedure.  We should also make procedures to make our clients feel very special when they do business with us so that they want to stay with our clients. This chapter includes 10 detailed instructions to create 10 follow-up interactions that will make our client feel special.

Step 12: All Systems Go

If you have recently bought a car, you have most likely noticed that you started seeing it on every corner, although you never did earlier. The reason for this is a certain area in our brain that’s called the Reticular Activating System or in short “RAS”. It is responsible for making us see what we subconsciously believe is important. Chet explains that it is possible to set this system in our favor so that we will better notice our ways to success. All that we have to do is record   10 positive affirmations and listen to the recording every night before bed. Note:   Please read more before applying, as this is just an abstract summary of the process.   One more thing that is important for succeeding with the 11 steps, is measuring progress, because when you measure, you may know whether what you’re doing is good or you should change something.

10 Points I have learned from this book

1. Time management secrets
2. High standards and training
3. Effective meeting execution
4. Becoming a strategist
5. Hiring top talent
6. Getting the best buyers
7. Seven marketing musts
8. Effective visual presentations
9. The Dream 100 strategy
10. Follow-up and bonding skills