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New Sales. Simplified.: The Essential Handbook for Prospecting and New Business Development
No matter how much repeat business you get from loyal customers, the lifeblood of your business is a constant flow of new accounts. Packed with tested strategies and anecdotes, New Sales. Simplified. offers a proven formula for prospecting, developing, and closing deals. With refreshing honesty and some much-needed humor, sales expert Mike Weinberg examines the critical mistakes made by most salespeople and executives, then provides tips to help you achieve the opposite results. In New Sales. Simplified. , you will learn how to: New Sales. Simplified. is about overcoming and even preventing buyers’ anti salesperson reflex by establishing trust. This book will help you choose the right targets and build a winning plan to pursue them. Named by Hubpot as a Top 20 Sales Book of All Time, this easy-to-follow guide will remove the mystery surrounding prospecting and have you ramping up for new business.
240 pages, Paperback
First published September 4, 2012
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June 30, 2017
This is an excellent book about sales prospecting and new business development. The author offers specific advice with things you can do and examples.
Here are some examples from the book.
“Our Sales Story. The story is foundational to everything we do in sales, and we use bits and pieces of it in all of our weapons. By ‘story’ I'm referring to the language or talking points we use when asked what we do or when we tell someone about our business. It's so critical to our success that the next two chapters are dedicated to helping you create and implement a succinct, powerful, differentiating, customer-focused story.”
“A compelling, differentiating, client-focused story is a prerequisite for new business development sales success. It's our best opportunity to set ourselves apart from the competition; to beautifully package our offering; to gain the prospect's attention; and to position ourselves as experts, value creators, and problem solvers.”
“Most customers couldn't care less about what we do. However, they were incredibly interested in what our products or service could do for them.”
“As important as this profound sales truth is when dealing with existing customers, it's magnified exponentially when trying to gain the attention of a prospect. So many people in sales lead with statements such as ‘We make’ or ‘We are suppliers’ or ‘We do this, that, and the other thing.’ And when salespeople lead in this manner, buyers are almost immediately thinking: ‘So what?’
I encourage you to try the ‘so what’ test. Listen to another salesperson on the phone attempting to earn an appointment with a tough prospect. Or accompany a rep on sales call. Every time the salesperson makes a statement, simply ask yourself, ‘So what?’ It's very convincing when we begin to realize how much of what we regularly say is self-focused drivel that has no real meaning to the customer.
What happens when we the start our pitch by talking about what we do? The prospect thinks or may even say aloud, ‘We already have that.’ We already have a banking relationship. We already have a widget supplier. We already have an advertising agency. We already have someone cleaning our data center. Fill in what your company does:
We already have a _________. In all likelihood, your prospects think they have it covered.”
“Three Critical Building Blocks for a Compelling Story
There are three critical sections, or building blocks, to a compelling sales story:
1. Client issues addressed
2. Offerings
3. Differentiators”
“Customer/client issues, the first building block and bedrock of our compelling sales story, refers to:
►Customer pains we remove
►Client problems we solve
►Opportunities we help customers capture
►Results we achieve for clients
Offerings, our second building block, simply state what we sell (emphasis on simply). Our offerings are what we do—the services, solutions, or products for which we bill customers.
Differentiators, the third building block, explain why we are better and different from other alternatives. This final building block provides solid reasons why we are the best choice to address the client's issues, as listed in the first section of the story.
These three building blocks are all necessary to craft a succinct, compelling, client-focused sales story. And the sequence matters—a lot! As important as the actual components themselves is the order in which we use them.”
“Why lead with client issues? The issues we address for clients serve as the lead-in to our sales story because that's where the power is derived. Client issues are the sharp tip of our sales spear. No one cares what we do, how smart we are, or how special we think our company is. Sad, but true. It's not about us. Prospects are interested in one thing: What's in it for them. We lead with the pains we remove, the problems we solve, and the results we achieve for customers because those things are important to them. They're relevant. These issues draw people in. They shake prospects out of their slumber and help delay their reflex resistance to our sales pitch.
A whole lot of salespeople make the mistake of leading with their offerings. That's the worst thing we can do. It screams ‘commodity’ to the buyer. It also communicates that the most important part of the conversation is about what we sell. ‘I'm the sales rep and I am here to tell you about we do.’ Awful. And way too common.”
“When we lead with client issues, we get a prospect's attention fast. We're talking about what's likely on the other person's mind. We also set ourselves up as problem solvers. By talking about the clients' needs first, we position ourselves as professionals who can address their issues.
Another benefit of leading with client issues is that it sets us up to ask probing questions about those very issues later in the sales process. In a sense, we foreshadow where we plan on taking the sales conversation. When the first things out of our mouth (or in writing) communicate to the prospect that we are all about addressing their issues, the dynamic of the sales dance radically changes. We're no longer viewed as the typical product-pitching sales rep that buyers try to avoid at all cost. Instead, we're seen as experts with solutions positioned to open a dialogue about the issues on the prospect's mind.
Leading our sales story with issues has one final practical application: It helps us qualify the prospect. If potential customers have no pain, no problems in need of solving, and are not trying to achieve a different result, then why would they make a change? If nothing is wrong or in need of improvement, why bother? Businesses and people don't change direction for no reason. If we take our best shot describing the reasons our customers turned to us and can't get a reaction or interest from the buyer, then the sales conversation is pretty much over. No Issues = No Sale. If the issues we address don't interest them, there's no reason to talk about what we do or why we're different. Just move on to the next prospect.”
“I created what I call ‘The Power Statement’ as my answer to the elevator pitch and the value proposition, two annoyingly overused expressions that mean different things to different people. Last time I checked, there was not a whole lot of business being transacted in elevators. So it doesn't make sense trying to cram our sales story into a format designed for use between the lobby and the ninth floor. Something wonderful, powerful, and magical happens when combining the three building blocks of our story under a brief headline and a transitional phrase. I've used this formula with more than fifty companies and continually receive unanimous positive feedback on its transformative power. Once complete, the power statement serves as a one-page, two- to three-minute encapsulation of our sales story. It can be used by itself in full form when speaking with someone face-to-face (on sales calls) or when elements from the power statement are excerpted for use in other sales weapons (telephone, voice mail, e-mail, presentations, proposals, etc.).
Let's take a look at the construction of the power statement.”
“Headline
The headline is a one- to two-sentence introduction. It helps provide context and allows your audience to place you in a category to better digest your story.
Transitional Phrase
This brief phrase sets the stage to grab your contact's attention. It opens the door to share the client issues your business addresses. It starts with either the type of business you are pursuing or the position of the contact you are addressing. For example:
GHI companies turn to (Tour Company Name Here) when....
Or:
Senior marketing executives look to us (or Tour Company Name Here) when they....
This type of lead-in is a shrewd technique that allows us to speak in the third person about what we accomplish for our customers. Instead of simply declaring our results in a brash or braggadocio fashion, we make compelling points about why our customers look to us for help. In a sense, the transitional phrase couches our strongest selling points as if they were a testimonial coming from our best clients.
Client Issues / Pains Removed / Problems Solved / Results Achieved
This section of the power statement lists between three and seven client issues we address. Use a conversational, bulleted format, describing each issue briefly using provocative or emotionally charged words. For instance:
►Striving to achieve Result 1.
►Frustrated from dealing with Pain 2 and ready to take action.
►Under significant pressure to eliminate Problem 3.
►Committed to accomplishing Result 4.
►They've had it with Pain 5.
►Facing threats (or regulatory pressure) from Issue 6.
►They are finally tired of living with Problem 7 and want help tackling it.
Offerings
This very brief section of the power statement is where we rattle off what it is we actually sell. It works best to simply describe our offerings in a few sentences, being careful not to embellish or oversell here. Our offerings are the least compelling component of our story, and that is why this section is short and sandwiched between the client issues we address and our differentiators.
Differentiators
The power statement concludes with a strong list of reasons that we are the best choice to address the client issues we previously described. This is our opportunity to brag and declare why our offerings are better than other options available to the customer. I suggest leading into a list of at least five differentiators with an intriguing sentence. For example:
(Tour Company Name) continues to grow (or dominate our space) because we are very different from what you will find in the marketplace...
Differentiator 1
Differentiator 2
Differentiator 3
Differentiator 4
Differentiator 5”
“Example
Allsafe Security Power Statement
HEADLINE
Allsafe is the premier security services provider in Canada. We work with building owners, property managers, and individual corporations to deliver true integrated security.
TRANSITIONAL PHRASE AND CLIENT ISSUES ADDRESSED
Building owners look to Allsafe when:
►Seeking a competitive advantage by offering the finest security available to tenants and guests.
►Frustrated that their current system is not doing what was promised when it was "sold" to them.
►Facing excessive liability exposure and growing life/safety fears.
►Continually embarrassed by the image projected by their security personnel.
► They've had it with guards who are poorly trained, unreliable, and constantly turning over.
►They're searching for a truly integrated solution
combining manpower, system monitoring, and CCTV.
►There is no peace of mind regarding a potential
emergency; the current provider lacks the appropriate resources, coverage, and experience to handle a crisis.
OFFERINGS
We provide true integrated security. Allsafe services include first-class manpower, access systems, monitoring, mobile response, and closed-circuit television.
DIFFERENTIATORS
Allsafe continues to dominate the security market because we are very different from the other available alternatives:
►We are a true one-stop shop that provides real integrated solutions.
►We offer in-house financing and leasing options help clients manage capital expenditures and cash flow.
►We are ‘vendor agnostic,’ allowing us to provide the best-fit products for your particular application.
►No one handles crisis situations better or responds faster. It is our specialty.
►We have, without question, the most professional, polished, responsible, and courteous officers in the business; clients tell us that our officers are like their own key employees.
►Our clients don't leave us. And the very few that did came back.”
Here are some examples from the book.
“Our Sales Story. The story is foundational to everything we do in sales, and we use bits and pieces of it in all of our weapons. By ‘story’ I'm referring to the language or talking points we use when asked what we do or when we tell someone about our business. It's so critical to our success that the next two chapters are dedicated to helping you create and implement a succinct, powerful, differentiating, customer-focused story.”
“A compelling, differentiating, client-focused story is a prerequisite for new business development sales success. It's our best opportunity to set ourselves apart from the competition; to beautifully package our offering; to gain the prospect's attention; and to position ourselves as experts, value creators, and problem solvers.”
“Most customers couldn't care less about what we do. However, they were incredibly interested in what our products or service could do for them.”
“As important as this profound sales truth is when dealing with existing customers, it's magnified exponentially when trying to gain the attention of a prospect. So many people in sales lead with statements such as ‘We make’ or ‘We are suppliers’ or ‘We do this, that, and the other thing.’ And when salespeople lead in this manner, buyers are almost immediately thinking: ‘So what?’
I encourage you to try the ‘so what’ test. Listen to another salesperson on the phone attempting to earn an appointment with a tough prospect. Or accompany a rep on sales call. Every time the salesperson makes a statement, simply ask yourself, ‘So what?’ It's very convincing when we begin to realize how much of what we regularly say is self-focused drivel that has no real meaning to the customer.
What happens when we the start our pitch by talking about what we do? The prospect thinks or may even say aloud, ‘We already have that.’ We already have a banking relationship. We already have a widget supplier. We already have an advertising agency. We already have someone cleaning our data center. Fill in what your company does:
We already have a _________. In all likelihood, your prospects think they have it covered.”
“Three Critical Building Blocks for a Compelling Story
There are three critical sections, or building blocks, to a compelling sales story:
1. Client issues addressed
2. Offerings
3. Differentiators”
“Customer/client issues, the first building block and bedrock of our compelling sales story, refers to:
►Customer pains we remove
►Client problems we solve
►Opportunities we help customers capture
►Results we achieve for clients
Offerings, our second building block, simply state what we sell (emphasis on simply). Our offerings are what we do—the services, solutions, or products for which we bill customers.
Differentiators, the third building block, explain why we are better and different from other alternatives. This final building block provides solid reasons why we are the best choice to address the client's issues, as listed in the first section of the story.
These three building blocks are all necessary to craft a succinct, compelling, client-focused sales story. And the sequence matters—a lot! As important as the actual components themselves is the order in which we use them.”
“Why lead with client issues? The issues we address for clients serve as the lead-in to our sales story because that's where the power is derived. Client issues are the sharp tip of our sales spear. No one cares what we do, how smart we are, or how special we think our company is. Sad, but true. It's not about us. Prospects are interested in one thing: What's in it for them. We lead with the pains we remove, the problems we solve, and the results we achieve for customers because those things are important to them. They're relevant. These issues draw people in. They shake prospects out of their slumber and help delay their reflex resistance to our sales pitch.
A whole lot of salespeople make the mistake of leading with their offerings. That's the worst thing we can do. It screams ‘commodity’ to the buyer. It also communicates that the most important part of the conversation is about what we sell. ‘I'm the sales rep and I am here to tell you about we do.’ Awful. And way too common.”
“When we lead with client issues, we get a prospect's attention fast. We're talking about what's likely on the other person's mind. We also set ourselves up as problem solvers. By talking about the clients' needs first, we position ourselves as professionals who can address their issues.
Another benefit of leading with client issues is that it sets us up to ask probing questions about those very issues later in the sales process. In a sense, we foreshadow where we plan on taking the sales conversation. When the first things out of our mouth (or in writing) communicate to the prospect that we are all about addressing their issues, the dynamic of the sales dance radically changes. We're no longer viewed as the typical product-pitching sales rep that buyers try to avoid at all cost. Instead, we're seen as experts with solutions positioned to open a dialogue about the issues on the prospect's mind.
Leading our sales story with issues has one final practical application: It helps us qualify the prospect. If potential customers have no pain, no problems in need of solving, and are not trying to achieve a different result, then why would they make a change? If nothing is wrong or in need of improvement, why bother? Businesses and people don't change direction for no reason. If we take our best shot describing the reasons our customers turned to us and can't get a reaction or interest from the buyer, then the sales conversation is pretty much over. No Issues = No Sale. If the issues we address don't interest them, there's no reason to talk about what we do or why we're different. Just move on to the next prospect.”
“I created what I call ‘The Power Statement’ as my answer to the elevator pitch and the value proposition, two annoyingly overused expressions that mean different things to different people. Last time I checked, there was not a whole lot of business being transacted in elevators. So it doesn't make sense trying to cram our sales story into a format designed for use between the lobby and the ninth floor. Something wonderful, powerful, and magical happens when combining the three building blocks of our story under a brief headline and a transitional phrase. I've used this formula with more than fifty companies and continually receive unanimous positive feedback on its transformative power. Once complete, the power statement serves as a one-page, two- to three-minute encapsulation of our sales story. It can be used by itself in full form when speaking with someone face-to-face (on sales calls) or when elements from the power statement are excerpted for use in other sales weapons (telephone, voice mail, e-mail, presentations, proposals, etc.).
Let's take a look at the construction of the power statement.”
“Headline
The headline is a one- to two-sentence introduction. It helps provide context and allows your audience to place you in a category to better digest your story.
Transitional Phrase
This brief phrase sets the stage to grab your contact's attention. It opens the door to share the client issues your business addresses. It starts with either the type of business you are pursuing or the position of the contact you are addressing. For example:
GHI companies turn to (Tour Company Name Here) when....
Or:
Senior marketing executives look to us (or Tour Company Name Here) when they....
This type of lead-in is a shrewd technique that allows us to speak in the third person about what we accomplish for our customers. Instead of simply declaring our results in a brash or braggadocio fashion, we make compelling points about why our customers look to us for help. In a sense, the transitional phrase couches our strongest selling points as if they were a testimonial coming from our best clients.
Client Issues / Pains Removed / Problems Solved / Results Achieved
This section of the power statement lists between three and seven client issues we address. Use a conversational, bulleted format, describing each issue briefly using provocative or emotionally charged words. For instance:
►Striving to achieve Result 1.
►Frustrated from dealing with Pain 2 and ready to take action.
►Under significant pressure to eliminate Problem 3.
►Committed to accomplishing Result 4.
►They've had it with Pain 5.
►Facing threats (or regulatory pressure) from Issue 6.
►They are finally tired of living with Problem 7 and want help tackling it.
Offerings
This very brief section of the power statement is where we rattle off what it is we actually sell. It works best to simply describe our offerings in a few sentences, being careful not to embellish or oversell here. Our offerings are the least compelling component of our story, and that is why this section is short and sandwiched between the client issues we address and our differentiators.
Differentiators
The power statement concludes with a strong list of reasons that we are the best choice to address the client issues we previously described. This is our opportunity to brag and declare why our offerings are better than other options available to the customer. I suggest leading into a list of at least five differentiators with an intriguing sentence. For example:
(Tour Company Name) continues to grow (or dominate our space) because we are very different from what you will find in the marketplace...
Differentiator 1
Differentiator 2
Differentiator 3
Differentiator 4
Differentiator 5”
“Example
Allsafe Security Power Statement
HEADLINE
Allsafe is the premier security services provider in Canada. We work with building owners, property managers, and individual corporations to deliver true integrated security.
TRANSITIONAL PHRASE AND CLIENT ISSUES ADDRESSED
Building owners look to Allsafe when:
►Seeking a competitive advantage by offering the finest security available to tenants and guests.
►Frustrated that their current system is not doing what was promised when it was "sold" to them.
►Facing excessive liability exposure and growing life/safety fears.
►Continually embarrassed by the image projected by their security personnel.
► They've had it with guards who are poorly trained, unreliable, and constantly turning over.
►They're searching for a truly integrated solution
combining manpower, system monitoring, and CCTV.
►There is no peace of mind regarding a potential
emergency; the current provider lacks the appropriate resources, coverage, and experience to handle a crisis.
OFFERINGS
We provide true integrated security. Allsafe services include first-class manpower, access systems, monitoring, mobile response, and closed-circuit television.
DIFFERENTIATORS
Allsafe continues to dominate the security market because we are very different from the other available alternatives:
►We are a true one-stop shop that provides real integrated solutions.
►We offer in-house financing and leasing options help clients manage capital expenditures and cash flow.
►We are ‘vendor agnostic,’ allowing us to provide the best-fit products for your particular application.
►No one handles crisis situations better or responds faster. It is our specialty.
►We have, without question, the most professional, polished, responsible, and courteous officers in the business; clients tell us that our officers are like their own key employees.
►Our clients don't leave us. And the very few that did came back.”
August 26, 2016
Without any doubt this is the best book I have read so far on sales.
September 25, 2016
FANTASTIC reminder of what sales people should be doing but tend to get away from or make secondary. Mike walks through the entire process from selecting target prospects, writing your sales story to the meeting with the prospect. If you are a salesperson and want to increase your sales today, READ this book.
April 9, 2023
A must-read for anyone who's in sales or is thinking about going into it. This is one of those books that I'm hoping to be coming back to periodically, either to search for advice that might be relevant to the new challenges I'll face, or simply to remind myself of the utility and beauty of the industry itself. I feel like the latter will become particularly important as stakes get higher and stress levels increase.
The book has a healthy balance of high-level business reasoning and practical advice. The structure is clear & concise.
I listened to it on Audible and the narration was fantastic.
The book has a healthy balance of high-level business reasoning and practical advice. The structure is clear & concise.
I listened to it on Audible and the narration was fantastic.
June 2, 2017
Sales, the dirty word for many companies and certainly startups. We have social media,... and still. I run several startups before and technology wise we did very well, being famous on social media we did good..... and clients were happy to use our services for free. This free didn't pay the bills (unfortunately)
So I decided to go into more old sales techniques. As my beliefs are that whatever level you are as a company (startup, medium size or international organisation) the rules of the game are the same: "You need to generate money to stay alive".
When using more old sales techniques, we had already more success, but not as much as I wanted, so I needed to dive deeper in sales techniques.
At this moment I came across this book "New Sales. Simplified". Maybe it was the title, but I am a strong believer of simplified things. The book was what I needed, it gave me some small insides to make my sales process go smoother. Small essentials things, that often I missed out.
Now, I loved the book, I think it is 100% worth reading it, but I want to go 1 step further. I will implement the sales techniques in my company, and in 1 year, that's June 2, 2018, I will make an update with the results. I am confident that our sales growth will be enormous.
Read the book and make this challenge together?
Are you in, contact me and let's stimulate each other to make the challenge a huge success!
Mike Weinberg do you support us? :)
So I decided to go into more old sales techniques. As my beliefs are that whatever level you are as a company (startup, medium size or international organisation) the rules of the game are the same: "You need to generate money to stay alive".
When using more old sales techniques, we had already more success, but not as much as I wanted, so I needed to dive deeper in sales techniques.
At this moment I came across this book "New Sales. Simplified". Maybe it was the title, but I am a strong believer of simplified things. The book was what I needed, it gave me some small insides to make my sales process go smoother. Small essentials things, that often I missed out.
Now, I loved the book, I think it is 100% worth reading it, but I want to go 1 step further. I will implement the sales techniques in my company, and in 1 year, that's June 2, 2018, I will make an update with the results. I am confident that our sales growth will be enormous.
Read the book and make this challenge together?
Are you in, contact me and let's stimulate each other to make the challenge a huge success!
Mike Weinberg do you support us? :)
December 11, 2021
Straight to the point just how I was expecting. Great author with amazing experience (skin in the game) and a good feeling to conduct his writing. Totally recommend it!
Read
July 20, 2019I feel like it wouldn't be fair for me to rate this book because I'm not a salesperson. I'm supposed to make some sales and was hoping this would help. But this book just reinforced a lot of the things I dislike about sales and confirmed my suspicion that I am not naturally inclined to sales. Maybe professional sales people would find it useful though.
March 22, 2020
Holy Bible of sales
August 16, 2017
5 stars. That's all I really need to say. This is not a perfectly written book, and the author has some personal positions and definitions that I don't agree with, but I like his direct and open honesty. It means that this book is chock full of common sense, and isn't beholden to best practice as a limiting factor, but rather states best practice based on experience. It is the kind of book I'd like to write, if I'm ever dumb enough to write a business book. Don't tell me what your corporate training told you to do, and don't tell me what some researcher suggests you do, but tell me what works. What truth have you uncovered through experience?
Just to be clear, I'm not anti-research, but the research based books written by consultants and university professors are a dime a dozen. They range for boring to uninspiring as they try to tell the world what they think they know from observing and analyzing others. That is the differentiator. This book isn't based on any experience but his own. And when you want to question a conclusion, he has ALL the facts about the situation. To put it in academic terms, he has roughly 100% of the data of his experience, not a statistically significant number of survey responses.
So I foresee this on my list of regular rereads. But for now, if you are in sales, or in a leadership role in a company and are wondering how to improve your sales team, read this now.
Just to be clear, I'm not anti-research, but the research based books written by consultants and university professors are a dime a dozen. They range for boring to uninspiring as they try to tell the world what they think they know from observing and analyzing others. That is the differentiator. This book isn't based on any experience but his own. And when you want to question a conclusion, he has ALL the facts about the situation. To put it in academic terms, he has roughly 100% of the data of his experience, not a statistically significant number of survey responses.
So I foresee this on my list of regular rereads. But for now, if you are in sales, or in a leadership role in a company and are wondering how to improve your sales team, read this now.
February 24, 2019
Great book. I am new to a sales role, and found this to be the perfect primer. Even in today's world of online and social media, I'm inclined to agree with the author that the fundamental principles of sales have not changed. We have new tools or sales weapons as Mike calls them, but these don't replace the need for sales people to be proactive prospectors. I found the chapters on the sales story to be very helpful, while more established sales people might already be familiar with some of the concepts, it is still a thought provoking read that makes you look at how you approach each aspect of the sales process. Thanks Mike.
July 15, 2021
A good, no BS book on sales. He comes back to the point that there STILL is no substitute for hard work, cold calling, emailing, and general enormous outbound activity. I agree with the author that various pundits keep trying to get away from this kind of in-person outreach yet it still is the most effective method. Be wary of anyone trying to get around the sales call. A helpful book but his lecture on using Southwest Airlines is silly and naivete. Most sales reps reading this book don't have the luxury of constantly flying out to visit their prospects. They are locked to their desk or their city by management. That's just the truth.
April 24, 2019
Buying this book is one of the best investments that you can make as an entrepreneur or salesman. Mike Weinberg provides excellent strategy and examples on how to close NEW clients.
He also covers the major mistakes that people are making today... and boy, did he save me from making a few of them! There are so many common mistakes that companies and salesmen make that take the focus off of hunting for new clients... stop making these mistakes!
All of the “magic” in new sales books won’t set you apart. Hard work and the correct strategy is how you win. Mike teaches you how to do it.
He also covers the major mistakes that people are making today... and boy, did he save me from making a few of them! There are so many common mistakes that companies and salesmen make that take the focus off of hunting for new clients... stop making these mistakes!
All of the “magic” in new sales books won’t set you apart. Hard work and the correct strategy is how you win. Mike teaches you how to do it.
July 8, 2021
I guess if you’ve never read another sales book this would be adequate as an overview. Although the consistent “here’s how great I am” got old after the first chapter.
As it stands this is an undifferentiated gathering of blowhard stories and generic sales advice such as “tell a good story,” “prospect a bunch,” “focus on the customer,” and “call people.” It doesn’t seem useful to anyone in a sales role looking to learn more or improve their knowledge base.
Thankful that this was a library loan.
As it stands this is an undifferentiated gathering of blowhard stories and generic sales advice such as “tell a good story,” “prospect a bunch,” “focus on the customer,” and “call people.” It doesn’t seem useful to anyone in a sales role looking to learn more or improve their knowledge base.
Thankful that this was a library loan.
May 10, 2019
There are some gems inside this book
The book could be shorter, at times it feels like the author just wants to go on and on with his thoughts.
The book could be shorter, at times it feels like the author just wants to go on and on with his thoughts.
August 24, 2019
Pretty solid book on the art of bringing new business in.
June 18, 2020
Sales Strategy:
Sales people should follow a clear strategy.
Select Targets (Finite, focussed, written, workable)
Deploy weapons
Execute the attack
Repeat the above process again and again
- For achieving new sales, be focused in targeting a client. Rejection at one door does not mean that the other doors are also closed. You need to find another way for approaching the same client. No does not have to mean never. Quickly going away from a lead will not let you focus on any lead. New business success usually comes from a combination of perseverance, creativity and resilience while staying laser focussed on the target list of finite prospects.
- Don't be late to the party because in that case initial opinions will be formed and you will end up in a price war rather than problem solving.
- Repeat calling makes us an expert as we learn the business issues, language and nuances. We ask the right questions and develop right use-cases to share with the right people.
- Before targeting new clients - understand who are our best customers, Why did they come to us, who did we compete against, why did we lose anyone in a new race, have we lost any customer who we were serving, who can refer us business, who has referred in the past?
Salesman behaviour and approach:
- Be proactive. Don't wait for a lead. Go out and find one.
- People buy from people they like.
- Be excited on what you sell. If you are not convinced, how will the other person be sure of your product.
- Focus your time on largest, most growable and most-at risk accounts. Create an intentional imbalance between different accounts
- Dream accounts should be a handful and not all should be given to one manager. The objective is to make small progress with each of these clients every week.
- The more focus on new sales, the more revenue you clock. Delegate work, if required. Focus on winning new business. End up a meeting if people are lingering along and not helping the cause in anyway.
- Salesperson should not always say a Yes to every demand of the prospect. Do enough discovery before going in the presentation. Who are we presenting this to? What is the objective for the call?
Sales call and meetings:
- Have a differentiated pitch and customised with respect to the end-customer
- Position yourself as value creators, problem solvers and experts
- Avoid self-focus. Try and make the customer talk more. They are not interested in what you do but in what you can do for them
- Begin with issues, problems and pain and opportunities
- Differentiate your story from other players, if not, then you will end up in a price war. Test your story with the "So What" analysis
- Plan your calls. Need to prepare for each call
- Discovery precedes presentation. Ask a lot of questions. Better sales are achieved by asking the right questions than by making the right presentations
- Share the agenda and seek their input before the start of the presentation
- Where are you in the evaluation stage, timelines, budget, decision makers, where is the budget coming from?
- Defining the next step is crucial at the end of each meeting
- Make a list of targets within the prospective client The higher the connect, the better it is. Remove the fear of approaching the leaders. What worse can happen is that they might not listen to you which was anyways true if you would not have approached them. Frankly, senior folks might listen to a better opportunity more than middle management.
- Do not reveal pricing too early. You may not know the evaluation criteria and the key stakeholders
Sales people should follow a clear strategy.
Select Targets (Finite, focussed, written, workable)
Deploy weapons
Execute the attack
Repeat the above process again and again
- For achieving new sales, be focused in targeting a client. Rejection at one door does not mean that the other doors are also closed. You need to find another way for approaching the same client. No does not have to mean never. Quickly going away from a lead will not let you focus on any lead. New business success usually comes from a combination of perseverance, creativity and resilience while staying laser focussed on the target list of finite prospects.
- Don't be late to the party because in that case initial opinions will be formed and you will end up in a price war rather than problem solving.
- Repeat calling makes us an expert as we learn the business issues, language and nuances. We ask the right questions and develop right use-cases to share with the right people.
- Before targeting new clients - understand who are our best customers, Why did they come to us, who did we compete against, why did we lose anyone in a new race, have we lost any customer who we were serving, who can refer us business, who has referred in the past?
Salesman behaviour and approach:
- Be proactive. Don't wait for a lead. Go out and find one.
- People buy from people they like.
- Be excited on what you sell. If you are not convinced, how will the other person be sure of your product.
- Focus your time on largest, most growable and most-at risk accounts. Create an intentional imbalance between different accounts
- Dream accounts should be a handful and not all should be given to one manager. The objective is to make small progress with each of these clients every week.
- The more focus on new sales, the more revenue you clock. Delegate work, if required. Focus on winning new business. End up a meeting if people are lingering along and not helping the cause in anyway.
- Salesperson should not always say a Yes to every demand of the prospect. Do enough discovery before going in the presentation. Who are we presenting this to? What is the objective for the call?
Sales call and meetings:
- Have a differentiated pitch and customised with respect to the end-customer
- Position yourself as value creators, problem solvers and experts
- Avoid self-focus. Try and make the customer talk more. They are not interested in what you do but in what you can do for them
- Begin with issues, problems and pain and opportunities
- Differentiate your story from other players, if not, then you will end up in a price war. Test your story with the "So What" analysis
- Plan your calls. Need to prepare for each call
- Discovery precedes presentation. Ask a lot of questions. Better sales are achieved by asking the right questions than by making the right presentations
- Share the agenda and seek their input before the start of the presentation
- Where are you in the evaluation stage, timelines, budget, decision makers, where is the budget coming from?
- Defining the next step is crucial at the end of each meeting
- Make a list of targets within the prospective client The higher the connect, the better it is. Remove the fear of approaching the leaders. What worse can happen is that they might not listen to you which was anyways true if you would not have approached them. Frankly, senior folks might listen to a better opportunity more than middle management.
- Do not reveal pricing too early. You may not know the evaluation criteria and the key stakeholders
July 4, 2018
Big picture view
An interesting book where Mike provides a structured approach to gaining new business. The ideas within the book, if followed verbatim, would clearly lead to a strong growth in business but would have a disruptive influence on the internal organisational house keeping activities, e.g. attending meetings as the "sales rep", responding to "for your information" e-mails and reading pointless internal reports. Mike suggests, and I agree with him, that if organisations want strong new business growth, the sales team needs to be at the heart of the company's business strategy and strongly supported.
A great read for all sales professionals, whether a hunter or a zoo keeper.
An interesting book where Mike provides a structured approach to gaining new business. The ideas within the book, if followed verbatim, would clearly lead to a strong growth in business but would have a disruptive influence on the internal organisational house keeping activities, e.g. attending meetings as the "sales rep", responding to "for your information" e-mails and reading pointless internal reports. Mike suggests, and I agree with him, that if organisations want strong new business growth, the sales team needs to be at the heart of the company's business strategy and strongly supported.
A great read for all sales professionals, whether a hunter or a zoo keeper.
January 10, 2022
Same old suggestions, different title. A little Sandler-ish. I am a fan of Sandler but this gives few specifics and like a lot of other sales books, seems to be more dense with self congratulation on how the author is such a prolific salesperson. 'Yay I'm so awesome!' e Join the hundreds of others, blowhard. And one of his 16 points he starts out with is that not everyone is a salesperson, some just suck and are unlikable. Not great for the reader that is charting their way, trying to build confidence and become better. Finally, it seems to weave in product and other endorsements. It might fit other's tastes, but I am moving onto something that doesn't ramble on like an infomercial for the Shamwow or the Slapchop.
January 6, 2023
This book is the giant carcass at which all LinkedIn vultures in sales thought leadership pick their daily morsels for posts.
If you need to set up\overhaul an entire sales process, this book is all you need.
The central tenet is the development of what the author calls a "power statement", a customer focused document that serves as foundation for all the other tools you want in your arsenal.
Highlights to review and study:
- Proactive call structure and content
- Creating a manageably small set of insights and 2\3 diagnostic questions for BDRs to use in calls
- Providing BDRs with a strategically selected, focused list of targets
- Seeing your team as problem solvers and value creators for a winning mindset
- How ask probing questions
- How to prepare for and lead a demo
If you need to set up\overhaul an entire sales process, this book is all you need.
The central tenet is the development of what the author calls a "power statement", a customer focused document that serves as foundation for all the other tools you want in your arsenal.
Highlights to review and study:
- Proactive call structure and content
- Creating a manageably small set of insights and 2\3 diagnostic questions for BDRs to use in calls
- Providing BDRs with a strategically selected, focused list of targets
- Seeing your team as problem solvers and value creators for a winning mindset
- How ask probing questions
- How to prepare for and lead a demo
November 5, 2019
Really practical and helpful book. I got several action items to implement in my sales. One of the new ideas was to begin face to face call with a 3 minutes compelling sales story and only after that start probing. I would say that the conventional approach would be a traditional probing phase(SPIN) and then later storytelling and demonstrating benefits.
All in all, I believe this book helped me to change a few structural things in my calls to make the call more conversational and open a prospect up.
All in all, I believe this book helped me to change a few structural things in my calls to make the call more conversational and open a prospect up.
August 25, 2018
This is an excellent book from Mike Weinberg. I started initially with Sales Management Simplified from Mike. Was very impressed and could not resist reading this book. In this book, Mike covers
the basics of New Business Development in a straight, simple and easy-to-correlate manner. I would recommend this book to be read by all Executives Leaders, Sales Leaders and Individual Sales Contributors.
the basics of New Business Development in a straight, simple and easy-to-correlate manner. I would recommend this book to be read by all Executives Leaders, Sales Leaders and Individual Sales Contributors.
February 23, 2019
Weinberg does an excellent job on underscoring the simplicity (...but a whole lot of work and preparation) of new account development and prospecting. He professes, nor delivers any magic potions or silver bullets, but lays out a clear and easily understood strategy for approaching, or "attacking" as he likes to say, new business. I highly recommend this for serious sales people. My well-highlighted copy will serve me ongoing.
June 2, 2019
You will never go wrong reading / listening to / following anything from Mike. Be warned, he tells it like it is. It’s refreshing in a way and you’ll be hooked immediately because Mike’s passion is in every word on every page. All truth and nothing but it. If you’re looking for some fluffy fairy dust feel good book from a sales “expert” claiming that everything has changed in sales then move on. Or better yet, read this with an open mind to the #SalesTruth.
July 12, 2019
The Best Sales Book By Far
Being in sales for more than two decades and reading this book made me wish that I had read this book back when I started my sales career. I agree with all the insights presented and it has exceeded all my expectations. Any new or experienced sales person will pickup many gems of wisdom and should put all of it into practice. Kudos to the author for writing such an exceptional book.
Being in sales for more than two decades and reading this book made me wish that I had read this book back when I started my sales career. I agree with all the insights presented and it has exceeded all my expectations. Any new or experienced sales person will pickup many gems of wisdom and should put all of it into practice. Kudos to the author for writing such an exceptional book.
July 15, 2019
Very well written book about new business development. He has beautifully highlighted the thinking of a sales person where he does not default into prospecting or new business development. The book has very relevant points based on his personal experience and the examples shared for various scenarios.
The process is well illustrated but calls for high level of discipline to execute and be consistent. It will be a good read for anyone related to sales.
The process is well illustrated but calls for high level of discipline to execute and be consistent. It will be a good read for anyone related to sales.
August 31, 2019
As a personal trainer about to start working in management, sales are definitely something I need continued work on--Mike Weinberg's acclaimed book is a decent start, though truthfully it's aimed more towards selling to companies rather than individuals. Some good info in here that I'll definitely make use of, but a good chunk of it isn't in my wheelhouse. I do like how Weinberg eschews your typical self help book nonsense to create a somewhat tight, all useful book on the subject.
March 16, 2021
Perfect Book for Beginners and Sloppy Seasoned Professionals Alike
Mike nails this book with prime examples and fundamentals that should be taught in every business school across America. He gets in your face and forces you to realize that you hate the one thing that generates pay checks; prospecting.
Read this book if you really want to be a true, consultive sales professional. Or keep up that game of charades you keep playing.
Mike nails this book with prime examples and fundamentals that should be taught in every business school across America. He gets in your face and forces you to realize that you hate the one thing that generates pay checks; prospecting.
Read this book if you really want to be a true, consultive sales professional. Or keep up that game of charades you keep playing.
October 25, 2017
Overall a good (not great) book on sales prospecting. Weinberg does a good job of laying it out what you need to do to generate some business as a rep in as few steps as possible.
Notable items on creating a sales story, arming yourself (or your reps) with the proper tools to be successful, etc.
Notable items on creating a sales story, arming yourself (or your reps) with the proper tools to be successful, etc.
April 15, 2018
A clear, concise, easy-to-follow methodology for developing new business. The author also does a good job of making the process seem workable and attainable. After reading this, I felt exponentially more excited about the prospect of opening and converting new accounts with no leads to work off of.
August 20, 2018
Overall this was an excellent selection for the sales team. I enjoyed most the concepts of making it about your client and what they are looking for and needing, more than making it all about your company. Spotlight on the client and what can be done to help that client is so key.
Don’t know that I would ever recommend it, but it was terribly thought provoking.
Don’t know that I would ever recommend it, but it was terribly thought provoking.
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