has anyone read any good books on selling?

The Greatest Salesman in the World by Og Mandino


(clipped from wikipedia - )

Philosophy

Mandino wrote The Greatest Salesman in the World which contains the "time-tested wisdom of the ancients distilled into ten simple scrolls" which, if followed for the prescribed ten months, will as Og says, "will seep into my other mind, that mysterious source which never sleeps, which creates my dreams, and often makes me act in ways I do not comprehend. As the words of these scrolls are consumed by my mysterious mind I will begin to awake, each morning, with a vitality I have never known before. My vigor will increase, my enthusiasm will rise, my desire to meet the world will overcome every fear I once knew at sunrise, and I will be happier than I ever believed it possible to be in this world of strife and sorrow." (Scroll I)
The scrolls each have a principle designed to replace bad habits built up over a lifetime which "threatens to imprison my future" (Scroll I) with good habits developed through a ten month process of studying the scrolls. Each Scroll's principle is life altering. They are:

• Scroll I - Today I begin a new life.
• Scroll II - I will greet this day with love in my heart.
• Scroll III - I will persist until I succeed.
• Scroll IV - I am nature's greatest miracle.
• Scroll V - I will live this day as if it is my last.
• Scroll VI - Today I will be master of my emotions.
• Scroll VII - I will laugh at the world (Keep perspective)
• Scroll VIII - Today I will multiply my value a hundredfold.
• Scroll IX - I will act now, I will act now, I will act now.
• Scroll X - I will pray for guidance.

Mandino's main philosophical message is that every person on earth is a miracle and should choose to direct their life with confidence and congruent to the laws that govern abundance. He wrote in Scroll I, "I will not fail as the others, for in my hands I now hold the charts (the Ten Scrolls) which will guide me through perilous waters to shores which only yesterday seemed but a dream." Og was also a proponent of taking action now. In Scroll IX, the phrase I will act now is written 18 times. He recognized that all successful people take on their own lives by "charting" or consciously choosing both the desired destination and the path to reach it. Mandino's philosophical messages have Christian undertones. They are encouragements to build good habits, to live according to the laws that govern abundance and to find a vigor and joy in life as we learn to stand at the helm of our ship charting its course into the safety of the harbor instead of just waiting for someone else to bring it in.