I was recently prompted to take another look at the book “The Ultimate Sales Machine” by Chet Holmes.
Sadly, Chet died in 2012 at a relatively young age. At the time I posted this…
“Chet Holmes – Marketing And Business Giant”
…with a brief introduction to what turned out to be his only book.
After a rather longer interval than I intended, here’s a fuller review of “The Ultimate Sales Machine”, a book that deserves a place in any serious business and marketing library.
Chet Holmes was widely regarded as “America’s greatest business growth expert” and one of the greatest teachers of marketing, sales and business success. A business partner of giants such as Jay Abraham, Tony Robbins and Brian Tracy, Chet cut his teeth and first made his name working for Charlie Munger, long-term business partner of Warren Buffet.
“The Ultimate Sales Machine” was Chet’s first and only mainstream book. As the title suggests, the main focus of the book is on making more sales but there is a lot more to the book than that. The book incorporates much of Chet’s broader business philosophy and it might be better thought of as a guide to “Complete Business Success And The Ultimate Sales Machine.”
The core of the book is indeed Chet’s blueprint for building your own top-notch sales machine. That includes…
1. Setting your sales strategy and approach
2. Getting the right people for your sales team
3. The tactical nitty-gritty of implementing the sales strategy, making the sale and then keeping customers happy over the long term.
Before that, the first 3 chapters cover what Chet calls the ”building blocks you must have…to succeed long term”. They are…
1. Time Management Secrets Of Billionaires (no hyperbole – remember Chet worked for bona-fide billionaire, Charlie Munger)
2. Instituting Higher Standards And Regular Training
3. Executing Effective Meetings
With the building blocks in place, Chet moves on to the business of putting together the “Ultimate Sales Machine”. He starts off with the big picture and putting in place the core strategic approach to marketing. Chet advocated an approach that he called “education-based’ marketing, starting off with what he called the “stadium pitch”.
This is a presentation designed to interest virtually all of your potential buyers that will generate leads and calls by delivering quality information of interest to your prospect. From there he moves on to cover the tactical details including hiring the right people, building the right sales skills (including follow up) and keeping clients for the long term.
As you might expect, Chet was an advocate of direct-response marketing, but not to the exclusion of other methods that could deliver results within his overall system.
The final chapter is all about setting goals, measuring effectiveness and activating your master plan. This emphasises a very clear theme running through the book…“Pigheaded discipline and determination”…are what will produce the success you want. As the subtitle of the book says, this is all about how to “Turbocharge your business with relentless focus on 12 key strategies.”
One limitation of the book is the fairly basic coverage and lack of detail in some areas (for example in some of the marketing sections). Even though the book is over 200 pages and contains a wealth of ideas and strategies, you’ll need other resources for the detailed application of some of the ideas.
But that’s a minor quibble. Overall a worthwhile addition to any business library and a great blueprint for more sales…provided you focus and follow through, of course. Chet’s death was a sad loss for the business world but he left behind a classic book that will stand the test of time.
Here’s The Ultimate Sales Machine: Turbocharge Your Business with Relentless Focus on 12 Key Strategies