Kudos to Jason Black, CEO of +Boundless Network, who gave the book "The Greatest Salesman In The World" to the 100+ sales professionals during an annual sales event. My wife, +Cindy Goldsberry, who helped Boundless grow from $1MM to $55MM in six years, was asked to read the second scroll entitled - I will greet this day with love in my heart. Jason knows what's really important for success and he knows how to leverage available resources to deliver a meaningful message. Way to go, Jason!
As Cindy shares this with me, I am inspired to pull my personal copy of the book off the shelf for four reasons:
- Cindy and I plan to read through the book together.
- This book was a pivotal development book for me. It was gifted to me for my first year of selling books with The Southwestern Company (1973). Late May 2013, will be my 40 year anniversary of having the book.
- It is my second all-time favorite book, ranked by how many times I have referenced it, referred it, re-read it, time spent thinking about the content of the book and integrating its principles into my life. The Bible would be my #1 book, based upon this ranking criteria.
- My original hardbound copy (1973) is autographed by the author, Og Mandino. More on this story in a moment.
I flashed back to the age of twenty as I embarked upon a grand adventure. I left the comforts of my college life at the University of Texas at Austin to go sell books door-to-door with some friends. I was thrust into an opportunity that appeared pretty simple. Learn a sales talk, follow the recommended sales practices and disciplines and keep knocking on doors to meet prospective buyers. Who could pass up a summer job where I got to travel to a new town, meet people, sell some books and pay for college. Made sense to me, being from a small town in East Texas, although everyone thought I was off my rocker (actually they thought I'd gotten stupid being at UT)...
Thank God for Og Mandino and his book, without which, stinkin' thinkin' would have defeated me that summer. GSW became like a bible for me. I read the scrolls (in the book), multiple times a day. I did not understand, at the time, but I put my brain on the fast track to change my thoughts and actions - and create new and better habits as promised in the scrolls. It changed, actually transformed the way I thought about myself, other people, life and my work.
I was so impressed with the book, I wrote a letter to Mr. Mandino and thanked him for how the book had made such a difference for me and how he had inspired me to become an author. He responded to my letter and thanked me for acknowledging him and his book. Then he added another paragraph in his letter, which read - "Alan, I admire your ambition to be an author. My only advice, JUST DO IT!"
Wow, and this was before Nike. Thank you, Mr. Mandino for being an inspiration throughout my life. You inspired me through GSW when I was learning to sell books and today, you continue to inspire me as I'm still selling books, but now they are books I've authored or published.
If you don't know Og, here's a couple of links to get to know Og:
Og Mandino in Wikipedia
Og on YouTube [the opening of this video is representative of the man I met]
Getting Mr. Mandino's Autograph:
In 1990, I had the honor of meeting Mr. Mandino when he came to speak at Unity Church in Houston, Texas. I was asked to pick Mr. Mandino up at the airport and take him to his hotel and back to the airport. Can you spell "THRILLED" because that is how excited I was to spend time with him.
When people ask what was it like to spend time with Og, my response is simple. Mr. Mandino is one of the most authentically loving men I've ever met and he truly modeled the scrolls and each of the books he wrote. May I learn to "Just Do It" the Og way.
I encourage everyone to read The Greatest Salesman In The World or re-read it again. As you read it, imagine writing this book in longhand on legal size paper, sending the legal pad to the publisher and it is printed just as Mr. Mandino wrote it, with no edits. This is one of the stories Mr. Mandino shared with me. Then consider the gift this book is to millions of people. It does make one wonder "whose" hand was really involved?
So, I'm taking Og back to the airport Monday morning. We've talked about many things, as I've been more of the interviewer and wanting to get to know the man who has had such an impact on my life. There are several memories from this time with Og, beginning from the moment I met him to dropping him off at his hotel room door. As I am turning to walk away, Og says, "give me a hug" - and I learned how real men with genuine loving hearts, hug.
As we get closer to the airport, I am trying to figure out how to ask Og to autograph my book and not appear as just another autograph hound. I finally say, "I have your book I received from my first year selling with Southwestern."
"Here, in the car," Og asks with a slight raise in his voice?
"Yes," I say, trying to keep my excitement at a minimum.
"Alan, I've been wondering when you would ask me to sign your book. You've only mentioned it a few times," he says with a smile. "I would be honored," says Og.
I'm assuming you have come to realize that Og is pretty perceptive and knows that I'm the type of person that "just needs to do it." Who really knows? Given the nature of Og's books, he may have known I would write this someday to encourage others to discover and get to know his books. Thanks, Og!
Here is the inside title page and Og's autograph in my book. I have been blessed by many mentors (face-to-face and through my books). I encourage you to make Og Mandino one of your mentors. He has left a legacy of books that will reveal secrets of success and happiness that will transform and enrich your life.
~ Alan Goldsberry, Author and CEO of ZFactor Group Publishing
ZFactor blog explores and discusses a variety of techniques, tools and discoveries by successful people that will assist others to achieve greater personal and professional success. ZFactor is a proprietary coaching methodology based upon the premise that successful people think and act differently. The ZFactor methodology is proven to accelerate a person's ability to think and act differently.
Scroll Two
Southwestern Company
The Greatest Salesman In The World
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