Young and Profiting (YAP) with Hala Taha
Bob Burg on Closing More Deals with the Go-Giver Sales Strategy | Sales | YAPClassic
Fri, 11 Apr 2025
Sales can feel like a grind, but Bob Burg proves it doesn’t have to be. By rethinking traditional selling, shifting to value selling, and mastering persuasion in both ecommerce and relationship-based environments, Bob developed a counterintuitive approach that transformed his life and career. He began in broadcasting, but soon realized his true calling was in helping others thrive through a giving-centered business mindset. In this episode, Bob reveals his powerful Five Laws of Stratospheric Success, the key to becoming a “go-giver,” along with powerful insights on authentic influence, building referrals, and mastering the art of pull—not push. In this episode, Hala and Bob will discuss: (00:00) Introduction (00:57) Bob Berg's Career Journey (03:17) The Power of Books in Personal Development (05:00) Understanding the Go-Giver Philosophy (07:36) The Five Laws of Stratospheric Success (17:45) Influence vs. Persuasion vs. Manipulation (22:32) The Importance of Authenticity and Receptivity Bob Burg is a bestselling author, motivational speaker, and co-creator of the Go-Giver book series, which has sold over one million copies and been translated into 30 languages. Named one of the 30 Most Influential Leaders by the American Management Association, Bob’s work has transformed how professionals approach sales, communication, and leadership. His perspective is essential for anyone looking to grow a business by building genuine connections, offering unmatched value, and leading with integrity. Sponsored By: RobinHood - Receive your 3% boost on annual IRA contributions, sign up at robinhood.com/gold Indeed - Get a $75 sponsored job credit at indeed.com/profiting Shopify - Sign up for a one-dollar-per-month trial period at youngandprofiting.co/shopify Microsoft Teams - Stop paying for tools. Get everything you need, for free at aka.ms/profiting Mercury - Streamline your banking and finances in one place. Learn more at mercury.com/profiting Open Phone - Streamline and scale your customer communications with OpenPhone. Get 20% off your first 6 months at openphone.com/profiting LinkedIn Marketing Solutions - Get a $100 credit on your next campaign at linkedin.com/profiting Bilt Rewards - Start paying rent through Bilt and take advantage of your Neighborhood Benefits™ by going to joinbilt.com/PROFITING. Airbnb - Find yourself a co-host at airbnb.com/host Active Deals - youngandprofiting.com/deals Key YAP Links Reviews - ratethispodcast.com/yap Youtube - youtube.com/c/YoungandProfiting LinkedIn - linkedin.com/in/htaha/ Instagram - instagram.com/yapwithhala/ Social + Podcast Services - yapmedia.com Transcripts - youngandprofiting.com/episodes-new Entrepreneurship, entrepreneurship podcast, Business, Business podcast, Self Improvement, Self-Improvement, Personal development, Starting a business, Strategy, Investing, Sales, Selling, Psychology, Productivity, Entrepreneurs, AI, Artificial Intelligence, Technology, Marketing, Negotiation, Money, Finance, Side hustle, Startup, mental health, Career, Leadership, Mindset, Health, Growth mindset, Selling, Online Selling, Sales, Economics, E-commerce, Ecommerce, Negotiation, Prospecting, Persuasion, Inbound, Value Selling, Account Management, Sales Strategies, Business Growth, Scale, Scaling, Sales podcast
Chapter 1: What is the key to closing more deals?
What if the key to closing more deals was to stop trying to close and start giving instead? In this Yap Classic episode, which first aired in 2022, I spoke with Bob Berg, host of the GoGiver podcast, about a radically different approach to sales, one that's not about pressure or persuasion, but about value, service, and authenticity.
Chapter 2: What was Bob Burg's career journey?
In our conversation, he breaks down the five laws of stratospheric success, the most common mistakes salespeople make, and how to build real trust and connection with every prospect that you meet. Are you a go-giver when it comes to persuading and influencing others? Stick around and find out. Hey, Bob, welcome to Young and Profiting Podcast. So happy to have you here.
Chapter 3: How can books impact personal development?
Thank you, Holla. Great to be here.
Yeah, likewise. Before we get into all that good stuff and the meat and potatoes of the interview, I do want to talk to you about your career path. Similar to me, you started in radio. So I started my career at Hot 97 and then kind of evolved from there. So I'd love to hear about your broadcasting background and how you ended up, you know, becoming such a popular writer.
Chapter 4: What is the Go-Giver philosophy?
I just began as a sportscaster for a local radio station where I grew up, got into TV. I was the late night news guy for a very small ABC affiliate in the Midwestern United States. I wasn't very good at it though. Yeah, I could read the news. Anyone can do that. But I certainly wasn't a journalist. And so it wasn't long before I graduated into sales.
And I stumbled and floundered for the first few months because I had no formal sales training. And the company I was with apparently didn't either. So I was sort of left on my own. Fortunately, after a few months, I was in a bookstore and I saw there were a couple of books on sales, which doesn't seem like a big deal right now, but that was 40 years ago.
Chapter 5: What are the Five Laws of Stratospheric Success?
Sales books, they simply were not as prolific as they are now. I didn't even know such a thing existed. When I saw them, I picked them up, bought them, brought them home. And every night I'd come home after work and I would study into the wee hours of the morning. And within a few weeks of applying the information, my sales began to go through the roof. And it was really a great experience for me.
From there, I started to really get into the personal development aspect because I quickly learned that sales was really about building yourself on the inside. right? And that that success manifested outwardly, but it really was what you put into your mind and took into your heart.
So I started getting all the, you know, the classics of personal development from Dale Carnegie's How to Win Friends and Influence People to Think and Grow Rich to The Magic of Thinking Big and Psycho-Cybernetics and As a Man Thinketh and Ogmandino's books and all the great books. And I just, I became a, I guess, an internal library, right?
And, you know, so I really enjoyed it and eventually worked my way up to sales manager of a company. And people began to ask me to show their sales team what was working for me and eventually just morphed into a speaking business.
I love the fact that you brought up that you've read so many books. I interviewed Stephen Kotler pretty recently, and he told me that books have the best ROI on your time. And you can literally time arbitrage with books because these authors are spending years of their lives researching and pouring out their expertise that might have taken a decade to acquire.
And then you get to read that book in just a few hours and absorb all that information.
Exactly. And, you know, I think when you... And there are different types of books. There are the books that really you're just developing yourself personally and professionally. And then there are the how-to books. And they can provide, and such as the ones I purchased, and they were by Zig Ziglar and Tom Hopkins, the two that I purchased when I first saw them. They were roadmaps for me.
They told me how to do what I needed to do. It was really, it was a methodology. It was a system. And to this day, I personally define a system as the process of predictably achieving a goal based on a logical and specific set of how-to principles. The key is being predictability, right?
If it's been documented that by doing A, you can get the desired results of B, then you know all you need to do is A and continue to do A and continue to do A and eventually you'll get the desired results of B. So yeah, absolutely. And you think about how many years Mr. Hopkins and Mr. Ziegler spent learning their craft.
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Chapter 6: What is the difference between influence and manipulation?
So I know we don't have that much time together. So I do want to get into the bulk of the interview and really understand what a go-giver is. So go-giver is a very popular book series that you wrote with your co-author. And there's four books in that series. I think it's sales, leadership, influence, and then the original. And let's just understand what a go-giver is.
I guess it's the difference and the difference between a go-getter and a go-giver.
Well, kinda, let's look at that. So the basic premise of the Go-Giver is simply this, that shifting your focus, and this is really where it all begins, shifting your focus from getting to giving.
Now, when we say giving in this context, we simply mean constantly and consistently providing immense value to others, understanding that doing so is not only a more fulfilling way of conducting business, it's the most financially profitable way as well. And not for any way out there, woo-woo type of magical, mystical reasons. It makes very logical, very rational sense.
When you're that person, Hala, who can take your focus off yourself and place it on serving others, on discovering what they need, what they want, what they desire, focusing on helping them solve their challenge and problems, taking your focus off of yourself and making it about helping to bring them closer to happiness, people feel good about you. People want to get to know you. They like you.
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Chapter 7: Why is authenticity important in sales?
They trust you. They want to be part of your life, part of your business. They want to tell others about you. Now, we would say in terms of go-giver and go-getter, it always depends upon how you define terms. So what we like to say is we love go-getters because go-getters are people of action. You know, you're a go-getter as well as a go-giver. You're a person of action, right?
You started in radio, you went into, you had your blog that you had, you led a whole group of teams. As that died down, now you went into something else. You're a go-getter, but you're always providing value to others. You're a go-giver. And so we like people to be both go-getters, people of action, and go-givers, people who are absolutely focused on providing immense value to others.
We would say the opposite of a go-giver is a go-taker. And that's that person who feels almost entitled, if you will, to take, take, take without having added value to the person, to the process, to the situation. And they tend to be frustrated because they rarely have the kind of sustainable success that they believe they have.
I love that. Go takers. I think that's really interesting. And I can't wait to get into manipulation later on. And I think that really ties nicely with manipulation as well. But before we get into that, even though influence, persuasion, manipulation is literally my favorite topic to talk about, let's talk about your five laws for success that you talk about in Go Giver.
What are those five laws at a high level?
Okay, so there are the laws of value, compensation, influence, authenticity, and receptivity. The law of value is all about making the experience so wonderful for the prospective customer and client and eventual customer and client that...
Aside from just the intrinsic value of your product or service, it's the excellence, it's the consistency, it's the empathy, it's the attention, it's the gratitude, everything you put into the entire experience that makes it so worthwhile for them that they feel as though they're receiving much more in value. than what they're paying. And they do, while you also make a very healthy profit.
In any free market-based exchange, there should always be two profits, the buyer profits and the seller profits, because each of them come away much better off afterwards than they were beforehand.
This episode of Young and Profiting is brought to you by Mercury, the modern business banking experience that brands like mine use to manage their finances. I remember when I used to sit down to review our company's monthly budget, spreadsheets open, coffee in hand, and wasting 45 minutes just trying to find clear, up-to-date numbers from our bank accounts.
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