Tom's New Book is Now Available!

"Brilliant! Selling yourself is indeed the most critical element in every sales effort."                  —Simon Leslie, Founder and Publishing Director, Ink Publishing

"When one of our strategic partners recently introduced us to Tom Freese and the Question Based Selling Methodology, the feedback from my entire team was literally 'off the charts' positive. Tom's philosophy and strategies for selling are right on the money!"                            —Shane McNamera, General Manager, CDW

"Customers build relationships with people, not companies. Sell Yourself First cracks the code on how to convey maximum value in today's highly competitive business environment. This book is a must read for anyone who sells competitive products or services!"                      —R. Barry Jones, VP of Investments, Merrill Lynch

When Penguin Publishing offered up a $50K advance to publish my new book, "Sell Yourself First", my first thought was, "Cool enough!" The past nine months have since been hectic in preparation for the release of what essentially is a counter-cultural examination of how one's selling effectiveness is more dependent on the individual salesperson than ever before.

In short, the customer's perception of one salesperson's value over another's will likely be the tiebreaker in highly competitive markets moving forward.

Let's say you represent a viable company. So do your competitors. I'm guessing you also represent leading products and services. If you sell in a competitive environment, it should be assumed that your competition can produce similarly impressive marketing materials about the value of their offerings.

Hence, the thing your competition really lacks is YOU!

The new playing field in sales is your ability to demonstrate a host of highly intangible qualities like integrity, experience, thought leadership, vision, creativity, responsiveness, being forthright, clarity, helpfulness, competence, confidence, industry knowledge, understanding of the customer's goals and objectives, superior communication (questioning) skills, consistency, quality work, and mutual respect.

Just having good intentions is no longer enough in the competitive selling arena. Your ability to demonstrate these intangible qualities, more than the competition will likely determine your success moving forward.

To illustrate, chapter one in the book is appropriately titled, "The Elephant in the Room." What does that mean? In sales, the elephant in the room is customer skepticism. Most sellers just pretend it doesn't exist, and then gleefully proceed with some version of their sales pitch. However, if we inject even just a dose of reality into the equation, the salesperson's job becomes so much easier if they simply acknowledge what the customer is already thinking.

For example, a salesperson might say: "Mister customer, I know there are a number of other providers running around pitching various solutions, to the point where the industry has become a little 'used-car-ish'. What these folks are NOT talking about, however, is the fact that there is a problem in the world of (insert your industry). With so many vendors making contradictory claims, it has become very difficult for customers to know what their options really are, how their business would be impacted, and the associated costs. Would it be valuable for me to pull back the curtains and give you the straight scoop on this?"

Verbally acknowledging the 'elephant in the room' is very different than just being another walking, talking billboard, schilling a product or service, don't you think?

"Tom Freese has the ability to cut through all the distractions to identify the real value proposition in the customer's mind. In doing so, he helped us turn a commodity service into an unmatched personal experience. The effect on sales has been spectacular."                         —Robert M. Pirnie, President and CEO, Conference America, Inc.

"Tom's logical approach to the strategic sale quickly helped my team overcome the ingrained skepticism veteran salespeople often have toward standard training courses. Our return on investment was just what I expected—more pipeline, more in-depth client interactions and bigger deals."    —Chuck Harris, Global Productivity Manager, EMC