The Business Fixer Blog by Wes Schaeffer, The Sales Whisperer®

Larry Winget, The Pitbull of Personal Development, Says Grow a Pair

Written by Wes Schaeffer | Aug 05, 2014

About Today's Guest on  The Sales Podcast

Larry Winget, the Pitbull of Personal Development®, shares his story of turning humiliation into motivation and how you can, too.

Rubber-Meets-The-Road Sales Tip

  • Grew up poor and figured out how to get rich.
    • He was humiliated at 13 in school because he only had one pair of jeans.
    • He had no role models. Didn’t have books.
    • Larry Winget knew he could out-work others.
    • “Tweaking your website” won’t make you money.

Related Articles and Interviews

Tweaking your website won’t make you money"
  • You need to sell stuff. You do it by talking to customers and asking them to buy.
    • “Well…” is not the answer to “how many did you sell?”
    • “How many did you ask to buy?”
  • Larry is active on his own Facebook page.
    • It takes maybe 30 minutes a day.
    • Set your priorities.
    • Personal and professional is okay to blend but it’s up to you.
    • He throws a lot of personal stuff on his fan page so people know he’s real.
    • Don’t make it hard!
  • Larry is willing to irritate you to get you to a better place.
    • People today “suffer in comfort.”
    • There are too many safety nets.
    • Real friends kick you in the pants and challenge you.
  • All selling is solving a problem. Identify it and make it real.
    • “What are the consequences for non-performance?”
    • You don’t have to be confrontational but you do have to make them think.
    • Stephen King - On Writing - glad, mad, sad, scared.”
    • Emotionally connect.
  • You have to take what you do to the world.
    • The marketplace respects marketing and salesmanship.
    • People over-think their offering. Stop complicating things.
You have to take what you do to the world"
The marketplace respects marketing and salesmanship."
  • People lie about money more than anything else.
    • Get the money discussion out of the way up front.
    • Money is not dirty.
  • Look at all of your contacts and call them and ask them “what will it take to earn your business today?”
    • “What have I done wrong? You want and need this…I apologize…I'm the sales professional and I have not conveyed to you all of the benefits of owning what I sell."
  • On Gatekeepers / Receptionists
    • Honor the position of the gatekeeper.
    • Validate them.
    • Ask them an honest question. “What do I have to do to reach the decision maker?”
  • On traditional Sales Trainers
    • The problem with most sales trainers is they want you to memorize lines that may never happen.
    • Develop a philosophy. You don’t have to get the words right. Just be confident.
    • Check out Larry's upcoming conference on speaking and writing, November 6, 7, 8.
    • Know what problem you want to solve.
    • Narrow your niche.
    • Build a following first then publish.
    • He self-published 23 books before he got a publisher.
    • 97% of all books today sell under 1,000 copies. Most under 300 copies.
  • Adult pleasures
    • Sam Houston Straight American Whiskey made in Texas
    • CAO Brazilias - good, oily dark maduro

Links Mentioned

Tools To Thrive

Now go sell something.