People need to hear your story, Ja Marr.” While those words were said to me nearly eight years before I wrote What’s Your Sales Story?, I can still hear them as if they were just spoken to me.
 
Imparting my knowledge and skills on selling to others was one thing, but divulging my full story made me uncomfortable. Even so the suggestion of sharing the story behind how I went from nearly being fired from one of the most respected pharmaceutical companies in the world to becoming the #1 sales rep for the company lingered with me.
 
I wasn’t ready to tell my story at the time, but if I ever did, how could I tell it in a way that would inspire others?
 
How could I impart what I learned so that other sales professionals could shorten their own learning curve and rise to the top of their company or industry, faster and without all of the struggles I went thru?
 
The struggles and hardships that all salespeople experience publically are often times easy to spot and work on. But what about the struggles and hardships salespeople experience privately?
 
It is my experience that the struggles and hardships salespeople have to deal with internally are the ones that get in the way of our success as professionals. I knew this as well as anyone and realized that by telling my story, I could provide a path for others to follow.
 
For the next eight years there wasn’t a day that went by that I wasn’t thinking of my story. Some days I’d write down memories of pivotal moments in my career. Other days I would simply think about it, make some mental notes and move on.
 
Over time my story took shape. It is a story of failure and triumph. Life and death. Blindness and sight. Although the suggestion of telling my story stimulated the idea of writing it, the reason I ultimately wrote What’s Your Sales Story? and subsequently launched this blog, can be traced to a little old lady, my daughter and a time honored Japanese philosophy known as KAIZEN. 

Tracing My Success

My success in sales can be traced back to a vow I made to a little old lady in a doctor’s office. I promised her that I would dedicate my career to helping and teaching other professionals just as she helped me, by sharing her story with me. Writing my book What’s Your Sales Story? is just one of the ways that I have kept that promise.
 
While the encounter with this woman and her story forever changed how I looked at selling, the Why behind writing this book and ultimately, this blog, came from my daughter, Alexis. She is my biggest inspiration and the driving force behind everything I do at this stage of my life.
 
Ever since the day I found out my wife was pregnant, I started keeping a journal for her. The intention is that as she gets older she will not only have the memories she shared with me and her family, but she will have the stories that have shaped the lives of her father, mother and her family.
 
So why write a book that tells the story of a pivotal period of my career? And why establish a blog to talk about how stories are an integral part of becoming a perennial sales performer?

Having a book for my daughter that documents my journey through a pivotal period of my life is a significant part of why the book exists. The other reason it I wrote it is to impart what I have learned in my career to other salespeople and managers so that they can accelerate their own personal and professional success.
 
My intention is that by knowing my story, you will come to understand your own story. In doing so you will be able to listen to and apply what you learn from your customer’s stories to profoundly enrich their lives and your own.
 

 Ja Marr Brown