<story><title>What I’ve learned from sitting next to a pro salesman</title><url>https://medium.com/@odedgolan/what-i-ve-learned-from-sitting-next-to-a-pro-salesman-faa19b5f38c7#.n0q9qnxqd</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>tptacek</author><text>The bit about cold calls working better than anticipated rings true. I advised a company I help out with not to bother cold calling, because it never works, and was embarrassed to learn a few months later that it had been extremely effective just to have the founder ring random people up.&lt;p&gt;The bit about remembering names, deploying kids names, and talking about football --- that part does not ring true. I&amp;#x27;ve done sales work for my last startup, and before that a as a product manager had a sales-support role where most of the people I talked to every day were account managers, and even though I know this &amp;quot;talk about football&amp;quot; stuff is what salespeople are supposedly doing, I never saw that happen.&lt;p&gt;Taking people out to dinner? Obviously, different story. But on the phone, especially early on? All business.&lt;p&gt;The most important thing I think salespeople do that ordinary people don&amp;#x27;t do is Ask For The Sale.</text></comment>
<story><title>What I’ve learned from sitting next to a pro salesman</title><url>https://medium.com/@odedgolan/what-i-ve-learned-from-sitting-next-to-a-pro-salesman-faa19b5f38c7#.n0q9qnxqd</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>grecy</author><text>This sounds like a lot of the great advice in How to Win Friends and Influence People [1]&lt;p&gt;I read that book yearly, and learn something every time.&lt;p&gt;[1] &lt;a href=&quot;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.amazon.com&amp;#x2F;dp&amp;#x2F;0671027034&amp;#x2F;?tag=roadchoseme-20&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.amazon.com&amp;#x2F;dp&amp;#x2F;0671027034&amp;#x2F;?tag=roadchoseme-20&lt;/a&gt;</text></comment>