Cape Girardeau businessman publishes advice book

At age 31, Cape Girardeau native Carson Heady has transformed a successful sales career into a book to help others find success. "Birth of a Salesman," published in August, is available in both print and audio versions at Barnes & Noble and Amazon.com. Heady's website, www.carsonvheady.com, features a series of YouTube videos and a blog with more sales advice. The son of Chuck and Janet Heady of Cape Girardeau, he now lives in St. Louis with his daughter Madison, age 3.

Business Today: What inspired you to write this book?

Carson Heady: I always knew if I was going to write something I'd have to have a unique twist so it would stand out. I'd wanted to write a book about how to sell, how to launch and be successful in a sales career to impart what I've learned myself over the past few years. I looked back on 10 years of material. I'd kept a journal and used it for a lot of source material.

BT: How did you come up with the book's title, "Birth of a Salesman?"

CH: It's obviously a play off of the play "Death of a Salesman." This book is about the introduction to and evolution of somebody coming into a sales environment. There are a lot of people who start out in these environments and don't latch on; some have early success and they can't replicate it. Underlying message of the book is we all make mistakes, learn from them and move forward.

Carson Heady's book "Birth of Salesman" (Submitted photo)

BT: Describe how you wove a how-to sales manual into a narrative story in "Birth of a Salesman."

CH: It struck me that the unique twist would be to tell the story of the author of a book within the book. The chapters of the main character, Vincent Scott's book "The Selling Game," are strategically placed throughout the overall body of work. The main character, Vincent Scott, is just like you and me; we all have things at work we'd like to do, but we don't do them for fear of repercussions. He does them. He's kind of a renegade. Everything in the book is realistic, captivating story that shows how this guy manages to bring himself back every day. It's stuff that happens in the world. Part of sales is loss; it's being told no and being rejected. He still manages to come back and be successful.

BT: Describe the process you went through to get your book published.

CH: I started the book last August. It was literally evolving everyday until it got published in August of this year. I started looking for publishers back in February. I contacted over 900 publishers and the preponderance of those rejected me. Watching my sales rank shoot up on Barnes & Noble is really entertaining for me.

BT: What's the most challenging part of being in sales?

CH: There's really only one objection you encounter when trying to make a sale. It's lack of belief. People will tell you all kinds of other reasons why they don't want to buy something, but it all comes down to the fact that they don't believe that what you have is going to solve their problems.

BT: How did your own sales career develop?

CH: I went to Notre Dame Regional High School and graduated in 1996. People might remember me bagging their groceries. I worked at Schnucks for six years. I graduated from Southeast Missouri State University with a degree in business management in 2000. I moved to St. Louis in 2001 and that's when I got into sales. I worked with both business and consumer accounts. I've been a sales manager and division manager running a department of a couple of hundred people. The things I did aren't things that nobody else can do. They are things that I set my mind to and stuck with it until I accomplished it.

BT: Do you have plans to write more books in the future?

CH: I definitely want to write a sequel to this book. The ideas are there. There's more story to tell.