Insight Selling: Surprising Research on What Sales Winners Do Differently

by Mike Schultz, John E. Doerr, Neil Rackham (Foreword)

Standard solution sales methods aren't working like they used to. Indeed, several prominent sources have pronounced that the era of solution sales has ended. To find out if this was true or not, Schultz and Doerr studied what the winners of more than 700 actual B-to-B sales opportunities (from buyers responsible for $3.1 billion in annual purchases) are doing to win the sale, and what they do differently than the sellers who come in second place.

"Insight Selling" will examine the details and specifics of Rain Selling, a comprehensive, three-level selling strategy developed by the Rain Group to help turn every sales professional into a sales winner:

1) Level 1: "Connect" is the price of entry. When buyers perceive sellers don't understand their needs and don't have a solution that can help--and the buyer doesn't like them--sellers don't win.

2) Level 2: "Convince" increases wins. When sellers don't convince buyers they'll get a worthwhile return, the risks are acceptable, and they're the right choice, the buyer might not buy at all, might buy much less than they should (or only be willing to pay less), or may select another provider.

3) Level 3: "Collaborate" is when the seller becomes a key component of buyer success. The sellers who are perceived as Level 3 collaborators, and who bring new ideas to the table and work with buyers as a team, will find themselves in the winner's circle.

Genres: Business

256 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2014

Reviews

[Fabrizio Stucchi]

The firsst half of the book, describing the sales cycle from the buyer perspective really give new perspectives on how to approach sales properly, the second half is really nothing new.

[Alejandro]

I was expecting more real-world examples of cases where insight selling was successfully applied along with the key takeaways from these business cases.

I also found the style repetitive. Only a handful of concepts are introduced to help the reader improve their sales methodology through insight selling. It could have been a much shorter book IMHO.

Despite the criticism, I would recommend reading the book if you are completely new to modern selling approaches that are taught in most consultancy companies. You would definitely learn something new out of this book.

[Martin Harris]

A good alternative to some of the traditional sales methodologies.

Insight selling rather than problem / solution selling has a bit more positivity about it and I felt it was an interesting advancement to the current Challenger Sale or classic solution selling.

The research on 'what winners do' versus second place was also useful.

[Enrique]

One of the few books on sales research, nice tips.

[Shawn Lacagnina]

This is one of the best books on Selling that I have read... and I read a lot. As the name indicates, this book is filled with insight into the hows and whys of the selling process. Read it and you will be better for it.

[Güvenç Altaş]

Very old topic with a new look.What I liked about the book is It represents a relevant picture for sales forces from recruitment to execution.What I did not like is I did not get anything related with insight generation in the book

[Colin Chapman]

I don't find many technical business books all that engaging but I certainly find much value in this book.

This is one of those books that I will need to revisit many times to glean all the knowledge within it's pages.

if you are involved in selling I would highly recommend this book.

[Nathan Tanner]

I had to read this book for an MBA class. Like many business books, the main points could have been summarized in less than 10 pages.

[Henrique]

the book fails to sell itself. I did look like a big publicity to sell their course and training

[Zander Brown]

Very good content but could have been a 25 pager and just as effective.

[Sandra]

It should not have taken me so long to finish this book. I just procrastinated. Really great book in understanding the buyer needs and empathizing with the companies you want to do business with.

[Leona]

Well structured and relevant thought process on how to differentiate yourself as a seller in today's competitive marketplace.

[Delhi Irc]

Location: PTI IRC
Accession no: DL028119