THANKS AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

THE AUTHOR’S JOURNEY DEMANDS CRAZY LEVELS OF COMMITMENT, AND MY creative writing has been done while leading corporate teams and, in more recent years, while supporting my consulting clients. In one seven-month period, I was publishing at least one original long-form blog per day, even while on vacation with my family in Vietnam. Insane, I know. The creation of this book, along with my blogging, occurred during the evenings and on weekends at the expense of time with my family. I am hugely indebted and forever grateful to my wife and children, who have been so accommodating and supportive over the years, as I obsessively wrote while also working to provide for our family.

This book was conceived from my blog and the incredible feedback from my readers. I have read hundreds of books and thousands of blogs over the decades, and I am grateful to the sales leaders around the world who have contributed to my learning. I’ve asked 100,000+ globally based sellers thousands of questions on every challenging sales topic one could imagine. In many ways, this book is an amalgam of the best sales minds in the world over the last three decades. I’ve synthesized timeless truths about influence and sales with innovative ways of leveraging technology in the age of the machines, empowered buyers, and naked brands. I’ve credited every person and source when I knowingly express their concepts; please forgive any unintentional omissions of attribution. If your own unique concepts are included in this book, without acknowledgment, please let me know and I’ll promote you in my blog and update future editions.

I thank all of those sales leaders who read the draft of this book and provided feedback, especially Kyle Porter and Chris Beall. Most important, I thank my clients; without their willingness to embrace change and without their courage to lead, this book would not be possible. My love affair with LinkedIn leaps off these pages, and that’s because I’m genuinely grateful for the free gift they’ve given the world in the form of an online profile and publishing platform. Reid Hoffman and Jeff Weiner themselves have had a profound impact on me based on their understanding of networked intelligence and the strength of weak ties.

Last but not least, I send special thanks to Tim Burgard and the AMACOM team in New York for doing more than just editing and publishing this book—they believed in it. They understood the need to focus on generating quality sales pipeline in order to transform the revenue results of businesses.