Unlimited Sales Success: 12 Simple Steps for Selling More Than You Ever Thought Possible
Brian Tracy and Michael Tracy
AMACOM (2013)

Ignore the title and subtitle and focus instead on how this book could perhaps help you achieve your goals

I have read and reviewed many of Brian Tracy’s previously published books (including those that focus on salesmanship, such as Advanced Selling Strategies and Be a Sales Superstar) and thus have a different perspective on this book than would someone who shares Tracy’s thoughts about sales success for the first time.

There are no head-snapping revelations nor any breakthrough insights. Anyone in need of those should seek them elsewhere. The same is also true for those who have little (if any) direct contact with consumers, other than electronically. Therefore, the information, insights, and counsel that the Tracys provide in this volume will probably be of greatest value to those who (a) have not read any if the prior books, (b) have relatively little experience in relationship sales, (c) need to understand the basics, and (d) also need an uncomplicated but sound system within which to manage their resources, especially their time and energy.

These are among the dozens of cultivation and solicitation fundamentals that the Tracys cover.

o Seven Steps to Mental Fitness (Pages 16-17)
o Key Result Areas (40-44)
o Characteristics of a Good Prospect (56-60)
o Recognize Poor Prospects (60-64)
o Customer Analysis (66-68)
o The Golden Triangle of Selling (76-77)
o The New Model of Selling (90-97)
Comment: Actually, it is somewhat updated to accommodate a “new” marketplace.
o Create Your Positioning (112-113)
o Three Forms of Reciprocity (135-136)
o Presentation Methods (155-160)
o Dealing with Price Objections, and, Dealing wit Price on the Phone (174-176 and 177-178)
o Why Closing Is Difficult, and, The New Model of Selling (187-189)
o The “Let me think it over” Close (199-201)
o The Second Sale (208-210)
o The Ultimate Question (219-221)
o Three Key Activities (228-229)
o The Seven Secrets to Success in Selling (243-247)
Comment: They are “secrets” only to those who are learning about them for the first time.

Basic stuff? Of course…but not obvious to those who are relatively inexperienced in relationship selling. The Tracys may view the 12 steps for selling that they recommend as “simple” but, again, they’re not simple for those who most need this book. To suggest otherwise is misleading. Indeed, if the steps were simple, literally anyone and everyone could sell more than they “ever thought possible.” That said, it is true that self-imposed limits preclude “unlimited sales success”

Having authored or co-authored more than 60 books thus far, Brian Tracy may now have little (if anything) new to share about sales or leadership or personal growth or professional development. Recycling of at least some material may be inevitable. However, almost everything he recommends is sound and sensible. For most of those who read his books, what he recommends is also do-able.

Unlimited Sales Success is certainly not for everyone, nor can those who read the book be certain that it will enable them to have unlimited sales success. For at least some people, what Brian Tracy and Michael Tracy provide can be invaluable if (HUGE “if”) the material is put to effective use. Success in any human endeavor really is that easy…and that difficult.