Part self-help techniques, part sales manual, and part Christian allegory, The Greatest Salesman in the World delivers a prescription for how to live your life more successfully by utilizing 10 character-building principles. Written by insurance salesman Og Mandino in 1968, the book emphasizes that to achieve any goal, you need to develop the habits and attitudes of a great salesperson, which means acquiring self-confidence, emotional control, persistence, generosity, humor, and humility.
The 10 principles are taught through the parable of a poor camel boy in Biblical times. Hafid wants to learn the art of selling so he can become a wealthy merchant. Hafid’s mentor, a highly successful salesperson, sees that the young boy is both ambitious and generous, so he rewards him with a chest full of 10 scrolls inscribed with the secrets of selling. But the precious scrolls come with caveats: Hafid must always give generously to those less fortunate, and he must keep the scrolls a secret until he meets their next rightful owner.
Hafid uses the scrolls to amass a great fortune and eventually reaches old age. As he nears his death, he gives away almost everything he owns while he waits for the scroll’s successor to appear. When that person arrives, it turns out to be the Apostle Paul, who will use the scroll’s lessons to “sell” Jesus’s teachings to the world.
Create a better future for yourself by replacing bad habits with good ones. Today is a new day in which you can spend your time and energy engaged in practices and activities you want to cultivate instead of negative behaviors. With practice, any new action becomes easy, so start forming better habits today.
Say you want to eat healthier meals, but you begin each morning by stopping at the fast-food drive-thru on the way to work. Replace this bad habit with a better one—get up 15 minutes earlier and make yourself a delicious, healthy breakfast. If you repeat this practice over many days, it will become a normal part of your routine. You will be a slave to a good habit rather than a bad one.
Approach every person on earth with unconditional love. Recognize people’s innate goodness even if they aren’t showing it. Use love and generosity as tools to attract people to you. The love you send out into the world will come right back to you.
You think your colleague is arrogant and overbearing, and you avoid him as much as possible. Tomorrow, seek him out and ask him a question about his family or work, or pay him a genuine compliment. Even words as simple as “that’s a great tie you’re wearing” can be a loving gesture. Genuinely loving words and actions may turn this difficult person into a valued friend.
Don’t quit. Perseverance and persistence are critical sales skills and also life skills. Failures are merely challenges on the path to success. Success rarely comes right away—it typically arrives at the end of your efforts, not the beginning.
Even after a full day of hearing “no” from potential buyers, a great salesperson doesn’t allow herself to give up. When you’re weary at the end of the day and want to go home, challenge yourself to make one more sales call. Every single call is one step on the journey to making a sale.
Feel pride in what differentiates you from others. Your individuality and originality has value, and you can use it to your advantage to be a better salesperson or simply a better person. No one else in the world has exactly what you have to offer, so take an inventory of your gifts and cultivate them.
You’re an introvert, and you’ve always felt a bit out of place among your sales department colleagues who are chatty, fast-talking extroverts. You often worry that your quieter personality makes you less successful at selling. But flip that around—your introversion may be your greatest strength. Many customers will trust your quiet, serious nature and prefer buying from you than the stereotypical glad-handing salesperson. You listen carefully to what your customers want instead of pushing your sales agenda, and your customers value that.
Today is a precious commodity, so don’t waste it. Don’t focus on the past; put all your energy into the present. You can’t repeat this day or this moment, so give it your full energy and attention.
Never put off until tomorrow what you could do today. Every morning, ask yourself what matters most to you today, what will feel like a worthy accomplishment when the day is done. Maybe it’s sticking to your new healthy eating regime or making your elderly mother feel great on her birthday. Or maybe it’s finally gathering the courage to make that sales call you’ve been putting off. Time has a way of slipping away from us—today will be relegated to history in a mere 24 hours—so use this day to your best advantage.
A good day can quickly become a bad day if you allow your moods to control you, instead of vice versa. Reign in your negative moods and emotions with action. Counter emotional volatility with positive actions or rituals—taking a walk, laughing with a friend, or counting your blessings.
When Sharon opens her email inbox and finds it full of customer complaints, she gets upset and loses motivation to work. Then she feels terrible because she’s not productive, and her mood sinks lower. To combat that cycle, she decides to take action—she will not check her inbox until after she’s completed three solid hours of productive work in the morning, which will make her feel good. Then she can tackle the complaints after lunch without letting them derail her.
Laugh at the world, and laugh at yourself. A sense of humor improves almost any situation. A light-hearted approach to life’s problems makes them seem less daunting.
When Jamie drove away from the gas station pump with the hose still attached to her car, she felt ashamed of her absentmindedness and “dumb mistake.” She decided not to tell anyone about the embarrassing incident. But a week later, a friend happened to mention that he got distracted at the gas station and did the exact same thing, so of course Jamie confessed. The two friends roared with laughter, and Jamie felt the joyful release of making fun of her own foibles. She decided right then to admit that she’s not perfect and learn to laugh at her mistakes.
Create a roadmap for how you want your life to go—for the goals you want to achieve or the sales you want to close. Strive for constant improvement by competing with yourself and bettering yourself every day. Set goals, meet them, then set newer and higher goals.
Last week you planned to sell $10,000 worth of merchandise. You met that goal, but instead of resting on your laurels, this week you set a goal of selling $11,000 worth of merchandise. You keep challenging yourself and aiming higher. (Or a non-sales example: Last week you went to the gym three days a week. You met that goal, so this week you’re aiming for three gym workouts plus one yoga class.)
Always choose action over hesitation. It doesn’t matter how much learning or preparation you do if it doesn’t lead to action. Acting now (even if you aren’t quite ready) is always better than procrastinating. The only way you fail is if you don’t act.
Students often procrastinate on their assignments, but they aren’t necessarily being lazy. They procrastinate because they fear failure—they’re afraid they aren’t smart enough to do the assignment well. But procrastinating makes any job harder because it enlarges and increases fear. During the period when the student is not doing the assignment (they’re procrastinating by doing some other activity), they’re building up negative thoughts about their ability to do it. When they finally sit down to work, they’ve made a mountain out of a molehill, and the assignment seems insurmountable. Students who dive into their work immediately will have an easier time completing it because they don’t allow their fear to expand.
Pray to a higher power for guidance. You’re not all-knowing or all-powerful, so ask for help. In your prayers, don’t request certain outcomes or ask for material goods; pray for wisdom and direction to help you follow the right path.
You’re having a personality conflict with your boss. You believe she micro-manages you and doesn’t appreciate how hard you work and how skilled you are. You have to hold yourself back from losing your temper, and you’re starting to wonder if you should quit and find another job. This is a good time to pray for guidance. You don’t know what’s the best course of action, so ask for help. Pray to someone or something bigger than you for help in finding and walking the right path—either working through your problems with your boss or moving on to a new job.
Og Mandino’s 1968 parable The Greatest Salesman in the World preaches 10 principles that can make anyone a great salesperson and give them the opportunity to create vast wealth. The book’s title is slightly misleading—you’ll find no strategies for how to negotiate a cold call or close a deal. Instead, the story “sells” the premise that becoming a great salesperson means developing a better, stronger version of yourself through good habits, discipline, perseverance, and self-control. Whether you’re in the sales business or not, these self-development efforts may improve your life.
Half of Greatest Salesman recounts the story of Hafid, a lowly camel boy who yearns for wealth and believes he can acquire it by mastering the art of selling. Hafid builds a vast financial empire based on the teachings inscribed on 10 leather scrolls bequeathed to him by his mentor, a wealthy merchant known for his masterful selling. The book’s other half reveals the scrolls’ lessons, one chapter per scroll. Each lesson serves double-duty as a broader life lesson, which gives the book a broad appeal extending beyond the realm of sales and marketing.
Greatest Salesman is set in the Middle East around the time of Jesus Christ’s birth. Some readers may find the book’s Biblical references off-putting, but you don’t need to subscribe to any particular religious beliefs to benefit from its character-building lessons. Its core message is that improving your sales numbers—or your life—requires making positive changes to your attitudes, habits, and actions.
(Shortform note: The word “salesman” was commonly used in the 1960s when Mandino was writing but is considered sexist today. In this summary we substitute “salesperson,” which is better suited to current norms.)
Hafid, a wealthy old man nearing the end of his life, asks his bookkeeper to account for the total amassed wealth in his treasury and warehouses, then convert it into gold and donate it to the poor. Hafid wants to keep only enough so he can comfortably live out his remaining days.
The bookkeeper knows that Hafid has always given money to the needy, but this request seems extraordinary. Still, he does as he’s instructed and liquidates Hafid’s empire. Afterward, the two men go to a secret room in Hafid’s palace, where Hafid shows the bookkeeper a cedar chest filled with 10 leather scrolls, each containing a secret lesson that, when studied, could teach anyone how to become the greatest salesperson in the world and earn untold wealth. Hafid has used these scrolls’ lessons to make himself rich.
As a young man, Hafid was given the scrolls by his mentor, but they came with strict stipulations. Hafid had to swear to give away half of his profits to the poor, and he was not allowed to share the scrolls’ secrets. He was instructed to study the scrolls and use them to his benefit, then keep them hidden away until a special person came along—someone who desperately needed their teachings. Hafid would recognize this person by a mysterious sign and know it was time to pass on the scrolls.
Hafid needs to fulfill the promise he made to his mentor before he dies, but his successor—the scrolls’ new owner—has not yet come.
Hafid recalls how he came to possess the scrolls. As an orphaned young boy, he works as a camel attendant for a great trade merchant, Pathros. Hafid tells Pathros he wants to move up from his “lowly position” to become a seller of goods, someone who can make money to support the family he will someday have.
Pathros tries to discourage Hafid, telling him that material wealth is not as important as it seems, that what matters most is loving others, being loved, and finding peace and happiness. Hafid agrees, but confesses that he has fallen in love with a girl, the daughter of a wealthy man, and being a lowly camel boy, he has no chance of wooing her.
Hearing this argument, Pathros relents and agrees to give Hafid the chance to learn how to sell. But Pathros says Hafid’s path will not be easy; a salesperson’s life is difficult and lonely and the job is filled with challenges and obstacles. Hafid will need to prove himself worthy.
Pathros tells Hafid to report to the caravan’s baggage wagons to pick up a red goat-hair robe from the vast inventory of goods. Then Hafid must travel by donkey to Bethlehem to sell the robe for a minimum of one silver denarius, and he must do it within four days. Pathros’s parting advice to Hafid is a refrain that echoes throughout the book: If your will to succeed is strong enough, you will not fail.
On Hafid’s fourth day as a robe seller in Bethlehem, he is despondent. He has not sold the robe, and no one will listen to his sales pitch. He starts to doubt himself, thinking he should give up his dreams and return to his job as a camel boy. But when he remembers the girl he loves, he renews his resolve to become a successful merchant. He decides to get up before dawn and work harder to sell the robe.
As Hafid heads to the cave where he intends to sleep for the night, he encounters a young couple with a newborn baby. They’re shivering from the cold, and the parents don’t have enough clothing to keep themselves and the baby warm. Hafid hesitates, then decides he must do the right thing—he takes his precious goat-hair robe and wraps it around the baby. The grateful mother kisses him.
A strangely bright star lights up the night as Hafid heads back to Pathros’s merchant caravan, but Hafid barely notices it because he dreads facing Pathros. Hafid believes he has failed his master by giving away the robe instead of selling it.
But when Hafid reaches the caravan, Pathros is outside his tent, staring up at the brilliant star illuminating the sky. He remarks on this bright star and asks Hafid what occurred in Bethlehem. Hafid relates his story, and to his great surprise, Pathros doesn’t chastise him. Instead, he looks up at the star and kindly tells Hafid he has not failed.
Moved by the young boy’s generosity and the amazing celestial event, Pathros believes that Hafid is the rightful heir to Pathros’s secret treasure—10 leather scrolls spelling out how to be a master salesperson. Pathros gives Hafid the scrolls and sends him out into the world to make his fortune.
As Chapter 7 ends, Hafid is alone in Damascus, opening the box of scrolls for the first time. He is filled with fear and doubt that he can’t live up to Pathros’s legacy, but then he remembers his mentor’s advice: If your will to succeed is strong enough, you will not fail. Hafid begins to read the first scroll.
Each of 10 the scrolls is described in its own short chapter, and the book shifts from narrative to instruction manual.
(Shortform note: Hafid vanishes for 50 or so pages, and although we rejoin him in the final chapter, we don’t get to witness him applying the scrolls’ lessons and developing his skills as a salesperson.)
The first scroll extols the virtues of good habits, noting that they are what separates those who succeed from those who fail. All humans are slaves to their habits, so it’s much wiser to develop and maintain good habits than bad ones.
Each day gives us a new chance to destroy bad habits and start good ones, and the easiest way to do this is to replace bad habits with a better alternative. If you indulge in good habits all day, there’s no time or space for bad habits. For example, if you want to sell more widgets, then fill your waking hours making sales calls rather than with frivolous pastimes. Repetition is the key to forming good habits—constant practice makes any task easy.
Scroll #1 also lays out the first good habit you should adopt—the habit of reading each scroll for 30 days, three times a day, silently in the morning and at noon, and aloud in the evening. After 30 days, you can move on to the next scroll. This repetition will reinforce the scrolls’ lessons until their roots are anchored firmly in your unconscious mind.
Say you want to eat healthier meals, but you begin each morning by stopping at the fast-food drive-thru on the way to work. Replace this bad habit with a better one—get up 15 minutes earlier and make yourself a delicious, healthy breakfast. If you repeat this practice over many days, it will become a normal part of your routine. You will be a slave to a good habit rather than a bad one.
The second scroll reminds you to project love to everyone and everything around you. Eliminate negativity, pessimism, criticism, and ill will from your thinking. Remember that every person you meet is valuable in their own way, even if their admirable qualities are hidden. Treat them with love, appreciation, gratitude, and respect. (Shortform note: The TV personality Mr. Rogers used to say there isn’t anyone you can’t love once you’ve heard their story.) Even people who don’t like you may soften up if you treat them with love and understanding.
Frame your thinking and actions from a loving heart:
While you’re loving everyone else, remember also to love yourself. Scroll #2 reminds you to treat yourself with kindness and respect—keep your body clean and healthy, your soul pure, and your mind positive.
You think your colleague is arrogant and overbearing, and you avoid him as much as possible. Tomorrow, seek him out and ask him a question about his family or work, or pay him a genuine compliment. Even words as simple as “that’s a great tie you’re wearing” can be a loving gesture. Genuinely loving words and actions may turn this difficult person into a valued friend.
Life has a way of testing us in myriad ways, making perseverance a key success strategy. It’s also key for becoming a great salesperson. Scroll #3 tells us that each attempt at selling is like an axe striking at a mighty tree. The first, second, and hundredth strike may do little or nothing, but if you keep swinging the axe, the tree will eventually fall. You’ll close the sale.
When a customer says “no” to buying your product, do not see it as a failure. Reframe all failures as challenges. Reject the concept of failure—anything you might call a failure can just as easily be labeled an obstacle or a learning experience. Remove words like “quit” and “cannot” and “hopeless” from your vocabulary. A great salesperson is never daunted by “no” because “no” is just a stepping stone to “yes.”
Simultaneously, also remember that perseverance requires patience. Success rarely comes at the start of a project; it usually comes after overcoming various obstacles along the way.
Even after a full day of hearing “no” from potential buyers, a great salesperson doesn’t allow herself to give up. When you’re weary at the end of the day and want to go home, challenge yourself to make one more sales call. Every single call is one step on the journey to making a sale.
Understand that you are unique in the world. Yes, there are 7.6 billion humans on the planet, but only you have your very individual set of talents, strengths, and assets. Be confident in those unique qualities and know that you have something to give to the world that no one else has. Work at increasing your unique potential, and remember that you will excel by being true to yourself.
You’re an introvert, and you’ve always felt a bit out of place among your sales department colleagues who are chatty, fast-talking extroverts. You often worry that your quieter personality makes you less successful at selling. But flip that around—your introversion may be your greatest strength. Many customers will trust your quiet, serious nature and prefer buying from you than the stereotypical glad-handing salesperson. You listen carefully to what your customers want instead of pushing your sales agenda, and your customers value that.
Aim to make each day the best day of your life. Time is a rare and fleeting gift, so orient your mind toward the present and cherish each hour of every day. Don’t defer your dreams by procrastinating, ruminating on the past, or daydreaming about the future. Live well now—today is a gift that if squandered, you can never get back. All you have is now—this moment—so use it to your advantage.
Never put off until tomorrow what you could do today. Every morning, ask yourself what matters most to you today, what will feel like a worthy accomplishment when the day is done. Maybe it’s sticking to your new healthy eating regime or making your elderly mother feel great on her birthday. Or maybe it’s finally gathering the courage to make that sales call you’ve been putting off. Time has a way of slipping away from us—today will be relegated to history in a mere 24 hours—so use this day to your best advantage.
Take charge of your emotions. Every day you awaken in some kind of mood, and it’s probably different from the mood of yesterday morning or last night. Emotions ebb and flow. Don’t let yourself toss in the rough waves of your moods or be a slave to the vagaries of your emotions. You can control your moods by taking specific actions.
Decide that you will make your own internal weather. Learn what triggers your emotions and take steps to control, alleviate, or negate those triggers. For example, when you’re feeling sad, share a joke with someone. Scroll #6 states that actions combat moods: “If I feel incompetent, I will remember past successes” and “if I feel depressed, I will sing.”
This scroll also adds a final caveat: Make allowances for other people’s emotions. Understand that human emotions are like wheels, constantly spinning. When someone isn’t behaving well, give them the benefit of the doubt—they may not have learned to master their emotions.
When Sharon opens her email inbox and finds it full of customer complaints, she gets upset and loses motivation to work. Then she feels terrible because she’s not productive, and her mood sinks lower. To combat that cycle, she decides to take action—she will not check her inbox until after she’s completed three solid hours of productive work in the morning, which will make her feel good. Then she can tackle the complaints after lunch without letting them derail her.
Scroll #7 states that laughing at the world is good medicine, and laughing at yourself is even better. Humans are far from perfect, so we need to stop expecting perfection of ourselves. Don’t fixate on life’s minor problems, and don’t beat yourself up for making mistakes.
Laughter has a way of reducing problems to a smaller size; a sense of humor improves almost any situation. Cultivate a light-hearted perspective so that small annoyances don’t get the better of you. On the rare days when your troubles are too heavy for you to laugh at, repeat four words to yourself: “This too shall pass.” Situations in your life are constantly in flux, so whatever is true now will be different in the future. Neither bad news nor good news is permanent.
When Jamie drove away from the gas station pump with the hose still attached to her car, she felt ashamed of her absentmindedness and “dumb mistake.” She decided not to tell anyone about the embarrassing incident. But a week later, a friend happened to mention that he got distracted at the gas station and did the exact same thing, so of course Jamie confessed. The two friends roared with laughter, and Jamie felt the joyful release of making fun of her own foibles. She decided right then to admit that she’s not perfect and learn to laugh at her mistakes.
Strive to improve yourself every day. You have a purpose in life—to grow, progress, increase your skills and knowledge, and make yourself better in every way. Your life’s work is to nurture your body and mind so that you can achieve whatever you yearn for.
You can constantly increase your value by setting goals, meeting them, and then setting new, more ambitious goals. You know exactly where you want to go, so set goals for every day, week, month, and year. Keep your goals at the forefront of your mind.
Never rest on your laurels or become complacent with where you are in life. Always aim higher; it’s much better for your reach to exceed your grasp than to aim low and easily attain your goals.
Last week you planned to sell $10,000 worth of merchandise. You met that goal, but instead of resting on your laurels, this week you set a goal of selling $11,000 worth of merchandise. You keep challenging yourself and aiming higher. (Or a non-sales example: Last week you went to the gym three days a week. You met that goal, so this week you’re aiming for three gym workouts plus one yoga class.)
Dreams, plans, and goals are useless if they aren’t followed by action. Scroll #9 instructs us that the most carefully drawn map can’t carry its owner along a trail, and a wisely written scroll can’t do the work of earning money. Only action matters.
Taking action separates you from failure—you only fail if you do nothing. Procrastination, which stems from fear, is the enemy of achievement. Condition your mind to avoid procrastination by simply acting instead of hesitating. Develop the habit of leaping without thinking too much or too hard before you leap. The only way to take advantage of today’s opportunities is to act now. Use affirmations to develop an action orientation—repeat the mantra “I will act now.”
Students often procrastinate on their assignments, but they aren’t necessarily being lazy. They procrastinate because they fear failure—they’re afraid they aren’t smart enough to do the assignment well. But procrastinating makes any job harder because it enlarges and increases fear. During the period when the student is not doing the assignment (they’re procrastinating by doing some other activity), they’re building up negative thoughts about their ability to do it. When they finally sit down to work, they’ve made a mountain out of a molehill, and the assignment seems insurmountable. Students who dive into their work immediately will have an easier time completing it because they don’t allow their fear to expand.
Success requires humility and an understanding that no one gets to the top without help from others. You aren’t invincible or almighty, so pray to a higher power for guidance. You don’t necessarily need to believe in God to pray—all earthly creatures cry out for help when in trouble. Don’t pray for handouts or outcomes, but gracefully acknowledge your own humility by asking for advice and wisdom to help you move toward your goals.
You’re having a personality conflict with your boss. You believe she micro-manages you and doesn’t appreciate how hard you work and how skilled you are. You have to hold yourself back from losing your temper, and you’re starting to wonder if you should quit and find another job. This is a good time to pray for guidance. You don’t know what’s the best course of action, so ask for help. Pray to someone or something bigger than you for help in finding and walking the right path—either working through your problems with your boss or moving on to a new job.
The book zips back to where the story began—Hafid is an old man who has liquidated all his fortunes, and he’s waiting to meet the successor to whom he will give the scrolls. One day a poor man in beggar’s clothes appears at Hafid’s door, saying that he is searching for “the greatest salesman in the world.” He is Saul of Tarsus, also known as Paul.
Paul tells Hafid that several years ago, he was hired to round up the followers of a man named Jesus, a preacher who had been crucified by the Romans. Jesus’s followers were severely punished, even put to death. Paul routed out the crucified man’s disciples until one fateful day when he had a radical epiphany. His heart changed completely, and now instead of persecuting Jesus’s followers, he preaches the gospel of Jesus.
Of course, Paul has a huge credibility problem: Most people know of his past and do not trust him. No one will listen to his sales pitch as he tries to “sell” the words of God. Still, Paul plods onward with his preaching for four years. Finally, one day a voice from above tells him to “ask for guidance from the greatest salesman in the world,” and he comes to see Hafid.
Hafid is intrigued by the stranger’s story, and he asks Paul more about Jesus. Paul speaks with passion about the miracles Jesus performed, his crucifixion and resurrection. Finally, Paul presents Hafid with Jesus’s tattered, ancient robe. Hafid is amazed—he recognizes it as the robe he gave to the baby in the cave many years ago. He asks Paul to recount the story of Jesus’s birth, and Paul talks about the star that shone over Bethlehem, the same star that awed Hafid’s mentor Pathros.
The parable ends with Hafid rejoicing, knowing that he has found the long-awaited successor who will take ownership of the scrolls. And just like that, the Apostle Paul becomes the next-in-line “greatest salesman in the world.”
Think about how to apply the scrolls’ lessons to overcome bad habits and treat others in a loving way.
Think about how you spend your time each week. What “bad” habits would you like to replace with better habits?
What better habits will you adopt to replace them?
Think of how you behave around people you don’t particularly like or strangers you don’t know. Do you smile and say hello, or do you avoid making eye contact?
Make a list of three people in your life whom you could approach in a more loving way. How will you act or what will you say to these people next time you see them?
Name a few standout qualities that make you different from your colleagues at work, your neighbors, and your family members. Evaluate yourself as an outsider might evaluate you. What unique abilities do you bring to the table?
Think about how to apply the scrolls’ lessons to set goals and take action.
Everybody has emotional traps. Make a list of three things that can trigger you to lapse into a bad mood.
What action(s) can you take to combat each of these triggers?
Make four separate goal lists: One list for today, one for this week, one for this month, and one for this year.
What actions are you taking today to move toward your sales or personal life goals? List three tasks that you can tackle today that will push you closer to your daily, weekly, monthly, and/or yearly goals.
Consider how you can align your four goal lists so that what you’re doing today also helps you achieve your long-term goals. What can you do today that will help you achieve this month’s goals or this year’s goals?