Lean Selling: Slash Your Sales Cycle and Drive Profitable, Predictable Revenue Growth by Giving Buyers What They Really Want

by Robert J. Pryor

Excerpts of Advance Praise for Lean Selling "Lean Selling is the most important sales management book of the last 25 years. It shows us why 90% of today's sales processes are broken. This book will change forever the way you sell and manage." Al Davidson President, Strategic Sales & Marketing, Inc. "Most sales leaders struggle to get their entire sales team to perform at the level of their 'A-Players.' Too many sales books focus on trying to change a salesperson's behavior to achieve this. Robert Pryor's book focuses on defining a sales process to yield consistent sales results for your company's product or solution. Lean Selling provides the tools you require to define then refine your sales process as market and competitive conditions change. The end result is achieving both predictable sales and customer satisfaction." Craig Jack Former Managing Client Partner, Verizon Enterprise Solutions Former Managing Director, KPMG Consulting "Robert Pryor has written a book on a subject already covered by tons of books over the years but managed to give it a twist that makes it very engaging and relevant. The book is well written, insightful, and timely; the emergence of internet commerce has had a profound impact on the sales profession as we know it." Ake Persson Retired CEO, Ericsson Wireless Communications, Inc. "Lean Selling, by Robert Pryor, really woke me up to how complacent some of us are about our sales processes, and how that complacency connects directly to those sub-optimal results. It's a 'must read.' " J. Jeffrey Campbell Brinker Executive in Residence and Director, Master of Science Program, San Diego State University School of Hospitality & Tourism Former Chairman and CEO, Burger King Corporation "Lean Selling? I love it. I've been using lean principles with my inside sales organization for a year now to improve customer fit and the buyer experience. The result has been astronomical growth in sales for my company. Kevin Gaither Vice president of Inside Sales, ZipRecruiter, Inc. President, Los Angeles Chapter of the American Association of Inside Sales Professionals Complete quotations start on page 1 of this book.

334 pages, Hardcover

First published January 30, 2015

Reviews

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have been looking for books that apply lean and agile methods to sales and the sales management. They seem to be few and far between (I am still looking). It seem to me that we have been managing the sales process the same way for over 30 years (maybe more). Organizations of all sizes are applying these principals within their organizations but seem to stop at the "sales dept". Pryor does a nice job in laying out the how lean principals can be applied to selling. I really like the idea of focusing on the buying process vs. the selling process. Enjoyed the book and recommend to others trying to shake up or transform the way they sell.

[Sam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Written by my friends father, this book describes a novel approach to selling where you quantify everything, improve everything and never stop tweaking. It's not an easy read but helps change perception of selling from convincing to educating. Very recommended.

[Arjen · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author introduces Lean Thinking to the sales function of an enterprise. This is a very interesting concept because there is a lot of waste in the sales process, wasted time that lets hot leads fizzle into indecision. Cutting back the waste and bringing flow into the sales process is the objective; but it is hard to put into practice as sales is not a static process, and is by definition always accompanied by a buying process from another party. The book is not supported by field work or real life data and examples, and could have been 25% shorter with a more lean writing style.

I did, however, take copious amounts of notes! My first step will be to bring flow into the management of my teams sales funnel, the second to task marketing more strongly on lead generation and qualification, and thirdly in generating specific sales collateral to feed the different stages of the customers buying cycle.

[Jose Papo · Rating 5 out of 5]

An amazing book, that applies concepts from Lean like Value Stream Mapping, Kaizen, Lean Thinking, Waste, Flow and others in the sales processes. Part 3, that details sales as a process and shows all their steps, inputs and outputs is fantastic. Part 5 talks about sales as a system and then closes with a 90 day plan to use the book ideas to transform your sales processes. Read it if you want to have a better sales org!