The Selling Wisdom of Harvey Mackay
Minnesota sales guru offers advice for a new era.
Marshall Franklin Long
There has been a seismic shift taking place in sales. Just ask Harvey Mackay—founder and chairman of the $100 million MackayMitchell Envelope Co. and world-renowned author. This legendary guru of all things sales believes that the classic sales principles still hold true, but they need to be fused with cutting-edge Internet technology. Combining sales know-how with the ever-changing digital world, you can connect with customers in ways you never imagined.
Mackay’s newest book, The Mackay MBA of Selling in the Real World, is packed with tools for today’s competitive landscape. “This is not a book to dream on; it is book to bank on,” Mackay says. “It is not a dog-eat-dog or a rat-eat-rat world, it’s a shark-eat-shark world.”
Mackay’s tome is about having the right attitude, which determines your altitude. “There’s no such word as ‘can’t’ unless it is a physical impossibility,” Mackay says. “Some people believe that practice makes perfect, but that is not true. Perfect practice makes perfect. If you practice something that isn’t correct time and time again, all you are really doing is perfecting an error. You put a ceiling on what you can become.”
In addition to writing his latest book, Mackay recently started two new companies. The first, Mackay Roundtable, is an endeavor that brings together 25 top executives, CEOs and entrepreneurs whom Mackay will be mentoring for one year. Meeting six times a year, the group engages in various seminars, sharing insights on making it in today’s business world. The second company, in progress, will create an application for smartphones. Called the Mackay 66, this business app will include 66 questions that every person needs to know about every customer called on.
Sales Philosophy
So how does Mackay stay abreast of the most innovative sales trends? With more than 100 competitors to his MackayMitchell Envelope Co., he works closely with his sales team.
“I believe that there are no jobs, of course, unless you sell something. So our envelope company was built on a sales philosophy.” Mackay meets regularly with different organizations to keep him abreast of the marketplace.
