White Collar Combat No matter what shape you're currently in, you're here reading about a book called White Collar Combat because, let's face it, you've been knocked down a time or two and want to quit getting your ass kicked This is not your father's sales methodology. This is written for the modern sales combantant, living in a world with CRMs and cells.As a boxing practitioner, enthusiast and sales combat veteran, I'm here to tell you that to become a professional sales person you will need to train your mind and body with the same dedication as a professional boxer. To an uneducated observer, boxing appears to be a brutal, harsh and unrefined sport. Two people stand on opposite ends of a 20 by 20 square. Once a bell rings, their tightly-coiled bodies collide in a fiery dance of movement and intentional violence. But boxing is not what it appears. It is a calculated sport centered on technique, intelligence, skill, desire and effective aggressiveness. It is the truest of all sports; the one featuring the most moments of pure physical or spiritual truth. Anyone who tells you that boxing is a battle of fists has never stood in a ring and exchanged blows with a worthy opponent. It is more a test of wills than anything else. In boxing there are no excuses, lies or cowardice. Boxers endure physical punishment every day and embrace the pain in order to learn an opponent's weakness as well as hone their own inherent strengths. The person who wins is not necessarily the "strongest" or the "biggest" fighter in the ring, but the one who imposes their will on their opponent and executes the best technique. Let's Get Ready to Rumble Believe it or not, sales shares many similarities with boxing. Observers and the general public often view sales professionals as harsh, brutal and unrefined. We are to be avoided at all costs, except when completely necessary. As in boxing, however, the reality of the profession - and the professional salesperson - is quite different from the public perception. A true sales professional endures constant mental punishment and embraces it in order to expose an "opponent's" weakness. The winningest boxers train relentlessly to be the very best at their craft. They run, spar (practice) in the gym, they study fight tapes of opponents; they eat for performance and condition their mind for victory. Pro sellers keep themselves in top mental shape as well, perfecting their craft by reading books, taking courses and learning from seasoned pros and fighting veterans who are always in their corner. In short, sales professionals are the white collar "mental gladiators" of our time, exchanging punches for words, negotiations for rounds - and bonuses for championship belts. To be truly successful in sales, you can't just step in the ring and expect to go toe-to-toe with your opponent in a fair fight. Instead, you need to dedicate yourself to the science of selling with the same rigor as a professional boxer devotes his or her life to the science of winning.