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Conversations That Win the Complex Sale: Using Power Messaging to Create More Opportunities, Differentiate Your Solutions, and Close More Deals
Win more deals with the perfect sales story! "Power Messaging is a foundational element in our global marketing campaigns and sales training programs. We believe the concepts are core to engaging in customer conversations that are focused on their outcomes and what they want to achieve."
-Karen Quintos, CMO and SVP, Dell Inc.
"The concepts outlined in this book are critical skills to building a world-class presales organization."
-Ken Hamel, Senior Vice President, Global Solutions and Presales, SAP
"Our new messaging, using the approaches presented in this book, is great and is being widely used by our sales team. We've never had a year end sales meeting with content that was met with such widespread acceptance and enthusiasm."
-Jerry D. Cline, Senior Vice President, Retail Sales and Marketing, AmerisourceBergen Drug Company
"The best salespeople sit across the table and make change easy for their customer by creating a succinct story and vision for what to change, how to change it, and how it will impact customer results. An enterprise focus on sales messaging, using the concepts in this book, is the hidden secret to driving incremental sales productivity and overwhelming customer success!"
-Ken Powell, Vice President, Worldwide Sales Enablement, ADP
"The Power Messaging techniques in this book are the foundation of how our marketing team creates our sales messages, as well as the process our field sales teams use for delivering that message in a unique and compelling way. At Kronos our results are a reflection of the power of the tool."
-Aron Ain, CEO, Kronos
About the Book:
In today's highly competitive world of complex sales, commoditization of your brand is one of the greatest dangers. You must differentiate yourself from the competition-or you will lose out. And the way to do that is through customer engagement. Rather than sell your own corporate story and brand message, you need to tell customers their story-the one in which they are the heroes and they achieve success.
Erik Peterson and Tim Riesterer have been developing and honing their Power Messaging sales technique for more than 20 years, and now they reveal all their secrets in Conversations That Win the Complex Sale.
Presenting a catalog of facts or playing 20 questions with prospective customers is the surest way to lose the sale. Peterson and Riesterer provide the tools you need to recraft your message into a compelling story that wins more deals.
With Conversations That Win the Complex Sale, you'll learn how to:
Differentiate yourself from the competition by finding your "Value Wedge" Avoid parity in your value propositions by creating "Power Positions" Create a message that can literally double the number of deals you close Spike customer attention and create "Wow" in your conversations Prove all your claims without resorting to lists of boring facts and statistics Your competitors are out there telling their own corporate story-a story customers don't want to hear. Now is the time to seize the moment. This book is the one and only source you need to reframe your sales story and turn the tables on the competition by fully engaging their would-be customers.
Conversations That Win the Complex Sale helps you create and deliver messages that customers care about, giving your brand the clear edge in today's crowded markets.
-Karen Quintos, CMO and SVP, Dell Inc.
"The concepts outlined in this book are critical skills to building a world-class presales organization."
-Ken Hamel, Senior Vice President, Global Solutions and Presales, SAP
"Our new messaging, using the approaches presented in this book, is great and is being widely used by our sales team. We've never had a year end sales meeting with content that was met with such widespread acceptance and enthusiasm."
-Jerry D. Cline, Senior Vice President, Retail Sales and Marketing, AmerisourceBergen Drug Company
"The best salespeople sit across the table and make change easy for their customer by creating a succinct story and vision for what to change, how to change it, and how it will impact customer results. An enterprise focus on sales messaging, using the concepts in this book, is the hidden secret to driving incremental sales productivity and overwhelming customer success!"
-Ken Powell, Vice President, Worldwide Sales Enablement, ADP
"The Power Messaging techniques in this book are the foundation of how our marketing team creates our sales messages, as well as the process our field sales teams use for delivering that message in a unique and compelling way. At Kronos our results are a reflection of the power of the tool."
-Aron Ain, CEO, Kronos
About the Book:
In today's highly competitive world of complex sales, commoditization of your brand is one of the greatest dangers. You must differentiate yourself from the competition-or you will lose out. And the way to do that is through customer engagement. Rather than sell your own corporate story and brand message, you need to tell customers their story-the one in which they are the heroes and they achieve success.
Erik Peterson and Tim Riesterer have been developing and honing their Power Messaging sales technique for more than 20 years, and now they reveal all their secrets in Conversations That Win the Complex Sale.
Presenting a catalog of facts or playing 20 questions with prospective customers is the surest way to lose the sale. Peterson and Riesterer provide the tools you need to recraft your message into a compelling story that wins more deals.
With Conversations That Win the Complex Sale, you'll learn how to:
Differentiate yourself from the competition by finding your "Value Wedge" Avoid parity in your value propositions by creating "Power Positions" Create a message that can literally double the number of deals you close Spike customer attention and create "Wow" in your conversations Prove all your claims without resorting to lists of boring facts and statistics Your competitors are out there telling their own corporate story-a story customers don't want to hear. Now is the time to seize the moment. This book is the one and only source you need to reframe your sales story and turn the tables on the competition by fully engaging their would-be customers.
Conversations That Win the Complex Sale helps you create and deliver messages that customers care about, giving your brand the clear edge in today's crowded markets.
273 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 6, 2011
74 people are currently reading
368 people want to read
About the author
Erik Peterson
63 books4 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
May 27, 2013
Without a doubt, this book will make it on my new list of the 25 best business books I've ever read. Part neuroscience, part sales, part practical branding tips this book is a goldmine of valuable information.
This book is a brilliant combination of some of my favorite books - Start With Why, Brain Rules, Positioning, The Leaders Guide to Storytelling, and Selling the Invisible.
This book is a brilliant combination of some of my favorite books - Start With Why, Brain Rules, Positioning, The Leaders Guide to Storytelling, and Selling the Invisible.
September 24, 2023
احتمالاً مهمترین سنجه برای پیشنهاد یک کتاب مرتبط با کسبوکار به دیگران، کارآمدی آن «در عمل» است. در مدیریت و بهویژه آن شاخههایی از مدیریت که به کسبوکار مرتبطاند مثل مدیریت بازاریابی یا مدیریت استراتژیک، کمتر شاخصهای محض مثل علوم دقیقه اعتبار دارد و از طرف دیگر زمینهی مدیریت محل دعواهای صرفاً نظری مثل فلسفه نیست. به همین دلیل هم اغلب افرادی که به دنبال آموزش یا مشاوره در این حوزه هستند باید دستکم تصویر قابل باوری از یک فرد موفق را داشته باشند یا اثبات بکنند که مشتریان یا شاگردانشان با کمک آموزههای آنها موفق شدهاند.
حالا اینها چه ربطی به این کتاب دارد؟ دربارهی چگونگی طراحی پیامهای «کارآمد» در بازاریابی و فروش حرف زیاد زده شده است. از حرفهای دوزاری پکیجفروشهای اینستاگرامی که آموزشهای زبان بدن و کاریزما به شما میفروشند تا تحلیلهای پیچیدهی شرکتهای بزرگ مشاورهی مدیریت و اساتید دانشگاههای تراز اول آمریکایی.
برای من استخواندارترین حرف همان است که بازاریابی موثر را شکل ویژهای از داستانپردازی و قصهگویی میداند. در عمل من حتی ذات مدیریت و رهبری را هم قصهگویی میدانم. این کتاب هم همین ایده را توسعه داده و کاربست آن را در فروش آموزش داده است و چه خوب و درست هم این کار را کرده!
حالا از کجا این کتاب و آموزشهایاش اینقدر برایام معتبر است؟ من چندماهی است که با کمک یکی از مدیران فروش باسابقهی چندین شرکت بزرگ در بازار نشر که بهعنوان مشاور با ما کار میکند روی طراحی شیوه و روایت فروش یکی از محصولات شرکت کار میکنم. مسیری که در این چندماهه برای «سادهتر» کردن، «ملموستر» کردن و «موثرتر» کردن روایت فروشمان طی کردیم درست منطبق بر بصیرتها و آموزشهای این کتاب است و نکته اینجاست که با پیادهسازی این شیوهها بهوضوح و بهسرعت تأثیرشان را در «کارآمدی» بیشتر تلاشهایم در فروش دیدم.
به همین دلیل هم بود که بهراحتی و بااشتیاق میتوانستم با آنچه در کتاب توصیف و آموزش داده میشد، ارتباط برقرار کنم.
کتاب بهدرستی با دست گذاشتن بر بنیاد غیرمنطقی تصمیمگیری ما که ریشه در عواطف و هیجاناتمان دارد مسیر موثر فروش را درگیر کردن مشتری احتمالی در داستانی میداند که او قهرمان آن است و ما به عنوان فروشنده به عبور او از موانع و چالشهای داستان کمک میکنیم.
کتاب پر است از پیشنهادات و راهنماییهای ریزودرشت که اغلب دلایل روانشناختی و عصبشناختی آنها را هم البته خیلی کوتاه ذکر میکند.
ترجمه اگرچه بیاشکال و درخشان نیست از متوسط ترجمههای کتابهای مدیریتی سالمتر است.
کتاب را بدون هیچ تردیدی به هرکسی که با چالش پیامرسانی و فروش سروکله میزند پیشنهاد میکنم.
حالا اینها چه ربطی به این کتاب دارد؟ دربارهی چگونگی طراحی پیامهای «کارآمد» در بازاریابی و فروش حرف زیاد زده شده است. از حرفهای دوزاری پکیجفروشهای اینستاگرامی که آموزشهای زبان بدن و کاریزما به شما میفروشند تا تحلیلهای پیچیدهی شرکتهای بزرگ مشاورهی مدیریت و اساتید دانشگاههای تراز اول آمریکایی.
برای من استخواندارترین حرف همان است که بازاریابی موثر را شکل ویژهای از داستانپردازی و قصهگویی میداند. در عمل من حتی ذات مدیریت و رهبری را هم قصهگویی میدانم. این کتاب هم همین ایده را توسعه داده و کاربست آن را در فروش آموزش داده است و چه خوب و درست هم این کار را کرده!
حالا از کجا این کتاب و آموزشهایاش اینقدر برایام معتبر است؟ من چندماهی است که با کمک یکی از مدیران فروش باسابقهی چندین شرکت بزرگ در بازار نشر که بهعنوان مشاور با ما کار میکند روی طراحی شیوه و روایت فروش یکی از محصولات شرکت کار میکنم. مسیری که در این چندماهه برای «سادهتر» کردن، «ملموستر» کردن و «موثرتر» کردن روایت فروشمان طی کردیم درست منطبق بر بصیرتها و آموزشهای این کتاب است و نکته اینجاست که با پیادهسازی این شیوهها بهوضوح و بهسرعت تأثیرشان را در «کارآمدی» بیشتر تلاشهایم در فروش دیدم.
به همین دلیل هم بود که بهراحتی و بااشتیاق میتوانستم با آنچه در کتاب توصیف و آموزش داده میشد، ارتباط برقرار کنم.
کتاب بهدرستی با دست گذاشتن بر بنیاد غیرمنطقی تصمیمگیری ما که ریشه در عواطف و هیجاناتمان دارد مسیر موثر فروش را درگیر کردن مشتری احتمالی در داستانی میداند که او قهرمان آن است و ما به عنوان فروشنده به عبور او از موانع و چالشهای داستان کمک میکنیم.
کتاب پر است از پیشنهادات و راهنماییهای ریزودرشت که اغلب دلایل روانشناختی و عصبشناختی آنها را هم البته خیلی کوتاه ذکر میکند.
ترجمه اگرچه بیاشکال و درخشان نیست از متوسط ترجمههای کتابهای مدیریتی سالمتر است.
کتاب را بدون هیچ تردیدی به هرکسی که با چالش پیامرسانی و فروش سروکله میزند پیشنهاد میکنم.
February 10, 2016
My Review from the first time I read it and I'm reading it again.
************
I found this to be a very strong book on pitching and messaging for sales & marketing. It is a companion book to the themes found in The Challenger Sale . What attracted me to this initially was the references from SAP,Dell & Oracle as to how they used the authors firm's ideas to sharpen their message and to grow sales.
For more about the book:
check out http://www.conversationsthatwin.com/
and the authors consulting firm
check out http://www.corporatevisions.com/ .
Also by going to the author's page http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/...
and becoming a fan you can get an RSS feed in your goodreads updates .
************
I found this to be a very strong book on pitching and messaging for sales & marketing. It is a companion book to the themes found in The Challenger Sale . What attracted me to this initially was the references from SAP,Dell & Oracle as to how they used the authors firm's ideas to sharpen their message and to grow sales.
For more about the book:
check out http://www.conversationsthatwin.com/
and the authors consulting firm
check out http://www.corporatevisions.com/ .
Also by going to the author's page http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/...
and becoming a fan you can get an RSS feed in your goodreads updates .
March 30, 2025
Alih-alih perang fitur, ubah percakapan jadi edukasi penuh wawasan. Struktur pendekatan ini meliputi:
Grabber
Fakta industri mengejutkan untuk menciptakan perhatian awal.
Pain
Tunjukkan masalah yang tidak disadari yang mengancam tujuan utama prospek.
Impact
Ukur dampak bisnis dan pribadi jika masalah ini diabaikan.
Contrast
Tawarkan pendekatan baru yang terikat dengan solusi kamu, bandingkan dengan cara lama.
Proof
Cerita nyata tentang perusahaan serupa yang berhasil setelah menerapkan solusi kamu.
Pendekatan “Provocation-Based Selling”
Berdasarkan artikel Harvard Business Review (2009), terdapat 3 langkah provokatif dalam penjualan:
Identifikasi masalah kritis
Masalah besar yang:
Mengancam daya saing.
Sulit dipecahkan.
Kamu punya kredibilitas untuk bantu selesaikan.
Bingkai masalah secara provokatif
Tampilkan masalah dari sudut pandang baru yang belum terpikirkan oleh pelanggan.
Sampaikan provokasi pada level eksekutif
Sampaikan dengan cara yang tidak membuat defensif, melalui sponsor internal jika perlu.
🎯 Apa Itu Power Positions?
Power Positions adalah bagian dari Value Wedge—area di mana:
Unik untukmu
Penting bagi prospek
Dapat dipertahankan (defensible)
Tiga syarat ini harus dipenuhi agar pesanmu punya nilai jual yang kuat.
Tugasmu bukan menyelamatkan hari—tapi membimbing pelangganmu untuk menyelamatkan harinya sendiri."
Gunakan cerita yang kuat, buat pelanggan jadi bintang utamanya, dan posisikan dirimu sebagai mentor yang terpercaya.
4 Jenis Grabbers:
What-if-you questions — Pertanyaan imajinatif yang memancing rasa ingin tahu.
Number plays — Data/statistik yang mengejutkan dan menimbulkan efek “aha!”
Customer stories with contrast (dibahas di Chapter 11)
3D props (dibahas di Chapter 12)
Implikasinya:
Semua pesan penjualan harus “menembus” Old Brain.
Artinya, pesanmu harus:
Emosional
Kontras (sebelum & sesudah)
Visual
Sederhana
Personal
Konkret
Strategi:
Jangan andalkan hanya data dan logika.
Gunakan cerita, visual, dan “bahaya tersembunyi” untuk menunjukkan konsekuensi jika tidak berubah.
Inti:
Apa yang kamu katakan (kata-kata) tidak sepenting bagaimana kamu mengatakannya (intonasi dan bahasa tubuh).
Fakta Kunci:
7% dari pesan diproses dari kata-kata.
38% dari nada suara.
55% dari bahasa tubuh.
Grabber
Fakta industri mengejutkan untuk menciptakan perhatian awal.
Pain
Tunjukkan masalah yang tidak disadari yang mengancam tujuan utama prospek.
Impact
Ukur dampak bisnis dan pribadi jika masalah ini diabaikan.
Contrast
Tawarkan pendekatan baru yang terikat dengan solusi kamu, bandingkan dengan cara lama.
Proof
Cerita nyata tentang perusahaan serupa yang berhasil setelah menerapkan solusi kamu.
Pendekatan “Provocation-Based Selling”
Berdasarkan artikel Harvard Business Review (2009), terdapat 3 langkah provokatif dalam penjualan:
Identifikasi masalah kritis
Masalah besar yang:
Mengancam daya saing.
Sulit dipecahkan.
Kamu punya kredibilitas untuk bantu selesaikan.
Bingkai masalah secara provokatif
Tampilkan masalah dari sudut pandang baru yang belum terpikirkan oleh pelanggan.
Sampaikan provokasi pada level eksekutif
Sampaikan dengan cara yang tidak membuat defensif, melalui sponsor internal jika perlu.
🎯 Apa Itu Power Positions?
Power Positions adalah bagian dari Value Wedge—area di mana:
Unik untukmu
Penting bagi prospek
Dapat dipertahankan (defensible)
Tiga syarat ini harus dipenuhi agar pesanmu punya nilai jual yang kuat.
Tugasmu bukan menyelamatkan hari—tapi membimbing pelangganmu untuk menyelamatkan harinya sendiri."
Gunakan cerita yang kuat, buat pelanggan jadi bintang utamanya, dan posisikan dirimu sebagai mentor yang terpercaya.
4 Jenis Grabbers:
What-if-you questions — Pertanyaan imajinatif yang memancing rasa ingin tahu.
Number plays — Data/statistik yang mengejutkan dan menimbulkan efek “aha!”
Customer stories with contrast (dibahas di Chapter 11)
3D props (dibahas di Chapter 12)
Implikasinya:
Semua pesan penjualan harus “menembus” Old Brain.
Artinya, pesanmu harus:
Emosional
Kontras (sebelum & sesudah)
Visual
Sederhana
Personal
Konkret
Strategi:
Jangan andalkan hanya data dan logika.
Gunakan cerita, visual, dan “bahaya tersembunyi” untuk menunjukkan konsekuensi jika tidak berubah.
Inti:
Apa yang kamu katakan (kata-kata) tidak sepenting bagaimana kamu mengatakannya (intonasi dan bahasa tubuh).
Fakta Kunci:
7% dari pesan diproses dari kata-kata.
38% dari nada suara.
55% dari bahasa tubuh.
November 15, 2023
Wow what a surprisingly good one! I had low expectations - 2011 year, only 19 reviews. But it was action-packed with very good timeless pitching ideas how to make Your idea stick well, how to stand out from the competition. I took pages of notes, definitely a good one! I will also link it to STARTUP category even though it was not specific in this field, but all of the examples supported a good pitch ;) I'd definitely put this book into top 10 of sales/presentation books. Well, to sum it up - the emphasis is on (natural) conversation, not “presenting” or “selling”.
May 6, 2017
This is a great box to change the way you prepare your sales preparation.
Starting with your PowerPoints, to the way you detail the solution, this book delivers ways to change how your prospects see you.
What I enjoyed the most was watching and listening to my colleagues or people pitching to me. The presentations were all about them, the slides were all the same ... and I really just wants to walk out.
Great read and actionable.
Starting with your PowerPoints, to the way you detail the solution, this book delivers ways to change how your prospects see you.
What I enjoyed the most was watching and listening to my colleagues or people pitching to me. The presentations were all about them, the slides were all the same ... and I really just wants to walk out.
Great read and actionable.
June 29, 2021
Interesting and a great reminder of many basics - some good pointers to hold on to. Some areas seemed a little simplistic and a lot of reference to ‘we will pick up on this later on in the book’ but no reference as to when and a few to many ‘Professor such-and-such in his study on…’ fir a relatively short book. Easy to read - and possibly reread.
April 10, 2020
Książka dająca podstawy sprzedażowe i zwracająca uwagę na sposoby wykorzystywania cech umysłu słuchacza.
Ciekawsze myśli:
1. Simple feels safe
2. Attention hammock
3. The hero model
4. Personal Analogies
5. 7 key things that your brain react subconsciously
Ciekawsze myśli:
1. Simple feels safe
2. Attention hammock
3. The hero model
4. Personal Analogies
5. 7 key things that your brain react subconsciously
December 2, 2017
For sales training at work but I am still counting toward my 2017 reading goals.
August 24, 2021
A powerful book that explains how to tangibly apply marketing to sales.
May 24, 2022
Great book about how to sell.
July 31, 2022
Best philosophy on sales out there.
January 17, 2023
Pretty good. A lot was review, but from a new perspective, which is helpful. Will use some ideas from here in future messaging for myself and clients.
March 4, 2016
One of the best and most practical business books I've read in some time. A must read if you have responsibilities for positioning your services against the competition. Based on research of how the mind works in a buying environment. I've also been fortunate enough to participate in a class led by the writers of the book.
October 23, 2014
This book presents one of the clearest methods for product positioning that I have come across in my time running marketing teams. I highly recommend it to anyone in marketing who needs help defining their product's core value and audience.
September 6, 2013
Excellent Book for any sales person. Great advice for how to position your communication and create engaging presentations.
November 11, 2013
If you're in marketing, focused on increasing the bottom line, this is a must read. This all about pre-sales conditioning leading up to demand generation messaging.
May 23, 2016
This book is filled with lots of interesting and do-able tricks. A must read for every sales executive...could be very insightful.
August 3, 2016
excellent as back up,for presentaties skills training..
December 28, 2016
Clear, concise, and engaging, with a lot of "sticky" concepts that I'm sure I'll return to time and again. A real breeze to read, too.
January 3, 2017
If you want to grow in your career, read this book.
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews