As we all know, selling efficiency is often not a simple task. The technology involved can be complex. Many prospects lack the knowledge to make well-informed decisions. And since most efficiency projects require significant investment, both the operating and capital budgeting folks have to be “sold” on the merits of a project before it gets funded. Faced with these and similar challenges, efficiency sales professionals must approach each opportunity with a clear game plan for winning the order.
While there are hundreds of sales books on the market, most of them do not address techniques for prevailing when faced with such complexity. If you’re looking for tips and tricks that specifically address this topic, I highly recommend Hope is Not a Strategy: The 6 Keys to Winning the Complex Sale, by Rick Page. Page combines conventional sales wisdom with great anecdotes to deliver a handbook for assessing and overcoming the barriers of the complex sale.
Here’s a summary from Amazon Books:
“Master of the complex sale, Rick Page is the author of the bestselling book, Hope Is Not a Strategy, and one of the most sought-after sales consultants and trainers in the world.
He has taught his breakthrough selling strategies to thousands of people in 150 companies across 50 countries--an amazing platform that has helped his message spread like wildfire. This paperback edition of Page's runaway sales bestseller schools readers in Page's simple, six-step process for making the sale--no matter how complex the deal or how many people are involved in the buying decision.
Integrating the winning selling strategies used by the world's top salespeople, Page shows readers how to:
-Identify and sell to a prospect's business "pain"
-Qualify a prospect
-Build competitive preference
-Define a prospect's decision-making process”
Love one of our blogs? Feel free to use an excerpt on your own site, newsletter, blog, etc. Just be sure to send us a copy or link, and include the following at the end of the excerpt: “By Mark Jewell, Wall Street Journal best-selling author of Selling Energy: Inspiring Ideas That Get More Projects Approved! This content is excerpted from the Sales Ninja blog, Mark Jewell's daily blog on ideas and inspiration for advancing efficiency. Sign up at SellingEnergy.com.”
Want our daily content delivered to your inbox? Subscribe to the Sales Ninja blog!
