This is the most recent Sales guru book. It naturally follows the lineage of sales help books that starts with Dale Carnegie, runs through Xerox Professional Selling, and then Neil Rackham’s SPIN Selling. This is the most up to date analytic framework for being successful in sales.
The authors break salespeople down into 5 types and look at their effectiveness:
Hard Worker - Plugs along. Gets some things done but can struggle.
Lone Wold - Doesn’t need or want a team
Reactive Problem Solver - They react and get it done but they don’t expand the relationship
Relationship Builder - Two hockey tickets and a beer? Effective but not as good as….
The Challenger - They are debaters. They are teachers. Teach the client something they didn’t know or see about the business or the future. They are the best performers.
The authors show statistics that buyers care a tremendous amount about the relationship with the salesperson. It is more than price.
Please feel free to comment on any of these recommendations and suggest other sources that might be helpful.