It turned out my book writing idea was maybe one of four or five that was any good during that decade. The other 200 were lousy ideas.
One of the five books was titled Now get out there and sell something! You will recognize that title as my sign off for every column in Printing Impressions. That book was a compilation of fifty-five columns selected by the book editors. The book was a best seller and sold out 5,000 copies except for forty-three copies in my garage.
My life was in the tank and the boss was about to fire me when I found a copy of the Maňana Man’s book in the sales bathroom. I couldn’t put it down. People kept banging on the door but I wouldn’t come out. Now I own the company. I have my own private privy where I can read all I want.
Ernest Allen Clemmons – Clemmons Printing and Lithography
I have now written and published two more books. They are available here at Printing Impressions.
How’s that for crass commercialism?
I couldn’t think of good titles so I titled the books, “The Adventures of the Maňana Man – Book II (216 pp.) and The Adventures of the Maňana Man – Book III (195 pp.). Book II contains fifty-one of my greatest columns and Book III contains fifty-two of my most outrageous columns.
I use Maňana Man columns to train our salespeople and CSR’s. We grew from one old multi to $50.0 million in sales in just ten years. I figure I spent about a penny a page for his books and the huge payback is too complicated to figure out. We sit around on a Friday nights eating barbecue and fried chicken and drinking Pabst. We discuss his columns, laugh a lot and learn a lot. The more Pabst we drink the more we laugh.
H. R. “Doobie” Dunlap – Dunlap Graphics
I couldn’t think of good titles so I titled the books, “The Adventures of the Maňana Man – Book II (216 pp.) and The Adventures of the Maňana Man – Book III (195 pp.). of
Watch the pages of PI for space advertising to order your copies. Or, go to www.piworld.com, find the horizontal links at the top of the page, click on bookstore and then, O Carammba!, order a bunch of the books.
This whole 2008 book publication idea was inspired by Amazon.com. A reader called to tell me that Amazon was selling an autographed copy of the first book, Now get out there and sell something! for $34.75! Amazon calls it a “collectors’ edition.” The reader, Wanda Fay Nelson, said, “Maňana Man, you ain’t even dead yet and the price of your book has increased a whole bunch.”
I remembered signing dozens of books but I sure never sent any to Amazon. Amazon hasn’t sent me any money. Must be some book pirates purloined some of my autographed books and they’re layin’ back, livin’ the good life and cashing those checks.
So I’m going to give you a chance to earn huge returns on your book buying investment and get my prose on 103 print sales topics. If you are among the first 200 readers to order either Book II or Book III, you will receive a Maňana Man – Harris DeWese autographed copy. I have learned from people like Wanda Fay that the autographed copies are sources of fabulous future prosperity, especially after I croak.
I keep your first book on my bedside table and read and re-read my favorite chapters. Daddy is a hog farmer and he throws a page from your books in the slop every day. The sows are all having big litters and the herd is gaining weight twice as fast. My brother, Bruno, has been unsuccessfully trying to make it on the Pro Bass tour and the books haven’t helped him at all but he sure is selling a lot more printing and it looks like his wife will stay with him since he’s making money and staying at home. Maňana Man, you do so much good in so many ways.
Love, Wanda
Now, some of you, maybe down on your luck printing company owners or print sales professionals, my not have the cash or a credit card to buy these books. Or, you may just be too cheap like my buddy, Leon Loudermilk, who drives a 1988 Vespa to make sales calls. He gets 321 mpg but his cell phone calls are hellatious with him shouting at his customers over the road sounds.
So if you are a little short, here’s a little review of some of the chapters from the new books. A little free Maňana Man is better than having no Maňana Man. Gosh I’m an arrogant prideful lout but remember that the Maňana Man lives in my head and dictates these columns. Harris DeWese just does the typing.
So, here’s a sampling of chapters from Book II. Stop and think about each topic at you read each chapter title and think about what that subject means to your workload/salesload. This list is a gold mine.
The Art of Recruiting.....41
Hiring Sales: Do Your Homework......45
Putting Off Procrastinating......49
The Rogues Gallery Hall of Fame......52
No Leadership? Take Control......56
Talk is Cheap, Listening is Profit......61
Anatomy of Print Leadership......65
Best Salesmen are Handicapped by Nothing......74
Shaking the Winter Blues Sales Slump......77
A, B, Cs of Sales Compensation......81
Selling Twice, Selling Nice......89
The Source of Sales Depression......93
Lessons for Staying on the Ball......97
Some Highs to Help Ditch Low Self-Esteem......101
Sales and Marketing Q&A......105
Dissecting Print Sales Phobias......109
It’s NOT the Economy, Stupid!......113
Printing Customs to Live By......117
The Devil’s in the Gouging......121
An Action Plan for Prospecting......125
Laying Foundation for Successful Appointments......129
Lost Art of the Written Word......133
Winning Sales Letters......136
New Year’s Sales Resolutions......141
Plan for Sales Success......145
Test Your Selling and Managerial Performance......149
Gift of Sales Time Management......154
Change Sales Flab to Sales Fab......158
You Want Sales Techniques? We Got 71 of ‘Em......163
Letters to Inspire & Aspire......172
The Baker’s Dozen Sales Skills......176
The Graceful Conversationalist......179
Remembering the Customer and Negotiating 101......182
The chapters from Book III are even better but I’m running out of space, so here are just a few. Think about these topics are start robbing the coffee jar to buy the books.
Learn to Pay, Accept Compliments......79
Use Sugar to Catch Clients......83
Cut to the Semantic Chase......86
How Will You Be Remembered?......90
Sickly Selling Skills......94
Ben Franklin’s Print Proverbs......97
Clean Bill of Sales Health......100
Guilty of Print in the First Decree......103
Establish Your Company’s Brand Loyalty......106
What Print Buyers Want......109
Sales Lessons Throughout History......112
Okay, I’ve got enough left over columns to make two more books so I’m going to take a nap an think of some good titles. You, you, you big sweethearts, need to get out there and sell something!
