Review Of: How I Raised Myself from Failure to Success in Selling

This book's content seemed to flow together from chapter to chapter, never giving the reader a chance to lose the excitement. Bettger offered an abundance of valuable advice and help through his baseball analogies and personal experiences. His use of actual sales calls and interviews, as in chapters 17 and 26, exemplify his selling behavior and his desire to share it with others.

In chapter 6, Bettger uses a sales talk to influence the members of his church to become Sunday School teachers. He starts by writing, "I knew I had to make a sale."(42) That statement alone put a huge damper on Bettger's moral character. He thought he needed a larger organization, so he decided to talk and make a sale. By unwittingly placing his methods to work, instead of God's, Bettger earned a chance to get the entire credit for something that God did. Although he made no attempt to pride himself on his accomplishment, he hazarded his career by overusing its power. The chapter ends with a prayer quote from Ben Franklin, Bettger's inspiration. It wasn't too surprising, for the Bible wasn't quoted throughout the entire book.

However shaded Bettger's religious beliefs may seem, he does know a lot about the principles of selling. Part four gives the reader many helpful tips on succeeding in a sale. He explains how to build confidence with a customer, how to maintain that relationship, and why most salesmen fail in closing their sale. Although his experiences happened in the early 1900's, the same principles of smiling, gaining friends, and making a great first impression, remain true.

Another very interesting section was finding the hidden objection, chapter 12. This chapter delves into the psychology of a customer's behavioral attitudes toward salesmen. Bettger explains how to find the real reason of why a person will not buy something, but gives excuse after excuse. The idea is not to second guess the customer, but offer them a chance to explain truthfully their buying habits. Bettger uses the words why and in addition to that, to clear up any hidden doubts or fears his customer might have.

Overall, the entire book was inspiring and interesting to read. Bettger earned a high level of respect by giving others the same proven methods of selling that he has successfully used over the years. The beginning and ending quote him saying, "Here it is. I hope you like it."(192) He needn't have hoped; the book sold itself.