Douglas Thompson
author of Knock! Knock!
Doug Thompson is the marketing director for a large national insurance wholesaler that recruits and trains insurance agents and agencies across the country, as well as continuing to build his own general agency, which offers life and health products to the senior population. Known nationally for his innovations in the sales industry, Doug frequently speaks and trains on his favorite topic: sales.
Me: What is an easy-to-implement tip to improve book sales?
Douglas: Create two or three good elevator pitches that are interesting, brief but memorable that are designed to capture a person’s attention about you and your book and leaves them asking for information. Many times an author tried to tell people way too much. !) You are in a short elevator ride and want to tell someone about your book knowing they are getting off on the next floor. 2) if you had less than a minute with a publisher, what would you say to get that publisher’s attention. 3) you need a good short explanation of you and your book to use with an individual or in print that will catch their attention quickly
Me: What sort of mindset is required to consider sales “fun”?
Douglas: Your Attitude and approach to it. Make a game of it. Make it competitive. Compete with yourself. Know upfront you are going to get rejections, then let that NO quickly slide off your back and get your head back in the game and your enthusiasm pumped ready to make that next call with a big smile and a kick in the door attitude.
Me: You have decades of experience selling insurance. In what ways is marketing a book similar to marketing insurance?
Douglas: All people are in sales. If you deal with people, you are in sales. If you tried to convince your teenager to clean their room, you are using sales techniques. Thus, the attitude, approach, presentation, close, and review processes all work the same way to sell a book. Authors just don’t see themselves in sales. For the majority of the game, a baseball player is not at the plate swinging a bat. But when the time comes, they need to pull that hat on tight and step up to the plate and take a swing.
Douglas: The eagerness and willingness to share ideas and techniques that are working. In my industry, if we create a new method that works, we keep it close to the chest and from other sales organizations as we are viewing them as competitors. In the book world, everybody shares everything that works or doesn’t work. The book industry takes networking to a whole new level.
Me: Tell us about your book Knock! Knock!
Douglas: Knock! Knock!, is a fast-paced, fun-filled journey through my career in sales that not only teaches you how to be better at selling but also to have a ton of fun while you are doing it. Knock! Knock! invites you to join me on what salespeople call “a ride-along,” which is where a senior salesperson shows a newbie the ropes. This book delivers a winning sales philosophy learned through years of experience and is illustrated by real-life stories that I share along with multiple Knock-Knock Moments (or lessons and revelations learned) that have fueled my career and that I believe will help yours. Every one of us is in Sales. If you deal with people, you are in sales. Knock! Knock! teaches you how to get out of your comfort zone, to believe in yourself, and to believe in the product, services, or message you are selling. But it also teaches you to have a great time while you are doing it.
Want to learn more? Head to the book’s website.
Want to purchase the book? head to my bookshop.
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