When I was 21 years old, I was accidentally shown a video of Jeffrey Gitomer Speaking to a Group of People. It was love at first sight! (And no, I am not gay. Neither do I have any issue with anyone who is). I was so blown away by his performance and his content – that I wrote down on my wish list, that one day I would buy it. (One day because I was a poor lad). With over 200,000 copies of the previous editions sold, The Sales Bible was listed as one of "The Ten Books Every Salesperson Should Own and Read" by the Dale Carnegie Sales Advantage Program.

But never mention competition by name. It is only free advertising. If competition does come up, kill it with faint praise: “Yes. This is a very good product or service and an excellent competitor. Unfortunately (and as it happens, I am plesed to say) in your particular circumstance it would not fit in with your particular requirements. Fast forward 15 years since that day – Today I have the entire collection of Jeffrey Gitomer. It cost me quite a bit – But this is the investment I believe I made in myself. The book has agile and fun reading, but has well-defined objectives and easy-to-understand purposes. The author presents his practical sales principles in a very engaging way, motivating the reader!I was born a New Zealander. Lived beside the Waihopi River in Invercagill, bottom of the South Island where the Bluff oysters come from. Dad had fought in the NZAF with the Americans in the Pacific. Never said a word about it. Spent some time in America teaching aircraft recognition, somewhere on the East Coast. My first memory of seeing him was when I was about 4 years. Now he was Editor of the Southland Times. Arrived at the Maharaja’s Shooting Lodge later in the evening. Hold it. This is’nt a Maharaja’s shooting lodge. This must be where he kept the tigers. Now, as you can imagine, Maggie is not one to be ‘penned up’ in a place like this. Her Beloved springs into action. Only the Oberoi Vanyavilas would do. Remember too the power of SILENCE. When you have asked for the acceptance of anything throughout the sale, say what you have to say and be SILENT. Never be drawn in by the customer’s silence to answer the question for him, to offer compensatory remarks. Decisions take time for the customer. Give that respect In August, 2008, Jeffrey was inducted into the National Speaker Association’s Speaker Hall of Fame. The designation, CPAE (Counsel of Peers Award for Excellence), honors professional speakers who have reached the top echelon of performance excellence. Each candidate must demonstrate mastery in seven categories: originality of material, uniqueness of style, experience, delivery, image, professionalism, and communication. To date, 191 of the world's greatest speakers have been inducted including Ronald Reagan, Art Linkletter, Colin Powell, Norman Vincent Peale, Earl Nightingale, Brian Tracy and Zig Ziglar.

The Poles have a great military tradition with the Brits. Their brigades fought bravely with us at Monte Cassino where 1000 of them died. And, of course, the Polish ‘Kosciuszko’ Squadron flew out of Northolt during the Battle of Britain. The Memorial to their Dead is still to be seen beside the A40 there. I had spoken to a number of business colleagues over the years who had ‘suffered’ similarly at their schools and vowed never to expose their children to the same experience. But they have, almost to a man, relented. They didn’t want to endanger their children’s future in any way. It’s a thing about England’s better off middle classes, both with health and education: if you have paid for it, at least you have tried.

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Even now, after all these years, I remember those nights waking up, freezing cold, sitting on the toilet.