Birth of a Salesman : The Transformation of Selling in America

Rating:
Summary: Great book with real good historical perspective.
Review: I have been involved in every aspect of the selling profession for the last 20 years, coporate sales, consulting, new business development, sales relationship management and sales training. I worked for three years for one of the greatest sales trainer in the market, and as I was finishing this book, I kept telling myself how little the general public knows about the PROFESSION of selling. For all sales person, who on the daily basis, tries to make a living, this book will be a great supporting tool. You will be able to finally be really proud of the historical aspects of the selling profession, knowing that our profession is one of the hardest to pick up as a career.
Walter Friedman captures the real picture behind the daily struggles that sales people go through on a daily basis.
Great read and very entertaining.

Rating:
Summary: Read it!
Review: This is a terrific book, entertaining, informative, and well written. Highly recommended!

Rating:
Summary: Read it!
Review: This is a terrific book, entertaining, informative, and well written. Highly recommended!

Rating:
Summary: Entertaining AND scholarly!
Review: This is the first serious historical study of salesmanship that I know of, and it's terrific. Whether you're an academic, a college student, or someone who just likes history, this is the book for you. It intelligently and entertainingly charts the development of selling from 19th century bible and lightning rod hucksters to the 20th century professional, and discusses why this way of making a living continues to have a bad reputation (the author talks about how there was a post-WWII survey of mothers asking what they hoped their "sons" would grow up to be, and salesman always placed last!). The book is full of entertaining anectdotes and great illustrations-- it isn't often that a serious work of history is also humorous. This one is, and will also inform you about the changes in American society over the past 200 years.