As a sales professional, you’re encouraged to pursue as many possibilities as you can. However, if you take this to extremes you can end up feeling lost, ineffective and overwhelmed. Your day-to-day might seem as if you’re going after multiple targets, yet you aren’t getting as many “hits” as you had hoped. What if you could change your focus from being scattershot to getting things done in a single shot, nothing more?
In Mike Weinberg’s New Sales. Simplified.: The Essential Handbook for Prospecting and New Business Development, there’s an emphasis on streamlining your processes; not only how you generate leads, but also how you address your current prospects. Weinberg believes that it isn’t the actions of the sales professional that gets things done, it’s the reasoning for his/her actions; or as I put it, the “why.” You need to choose your targets carefully, understand how you’re bringing value to the table, and make your interactions human through storytelling and sharing examples.
All of this is excellent advice, and not that different from what I teach around the world every year! Even if it goes hand in hand with what you already know, this book is definitely worth reading to reinforce good habits.
Here is the summary from Amazon:
“No matter how much repeat business you get from loyal customers, the lifeblood of your business is a constant flow of new accounts. Whether you're a sales rep, sales manager, or a professional services executive, if you are expected to bring in new business, you need a proven formula for prospecting, developing, and closing deals. New Sales. Simplified. is the answer. You'll learn how to:
- Identify a strategic, finite, workable list of genuine prospects
- Draft a compelling, customer-focused "sales story"
- Perfect the proactive telephone call to get face-to-face with more prospects
- Use email, voicemail, and social media to your advantage
- Overcome--even prevent--every buyer's anti-salesperson reflex
- Build rapport, because people buy from people they like and trust
- Prepare for and structure a winning sales call
- Stop presenting and start dialoguing with buyers
- Make time in your calendar for business development activities
- And much more
“Packed with examples and anecdotes, New Sales. Simplified. balances a blunt (and often funny) look at what most salespeople and executives do wrong with an easy-to-follow plan for ramping up new business starting today.”
