The Ultimate Sales Machine - Chet Holmes [1]
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This book is dedicated to the best person
I’ve ever known my entire life.
And I got to marry her.
The “salt of the earth” never tasted so sweet.
To my Vickey, the lady fantastic
Acknowledgments
On the business side, I’d like to thank Jay Abraham for being a great partner and teaching me so much about growing companies, Jay Levinson for encouraging me to write this book (only took 10 years, Jay, but I did it), Napoleon Hill for inspiring me to want to rise above the trials of a misspent youth, and Howard Linker for handing me that book that changed my life. Thank you to every major trainer out there as I have been like a sponge my entire life, learning from every one—Tony Robbins, Michael Gerber, Tom Hopkins, Wayne Dyer, Brian Tracy, Denis Waitley, and so on. Thank you, Charlie Munger, for providing me with the first place I ever worked where I had the freedom to prove my theories. Thank you, Dick Harrington, for being my first client when I started my own companies and for teaching me how to make things happen in large-scale organizations. You were a powerful influence and teacher to me and I’m very grateful.
I’d surely like to thank my agent, Lorin Rees, for helping me create a razor-sharp book outline. I’d like to thank my editor, Adrienne Schultz, who helped to sharpen every sentence and chapter. The reinforcement provided by Bruce Sylvester was amazing. He is the most detailed person I’ve ever known. The entire team at Portfolio—including Adrian Zackheim, smart as a whip, and Will Weisser, devoted to spreading the word—has been a plea sure to work with.
I’d also like to thank Kimberly Delaney, the backbone of the project, who helped me assemble all this material and turn it into a well-organized book.
On the personal side, I’d like to thank my father for teaching me about courage and my mother for giving me so many gifts, from art to music to, most important, the belief in myself that I could accomplish anything. Thanks to my second mom, June, who is the epitome of sophistication and grace under pressure. You helped sculpt me as a young adult and gave me a brother and three more sisters, whom I adore. Thank you to my wife, Vickey, who has been like the calm in my storm, and my children, Jordan and Amanda, who are my greatest source of hope and joy. Okay, Baby, too.
Thanks also go to my friends who taught me things that helped shape my life for the better—especially to Tom Shepard (the Sundance to my Butch Cassidy), Mitch, Scott, Marc, Kit, Paul, and Ralph. You are the only true friends in this long life. I am privileged to know you. To my spiritual genius friend, Hale Dworskin, a special thank you.
I also thank my brother Tim for his hidden beauty that I see so clearly, my sister Vicki for her indomitable spirit, Martin (who I hope will live up to his enormous potential), and, lastly, Steve. I will forever acknowledge how you took me from the life I was headed for and set me on a path of learning. You set my soul on fire with your great writing. You awakened my ambition at every level, and you sculpted the early foundations of my telephone skills that have helped me get to just about anyone on Earth. I’ll always remember the good times, like rehearsing Kings in Bloom-field. I never laughed so hard. Know that wherever you may go, if you think of me and smile…(I won’t steal your words, but you know what I would say if I did.)
Contents
Acknowledgments
A Note to the Reader
Foreword: When Words Are Never Enough
Preface