Selling Things

"Selling Things" by Orison Swett Marden and Joseph Francis MacGrail is a guide from the early 1900s that explains how to be good at sales. The book teaches the most important rules and ways to be a great salesman because there were not enough skilled people in the job at the time. The advice focuses on how important training, personality, and how you talk to people are if you want to be amazing at sales. The beginning of the book shows how many companies needed strong salesmen and how training can give people the skills to do the job well. Marden starts with a story about what makes a salesman great, comparing the talents needed to someone who can "swim," which means a great salesman is flexible and produces results. He makes it clear that it takes more than talent to be amazing; it also requires effort, motivation, and taking lessons from your good and bad experiences. The opening encourages people to realize that anyone can become a successful salesman if they commit and learn the right skills, encouraging them to explore the sales methods and plans in following chapters.