I am not one of those people who has been cursed with what in sales is called "manageritis." This refers to a salesperson who excels at sales and, because of that success, wants to become a manager, whereby this person, instead of making his income from commissions on sales, makes a percentage of the business written for managing other salespeople and/or their productivity. Oh, I have seen this manageritis thing play out successfully, but I have also seen it become the textbook example of the Peter Principle. Being the control freak that I am, I prefer the thrill of the hunt. Rather than staying back at camp and reaping a portion of the spoils of others' efforts, I'd rather earn my living from the commissions created by my efforts and prowess. And, yes, I have made some sales managers a healthy living from their percentages on the business I have written when those sales managers did nothing to earn it, but such is life. That's just part of the game.

The point is that I have always been in sales. I was on the phone recently with a challenging prospect named Dan. It was apparent Dan had encountered numerous people who had tried to sell him the exact thing I was pitching. It was also clear that I had made an impression on Dan because I had unsuccessfully pitched him a year ago, yet he got back in touch with me because his less-expensive contract was terminating and he was giving me another shot at his business.

The objective of this work is to make you either very, very good at getting what you want, or at least capable of understanding the techniques that may or may not be used to influence you.