Considered by many to be the authority on sales and motivation, J.W. "Zig" Ziglar's book, Secrets of Closing the Sale is the only pure sales book to ever make it on The New York Times bestseller list. His books on corporate management empowerment, The Mediation Kit among them, have also been very successful with average Wall Street suits.

While he got his start in direct sales, selling cookware door to door, Zig has sold most everything. Since 1970 he's made a shift into writing and speaking, building off the success of his first books.

In a nutshell, Mr. Ziglar's philosophy is that we all deserve to succeed, we must merely go out and work at it. He has written books on faith, family, success, and sales, and speaks around the world about them.

Born November 6, 1926 in Coffee County, Alabama

"You can have everything in life you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want." -Zig Ziglar

Editor's Note: Zig Ziglar died on November 28, 2012 at the age of 86 after battling pneumonia.