Sales and Sales Management Blog

February 14, 2012

Book Review: High-Profit Selling, by Mark Hunter

Filed under: Book Reviews — Paul McCord @ 11:48 am
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In the great big world of sales books there are two types of books—those that purport to take the “big picture” perspective of selling and those that are designed to have actual value in the real world by providing real, workable, effective strategies to help sellers and sales leaders improve their performance.

And within the group intended to deliver usable information there is a further breakdown into those that are simply fluff and filler and those that really deliver on their promise to help sellers become better sellers.

If you have spent any time scanning the sales books in Amazon or Barnes and Noble you know there’s no dearth of “big picture” books (books that although fun to read leave one wondering why they wasted their time reading it because ultimately it really didn’t have anything applicable in it).  You also know there are thousands of the “this is your key to sales success” strategy books that for the most part simply lay out a couple of time worn strategies and use stories as filler to put some pages to the book.

Thankfully you will find that there are a few books that deliver real value; that aren’t stuffed with fluff just to make the book thicker; and that provide a broad range of effective strategies all designed and coordinated to accomplish a specific goal.

One of those few books of real value is Mark Hunter’s new book, High-Profit Selling: Win The Sale Without Compromising On Price (AMACOM:  2012).

Hunter comes from the trenches of sales—he spent almost two decades selling for Fortune 100 companies.  His experience is that of a seller, not a theorist or seller wanna be.

Those years of real world selling, combined with his years as a sales trainer are at the heart of High-Profit Selling, and all designed to do one thing—help you acquire more business without compromising on price.

In today’s tough economy it is common for sellers and sales leaders to think in terms of capturing business by cutting price.  Hunter argues—and presents the tools necessary to do so—that you don’t have to cut price and profit in order to win business even in today’s troubled economy.

Instead of cutting price, learn how to create the value that justifies your price.

High-Profit Selling presents a comprehensive approach to creating value to support your price.  Hunter’s concentration is on value building and he thus spends a good deal of time on how to dig down to uncover prospect needs and issues, the fine points of communication, and leveraging knowledge, but he doesn’t neglect the equally critical issues of how to prospect, how to deal with price objections, and how to deal effectively—and profitably—with RFP’s, RFQ’s and professional buyers.

In addition to the standard one-on-one selling situation, Hunter addresses the need for an on-line presence, how to become a thought leader in your industry, and how to get your information out onto the internet in a manner that will inform and attract prospects.

It is common for many readers of sales books to skip around and read the parts that sound interesting and to ignore the rest.  In some cases, the reader skips the greater part of the book.

First, I’d advise readers not to approach High-Profit Selling as a magazine with each chapter being an article that can be read or skipped—read the entire book and read it in order.

Second, if you simply cannot control yourself and you must read the book as you would Reader’s Digest; by all means do not skip the “One Percent Continuous Improvement Process” section in the last chapter.  I suspect that a great many readers will skip this section and they’ll suffer because of it.  In the space of just about three pages Mark presents a very simple concept that can literally change your career in a matter of months.  By concentrating on improving a single aspect of your selling each week by just one percent you will improve your sales performance by almost 70% over the course of a year.  What would your pipeline—and bank account—look like if your performance was improved  by 60 or 70% by the end of the year?

If you’re looking for a well written, high value book to help you increase your sales, High-Profit Selling has just hit the streets and is in stock at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Books-a-Million.  I encourage you to pick up a copy and learn how to make your numbers without compromising on profit.

April 27, 2011

Book Review: Slow Down, Sell Faster

Filed under: Book Reviews — Paul McCord @ 9:21 am
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As a seller, do you want to slow down your sales process?  Making your sales cycle longer than it currently is sounds crazy doesn’t it? 

What can happen if you slow down your sales process?  Well, the prospect could change their mind if they’re thinking about buying; they could get a better offer from one of your competitors; their needs could change, leaving you out in the cold; the economy could change, leaving them without the ability to buy; in fact, all kinds of bad things could happen.

But on the other hand, according to Kevin Davis in Slow Down, Sell Faster! Understand Your Customer’s Buying Process and Maximize Your Sales (AMACOM: 2011), if you slow down your selling process you could actually end up selling faster than when you were trying to sell as fast as possible.

So, riddle me this: how can doing something slower actually be faster?

Davis argues that the secret to selling faster by selling slower is moving from a sales oriented process to a buyer oriented process, that is, from trying to sell based on your sales process to trying to help your prospect buy based on their buying process.

The crux of Slow Down, Sell Faster is understanding and developing the skills of the 8 roles of buying-focused selling.  The process of buying-focused selling involves working with the prospect to help lead them through their natural buying process, and to do so salespeople have to work through each of the 8 roles that come into play as the buyer works through their buying process.

The 8 roles of buying-focused selling:

  1. 1.     The Student: understanding the customer, their company, and how your products or services can fit.
  2. 2.    The Doctor: diagnosing the real needs of the customer
  3. 3.    The Architect: designing customer-focused solutions
  4. 4.    The Coach: analyze the competition and develop a game plan to win the sale
  5. 5.    The Therapist: understand and resolve the buyer’s fears
  6. 6.    The Negotiator: reaching mutual commitment
  7. 7.    The Teacher: teaching your customer how to maximize value from your solution
  8. 8.    The Farmer: cultivate customer satisfaction and loyalty

 By slowing down your sales process and engaging the prospect using a process that matches their buying process you can, according to Davis, end up closing sales much quicker.

And the argument makes sense.

Most of us have spent our sales careers trying to force our prospects to do what we want by demanding they conform to the way we sell—but when we buy for ourselves or our companies, we typically resist the efforts of the person trying to sell us until we are satisfied we’re making the right choice and have worked through our fears and concerns.  Most of us will ignore the entreaties of the salesperson and make our decisions our way and on our timeframe.

If that is the way we buy, why would we think others aren’t doing exactly the same thing?  If they are, doesn’t it make sense to help them work through their process instead of trying to force our process on them?

It’s time to move away from trying to force prospects to buy our way and to begin helping them buy their way.  Get a copy of Slow Down, Sell Faster and begin to speed up the flow in your pipeline.

March 25, 2011

Book Review: Business Fitness by Dawn G. Lennon

Filed under: Book Reviews — Paul McCord @ 2:00 pm
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Seldom do I review a book that was released several years ago.  But when I receive a copy of a book from one of my readers who thinks enough of it to send it to me to possibly review—and its a book that wasn’t written by them, well, that certainly indicates the book merits some investigation.

That was the case with Business Fitness: The Power to Succeed—Your Way (Glenbridge Publishing Ltd:  2007) by Dawn G. Lennon.  Pam Burzynski, a Realtor and reader from Pennsylvania liked the book well enough—and thought it relevant to others in the sales world—that she sent me her own autographed copy.  Talk about a sales job—I had no choice but to read the book after that.

And it was well worth the time spent reading.

There are a number of reasons I really like this book.  First, Lennon writes in much the way I try to write in that the book is “simple.”  By simple I don’t mean elementary.  Simple in this instance means highly practical and down to earth.  No high flying, impractical discussions of fun–but ultimately useless–business theory; just real world guidance that will have a major impact if implemented.  Second, Lennon uses lots of dashes.  I have an unlimited supply of dashes and spew them out unhesitatingly in my writing.  Even though she uses them far more sparingly than I–I’ve found another dashaholic.  Third, her observations, guidance, and advice are spot on.  Fourth, this is an ACTION book.  This isn’t about Lennon giving you information; it is about actively implementing what you learn.  Business is action.  Information is worthless if it doesn’t result in some sort of action—and action, not just information, is the real meaning of Business Fitness.

Business Fitness isn’t a sales book per se.  As the title suggests, it is a book about becoming fit as a business person.  The fitness needs of salespeople are the same as any other business person—at least the general business fitness areas that are dealt with in Business Fitness.

Lennon breaks our fitness needs into two broad categories—what she calls Private Moves and Public Moves.  “Moves” are the actions you take.  Some of your business moves you do in private—only you know you are taking them.  Others are, of course, the moves you make in public.  This combination of public and private moves determines where you go in your business career.

Lennon lays out four private and three public moves:

Private Moves:

  • Stay Well.  Basic?  Certainly.  So basic she need not address it?  Hardly.  Take a look around you.  How many of your co-workers or competitors are physically fit?  How many have the physical and mental stamina to out work you?  We are a nation of sloths.  Lennon’s first private ‘move’ is basi– yet one of the most important and most neglected.
  • Stay Focused.  Goals.  Making where we want to go real by creating written, specific goals, each with a completion date, is mandatory in order to stay on track.  If we don’t have specific goals we are simply hoping that something good happens and that we’ll like where it takes us.
    Think you’ve heard too much about goals?  Lennon gives you practical guidance on how to set them, monitor them, and reach them.
  • Stay Current.  One of the most critical of the private moves—and one so many salespeople blow off if their company doesn’t provide for it.  Every businessperson is responsible for their own growth.  Expecting the company to provide for your training and skill development is one of the surest ways to fail in sales.  Lennon gives a great checklist of where to get the stuff you need to “stay current”
  • Stay Connected.  Your network is one of your major keys to success.  Lennon gives an excellent overview of how to build your network—and what to do with it.

Public Moves:

  •  Attract a Following.  No matter what you do—whether you are an inside or outside salesperson, a sales manager, a business owner, or professional building a practice, your success depends upon your following.  Building that following takes time—and a great deal of effort.  But what is the right effort for building a following?  How do we create a brand with our clients or within our company?  What if we already have a personal brand—and it is negative?  Lennon goes through the process of how to create and manage a following that will help you reach the success you seek.
  • Take the Lead.  Leadership is a hot subject right now. And one that can really put you in the spotlight—for good or ill.  Lennon’s advice and guidance on how to take—or not take—and handle a lead role is really to the point and a chapter you should take to heart.
  • Implement New Ideas.  Solving problems and implementing new solutions is the culmination of all the business fitness you’ve gone through.  As Lennon says, “When you’re business fit, you see the big picture more clearly.  Ideas for breaking new ground and solving problems are in your line of sight.”  Businesses crave men and women who can help them solve their problems and make the moves that will advance the company.  Learning how to recognize solutions is important—equally important is learning how to get those solutions implemented.  Traversing the political and cultural grounds that lie between your idea and its successful implementation is the real crux of implementing new ideas.  Lennon takes you through the process to a successful implementation.

I encourage you to pick up a copy of Business Fitness.  More importantly, I encourage you to read it and implement the lessons you’ll find.  Lennon not only gives you sound advice, at the end of each chapter she gives you a questionnaire or form to help you think through where you are on that particular move.

If you want to succeed, get business fit.

January 14, 2011

Book Review: How to Sell Anything to Anyone Anytime

Filed under: Book Recommendations — Paul McCord @ 2:54 pm
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Selling in the real world is very different than the selling theory one often encounters in sales books.  A great many sales books—maybe the majority—are fluff filled wastes of time or pretentious tomes with little or no real world application.  Much of what is published in the sales category is either the pipe-dreams of an author looking for some new ‘hook’ to sell a book or a less effective rehash of what’s already been published dozens of times. 

Dave Kahle’s newest book, How to Sell Anything to Anyone Anytime (Career Press:  2010) doesn’t’t claim to have found a newly discovered silver bullet to sales success.  Instead, Dave sets out in  a clear and concise presentation the steps necessary to be an effective and successful salesperson.   He takes time tested and proven strategies and puts them in an effective and workable process. 

Three things set Dave’s book apart from most of the other “how to’ sales books:

1)         Dave gives a very personal perspective—the book is filled with what Dave has personally learned over his career.  Dave talks from the trenches, not an ivory tower.  His wisdom comes from getting knocked around, not from a book shelf.  That real world experience leads to real world solutions.

2)         Dave lays out a very simple, workable, effective sales process.  Again, no theory, just a real world, workable process that takes you through the whole sale.  In brief, Dave’s process is 1) Engage with the right people; 2) find out what they want; 3) gain agreement on the next step; and 4) follow up.  Sound too easy?  It isn’t.  Simple does not mean easy.

3)         Dave doesn’t’t leave out the details.  So many sales books give big, broad directives but never fill in the real ‘how to’ detail.  Dave doesn’t’t leave the reader hanging.  There are three separate chapters dealing the finding the right people because he takes you through the process of not only finding them, but connecting with them.  In the same manner there are four chapters on finding what they want because Dave takes you through the process of finding out what they want–and then meeting those needs. 

If you are a seller—salesperson, business owner, or service professional—who either needs to learn a workable process to sell or you want to increase your sales effectiveness, I encourage you to pick up a copy of How to Sell Anything to Anyone Anytime.

You can get a bit more detail here

Or head over to Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or your favorite bookseller and pick up a copy.

November 24, 2010

Book Review: The New Experts: Win Today’s Newly Empowered Customers at Their 4 Decisive Moments

Filed under: Book Reviews,branding,marketing,sales,selling — Paul McCord @ 2:14 pm
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For the last several years I’ve argued, along with many others, that selling and marketing are changing rapidly because buyers are changing.  No longer is the salesperson needed to educate the prospect; marketing is having an increasingly difficult time breaking through the noise to capture the prospect’s attention.  With the immense amount of information every prospect has at their fingertips, many times the prospect knows far more about their issues and potential solutions than the salesperson they’re dealing with.

In this new marketplace the question becomes how do you gain the prospect’s attention and then put your product or service in first position.

Robert H. Bloom in The New Experts: Win Today’s Newly Empowered Customers at Their 4 Decisive Moments (Greenleaf Book Group Press: 2010) offers an answer to this problem.  Bloom is the retired US Chairman and CEO of Publicis Worldwide, a global marketing services company and advises companies on their business growth strategies.

Bloom argues that technology has empowered buyers and “ultimately {their} loyalty died” because of the immense number of choices they now have along with an enormous amount of detailed comparison information, along with the ability to purchase anytime, day or night, and from a growing number of vendors, all vying for their business. 

Consumer loyalty, according to Bloom, is a thing of the past.  In today’s marketplace companies can no longer count on loyalty from their customers, but they can still become the preferred product or service by creating Customer Preference.  Customer Preference does not guarantee a sale as there are other factors at work, but preference opens doors, allowing you to charge a bit higher price and still get the business, to not have the exact desired color and still get the sale, to not have the best product and still get the sale, and to not be the best known brand and still get the sale.

Creating Customer Preference involves giving the prospect a real or imagined benefit that is different from and more valuable to them than those given by your competitors.

Further, Bloom argues, there are 4 decisive moments when you can make your business 1st choice for the prospect:

The Now-or-Never Moment—the first brief contact with the prospect

The Make-or-Break Moment—during the transaction process

The Keep-or-Lose Moment—the period when the customer is using the product or service

The Multiplier Moment—the chance to convert a one-time user customer into a repeat customer and gain a customer advocate and referral

Becoming the preferred product or service need not be expensive and can be accomplished by any size company since consumers, both business and individual, no longer care about who they purchase from—big or small; local, national, or online; old-line established or new start-up—as long as they provide the sought after benefit.

The New Experts is a very interesting read and provides a thought provoking argument about not only how buyers are changing but how companies must respond to the change.  As Bloom states at the beginning of the book, the root for change is beginning to think like a customer, not a seller.  Once we begin to think like a customer we can begin to understand the change in the marketplace and how to deal with it—at each of the 4 decisive customer moments.

The New Experts is avaiable at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Books-a-Million, and all fine booksellers.

November 8, 2010

Book Review: The Laws of Charisma, by Kurt W Mortensen

Filed under: Book Reviews,career development — Paul McCord @ 5:20 pm
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Every once in a while I run across a book that I like and recommend, but isn’t complete, lacking some essential element.  One of those books is The Laws of Charisma: How to Captivate, Inspire, and Influence for Maximum Success by Kurt W. Mortensen (AMACOM: 2010).

The problem with The Laws of Charisma isn’t its thesis—that charisma is a combination of qualities that together, according to Mortensen’s definition, create “the ability to easily build rapport, effectively influence others to your way of thinking, inspire them to achieve more, and in the process make an ally for life.”

If we accept Mortensen’s definition of charisma, then the qualities that he lays out in the book make great sense as components of charisma, and further they are all qualities that can be learned to one extent or another.  Mortensen argues that by learning to effectively and genuinely use these qualities; even the least charismatic person can become charismatic to some extent. 

I don’t have a problem with his thesis although I believe that the true and very rare quality we usually call charisma is not a quality that can be learned or created.  Consequently, I’m not sure I’d define charisma as Mortensen has.  Nevertheless, I certainly believe that the qualities he discusses, if combined, will lead to a highly influential and commanding individual—just something short of those we think of as the truly charismatic such as JFK, Ronald Reagan, Caesar, Hitler (charisma can, of course, be used by the good and the evil).

Mortensen’s book delves into 34 qualities that he argues are necessary in combination to create what his version of charisma.  These qualities vary in complexity; a few are:

Passion:  The Transfer of Pure Energy
Humor and Happiness:  It Comes from Within
Self-discipline:  Willpower Equals Commitment
Focus:  Activity Does Not Equal Accomplishment
Rapport:  The Instant Connection
Motivation: Light Their Fire
Goodwill:  Charity and Compassion
Empathy:  Compassion Creates Friendship
Verbal Presentation:  It’s How You Say It
Nonverbal Communication: Gestures Trump Words

The issue I have with the book is that it lays out the 34 essential qualities in an equal number of short 4 to 6 page chapters. 

Each chapter deals with an essential quality using a set formula:

  • ·         The chapter briefly lays out Mortensen’s argument as to why that quality is important
  • ·         discusses in a paragraph or two why we often have a blind spot about our own lack of the quality
  • ·         a very short application section that is filled with three to five bullet points about how to apply the quality
  • ·         an example of some charismatic individual whose life demonstrates the quality
  • ·         a self-assessment section where one can rate oneself on the quality on a scale of 1 to 10

Although the chapters are brief and quick and easy to read, they really aren’t “how to” chapters.  Mortensen lays the groundwork to establish the need for the quality, but really doesn’t give the guidance on how to acquire and build the quality.  In essence, The Laws of Charisma is an excellent overall guide but needs to be supplemented with 34 other books that will give meat to the question of “how to.”

Certainly no one wouldl need to supplement with a book for each quality, but a great many of these qualities are complex in and of themselves.  Few who are lacking in any of these qualities will intuitively know how to acquire and institute them without outside help—and very often much more help than three or four bullet points can give.

That being said, The Laws of Charisma is well worth the money as a guide to assessing your own charisma or lack thereof, and then helping you figure out what’s missing.  From there, you’ll probably have to do some additional looking for resources, but at least you’ll know what you’re looking for and why.

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