If a book about failures doesn't sell, is it a success?
We tried to avoid, you know, records. We were told over and over that was probably the most serious mistake and the reason was the system would never catch on, because we didn't have records.
I couldn't sell air conditioners on a 98-degree day. When I demonstrated them in a showroom, I pushed the wrong button and blew the circuit.
Ninety-nine percent of advertising doesn't sell much of anything.
Several national tests have revealed the following startling statistics about why salespeople fail...15% Improper training both product and sales skills. 20% Poor verbal and written communication skills. 15% Poor or problematic boss or management. 50% Attitude.
The worst job I ever had was when I had to try to sell a service for medical waste treatment.
I was 20 years old. I had moved to Los Angeles from Columbus, Ohio. I was working as a piano salesman - a terrible piano salesman. I couldn't sell them. I could demonstrate them, but people wouldn't buy them from me.
Before boxing I was a car salesman but I was horrible at it and had to make a living elsewhere.
We've been trying to sell out for years, nobody's buying!
I had an agent who spent eight years - eight years! - trying to sell my stories. She sold other people's work; she just didn't sell mine.
I always tell the truth about what I’m selling, and then nobody buys it.
If you hear my idea but don't believe it, that's not your fault; it's mine. If you see my new product but don't buy it, that's my failure, not yours. If you attend my presentation and you're bored, that's my fault too.
I wasn't a very good salesman.
If you don't sell, it's not the product that's wrong, it's you.
When I was 23, I was quite possibly the worst real estate agent in New York. I was working for my mother's agency in Chappaqua, and no one was buying houses. In eight months, I made zero sales. I rented one apartment.
