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Why Winners Win shows what it takes to be successful in any field. It is not just for businesspeople, leaders, managers and salespeople – if you want to succeed in any endeavour, this book can help you. It is as much about success in life as it is about success in business. The two, in my opinion, are inextricably linked.

Although my work over the past two decades has focused on training real estate business owners and salespeople, before that I was in sales and sales management in the office equipment industry, and before that I worked in the hospitality industry (hotels).

So, while many of the examples I use concern real estate sales, others relate to office equipment sales and the hotel industry. Still other examples are drawn from people I have met during my life, many of whom were not businesspeople, and from books and seminars I have attended over the past three decades.

Winners are everywhere you look; unfortunately, so too are people who have chosen a different path. I learn from everyone. I recommend you do too.

It can be too easy to look at an example and say to yourself, ‘This doesn't apply to me.' Perhaps the example involves someone who is not in the same field as you, but this does not mean you cannot draw parallels and learn. ‘This doesn't apply to me' shuts out any possibility of learning important lessons that could change your life.

Throughout my career I have always sought winners and gone to great lengths to learn from the best. I did this before I entered Sales and Sales management, and it is a practice I continue to this day.

Why Winners Win is a distillation of lessons from my lifetime of learning. Whether you are in customer service, Sales, leadership or management, or are a salaried employee, a stay-at-home parent or just starting your working life, this book has much to offer you.

A golden opportunity

Sandy Rogers is now a high-income producer at Marsellos Pike Real Estate in Morayfield, Queensland, but her rise to the top wasn't easy.

Sandy started in the real estate business as a single mother with a young son. She has now been in the industry for about 18 years, commencing as a receptionist on $28 000 per annum, later moving into property management.

Observing the company's salespeople in action, Sandy often thought, ‘I can do that.' The company gave her the opportunity to go into Sales; she put her head down, worked hard, set goals and started to forge herself a great career.

She looked after her money carefully and at one stage was able to take her family on an extended trip to Malta.

She was very gracious in thanking us for her success, but I pointed out it was really all her own doing by coming to our training programs and implementing what she had learned.

When she opened a seminar for us once she said, ‘I pulled the manual apart! I'd just go through the manual, study it and then I'd apply it in the field.'

That, to me, is the epitome of a winner: They train, they study and they have the courage to test their knowledge in the field. They know they might fail when they try new techniques. When Sandy tried and failed, she studied the manual again, went back out and tried again … until she got it right.

Fast forward 15 years, and she has built a great life for herself. She has done so as a single mum, raising her son on her own, and now she's financially secure.

Sandy Rogers is a winner – in her career and in her life.

I wonder how many real estate salespeople actually appreciate the golden opportunity their careers offer them. When you landed this career, you won the lottery. Do you need reminding how good you have it?

• Selling dreams: So many people dream of owning property. It is a talking point at many parties and in the media. I would go as far to say that real estate is more talked about now than the weather.

• Freedom: Your time is your own. Although you may have to attend sales and training meetings, you don't have a boss looking over your shoulder. Get results and most of the time you are left alone.

• Nice clothes: You don't have to put on high-vis vests and work in hot, dirty environments. You wear nice clothes, work most of the time in air conditioning, and if you know what you are doing, you make more money than any miner.

• Nice car: I'm not advocating that a salesperson leases a flashy car that ends up costing three times the list price by the time it is paid out. I prefer salespeople to buy good cars with cash. But you can still buy a nice car and enjoy it.

• Satisfaction: Salespeople can experience career highs every day when they sell a property and see the faces of happy sellers and buyers. For both sellers and buyers, the process of selling, buying and moving home can be traumatic. What a great feeling it is to help people and get paid well for it!

• Huge income potential: I've put this last because most people put income low in their lists of the most important things they want from a career. This doesn't mean money isn't important; it is just that many people have other priorities. Let's face it: Money is a reward for service. The better trained you are and the more people you serve competently, the more money you make.

With such great opportunities, you would expect that more people would succeed in this career, but sadly many do not. Opportunity is not always obvious – you have to look for it.

While the benefits I have just highlighted apply to real estate, the same principle applies to any career: look for reasons to appreciate the work you do.

If you love what you do, you will learn how to do it better – to excel at your work. Your income will increase as your competence increases and in proportion to the value you give your company. Most jobs offer opportunities for valuable people to advance.

But opportunity alone does not make you a winner. It gives you the potential, but it is just the starting point.

This book will help you grasp that opportunity, avoid the pitfalls and learn the proven path to success.

My background

Hundreds of books have been written about winning and success. Why should you trust me?

Every book is a distillation of the author's experiences, inspirations and learnings. This book contains my thoughts on why winners win, based on my experience working with winners.

I have spent three decades interviewing winners in my role as a sales trainer, sales leadership trainer and sales management trainer. In this book I have brought together all I have seen people do wrong and right.

Over those 30 years I have talked to more than 10 000 people. I have been coaching winners since 1993, and have analysed the data from these salespeople to find out what has held them back. I have been recording interviews with winners since 1995, asking them about their careers, why they do what they do and how they achieve the results they do.

I have also attended thousands of hours of seminars with some of the best speakers and teachers from around the world. I have learned from their wisdom and insights, and subsequently helped thousands of people put them into practice.

Why is this book different?

There is a lot of information available out there – some of it even free – but much of it is not the right information.

In real estate, for example, some people continue to push print media as a viable marketing tool, even though they should know print is dying – or already dead! Upon investigation, you discover they are on the board of a newspaper.

Even if they promote online marketing, their advice can be biased. I once heard an agent announce a goal for his company to ‘dominate the digital space'. He planned to do so by buying premium advertising on a major property portal, later admitting he was a board member.

A lot of information is put out by people who have neither practical experience nor training, so they recycle what they have read in books. But they have not actually applied the advice they offer in the field and have therefore not learned from experience.

I take pride in the fact that in our company, Pittard, we walk our talk. There is nothing in our manuals that is not consistent with what we do in our company. None of our people say, ‘Do this, just because it is a good idea.' Our speakers and trainers (myself included) have done it themselves, and probably have made the same mistakes as the people in our audiences. We aren't theorists.