The Sales Bible

Jeffrey Gitomer, a self-described career salesman and college dropout with decades of street-level selling experience, presents a comprehensive, practical guide to sales success drawn entirely from real-world experience rather than academic theory. Originally published approximately 20 years before this new edition, the book has been updated to include strategies for social media and digital communication while preserving the core principles that made it a defining resource in its category.

Gitomer opens by establishing his credentials and philosophy. He recounts how his weekly newspaper column, Sales Moves, was born after The Charlotte Observer rejected his pitch for a sales column. Within an hour, he struck a deal with the Charlotte Business Journal, and the column debuted on March 23, 1992. He frames the book around three personal business goals that serve as a philosophical thread throughout: helping people, establishing long-term relationships, and having fun.

The book's foundational framework is the 10.5 Commandments of Sales Success: Think, Believe, Engage, Discover, Ask, Observe, Dare, Own, Earn, Prove, and Become. Each commandment builds on the others, and Gitomer argues all must be practiced together for mastery. Think contends that mindset determines the outcome of every sales call more than any other factor, and prescribes a daily exercise of writing expected outcomes before appointments and reflections afterward. Believe establishes a four-part belief system: belief in company, product, self, and the conviction that the customer is genuinely better off having purchased from you. Engage argues that rapport must precede any sales conversation, borrowing from boxing the principle of leaning forward to get the prospect so interested that signing a contract feels natural. Discover contends that uncovering why customers buy is more valuable than mastering selling techniques, cataloging motivations from need and desire to fear of loss and unspoken risk. Ask establishes questioning as the heart of the sale, arguing that intelligent, differentiated questions convert selling into buying. Observe urges salespeople to pay deep attention to surroundings and people, noting that most people range from non-observant to oblivious, giving the attentive salesperson an advantage. Dare defines risk-taking as synonymous with selling and frames chutzpah, a Yiddish word meaning gutsy nerve, as the essential quality for a sales career. Own argues that when a sale falls through, the salesperson must take responsibility rather than assign blame. Earn replaces language like "make a sale" with "earn a sale," arguing that helping customers build, win, produce, and profit creates loyal relationships. Prove asserts that one testimonial outweighs a hundred sales pitches and provides a step-by-step plan for collecting video testimonials. The half-commandment, Become, frames sales mastery as a lifelong daily practice, recounting Gitomer's trajectory from selling candy at age seven to still refining his craft daily.

The main body is organized into 13 themed parts. Part 1, "The Rules. The Secrets. The Fun," presents 39.5 Rules of Sales Success and the AHA formula, which combines Attitude, Humor, and Action as interlocking elements. Gitomer includes a self-assessment test for positive attitude, arguing that less than one-tenth of one percent of people truly possess one, and cites statistics attributing 50% of sales failure to attitude. He compiles statements from customers about how they want to be treated, emphasizing facts, truthfulness, and assistance rather than pressure. He contends that an estimated 50% or more of sales are made on a friendship basis and that building friendships with customers virtually eliminates competition. A section on humor asserts that making the prospect laugh is the fastest way to build rapport, because laughter constitutes tacit approval that leads to contractual approval.

Part 2, "Preparing to WOW! the Prospect," defines the WOW! factor as the ability to be different, illustrated by Gitomer's story of securing his own book deal through meticulous preparation after six publishers rejected him. This part also demonstrates a five-question closing sequence and introduces power statements: creative, benefit-focused descriptions that frame a product in terms of the customer's world. Part 3 explains how to craft a 30-second personal commercial, handle referrals, and approach cold calling through indirect, non-assertive techniques. Part 4 covers presentation skills, including building buyer confidence, involving the prospect physically, and improving slide presentations.

Part 5, "Objections, Closing, and Follow-up," distinguishes between real objections and stalls, presents steps to uncover true objections, and addresses seven common objections with scripted strategies. The closing section introduces techniques such as the Puppy Dog Close, where the prospect takes ownership before committing, and the understanding close, where salespeople visit customers, observe the product in use, and leverage that firsthand knowledge in future calls. A persistence section uses a childhood candy bar story as analogy: As a seven-year-old, you would endure multiple rejections to get what you wanted, but as an adult salesperson, you give up too easily.

Part 6, "Woes and Foes," identifies characteristics of sales career failures and advises never disparaging competitors. Part 7, "All Hail the King... Customer," covers service philosophy and complaint handling through a 14.5-step Personal Touch Method. Part 8, "Spreading the Gospel," addresses sales meetings, letter writing, listening skills, and trade shows. Part 9, "Networking... Success by Association(s)," provides networking methodology anchored by the principle of giving first. Part 10, "Prophets and Profits," profiles non-traditional salespeople who succeeded through product knowledge and service, including Bob Salvin of Salvin Dental, who built a business by eliminating risk, offering 30-day trials, and answering every customer call by the third ring with a live person.

Part 11, "Up Your Income!," presents a numbers-based pipeline formula for doubling income, comparing daily sales maintenance to dental hygiene: Neglecting follow-up causes the pipeline to decay invisibly until results collapse. Part 12, "Social Media," introduces business social media as the new cold call, identifying value as the key word for success. Gitomer describes his ecosystem spanning LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, a daily blog, and a weekly e-zine, and argues that effectiveness is measured not by posting but by being shared and acted upon by others.

Part 13, "Can I Get an Amen?!," closes with personal reflections, including lessons from his father and a cautionary story about a factory fire in which rejecting a $750,000 insurance settlement on a lawyer's advice led to recovering only $333,000 three years later. Gitomer presents 11.5 principles for a personal sales crusade and introduces a reflective framework for self-assessment: "once was" (your history), "as is" (where you are today), and "can be" (your potential), which combine to determine what you will become.