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Perfect Selling. Open the door,close the deal. Linda Richardson. 2008. ISBN 9780071549899.  This is  a quick and easy read built around Richardson’s five steps to success. She addresses how sales professionals think and act about their sales process, strategies, and dialogue. Richardson not only focuses on the “what” to do, but goes to a deeper level with a strong focus on “how” to do it and relevant application.  This book requires careful reading to allow the changes to behaviour to take place. It is very durably bound book, that fits nicely in your sales bag so that it is always available. he has lots of resources on her website

The bulk of the work hits at sales efficiency, but if you pay attention at the beginning of the book,  you will have more effectiveness happening as well.  All in all a traditional sales training approach, which would give newbies a decent process to follow.  The seasoned seller will find benefit in the tools provided.

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Selling with Integrity. Sharon Drew Morgen. 1997. ISBN 1576750159. This a New York Times bestseller that is the basis of SDM’s Buying Facilitation method. Like her other books this one is clear, concise with good examples and testimonials sprinkled throughout. Revolutionary when she wrote this, the material is still very much leading edge in sales.  As is, the books stated approach is exactly fitted for any type of “commodity’ (In the view of the buyer) sale. For the specialized B2B market, one needs to put in place a smart pre-qualified lead gen marketing program, before using this very powerful method, since all resources are constrained.  Then your sales guys will then show an improvement in their qualification abilities and a resulting dramatic increase in sales. I believe her statement that her method shortens sales cycles. I question her “marketing free ” approach as today we see a much bigger sales landscape with an huge dependence on great marketing.  The method releases the salesperson from any form of old style sales manipulation/techniques and allows them to be very true to a more service oriented sales role, which follows much of the recent books I have reviewed this year. This is the only pure sales book that I would say improves sales efficiency and sales effectiveness

Over the past three weeks I have read all books she has published and listened to some of her training seminars. To practice my learning I have increasingly used her published approaches in my client interactions so I could improve.  These are early days, but I am seeing that her questions structure and ordered thoughtful approach allows the client to open up more and bring forward information that sometimes could hurt the sale further on if it was not dealt with early. Every thoughtful sales guy should have a copy of this one on his shelf - and he should read it annually.  (Her earlier book on telephone skills is still useful to our new style of sales guy, but the ‘assumptions” may appear dated.) At least the prices today are quite right!

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• Buying Facilitation. The new way to sell that influences & expands decisions. Sharon Drew Morgen.

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The Real Secrets of the Top 20%. Mike Brooks, Mr Inside Sales. 2008. ISBN 9780979441622.  This is a small but powerful book that every salesman and sales manager shoud have handy on his desk   This is the real deal if you wish to be one of the big money sales guys. The “secrets” are well known, but Brooks puts this together in a very succinct and learnable package. My lesson learned is his advice on the power of using scripts to help advance the sale. It just makes so much sense.   Buy it.

www.mrinsidesales.com

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• Solve The Problems And Assume The Sale - Part 2
• Close Like the Pros. Replace worn-out tactics with the powerful strategy of Interactive Selling. Steve Marx

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1. Reengineer your products and processes so that customers never need to contact you in the first place.
2. Create self-service mechanisms (they suggest Web and IVR) with high success rates.
3. It’s much cheaper to be proactive rather than reactive.  If there’s a problem, tell the customer about it before they contact you.
4. Make it easy to contact you (e.g., web sites make contact information prominent and accessible).
5. The entire company has to “own” the problem.  Customer problems are rarely the result of customer service, but rather the result of poor design or execution by many parts of the organization.
6. Listen to the customer and communicate with them from their point of view.
7. Measure great customer experience by focusing on metrics such as number of contacts per order.

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Close Like the Pros. Replace worn-out tactics with the powerful strategy of Interactive Selling. Steve Marx. 2007. ISBN 9781564149541.  If you are a seasoned sales person/manager who knows the pain of too many Nos or no answer proposals, this is your book.  This is a fitting up to date replacement for the New Solution Selling.  Marx has been there, dione that and got all the T-shirts,. It is a pure sales book which happily ignores completely the need for nurturing etc.  But for pure in the trenches, gut feel selling this is the book.  I took a while to read it as the title put me off. But boy was I was mistaken. Marx could have been listening in on many Rocket Builders consults wrto sales and the buyer’s journey. He is so bang on.   Some insights:

• The salesperson gains power by empowering the buyer.
• Selling is tough but so is buying today.
• Your prospects want to buy, why would you be invited.
• Contracting is essential to set and maintain buyer expectations.
• What is the buyer doing to move the sale forward?
• Use half baked/straw man ideas before you present the maximum idea
• Use progress reports to show how far you have come
• A critical path details where you are going.
• There is no correlation between a rapid turnaround of a proposal and a good sale. None.

This is a salesman’s/manager’s must buy book

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Rain Making. 2nd Ed. Attract New Clients No Matter What Your Field. Ford Harding. 2008. I read ed.1 in 1995 and found it a terrific resource. Ed.2 has been completely rewritten with much new material, so it is a essentially new book. Every client I work with has service as a significant part of their revenue. This book is the definitive guide to sales and marketing of services. It is clearly written, making it an easy read, but there is so much pragmatic material on measuring and implementing these tested and true ideas, that this should be your revenue bible. Buy it, read it, and keep it close.

Also check out Ford’s site and blog

Contrarian. The contrarian effect. Why it pays (big) to take typical sales advice and do the opposite Michale Port & Elizabeth Marshall. 2008. ISBN 978-0470237908. This is a seminal book for the sales industry. Why do you ask? Does your sales dept think the following?

• Cold calling is an effective way to generate leads, since everyone is a potential customer.
• Prospecting means you make a certain amount of calls each day (usually 100) in order to reach potential client.
• The Numbers Game is tried and true formula that helps sales professionals determine how many calls they have to make in order to set a certain number of meetings so as to make a certain number of sales.
• Canned or scripted presentations are effective, since most potential clients have the same needs and desires.
• During a potential client, the sales professional’s job is to present the product or serrice, explain the features and benefits, handle any customer objections and then close the sale
• Tactics such as closing techniques and other strategies used to speed up the sale are vital, since it’s critical for the sales professional to “make his number.”

Congratulations your sales dept is stuck in the 1889 model.

Perhaps the world has changed since 1889?

Perhaps customer s have changed since 1889?

Perhaps it is time for selling to change?

Todays prospects expect no, demand that you:

• Listen to them and understand their needs and desires
• Tell the truth and be radically transparent (Sounds like the Go Getter - Be authentic)
• Respect them and their ability to buy from anyone, anytime
• Honor their timetable and their buying schedule
• Allow them to buy in the way that works for them
• Be authentic and sincere
• Ask permission to keep in touch
• Keep your word and honor your commitments
• Treat them as intelligent people capable of making a good decision.

This books reeks of truth and the reality of selling today. In our practise we live the implementation of this every day. There is a better way and it is not a surprise. But it is not a halfway half hearted method. It requires full on committment.

I urge you to buy this book and devour it. It is the seminal book on selling today.

Check out www.thecontrarianeffect.com, www.michaelport.com, www.marketingmarshall.com