ARRIVAL AT SCHOOL

Standing outside the Krenker Business School of Practical Sales Advice, Christina Richards stood there, taking in the building. It was strong and solid, made of old-fashioned red brick that looked like it had weathered many a storm.

She couldn't believe she was here. Christina was excited to be accepted. She knew she was going to be a success in business. Ever since the first grade she dreamed of having her own business selling art.

Professor Krenker was known as one of the foremost authorities on business, and he was very selective in the kinds of students that he accepted. When she'd spoken to him on the phone, his gruff voice had come through the line loud and clear: "I'm looking for students who want to learn, Miss Richards. I'm looking for students who are going to listen to what I have to say and aren't going to argue with me. I'm looking for students who want to be taught, Miss Richards. Am I making myself clear?"

"Yes, sir," she said emphatically to which the professor responded, "Christina, I hear passion in your voice and a willingness to learn new things." And with that, the old professor accepted her into his school.

Naturally, there were other sales schools that didn't approve of Professor Krenker. Some said that he was too modern because he didn't believe in using tricks, even dirty ones, to get the job done. Some called him hopelessly old-fashioned because he believed too strongly in the customer and insisted that people sell from the heart as opposed to doing whatever it took to make the sale. Christina just wanted to learn whatever there was to learn about sales so she could begin an art business and sell art done by local artists, and that was all there was to it. She didn't care who she learned from, just as long as she learned what she needed to know. She was passionate about selling art not only because she wanted to help artists get their work known, but she also wanted people to have beautiful paintings in their homes.

More than anything, she was determined to be a success.

PROFESSOR KRENKER

Professor Krenker stood in front of the class and Christina had to smile. He was a little gnome of a man, with white hair going off into several directions, and there was a kind of manic energy about him. As he paced back and forth, there was a sharpness to his gaze as he looked out at the students. Christina sensed there was more to him than met the eye.

"First of all," he said, "I know some of you have probably heard that I'm one of the 'old school' teachers out there. You'll notice that I'm not handing out CDs or DVDs to you or showing you a PowerPoint presentation. What I'm going to do is talk to you. You're going to listen to what I have to say, and you're going to take notes. Then, you'll go home and think about what I've said, and we'll talk about it the following day."

A young man with thick glasses sitting in the front row raised his hand. "Professor Krenker?"

"Yes?"

"Are we going to be tested on what you're teaching us?"

Krenker stared at the student for a moment, then went over and leaned over the student's desk. The student drew back slightly and seemed to shrink into his seat.

"What's your name?" Professor Krenker asked.

"Jonathan Weston."

"Well, Jonathan Weston, you're not here to get a good grade. You're here to get a good understanding of business. Therefore, I'm not going to test you. Either you're going to understand what I'm teaching you or you're not. It doesn't matter to me, either way. I've already been paid to have you here."

Professor Krenker stood up, then, and looked directly at Christina. There was an odd intensity in his gaze. "Now, something that's very important to understand is when it comes to learning about business, I can teach you what knowledge I have, but the wise student will realize I don't have all the answers — but by keeping their eyes open, they'll gain an education in business such as few others have."

Seeing the way that he looked at her, watching his eyes hold hers, Christina had the feeling that Professor Krenker was telling her something important. She didn't know what it was, though.

THE RULER

Christina went home that night and thought about what Professor Krenker had said. Again, she couldn't help but feel that she had been seeing something in him that the other students hadn't.

"Don't get carried away with yourself, Christina," she muttered, washing her face before she went to bed. "He was just talking."

She crawled into bed, wrapped the covers around herself, and began thinking about her day. She remembered her parents and friends telling her that sales was "a jungle," and her high school business teacher often said, "it's a jungle out there." She wondered what they meant. Did that mean people were tough or the work of selling anything, even something you were passionate about, would be hard? She finally drifted off to sleep after pondering the jungle concept for a while.

Before long, Christina started to dream. All of sudden she found herself standing in the middle of a huge jungle. The sun was shining, the air was warm and pleasant, and the fragrance of tropical flowers tickled her nose.

"Eighteen thousand fifteen ... eighteen thousand sixteen ... eighteen thousand seventeen ..."

Startled by the voice, Christina looked around and noticed an orangutan looking up into a tree and counting. He had a golden crown upon his head and the sight of him was definitely unusual.

"Hello," Christina said.

The orangutan looked at her and frowned. After a moment, he shook his head and approached her.

"You made me lose my place."

"I'm sorry," she said, sincerely. "I was just being polite."

"Do you know how long I've been counting the leaves on that tree?" the orangutan demanded. "Do you have any idea?"

"I'm afraid that I don't."

"I've been doing this for over sixteen hours, and now I've lost count. I'm going to have to start all over."

"But why are you counting leaves?"

He stared at her, surprised. "Because I'm the ruler, of course. This is my jungle."

"Oh. You must have very good eyesight."

"I have the best eyesight in the jungle. I can spot the broken antennae on a butterfly from ten miles away."

"That's very impressive."

"Yes, it is. After all, I am the ruler, and as the ruler, I need to know exactly how much of everything I have. Rulers keep track of everything that they rule over. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to get back to work."

The orangutan went back to the tree and began to count. Suddenly, a large tree began to rock back and forth, and before Christina could say anything, the tree toppled to the ground, landing less than three feet behind the ruler. Looking up into the tree, he continued to count the leaves there.

"Silly, isn't it?"

Startled once again, Christina turned around and saw a beautiful rainbow-colored bird rising from the branches of the fallen tree.

"Hello," Christina said.

"Hello. Welcome to The Jungle. I'm Bird."

"Hello, Bird. I'm Christina."

"Poor old Ruler," Bird said, shaking her head. "He spends all his times counting the leaves on the trees and never notices when the trees fall down around him. That's the problem with having such good eyesight. Sometimes you can see the littlest things and not see the biggest ones."

LOSING THE BIG PICTURE

The following day, when Christina went to class, Professor Krenker had written on the large whiteboard four words: YOU MUST KNOW EVERYTHING.

The class settled in and Christina found herself remembering the dream from the previous night. It was definitely an odd occurrence, and she couldn't help but feel there was some significance to the dream she wasn't understanding.

Professor Krenker cleared his throat, waited for silence, and pointed to the whiteboard. "Now, then — let's begin with one of the most important rules of selling. If you remember nothing else, you need to remember this, because it's one of the secrets of success that a great many people have failed to take heed of. When it comes to your business, you must know everything about selling your product or service.

"You have to be aware of every facet of your sales as well as any sales force you train and hire, and you need to make sure that it's all running smoothly. You have to have the ability to engage in overseeing everything happening with sales, and you can't ever let up. The moment you let up, you'll find that you're losing ground to your competition."

Christina listened and she frowned. She didn't think Professor Krenker was right.

As if reading her thoughts, the old man's gaze fell upon her, and he slowly approached her. "You have something that you want to say, Miss Richards?"

"I'm not quite sure if I understand what you're saying, Professor Krenker."

"What's confusing you?"

"Are you saying that you need to know everything that's going on with sales?" He nodded. "Of course."

"And you think you should be doing it personally?"

"No doubt. This isn't something that can be delegated, after all. A good business owner is checking everything there is to check out regarding sales in his or her organization."

She shook her head. "I'm not sure I agree with you."

Several students turned around to look at her, but Christina didn't backtrack. Instead, she took a deep breath and said, "I'm wondering if it's not a better idea to let others help you keep track of sales and other things you can't deal with."

The old man studied her. "And what would be your reasoning for that?"

"Well, I was thinking if you spent all of your time checking on the little things regarding sales, you might find yourself not able to see if some of the bigger things are going wrong."

Professor Krenker stared at her for a long moment, and then he smiled. "You are absolutely correct, Miss Richards. There was a time when many business owners thought they needed to micromanage every little detail of sales in their companies and that led to resentment among the sales force workers as well as a loss of productivity. In the end, by involving themselves with working on the smallest sales details, they lost sight of their overall mission — with serious consequences."

And with that, the old man went to the whiteboard, erased the words and put up new words: DO NOT BE AFRAID TO DELEGATE.

"This is one of the most important lessons you can learn," he announced to the class. "A successful salesperson will know how to delegate tasks and assignments to those working around them. That way, they can concentrate on making sure their business is always on the right track. Remember without selling your product or service, you won't be in business. To be successful you must create sales."

Professor Krenker nodded at her. "Well done, Miss Richards. I have a feeling you're going to do quite well in this class."

She found herself smiling with delight.

CHRISTINA MEETS SNAKE

That night, Christina dreamt of The Jungle once again. This time, she was standing at the bottom of a beautiful waterfall. A gentle mist washed over her, refreshing her, making her feel cool and wonderful. Bird flew over to her, landing on her shoulder. Christina laughed with delight. "I don't know why I'm dreaming about this place again, but I'm glad that I am," she said. "It's wonderful."

Bird trilled with delight. "I'm glad you think so. Would you like to come with me and explore some more?"

"Definitely."

Bird flew a short distance ahead and Christina followed. There was a small path she took that moved between magnificent palm trees and short bushes that had red flowers giving off the most delightful fragrance. The path took them to a small clearing where she was surprised to find a crowd of sheep standing in front of a large black snake. Next to the snake was a cardboard box. Christina turned to Bird. "What's going on?"

Bird sighed. "Snake is trying to sell the sheep something. He does this all the time."

They approached Snake. His green-slitted eyes flicked over to them and then went back to looking at the sheep. "You're wondering how I can sell you what's in this box for nothing more than five goldens," Snake said, his voice soft and seductive. "Aren't you?"

A couple of the sheep nodded.

"It's simple. I like you. I like you so much that I'm going to take a loss on this and that's the truth. I know I shouldn't be doing this, but what can I say? Snake is a good judge of character, and I can tell you're going to be good customers."

"What's in the box?" Christina suddenly asked.

Snake turned to her. His eyes narrowed to even smaller slits than they had been. "Who are you?"

"I'm Christina," she said, "and I was wondering what's in the box."

"Hey, yeah," one of the sheep responded. "You haven't told us what's in the box."

Snake looked indignant. "What are you saying? Are you saying I'm trying to sell something that isn't of the highest quality? Snake has never been so insulted!" And with that, Snake slithered away, pushing the box ahead of him with his snout.

The sheep walked away, obviously happy that they hadn't fallen for a trick, but Christina was surprised to find a raccoon left behind. He watched her with merry green eyes and then hopped towards her.

"Name's Raccoon," he said, extending a paw. "How are you?"

"I'm fine," Christina responded.

"I didn't catch your name, I'm afraid."

"Christina."

"Well, Christina, how do you like our little slice of paradise?" he asked.

"I like it very much."

Raccoon nodded. "Yes, it's a rather pleasant place. Well, I don't want to keep you. Enjoy your stay here, and if you need anything, you just let Raccoon know."

And with that he moved off, and Christina turned to Bird. "I like him," she announced.

Bird nodded. "Yes, Raccoon is very likeable. He and Snake are the only two sales animals in the jungle."

Christina was surprised. "Raccoon is in sales?"

"Oh, yes."

"But, he didn't try to sell me anything."

Bird gave her a curious look. "First, he sold you on himself. The rest will come later."

SELLING YOURSELF

When Christina went to class the next day, Professor Krenker stood next to the whiteboard and wrote down in big, bold letters: WHAT IS THE MOST IMPORTANT THING THAT YOU CAN SELL?

One of the students, a young man with thick glasses, raised his hand and the professor nodded at him. "Yes, Mister Peterson. Can I help you?" "I'd like to answer the question you wrote on the board."

The old man had a slight smile on his face. "You would."

"Yes, sir."

"Well, by all means, let's hear it. What do you think is the most important thing that you can sell?"

Peterson drew himself up and said, in a very self-satisfied tone of voice, "The most important thing that you can sell is a quality product."

Professor Krenker shook his head. "Wrong."

Peterson's eyes widened in disbelief. "What are you talking about, sir? If you don't sell a quality product, people are not going to buy it."

"Oh, really? Are you telling me every product that sells well is quality? I can think of at least a dozen late-night infomercials I know that are not producing quality items."

The student opened his mouth as if to protest and then shut it, shaking his head.

"What is important, Peterson, is having a quality product along with being a person who can sell himself or herself. I don't care how great your product is; if the customer does not feel comfortable with you, they are not going to want to do business with you. It is the blend of the quality of the product and you as a salesperson that creates trust which in turn promotes credibility and boosts sales."

Professor Krenker looked around the class and his gaze settled on Christina. Once again, she had the unmistakable feeling that something was going on in her dreams that she didn't know about.

"Miss Richards."

"Yes, sir."

"Do you think you can tell the class what might be the most important thing that you can sell?"

She thought back to her dream, thought back to Raccoon, and she said, "I think the most important thing that you can sell is yourself, sir."

Peterson snorted, but Krenker shot him a dark look. "That's absolutely correct, Miss Richards," he announced to the class, looking at each student in turn. "All of you would do well to remember that."

His gaze settled on Christina and he smiled warmly. "To be a good student of sales you must be open to understanding what I'm trying to teach you."

SELLING IS SERVING

Christina was exhausted after class. She kept thinking about having a quality product and knew the art she would have in her store would be beautiful. She felt comfortable with that, but she wondered about how to create relationships so people liked her and trusted her. She decided to eat a quick dinner and to relax on the sofa and put her mind to rest.

That night, she quickly drifted off to sleep and found herself back in The Jungle and welcomed by Raccoon. "Hi!" she said.

Raccoon instantly smiled at Christina and asked, "How can I serve you today? Surely you've come back to our jungle for something, and I'd really like to be of help to you!" This confused Christina a bit. She wasn't sure why she returned to The Jungle, and she definitely wasn't sure what Raccoon could do for her. "I really don't know," she said. "I am just confused about a few things and somehow when I am here I seem to get clarity."