Learn How to Use Jack Dempsey’s Selling Punch

After retiring from the ring, Jack Dempsey, one of the greatest boxers of all time, started a successful career in selling. His insights on salesmanship, excerpted from an interview with the heavyweight champion conducted in the fall of 1929 and published in the January 1930 issue of How To Sell, pack as much selling punch as his famous right cross. Dempsey knew as much about uphill battles as any seasoned rep. He took his in-the-ring know-how and created in-depth sales savvy.

On Training:

“Ask any fighter what they dislike most about their job and they will tell you it is training. Effort is something no human being relishes. But where are any of us going to get if we don’t put effort into the things we go after?”

On Creating Opportunities:

“Mrs. Dempsey and I were sitting on the veranda of our bungalow in California when we watched a young salesman going from house to house. He went into one home, then he passed up two homes and rang the bell at the next one. Just why he passed up two calls, I do not know. Maybe he was playing a hunch. But if I were selling from door to door, I would see to it that I rang every bell. You never can tell where there is another order. Suppose I had decided not to hit an opponent in the ring every time I had the opportunity — where would I be today? It is the continually pounding away that wins a fight or wins in business.”

On The Profession Of Selling:

“From what I have seen of the selling game, it looks to me like the best profession of all. And that includes boxing. There is nothing greater than the business of supplying human needs.”

On Fitness:

“Many a morning it has been hell for me to roll out of bed at daybreak and run a few miles, but the only way I could win was to be fit. And the only way anyone can win, fighting or selling, is to be fit. And to be fit, you have to put in some hard licks.”

On Becoming A Champ:

“I don’t say that every man can be heavyweight champion of the world. I know there are a lot of folks trying. But in my humble opinion, there is no reason why anyone who goes after business in selling should not be a champ. You see, there is not much difference in the spelling of wallop and gallop — just one letter. And it looks to me that if you gallop all day in the selling business, you are going to give the old wolf at the door one of the kind of wallops that made little Jack Dempsey a champ.”

On Persistence:

“There is a lesson for anyone who is selling. It is fairly easy to make a good day’s wage as a salesman, but if you let one day’s big pay make you think that you are rich — and lie down the next day — then you might as well try to fight with one hand behind your back. The lesson is: winners can’t be dreamers.”