I would like to discuss a few key concepts from a book entitled “The One Minute Salesperson” by Spencer Johnson, M.D. (Johnson also authored, “Who Moved My Cheese” and “The One Minute Manager”) Of all the books I have read on sales training, this is probably the shortest (a quick read of 107 pages), but it is filled with straightforward advice on how to become a better salesperson

The set up for the story is simple one. An unnamed man, who has taken the traditional approach of selling about as far as it can go, and decides to follow up with a legendary sales person that he has heard stories about. The legendary sales person was called by some, “The One Minute Salesperson”.

What this man understood early in his life was that almost everyone, in every walk of life, who succeeded was really an effective sales person, whether he or she realized it or not.

“Successful business people,” he observed,” sell others on the value of their services. Successful parents sell their children on leading happy and productive lives. Successful leaders sell their abilities to bring people what they want. Even successful scientists sell their ideas to those who provide the research funds which enable them to do their work.”

The first part of the story tells us how the man came to meet the “One Minute Salesperson” and begin a conversation with him. He soon finds that the One Minute Salesperson is not about to tell him all of the secrets to selling in one sitting, but does provide him with a list of others who have learned and applied the skills he is seeking out. Thus, each chapter of the story is of a meeting with someone who has learned from the One Minute Salesperson and the conversation they have with the man.

The chapter I would like to focus on is titled, “The Key Minutes before the Sale”. The man is having a conversation with a key administrator at a local college and she asks him what goes through his mind before he sells. The man explains that he usually tries to find something about the company and the person that he is calling on.

The woman tells him that that is important and useful, but asks him more specifically what happens the minute before he gets face to face with the other person. The man says, “Well, often I go over objections that might come up and the things that could go wrong.”

“So when you think of it,” she said,” you paint a mental picture in your mind of what will happen before it happens. What you’ve just told me is that you think about what could go wrong.”

She smiles at the man, and tells him that she used to do the same thing and kept getting disappointing results, even though she thought she was practical and trying to be well-prepared. “Now, before I start to help anybody buy anything, I take a minute (and that’s about all it takes) to see the entire encounter running smoothly from beginning to end. I call this process The One Minute Rehearsal,” she says.

Throughout the remaining pages in the chapter she describes in detail how she breaks down the One Minute Rehearsal and gives it shape by describing it as a commercial on T.V.

I’ll give you the highlights. There are three parts:

One. When you are selling someone, make sure and step into the other person’s shoes for a moment (and remember this key thought, “Before I can walk in another person’s shoes, I must first take off my own.”). No one likes to be “Sold”, but people love to buy. So envision the sale from the eyes of the buyer.

The second part is the Advantages- how the features of my product combine to solve the prospects problem.

And finally, you picture the Happy Ending (as corny as it may sound). But what you are doing is imagining that the sale has been completed and that the buyer is using your product and is very happy with the result and their decision to do business with you.

This One Minute Rehearsal is a very powerful tool that I personally have made into a habit. And it doesn’t necessarily have to take place in exactly 3 steps, but picturing the entire encounter in a positive way has made huge improvements in my results and I can tell, when things go wrong that I got lazy and didn’t use the One Minute Rehearsal properly. Normally, I will picture my entire day the night before, just before I fall asleep.

So, the main point to gain from this review is that we can create and play the mental movies of our choice. You can choose your success by “seeing” it before it happens. That is true power! Take this power and use it. Try it out, make it a habit, and be patient. It usually takes 21 days to form or break a habit, so if you are in the habit of picturing what can go wrong realize that you may be doing so, subconsciously.

I would love to hear your success stories.

Be Free!

Tom Weber
VP of Sales