Lee's Book

  ZenWise Selling: Mindful Methods to Improve Your Sales...and Your Self

• In my award-winning book, ZenWise Selling, I clearly explain how to sell goods and services profitably and ethically, and how to achieve both financial and personal success as a sales professional.

  • Selling can’t be done on auto-pilot. Successful sales professionals are consultative experts who know that prospects become customers only after trust and credibility are established. ZenWise Selling teaches how to easily and efficiently attract and retain customers, and how to deepen and broaden customer relationships. Readers will examine their values and ethics, strengths and weaknesses, desires and fears. This inspirational, fast-paced and interactive book will help them sell more…with less stress.
     

• Media release: ZenWise Selling named Finalist in ForeWord's Book of the Year Awards

• ZenWise Selling now translated into several languages and distributed worldwide.

• ZenWise Selling (2004, ISBN 0974007609, 215 pages, softcover, $16.95) is available in bookstores nationwide.

• To buy the book through Amazon, simply click on the Buy from Amazon.com button below.

ZenWise Selling Translated and Distributed Internationally

(Pictured above: Russian cover and Indonesian cover of ZenWise Selling.)

International versions of ZenWise Selling are also available in these countries:

Comments from Book Reviewers and Booktrade Professionals

•      This is just an excellent book, all around. It is laid out well, with good use of fonts and white space. The title is fitting; the book is geared toward those in sales but is also beneficial to anyone interested in self-actualization, job hunters and any employee of any company.
       “Lessons from a Zen Sage” [sidebars] include “Learn to savor each moment for itself.” This is great advice even if you have nothing to sell. As a parent, I must remind myself of this idea often. “Truly listen to customers and co-workers, and not half-listen while thinking about something else” is good advice for all of us who have spouses, significant others, parents or children.
       The author also makes great use of quotes. Some of the advice some readers might think is just old-fashioned courtesy, common sense or just “good business.” Courtesy, senses and business have not necessarily intersected constantly in recent years.

  --- Writer's Digest, Award Committee for Top Six Non-fiction Small Press Titles

• ZenWise Selling: Mindful Methods to Improve Your Sales...And Your Self by sales trainer, public speaker, and Zen practitioner Lee Godden offers readers a unique blend of Zen principles and great business methodologies revolving around the core idea that excellence in personal understanding, bearing, character and credibility will inevitably result in excellent sales. From living and selling in-the-moment; to learning to accept, embrace, and learn from one's failures and fears; to the arts of managing salespeople; to team selling, and more, ZenWise Selling is confidently recommended as a superbly balanced work leading to self-improvement on physical, economic, and spiritual fronts.

  --- Midwest Book Review, Business Bookshelf

   

• Very nicely done...It is refreshing to see such a positive approach to sales. Godden emphasizes personal ethics and values in a genuine manner. Each chapter is well-organized and gives the reader a lot to think about. It was especially helpful to have the introductory chapter in which the format was explained.
  --- 2004 Benjamin Franklin Awards committee

• ZenWise Selling is about achieving the Holy Grail of sales--clearing your mind, finding calm and peace within yourself, and selling without any stress despite looming deadlines, quotas, and other standard fare of sales. Scattered throughout the book are multiple exercises to help the reader find that peace inside their self. This peace translates into a stronger personal aura and a strong sense of presence.
      One of the most important points of the book besides establishing this internal peace is to approach each sales opportunity from a fresh viewpoint with no preconceptions. This allows an honest relationship to develop between the customer and salesperson and a true partnership. This is selling with integrity at its best. ZenWise Selling is not a sales techniques book but a book on the foundation that underlies all relationships, including sales. The information in sales techniques books can then be applied to this foundation. Sell more, less stress, more peace, achieve the Zen of selling. ZenWise Selling is a highly recommended book.
   --- Readers Preference Reviews, Harold McFarland 

• Anyone who thinks salesmanship is beneath the dignity of Zen needs to be knocked off their meditation cushion! The rewards of self-knowledge and non-attachment are more satisfaction for seller and buyer, more sales, and a more harmonious world. (Did I mention more sales?) I want to deal with salespeople who have read Lee Godden's ZenWise Selling.
  --- Fred Phillips, Ph.D., Oregon Health & Sciences University professor, author of The Conscious Manager

• …it's always nice to recommend a resource that can improve the selling experience for both seller and buyer. [Godden] espouses a gentle, mindful selling orientation that replaces the aggressive hard sell. Godden is a Zen practitioner, and there's certainly quite a bit about meditative techniques and general Zen practices, as well as a nice little history of Zen at the end of the book. But he isn't preachy, and even if you don't see yourself meditating, there's much here that will be useful and practical for anyone in sales.

  --- Shel Horowitz, author of Principled Profit

   

• In a sea of books that teach strategies to help people become better salespersons, ZenWise Selling aims to teach the salesperson to become a better person, first. Once on this path, the salesperson will find the journey adventuresome and filled with lifelong successes. I also loved the Appendix overviewing the origins and history of Zen. WOW!

  --- Brenda Avadian, M.A., author and lecturer

   

•  ... The book has ten chapters and covers the subject well, both in breadth and depth. The approach is friendly and polite. The style is interesting and will hold your attention. For very definite reasons, the author has chosen a second person, guide book approach rather than the self-promoting autobiographical approach. He keeps himself in the background. Since the book does refer to ‘you’, the focus is on you, the reader, the customer, the consumer. The ‘I’ has been subdued, keeping with the Zen approach. ... The book is well-written and is well-produced. …Use of bullets and pointers, use of boxes with specific messages, exercises with specific focus, in general all the tools that make a guide book effective, have been liberally used. ... The book ZenWise Selling is indeed a radical departure from the usual guides to selling—which often focus on the individualistic aspects of selling and winning at the expense of another if needed. However, this book is at a higher level, where you, the customer and every one else, wins. ... Sales and business professionals open to new approaches will enjoy—and benefit from this book.

  --- BookPleasures Reviews

Table of Contents

Click here to read the entire Introductory Chapter from ZenWise Selling.

Introduction / 15 wWhat You Will Learn from ZenWise Selling wWhat is Zen? wWhy Zen and Sales? wWhy Do Salespeople Need a Personal Philosophy? wAbout the Meditations in This Book wAbout the List Exercises in This Book wIt's Your Journey

1. The Challenges of Selling / 25 wWhere Salespeople Come From wHow Salespeople are Viewed by Customers wHelp Wanted: Must be Able to Smile Under Stress wChange and Uncertainty: the Essence of Sales  wBad Things Happen to Stressed Salespeople wSigns of Sales Burn-Out wThe Mindful Salesperson 

2. To Know Yourself is to Know the Customer / 37 wDefine Success for Yourself wWhat Do You Truly Desire? wIs Desire for Money and Possessions Wrong? wThe Drawbacks of Auto-Pilot wCultivate Your Beginner's Mind wNo Battles, Just Diplomacy and Peacemaking wThe Downside of Multitasking wLiving and Selling In-The-Moment

3. Meditation: The Calm Before the Sell / 49 wReasons to Meditate wDealing with the Discomfort of Just Being wReward Yourself with a Brief Meditation  wThe Mechanics of Meditation wCounting Breaths to Simplify Calmness of Mind wSteps for a Full Meditation

4. Connecting With Customers / 61 wSales 101 wYou Can't Control the Customer wRelationship Selling is a Mindset, Not a Technique wThe First Hurdle: Establishing Trust wConnecting With the Customer Through Compassion wThe Underrated Art of Listening wSometimes Customers Lie wStrategic Selling wBrainstorming as a Team Sport wEducating the Customer wDazzle Them with Preparation and Follow-Through wCultivating Repeat Business wAn Affirmation Meditation for Salespeople

5. The Zen of Prospecting / 81 wConnected in Fifteen Seconds wTelephone Prospecting wDo You Know Enough to Call? wHandling "No" wRefining Your Message wAdvancing the Discussion wIn-Person Prospecting wProspecting Via Email, Letters and Fax wMeditation at Work

6. The Zen of Presenting / 97 wPresenting . . . You! wPreparation Beats Winging It wTiming is Everything wThe Flow of the Presentation wYour Unique Presenting Style wCapture Yourself on Video wPresentations Are Persuasive Storytelling wThe Team Presentation wBeware the Sales Expert wThe Customer Hears You with Their Eyes wHandling Stress While Presenting wIf They Say "No Thanks" wSometimes Presentations Go Wrong wThe Thoughts-are-Leaves Meditation

7. The Zen of Managing Salespeople / 121 wLeading by Example wThe Powerful Role of Ethics wManaging Salespeople Ethically wIn Management We Trust wCommunicating Clearly wEmpowering Through Positive Reinforcement wHiring Well wFriendship Between Manager and Salesperson wSalespeople Just Wanna Have Fun wTeaching Time Management wThe Self-Absorbed Salesperson wCoaching, Correcting and Critiquing wManaging With a Beginner's Mind

8. The Zen of Team Selling / 141 wNo Lone Rangers wA Rapport of Non-Competition with Coworkers wThe Cost of Envy wThink Before You Hit Send wLong, Tedious Internal Sales Meetings wDealing With Your Sales Manager wMake Yourself Easy to Manage wYounger or Less Experienced Managers wThe Problem Boss wMeditation is Kindness to Yourself

9. Anytime Awareness / 155 wActive Meditation wEnlightenment wThe Simple Rewards of Meditation wTell Yourself Why You Work wEmbrace Failure and Examine Fear wMend What's Not Working

10. Advice on Successful, Mindful Selling / 167 wAccept-Then Forget-Your Quota wSeek Shades of Gray wSmile, Compliment, and Thank wConfront Gently wAvoid Complainers wManage Your Workload wManage Your Time wManage Your Personal Budget wReward Yourself wBe Passionate wMake Slow, Easy Changes In Your Selling Style wTalk to Yourself with a Selling Journal wA 20-Step Recipe for a Good Day of Selling wSell Comfortably wDesign Your Office for Creative Thinking wLove The Ordinary wFinal Thoughts

Appendix A: The Story Behind Zen / 189 wYoung Prince Turned Wandering Seeker wTeacher of Compassion and the Causes of Suffering wThe Noble Truths and Other Teachings wJapan's Addition: The Sixteen Precepts wThe Three Characteristics of Life wZen's Roots in Chinese Taoism wZen's Japanese Roots wZen at Work wModern World, Modern Zen wZen and Christianity wZen and Judaism wThe Future of Zen

Appendix B: Zen Resources / 203 wThe Best Early Books About Zen wOther Excellent Books About Zen wPartial List of U.S. Zen Centers wPartial List of Worldwide Zen Centers wOther Web Sites

Notes and Bibliography / 209

Index / 211

tel. (562) 986-5163   Lee@LeeGodden.com