Say "Yes" to Sales

Get over the hackneyed images of used-car and time-share salespeople, Jones counsels. Nothing happens until somebody sells something, and if you are not proud of whatever it is your company sells, no one else will be proud of it either. The fact is, great wealth requires great sales skills. “While I may have gone to med school to become a doctor, I graduated a salesperson,” says Dr. Tom Frist, who founded the Hospital Corporation of America.

“Selling the concept of better healthcare for all has been my mission, my passion, and my wealth-creation mechanism.”

All great salespeople know, often intuitively, that having a high emotional quotient is far more important to success than having a high IQ. Highly developed people skills, often huge personalities, and persuasive natures. Enhancing your own “emotional” quotient is simple: Just become a good listener.

“Knock long enough and the door opens,” says former Clemson linebacker and communications entrepreneur Leighton Cubbage. “And once you’re through that door, treat your clients like kings and queens.”