AN IMPORTANT MESSAGE FROM YOUR AUTHOR My journey from small-town Sweden to the very top of the most competitive sales market in the world inspired me to write the book you''re holding, and doing so has been an incredible experience. Within these pages I''ve included my tricks, gimmicks, aces up my sleeves, and sales secrets, but I feel it''s important to underline something before you get started. Success takes hard work, research, knowledge, and commitment, but the real victory comes through honesty, transparency, and being true to your word. That''s what makes a truly successful person. The subtitle of this book is The Secrets of Selling Anything to Anyone , but I want to point out that some things in life are not for sale: your loved ones, your children, your pets, your values, your integrity, your beliefs, your spirituality. It''s not only that they are priceless. They are sacred . As a super salesman, it''s important to remind myself that not even I can sell certain things, especially my soul.
Everything else is negotiable. --Fredrik FOREWORD The first time I met Fredrik Eklund was poolside atop the SLS Hotel in Beverly Hills. I was in Hollywood shooting an episode of ABC''s Shark Tank , and Fredrik was on the roof attracting attention. I can spot a great salesperson from across the street and certainly from across the pool. Fredrik has magnetism that''s impossible to miss. At the time, I didn''t know who he was (it was before Million Dollar Listing New York ), but I did know one thing: He was a success. Fredrik Eklund has that killer instinct. When I started my NYC real estate firm in 1973 with a $1,000 loan from a boyfriend, I had no experience in sales and no doubt that I''d be successful.
Back then there weren''t any female-owned real estate firms in the city. It was a business worked by women and owned by men. I wasn''t welcome, but I certainly got noticed. From wearing my short skirts and bright colors to calling my sales team the "Power Brokers," I created my reality--that I was the best seller in the city . And what happened? In 1999, the Corcoran Group became the number one residential real estate company in New York City. Fredrik, a Swede with no contacts and no real estate license, came to America, and, in less than a dozen years, leads the number one real estate sales team in the nation. Now that''s the American dream. How''d he do it? He knew that perception creates reality, and he had the courage to spot and seize opportunity.
The number one trait I always looked for when I was hiring someone for my company and what I look for now when I''m investing in entrepreneurs on Shark Tank is passion, a need to succeed. Someone who''d rather die than not be the best. That''s Fredrik, and after reading this book, that will be you, too. Like any great salesperson, Fredrik is very persuasive. For example, bragging about him in this foreword wasn''t enough. He even talked me into giving you my five personal beliefs about becoming a success, all of which are included in his secrets to selling anything: 1. People want to do business with someone they like. Don''t ever be fooled into thinking that a job is only about the product.
It''s not. Business is all about the people. If people like you, they''re going to want to work with you. And if they don''t, you''re going to have an almost insurmountable obstacle to overcome. Your job is to make them like you. 2. Selling is nothing more than playing up the good and playing down the bad. If knowing how to do this comes naturally to you, you''ve got a head start.
If you don''t, you can learn. When I worked in a diner, I was up against another waitress to attract customers. All the men wanted to sit with her because she had big breasts. And, well, I don''t . It was my mom who gave me my best sales (and life) advice. She told me to forget about what I didn''t have, and use what I did have--a nice personality, a great smile, and the gift of gab--to get customers to want to sit in my section. I packed them in! Maximize the positive; minimize the negative. 3.
Every successful person knows how to fail well. Successful people get knocked down like everyone else, but they take less time getting back up and back out there. Did you know the lowest rate of suicide is among commission salespeople? Why? Because they deal with so many rejections on a daily basis, they are more adept at handling life''s hard knocks. 4. Everybody wants what everybody wants. This is the basic psychology of sales. Your task is to figure out how to make people think that what you''ve got to offer is the best thing since hot dogs and baseball. Two things to remember: More than one buyer creates urgency, and when people are told they can''t have something, they want it all the more.
5. The most successful people believe their success is only temporary. Top producers end each year convinced they''ll never have another year as good. Their own track record becomes their biggest competition. In great successes, fear breeds accomplishment. For twenty-five years I managed New York''s top sellers, and I know how hard successful people work to keep their trade secrets. So, why would you give it all away when you''re number one? Why would you create thousands of new successful high-kickers? Let it be known: I think Fredrik is nuts for sharing his secrets, but I suppose a real success isn''t afraid of competition. He thrives on it.
I leave you in good hands . and on the road to making millions. --Barbara Corcoran Bestselling author of Shark Tales: How I Turned $1,000 into a Billion Dollar Business Make ''Em Want What You''ve Got I became a salesman when I was seven years old. I was living in Stockholm, where I was born, and I signed up with a company I heard about through school to sell Christmas calendars and books. Those who sold the most each week would win a waterproof, yellow Sony Walkman. (Remember those?) I decided I didn''t just want to sell a lot; I wanted to be the number one seller among the thousands of kids selling Christmas calendars in Sweden. I was going to sell more than anyone ! My goal made me obsessed. I went to bed every night, and, like a prisoner counting the days on his jail-cell wall, I charted on the wallpaper of my room a matrix-like plan to world-calendar-sales domination.
When my dad came across my scribbles, he was arg ! (That''s Swedish for angry !) But it was too late! The writing was literally on the wall: I was on my way to becoming the biggest seller. Every morning, I put on my favorite sweater my grandmother had hand-knitted for me, with two reindeers on the front, loaded all the catalogs on a sled, and went knocking door-to-door, schlepping my wares through the snow into Akalla, a suburb north of Stockholm. I knew the market because it was my neighborhood. A million homes were built there during the 1970s, and many retired people had moved in. The old ladies were my favorite targets, a captive audience for a friendly kid with a selling smile. I''d knock on their doors and take a step back so that when they answered, I''d be perfectly positioned to look up at them so they could notice my cute sweater. I''d say, "Hi. It''s me, Fredrik.
It''s nice to see you again." Almost always, they''d invite me in. I became the grandson who was finally visiting. I sat with them and talked, talked, talked and sold, sold, sold. I made them want to buy a calendar from me. The result? I drank a lot of green tea that winter, listened to more than my fair share of World War II stories, and broke all records for the calendar company. And I really mean all records. I even got a letter from the president of the company asking what my secret was.
(But I kept the secrets for this book and am sending him a signed copy as my answer, exactly thirty years later!) I also won so many Walkmans that I sold them, too--to my classmates at school! Today I use the same technique I used on the Swedish grannies when I''m showing million-dollar properties to Jennifer Lopez, Cameron Diaz, Leonardo DiCaprio, Justin Timberlake, Daniel Craig, or a family from the Upper West Side, and convincing them the time to buy is now --from me . But you don''t have to work on commission to benefit from my selling strategies. Because let me tell you something: You''ve been in sales your whole life, even if you haven''t realized it. Have you been on a date where you dressed your best and turned on the charm? You were selling. Have you asked someone to take out the trash because you were tired and didn''t want to? You were selling. Have you interviewed for a job? You were selling. That''s why The Sell is for everyone. It describes all of the sales each of us make every day, even if our job title isn''t "salesperson.
" Regardless of the industry you''re in--Christmas calendars, Internet, real estate, baking, motherhood--understand this right here, right now: It''s all the same . If you know how to sell you , you know how to sell anything . Whether you''re selling medical equipment to a doctor or an early bedtime to your third grader, The Sell is a daily event in everyone''s life. What do sellers do? They persuade, influence, and convince someone to give them something in exchange for what they''ve got. How is that different from trying to convince your boss to support your idea? Or trying to talk your husband into going on a vacation to Tahiti when he''d rather go to Tokyo? Anytime we want someone to do something, we are putting The Sell into action. We sell a smile to get the better table in a restaurant, a kind remark to get our way with customer service.