Originally published in hardcover in 2014 by Scholastic Press.

What separates ordinary salespeople from Heavy Hitters? The best salespeople are those "Heavy Hitters" who are able to use human nature, language, and intuition to build trusting relationships with customers and persuade them to buy. Based on his proven and effective sales program, author Steve Martin's Heavy Hitter Selling explains how you too can achieve and maintain that high level of sales success. Using real-world case studies, examples, and exercises, Martin provides the psychological, physical, and language-based tactics you need to turn yourself into a Heavy Hitter. Inside, you'll find proven guidance and expert tips on: Understanding how people think and communicate Finding the right words at the right time Predicting a customer's behavior and influencing his thoughts Building customer rapport and understanding their motivations Persuading both the customer's rational mind and his emotional subconscious side "Like other sales books published recently, this one stresses the importance of human behavior. But unlike the others, it puts an emphasis on language. Salespeople could well benefit by exploring scientific models of language. Practical exercises make the book useful for everyone." —Harvard Business School Review "This well-written, insightful book will give you ideas and strategies you can use to influence and persuade customers in any market." —Brian Tracy, author, Million Dollar Habits "Traditional selling focuses on product, price, and competition and misses the most important reason people buy-people and emotion. Heavy Hitter Selling offers a different perspective that is valuable in understanding how to win." —Jay Fulcher, President and COO, Agile Software "Heavy Hitter Selling is different-[a book that] will help you make lots of money." —Gerald D. Cohen, CEO, Information Builders, Inc.

Praise for Heavy Hitter Sales Wisdom "Steve Martin takes a much-needed look at how successful executives read verbal and nonverbal messages, which allows them to quickly understand the subtext of their customers' minds. The best part is that the author shares effective strategies that put more fun into selling and more money into salespeople's pockets." —Gerhard Gschwandtner Founder and Publisher, Selling Power magazine "Steve Martin's interesting examination of great leaders in history and the parallels he draws between waging a war and waging a sales campaign should be required reading for enterprise salespeople." —Jay Fulcher, Chief Executive Officer, Agile Software "This powerful book provides real-world strategies you can use to increase sales immediately!" —Brian Tracy, President, Brian Tracy International, author, Getting Rich Your Own Way "Heavy Hitter Sales Wisdom goes beyond the traditional description of sales cycles to the heart of selling. It's about the emotional connection with the customer, but also the attack and destruction of the competition." —Olivier Helleboid, Vice President, Software Operations, Hewlett-Packard "Heavy Hitter Sales Wisdom provides field sales generals and sales soldiers with tons of strategy, persuasion techniques, and common-sense approaches to winning the hearts and minds of prospects. This book will add new weapons to your arsenal." —Tim Kelliher, Senior Vice President, Sales, DHL Global Mail

The biggest challenge facing salespeople today is securing meetings with C-level executives (CEO, CFO, CIO, CMO, etc.) and convincing them to buy in the life-or-death meetings that determine which salesperson will win the deal. Based upon extensive interviews with more than 500 C-level executives, Steve Martin's Heavy Hitter Sales Psychology helps salespeople understand how the C-level executive thinks and communicates and how to adapt their use of language to match C-level decision makers'. Martin provides language-based strategies that enable their message to rise above the competition's, a tactical plan of execution, and impactful psychological suggestions that compel executives to take action.

Fisherman Mark Spitzer takes readers on an action-packed investigation of the most fierce and fearsome freshwater grotesques of the American West ever to inspire both hatred and fascination. Through the lenses of history, folklore, biology, ecology, and politics, Beautifully Grotesque Fish of the American West depicts the environmental destruction plaguing the most maligned creatures in our midst while subtly interweaving Spitzer’s experiences of personal tragedy and self-discovery. Join Spitzer as he noodles for flathead catfish in Oklahoma, snags paddlefish in Missouri, trotline- and electro-fishes American eels in Arkansas, studies razorback suckers in Arizona, bounty hunts for pikeminnows in Washington State, attends a burbot festival in Utah, stirs up Asian carp in Kansas, and breaks the state record for the largest yellow bullhead ever caught in Nebraska. By examining freakish links in a vital chain and working with specialists in the field, Spitzer portrays a planet in environmental crisis and dispels the illusion that our actions don’t result in long-term, toxic consequences. Spitzer offers models for fisheries and provides other sources of hope in this informative epic of redemption that ultimately celebrates the wild and resilient beauty and remaining possibilities of the American West. Watch a book trailer. Visit the Where in the West is Mark Spitzer? blog series for additional reading and a look at more photographs not included in the book.