233： Tom Hopkins #1 Secret & Mistake in Sales
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Summary
In this episode of Value Team, Patrick Bader interviews the author of the book, "How to Master the Art of Selling," Tom Hopkins. In this episode, Mr. Hopkins talks about why he believes every sales person should read this book and how it changed his life.
Transcript
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30 seconds, one time for the underdog, ignition sequence start, let me see you put em up, reach
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the sky, turn the stars up above, cause it's one time for the underdog, one time for the
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I'm Patrick Bader, your host of Value Team, and today we're going to talk about sales
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and not just sales, we'll be talking to an author of a book called How to Master the
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Art of Selling, which I believe every single salesperson around the world needs to read
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I read this book back in 1999, and it completely changed the way I viewed sales.
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We're going to talk to the author, Tom Hopkins, on the number one secret and mistake in sales.
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The master sales trainer, the Michael Jordan Tiger Woods of sales, Mr. Tom Hopkins.
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Patrick, it's a thrill, and I love hearing all that you've done, and I have a chance to share
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some concepts on being an entrepreneur and fulfilling your potential.
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So, I think this is excellent, what you're asking us to share with these folks.
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Oh, I am looking forward, and by the way, I was telling Tom, I met you 12 years ago when
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And, you know, you were living in somewhere in Arizona, Scottsdale, and I was going through
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We went to his, I think it was your bedroom or somewhere.
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And I said, you know, one day, I'm going to have an artwork like that with me wrestling
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We had an artist do as a kind of a talking point, something to have fun with.
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If you don't know Tom Hopkins, Tom Hopkins wrote the number one sales book out there called
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And I read the book back in 1999 when I was first working at Valley Total Fitness as a
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So, if you're an entrepreneur, you're in business, you're trying to get a promotion, whatever you're
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trying to do, sales is a part of your business.
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5 million people have attended his seminar over the years to learn sales.
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So, we're not talking somebody that, you know, just talks about sales every once in a
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And he is known, his claim of fame, when he was 24 years old.
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A record that still stands, 365 homes in one year.
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Right here in our neck of the woods, Chatsworth and Simi Valley.
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I said, Tom, let me ask you, who were you in high school?
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He says, well, you know, I was the captain of the football team, quarterback, four years.
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We have a lot of people that went to Alamany High.
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I got some very straightforward questions that I want the guys to get value here, everybody
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What is the number one secret to why a salesman makes it in sales?
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Well, the first thing is they work harder on themselves than they do on the job to become
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If I had you in an elevator, you said, as you just said, what's the secret?
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I would say develop a personality and a temperament and a way of coming across with people where
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And when I first started practicing this, I started realizing that people want a relationship.
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Selling is a very important part of life, and especially in our country of capitalism and
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But it's also something that you can learn, but it starts with working on yourself to be
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a person that, again, people relax with, that they're comfortable with, where they feel
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like I'm confident this person can help me have a better life, be more successful, achieve
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my goals, and that, of course, is how I live my life today, trying to help this happen
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with as many people as I'd like to hear my message.
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So you're, you said, number one, to be good in sales, not necessarily to make a lot of
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money in sales, because that's a whole different answer, but to be good in sales, it's relatability,
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knowing how to relate to somebody else in different situations.
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There's a lot of mistakes we make as salespeople.
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What is the number one mistake a salesman makes?
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I think the number one mistake that a salesperson makes is coming across like a stereotypical
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The average American, in our studies, doesn't really like selling.
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And it's a shame that's true, but of the 11 million salespeople approximately in the United
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States, many of them turn people off, come across a little bit too aggressive.
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They come across almost pushy, and they're talkative.
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I've tried to teach people, be the opposite of what they expect, and they'll relax with
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Become a master asker and a magnificent listener, and you'll do well in the field of sales, regardless
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And I've had a battle, Patrick, too, that I believe everybody, in a way, is in sales.
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I think if you're a parent and your kids grow up to be good adults, thanks to your example,
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your questioning, your listening skills, that you did make a good sale with your children.
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I think in today's world, if you stay married for your entire life, you both, husband and
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wife, did some of the things I teach that are part of the art of selling.
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So I hope people will open their minds to, as an entrepreneur, you're selling the people
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You're teaching them the art of persuasion, of convincing folks to do business with your
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So this is, again, something I think that is so true, that everyone, in a way, is in
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I think my edge was I really did outwork most people.
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I was fanatical on wanting to achieve, and when I quit college after 90 days, and I only
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I didn't know what I was going to do, and fortunately, after one year of construction,
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carrying steel, I found the real estate business.
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And I hope everybody that's maybe viewing this program will find their niche in life.
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And I call the niche finding something you love to do that is not work, but you love
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And then you develop the P word, which I learned this from Wayne Gretzky.
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I played golf with Wayne, and as you know, he's probably one of the greatest hockey players
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And after the game, driving to the house, I said, I've got to ask you, Wayne, what do you
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think the reason was, you did so well as a hockey player?
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He said, Tom, I had a passion for all aspects of the sport.
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Passion for practice, passion for winning, passion for losing.
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And so that's the day I said, I'm going to try to teach people to get passionate about
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what they do, not just like it, but be passionate, because I think people will agree and go along
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with your way of thinking based more on your belief, your conviction, and your passion than
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I worked seven days a week, my first three days, our first three years.
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Seven days, I had three Christmas days off, which is fanatical, and I'm not saying that's
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That's a very consistent trait with a lot of people that make it to the highest level
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And that word you just said, I don't know if you caught it, but consistency is one of the
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keys to much success in your life, where you don't just have high cycles, low cycles, you're
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And, of course, I also feel that I was a follow-up specialist with people.
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My last year of that number of sales, most of them were referred to me because I did a
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And I think that it's a people business, regardless of what business you're in.
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And I think you are all, all of us, in the people business, and the way you handle people,
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the way you do business with people, will, at the end of the line, decide how successful
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So, Tom, the last question here before we wrap up.
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You know, there's a lot of people you meet that are afraid of getting into sales.
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There's a lot of people you meet that are questioning and say, I don't think I could do it.
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Well, I have had this as a challenge all of my training career, is to convince people
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that I think anybody can learn the art of selling.
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As long as they realize a couple points, and let me illustrate it this way, that there are
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two extremes to a temperament or a personality of a person.
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We'll call this person over here the interesting extrovert.
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Then we'll call this person the interested introvert.
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Now, if you listen to those titles, interesting versus interested, the average person that thinks
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they would be great in sales, and people tell them they would, are the interesting extroverts.
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The interested introvert, who's somewhat humble, somewhat shy, a little afraid of maybe strangers,
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maybe really fearful of rejection, this person can do extremely well.
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And what I try to get people to do is, if you're an interesting extrovert,
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try to move more towards the middle, being more like an interested introvert.
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If you're an interested introvert, move a little bit towards the middle, be more like an interesting extrovert.
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Because the ideal personality that establishes relationships and does a great job in communication
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can move to the interesting extrovert or to the interested introvert.
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And the ability to relate to other people and have them feel good because of the way you come across,
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the way you are with them, that, to me, can be taught and learned by anyone.
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And so I really feel that, yes, if you would be willing to let me be your mentor and your teacher,
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I think I could teach anybody to be an effective salesperson and some of them to achieve a high degree of accomplishment.
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Okay, so Tom, to wrap it, thank you so much, by the way, for coming in today.
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We talked about the book earlier, How to Master the Art of Selling, but you have a new book out.
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Because I really like the title, When Buyers Say No.
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Well, you know what's funny, Patrick, is this darn book, it's my 18th book.
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And when I wrote it, thanks to Ben Kott, who's my co-author, we came up with the concept that most people don't realize that you'll not get a yes in life of anything until you usually have some type of no.
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And so really selling as an art form starts with the no.
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And so I thought, we're going to go ahead and take exactly what a no means, what they're really saying behind the word no, what are they really meaning.
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And then what we decided to do was take Ben Kott's fabulous Circle of Persuasion concept and took that and combined my training on questioning, on listening, on turning a no into a yes, and we combined it.
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And I'm, you know, not being braggadocious, but this book so far in the first six months has outsold any book I've written in the first six months.
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Yes. And I think the reason is people want to know that, hey, I want to handle the word no to turn it into yeses with my kids, with my spouse, with the people that work for me.
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I think employers with their employees can really benefit from the Circle of Persuasion and the concept of when buyers say no.
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I saw a Circle of Persuasion in that game. What could you tell us about that? What is Circular Persuasion?
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Well, what it is basically Ben decided to take the word no, then we took and showed all the little steps that we go through in the persuasion process of gradually taking that no and through the right little questions of minor yeses, ending up getting the big yes, which is an agreement to go along with whatever you're suggesting they do.
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So be it invest in a product, being the child doing what you're asking them to do, being an employee, doing a better job.
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So it's really exciting to see that most people in business want to know, how do I handle the darn no and turn them into yeses?
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That is the question. That is the question and the skill to learn.
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When buyers say no, if you haven't read it, get a copy of it.
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Tom, thanks so much for coming out. Really appreciate you.
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Where can everybody find you out there, by the way? Is there a Twitter? Is there a Facebook? Is there a website?
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If they just go to TomHopkins.com and they'll have all of our products, all of our seminars.
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And if they're looking for more of what we do, they can sure find us there.
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And by the way, if you haven't already subscribed to Valuetainment on iTunes, please do so.
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And if you have any questions for me that you may have, you can always find me on Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook, or YouTube.
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And I actually do respond back when you snap me or send me a message on Instagram.
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With that being said, have a great day today. Take care, everybody. Bye-bye.