Frank Bettger (1888–1981)

Few business books remain useful or in print decades after they were published. This is one of them ("Breakthrough Advertising", "Confessions of an Advertising Man" and "The Effective Executive" also make the list). I enjoyed how the author weaved in his experiences into the book. There is a wealth of excellent sales tips here including a few I put into action (e.g. getting back in touch with past customers).

Rating: 3.5 of 5

Useful ideas, especially with regards to the power of enthusiasm. Important reminders, such as salespeople can't know too much, but they can talk too much. Bettger's story was an inspirational one and I appreciated the numerous examples of failures turned success, not just from his own life but from other highly successful business people.

Only complaint would be the outdated ideology of men-only salesforce. Perhaps that has been updated since my library's 1986 copy.

Most of the points are similar to Dale Carn's book since he was the teacher of Bettger.

Book was published in 1949 and even though most of the examples were short, it was not easy to read. To be honest, I didn't really love or like the book but there are just many important points that I need to constantly revise esp when I am in sales.

I read this book after I became a Mary Kay consultant, and was surprisingly impressed by the book's simple, yet powerful messages about hard work, people skills, and the importance of attitude and image. Even though I'm not a Mary Kay consultant anymore, this is a book worth keeping. I can see rereading this book and applying its principles to other areas of my life.