Selling Joy: The spiritual path to sales success and joyful living

By David Adelberg

Selling Joy is a journey of understanding; an understanding that leads to a spiritual belief; a belief so powerful that once adopted, will bring you more happiness and joy and success than you ever thought possible.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Feb 20, 2021
• ISBN: 9781098353971

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All rights reserved.

ISBN: 9781098353971

Copyright ID: 1043539

Introduction:

Selling Joy is a journey of understanding; an understanding that leads to a spiritual belief; a belief so powerful that once adopted, will bring you more happiness and joy and success than you ever thought possible.

Selling joy is also the culmination of forty years as a professional salesman. I wrote it for salespeople. If you’re in sales, out of sales, thinking of sales, given up on sales, or just bloody well sick of sales, this book is for you. So sit back, relax, and enjoy the journey.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Dog For Sale

Chapter 2: The waiter

Chapter 3: THE GREEN-TOED MONSTER

CHAPTER 4: THE WAVE

CHAPTER 5: THE SUCKER

CHAPTER 6: THE HABERDASHER

CHAPTER 7: Anyone else?

Chapter 8: London Bridge

Chapter 9: Number One

Chapter 10: The Little Frenchman

Chapter 11: A Belief That Will Change Your Life

CHAPTER 12: THE PROFESSIONAL

Chapter 13: PRODUCT KNOWLEDGE

Chapter 14: PROSPECTING

Chapter 15: QUALIFYING

Chapter 16: TIME MANAGEMENT

Chapter 17: CLOSING

Chapter 18: The Greatest Power in the Universe

PREFACE:

I gently closed the sacred manuscript. Rabbi, I asked. Why is it important to learn about miracles that took place thousands of years ago? I mean, wouldn’t it be better to focus on new and future miracles since God is still working today? I paused. I mean, He is, isn’t He, Rabbi?"

Why of course He is, David. The Rabbi was always on point. Miracles happened so man could begin to live upon the earth. What more is there to say?

I had a feeling. It was the feeling you get when you are afraid of getting exactly what you asked for because you’re not sure what you asked for in the first place.

What indeed, I said. What indeed … What was I saying? What the heck did he say? I mean, what did that mean? I panicked. I felt sick and wished for the feeling to go away. I tried to remember if I had asked if God was still working or whether it was better to focus on new miracles; it didn’t matter; he didn’t answer either question anyway. The Rabbi quickly returned his attention to a more important matter. I remained in my seat and pondered the Rabbi’s answer. It soon became clear to me that my question must have been flawed. It was many years later that I realized there is never an intelligent answer to a question that has its foundation cemented in places that don’t exist, like the past and the future. If I had simply asked the Rabbi, Why do miracles happen? then the answer was certainly appropriate. But because the question was based on both the past and the future any answer would simply be speculation. I mean how would the Rabbi know if God was still working? How would anybody know? How would anybody know anything about miracles? After all no one has even seen a miracle like the Red Sea parting in more than two thousand years.

Though much of what I’m about to tell you is based on a spiritual belief it’s important for you to know it is neither religious nor mystic. It came to me as I desperately searched for life-saving answers. I had spent five years in a deep debilitating depression. Without hope and with a desperate fear of never being able to return to my former self I planned my demise. Then as suddenly as summer rain it fell over me. It warmed and comforted me. It opened a door to a better place; a place where everything was beautiful. A place called The Present. For once in my life there was no fear. I knew from that very moment what  I must do and doing it has brought me more joy than I ever thought possible.

This is a book for salespeople and about salespeople. It describes in detail what I learned over the forty years I spent as a salesman and how I came to understand the link between success in sales and success in life. I have also come to understand that there is an enormous difference between being in sales and ‘being successful in sales. It is also my belief that anyone can become a successful professional salesperson and at the same time experience happiness and joy every single day forever.

I’m going to show you how to apply the fundamentals of professional salesmanship to this spiritual belief. A belief that not only guarantees sales success but promises salespeople a life filled to the brim with happiness and joy. I know these are powerful words; but its power I’m talking about, real power; the power to dictate and determine exactly how much joy comes into your life everyday.

Some of you might ask what makes me the expert? I’ll let you be the judge of that. By the time you’ve finished this book you won’t care if I’m an expert. This is not a training manual; anyone can read a manual. What I’m  about to tell you is how I came to believe something and why I believe in its power that makes ordinary people do extra-ordinary things.

Most of you have already experienced what it feels like to sell something. Some of you already know the fundamentals and some of you may already be in the top 20 percent in your industry. No matter where you are in your life, no matter where you’ve been, and no matter where you expect to be, if you want to bring more joy into your life and you’re in sales this book will illustrate exactly how to do that simply by asking you to adopt a single belief.

It’s too soon to describe that belief. First you need to see how life prepared me to accept and use it. I have been a salesman all my life. I wrote the following stories as examples of how I came to understand what a professional salesperson truly is and how anyone can have a life of happiness and joy while bringing happiness and joy to others.

Strike one! The umpire shouted. I didn’t see the ball till the catcher threw it back to the pitcher. Strike two! I swung just before the ball left the pitcher’s hand. Strike three, you’re out! I swung so hard I fell down. I walked back to the dugout. My shoulders were higher than my head. There was an eerie silence like you hear at funerals. Suddenly a muffled laugh came from the top row of the third base bleachers. I looked up to see my father holding one hand over his mouth and the other holding his jiggling belly. It might have been different if he had seen me play more than that one game but on the other hand I may have struck out every time if he had or I may not have been chosen as the MVP. I wouldn’t have won the most games as a starting pitcher and I wouldn’t have been picked from fifteen hundred kids to represent our team in the all star game and be chosen to play third base for the city’s entry into the Little league world series.

When I told my father about being chosen he didn’t stop laughing for five minutes. He told me there must have been some mistake. No one could possibly think I was good enough to play baseball for Canada. You couldn’t hit a ball if your life depended on it. He said. Anyway I’m taking you and your brother to Disneyland that sounds a lot better than striking out in front of all those people, doesn’t it?

I eventually came to understand that my father must have experienced the same treatment from his own father . The question is why? Why would a parent want to make their child believe they weren’t good enough? I believe it’s because they allow their thoughts of the past and the future to dictate how they feel. My father had more issues than the United Nations; his life’s story was one of regret, unhappiness, fear and depression. It was only natural that it rub off on  me. It did but in so doing it provided me with the desire to find a way to freedom; freedom from my thoughts of past disappointments and from the fear of an uncertain future.

Chapter 1

Dog For Sale

There’s a good chance that this story and  the ones to follow will seem familiar  to  you. Consequently the old adage that familiarity breeds contempt may prove disturbing. I beg that you ignore any negative thoughts that may creep into your mind; they will pass as your understanding increases. We are going on a journey of understanding. To reach this understanding you must  first know  that it is a process; a process that will take as long as it takes you to read this book. No less no more.  Each  story has  a lesson in sales and a lesson of life. Together they form the basis for a spiritual belief; a belief that not only guarantees sales success but once adopted, guarantees a life of happiness and joy everyday forever .

It would be a lot easier if children came with a set of instructions, wouldn’t it? I think that most parents don’t realize that their children spend a lot longer as adults than they do as children. Consequently we spend a lifetime treating our children  like  children and the children spend a lifetime trying to convince us that they’re adults. I believe it is our duty as parents to ensure that our children understand early on that everything is possible. Rather than asking a child what they want to be when they grow up, it would be far better to focus on what they can do today. There is no joy in the future. There is no happiness in the past. These things can only be experienced in the present.

Well, David, what do you wanna be when you grow up? There was that damn question again. How the hell should I know what I wanted to be when I grew up? I wasn’t grown up yet. Hell broke loose when I finally told them I wanted to be a salesman. A salesman, they said. Why the hell do you want to be salesman? It was I suppose common knowledge that salesmen were worthless drifters who when not in jail, conned people into believing that for one thin dollar a bottle of colored water would cure every ailment known to man. I wondered if my Dad sold ladies’ wear off the back of a buckboard and it was just a question of time before the sheriff caught up to him. I was pretty sure a salesman was a bad thing; why else did people act so disappointed when I told them I wanted to be one? What if I told them I wanted to be a serial killer? They’d probably say, Forget about it kid; there’s no money in it. Or, That’s nice, dear. I guess the writing was on the wall; my apple had fallen next to the proverbial tree and it was clear my destiny was already cast in stone.

I was six years old. Dad told me for the umpteenth time he would take our Japanese Spaniel away if I didn’t clean up after her. By the time he left the house that morning I had already made up my mind-the dog had to go. I hated cleaning up after her; I loved her but for the right price I figured I’d get over it. I hammered the Dog for Sale sign into the front lawn and smiled, boy wait till Dad saw this.

It was lunch time. I was sitting on the curb with my head resting in my hands as Dad parked the Buick in front of the house. Nice sign, son, he said. How much are you asking? I was already devastated; no one had made me an offer or even stopped to make inquiries. As Dad laughed himself into the house I knew I had to make a change.

A short time later I was re-hammering the sign back into the ground as Dad walked by. He pretended not to notice the change I had made. "Dog for Sale-