Strategic Selling: The Unique Sales System Proven Successful by America's Best Companies

by Robert B. Miller

Now updated and revised for a new century of sales success, this new edition of the business classic confronts the rapidly evolving world of business-to-business sales with new real-world examples, new strategies for confronting competition, and a special section featuring the most commonly asked questions from the Miller Heiman workshops.

Learn:

How to identify the four real decision makers in every corporate labyrinth

How to prevent sabotage by an internal deal-killer

How to make a senior executive eager to see you

How to avoid closing business that youll later regret

How to manage a territory to provide steady, not boom and bust, revenue

Genres: Business, Nonfiction, Entrepreneurship, Professional Development, Self Help, Buisness, Psychology

319 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1985

Reviews

[Alok Mishra · Rating 3 out of 5]

Yeah, we know that!
Overall, most of the points raised in this book are certainly old school and won't be very useful for the new-age market invaders. Nonetheless, it might be a good start because reading a book won't take a lot. And nothing to take away from the authors and experts - time has changed!

[George Davidson · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the timeless classics that you should read if you sell to large accounts.

Very long book - 400+ pages, but they do a great job of putting large complex sales into a strategic framework so that you:
-Make sure to cover all the bases
-Identify and deal with Red Flags
-Identify win-results

Miller-Heiman coined the phrase win-win and they use some principles of strategy to create a nice method of analyzing your large complex deals. Only worth utilizing if you are dealing with large accounts (500+ employee companies to Fortune 500) with large deals - 100K+ to Multi-million. Otherwise more standard solution selling should work and don't waste your time on the strategic analysis.

If it is a large deal, then please use this method as it will help you cover everything you need to and identify where you have gaps.

[Denis Vasilev · Rating 5 out of 5]

Классика продаж, сложных продаж. Хорошие советы по стратегии продаж, актуально и на текущий момент.

[Tim · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book as part of sales training for my company, which is involved in complex sales. Because my background is engineering, I’ve typically been a little mystified and intimidated by the sales process. The New Strategic Selling has given me a framework for how to understand and approach complex sales (in an account management context, in my case).
I appreciate the honest, win-win approach. There is no deception or trickery here, only honestly investigating customer needs and staying connected to the right people (covering your bases) in an intentional way.

[Lawrence Cullen · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is old school, with nothing new. Just a rehash of all the books you thought were important.

Good for insomniacs.

[Wilde Sky · Rating 3 out of 5]

A book about how to achieve sales.

There were one or two interesting points but overall I found it a bit dull.

Rating 2.5.

[Eduardo Joffroy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a traditional book on sales management that basically reminds us of going back to basics that Sports Teams apply. Not only specifically talking about roles of the Sales Team, The Importance of the Sales Team Coach, but the Sales Culture of the company that ends up aligning the whole sales strategy and success.

I think that the book is of value and relevance still, although it is a basic and simple book.

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book which has been on my shelf for many years and I have had Miller Heiman Professional Sales Training.

This book is essentially what is taught in Miller Heiman's Professional Selling Skills.

I highly recommend this book.

[Kyle Vanderheide · Rating 3 out of 5]

Four types of buyers
Economic
User
Technical
Coach


You want to determine what a win is for each person involved In your selling process




High ranking individuals usually want knowledge and want to learn


Send potential customers anything that is relevant to their industry even if they likely have seen it. This will demonstrate your desire for them to win.




you, ask yourself the following questions:

• Buying Influences. Looking at your Buying Influences Chart, ask if the difficulties you've had in getting to your Buying Influences are related to their company's imperfect match to your Ideal Customer Profile. What specific demographic and psychographic mismatches have made selling them uncertain?

• Red Flags/ Leverage from Strength. Look at the Red Flags on your Buyers Chart and on your Win-Results chart. Is there a correlation between them and the Ideal Customer Profile items that show a poor match to the customer for your sales objec-tive? Can you use the items that show a good match as areas of Strength to leverage against these Red Flags?


Response Modes. Which of the items on your Ideal Customer Profile explain a willingness Of the part of your Buyers to accept change? Which items explain a reluctance?



• Win-Results. compare the win-Results chart with the Ideal Customer Profile. Do the demographic items on the profile translate into objective business Results? Do the psychographic items translate into Wins for the individual Buyers in the account? Do those Buyers know that you value their account and are trying to play Win- Win with them?


• Sales Funnel. If your chosen sales objective has been moving steadily and predictably down the Funnel, does your Ideal Customer Profile suggest why? If it's stuck at one level of the Funnel, does the profile suggest specific mismatches that you still have to address?
we've stressed repeatedly, the Six Key Elements of tegy only become fully effective when they're used

[Mohammad Ghorbanian · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am working as a technical sales engineer since 4 years ago. The book targets the things I needed a lot. As a technical sales engineer, you are coping with Business to Business sales and you need to figure out all of the decision-makers and how to influence them.
Although the book is old, it has workable advice. I read the book thoroughly and am trying to implement the offers.
The most important parts of the book for me was related to the win-win concepts of sales and how to compete.
I was really amazed with the analogy the writer benefits to show us the "face" vs. "side" competition. He makes examples of swimming and soccer to elaborate on the differences between these two kinds of competition.
In sales, we compete like swimming races. We should focus on the target which is the customer not the competitor.
I have written a book review of this book. You can read that here: http://narenjiman.com/the-new-strateg...
I hope you'll enjoy.

[Alissa B · Rating 1 out of 5]

While there are some helpful tools and processes to assess a sales objective, there are drawbacks which include: the book is too long and drawn out, it could communicate its methods much more concisely, the authors plug their own in-person pricey seminar too much, they also tote their own business success too much, and they should use more inclusive language. They rely on sports and war analogies. They also state this quote on page 182: “hell hath no fury like a buyer scorned” which they miss attribute to William Shakespeare - this is based on the original quote “hell hath no fury like a woman scorned” from the play write William Congreve(?) in the 1600s. It is a controversial quote that is widely viewed as sexist as it paints women as overly emotionally especially compared to men.
there are better, less outdated books on sales out there. would not recommend this book.

[Priscilla King · Rating 2 out of 5]

Full points to the authors for encouraging "win-win" sales strategies.

I, personally, believe that products worth buying don't take a lot of "selling" effort, and I could hardly focus on this material long enough to follow even one page of this book at a time.

If you can read this book and stay awake, you have a talent I lack. You should be able to use this book, exploit your talent, and market corporate products to other huge corporations at huge profits, with my blessing. People with the gift of salesmanship have been using these ideas to capitalize on their talent for years. Everyone agrees that the book is worth its price for its intended audience.

I simply don't happen to be its intended audience.

[Maciej Walinski · Rating 4 out of 5]

A veritable classic that every sales professional would do well to read, particularly those who work in complex sales as account managers, and those who have an existing book of business. It won't guarantee success, but it'll provide a solid foundation with which to approach every sales opportunity.

For hunters responsible for net new business, and those having to build up their own book of business this is a great supplement, but in and of itself will not be of much help for the critical first step of the process (i.e. prospecting and getting meetings). Nevertheless, the book, and the program, are highly recommended, and understanding the concepts, which are laid out with excellent logic and practicality, are well worth learning.

[Steve · Rating 3 out of 5]

My business development group read this as a development exercise.

Good solid discussions on:
-buying influences (economic, user, technical, coach) and the value of each
-sales funnel and how to allocate time to address items moving through the funnel.

A valuable methodology the author uses is to step through a series of exercises (what he calls workshops) that put into practice the concepts being introduced and selecting a specific sale to a customer to help clarify the lessons being taught.

Even though I am not in direct sales, my role is one of getting approval for projects and I found the concepts to be useful in my role as well.

[Tom Carroll · Rating 5 out of 5]

Still the Greatest Book on Sales Strategy

The Miller Heiman Strategic Selling process is timeless. As a young sales rep in the late 90's, I was sent to Miller Heiman training by my company (TMP Worldwide) and benefited from it greatly. I am now training my own company (sales reps, account managers and product teams) on the Strategic Selling process. It gives everyone in our ad agency an understanding of our prospective and current accounts as they relate to a single sales objective. It also gives us a common language to use when discussing these accounts. I am enjoying passing on the wisdom of this system.

[Joe · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is an indispensable resource for a new (or old) salesperson. It equips one with plenty of strategy and tooling. I drew the reading out over too long a period, perhaps, as I was implementing it as I learned each new thing. My favourite chapter is chapter 18, which deals with actually focusing your efforts on moving potential business through a sales funnel, towards greater probability of closing business. Having now structured my sales objectives in this way has produced immediate clarity on what work needs to be done on each.

[Harry Harman]

I have coached Hewlett-Packard to sell huge complex computer systems; I have helped Coca-Cola national accounts sell marketing programs to Burger King; I have been involved in Cymer’s sales of its excimer lasers to Nikon and Canon and in KimberleyClark’s paper goods promotions to Kroger

Everybody paid lip service to customer need

“Whatever got you where you are today is no longer sufficient to keep you there.”

We deliver our programs mainly to the Fortune 1000 Industrials and the Fortune 50 Transportation, Financial, Insurance, and Commercial Banking firms.

[Amanda]

Premise
1. Whatever got you where you are today is no longer sufficient to keep you there.
2. In Complex Sales, a good tactical plan is only as good as the strategy that led up to it.
3. You can succeed in sales today only if you know what you're doing and why.

Tactics: techniques you use when you're actually face-to-face with a prospect or a customer in a sales call
Strategy: processes that you use to position yourself with the customer before the sales call even begins; process you use to layout your moves in advance of the sales call

[John Lukacs · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great review of excellent techniques, but to many typos

Loved the methodical, practical system that this book plays out. Really repeatable and understandable, full of examples both good and bad. Walks you through the process in a way that's fully understandable.

Way to many typos, though - at least one on every other page, from a missing parenthesis or quayside mark to a misspelled word. Nothing significant that broke my ability to understand, it was just annoying.

[João Cortez · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book, together with "The New Conceptual Selling" should be mandatory for any sales person. It introduces among other things, the concept of the Sales Funnel and of Win Results. If you are interested in repeat business and customer referrals you will not want to miss this book. Highly recommended!

[Miles Wen · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my angel investors recommended this book to me as a good tool to learn B2B sales. He gave me a tutorial & briefing on the core concepts covered in this book yet I only got to finish reading this book a year later. Very educational and insightful

[Otto · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book on complex sales. The process described in the book in short: identify the people influencing the sale (user, technical buyer, economic buyer) and make sure the deal provides them with both personal wins and organisational results.

[Oleg · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book is too basic for somebody who has been in sales for a while. It is WAY TOO LONG and uses a lot of unnecessary jargon. Too much self-promotion. Borrow it and skim in a couple of hours - you are likely to find a good thought or two.

[Hannamari · Rating 3 out of 5]

A classic on complex B2B sales, with a number of practical methods and tools for reaching a win-win sale. For me, the beef of the book was around the four different buying influences: the economic buyer, the user buyer, the techical buyer and the coach.

[Surya Silvestre · Rating 4 out of 5]

The methodology is excellent, although i think the book could be more concise since they repeat the messages various times along the book. In other words, the reading could be way more agile it it was more concise.

[Rudolfo R · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must-read for all sales professionals of complex sales

This is the fourth time I’ve read this book … First time in digital form.
I strongly recommend this to all sales professionals. It’s the framework for success.

[Barrington · Rating 3 out of 5]

this could have been an email

I can admit I don’t do nonfiction very well, but this was about 300 pages too long. The concepts are solid and applicable, but it’s a drudge of a read.

[Devon · Rating 4 out of 5]

In my opinion, this book shares a strategy that isn’t for fast paced high volume sales. This is a strategy for big ticket account-based sales - and it works!

If you are looking to level up your relationship-based sales, this is a good book to start with.

[Mert Topcu · Rating 4 out of 5]

So much better than I expected in the sense of a very concrete and structured selling strategy system. Explained well with working shops and OK examples.
Not being a sales person, I learned a fair amount of important concepts, mindset and approaches with this model.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent read for sales people who are need to create a strategic process. Must read for anyone who is making complex sales.