Conversations That Sell

Conversations That Sell

by Nancy Bleeke, Jill Konrath
Released April 2013
Publisher(s): AMACOM
ISBN: 9780814431818

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Book description

Today’s buyers want more from sales professionals than a simple consultation. What they’re hungry for are meaningful, collaborative conversations built on mutual value and trust, that result in a Win3...where they, the seller, and the organization, achieve a winning outcome. Conversations That Sell introduces sales professionals to the collaborative conversation skills they need to capture the buyer’s attention and secure business. Based on the author’s five-step sales system, What’s in It for Them (WIIFT)—Wait, Initiate, Investigate, Facilitate, Then Consolidate—the book shows readers how to: • Prepare for an effective sales call • Identify sales opportunities and the factors that drive buyers to act • Adjust their approach to the type of buyer—Achievers, Commanders, Reflectors, and Expressers • Make conversations flow easily • Address problems, opportunities, wants, and needs • Work through objections • Advance and close sales • And more Packed with valuable tools and examples, salespeople in all industries will discover how to increase their short- and long-term sales success by keeping the focus of every conversation where it belongs—on the buyer.

Table of contents

  1. Cover
  2. Title
  3. Copyright
  4. Contents
  5. Foreword
  6. Acknowledgments
  7. Introduction
  8. Part I: Selling in Today’s Transparent World
    1. 1 The Importance of You in Selling: Being a Real Part of the Solution
      1. Your Role in the Solution You Sell
      2. Fake It ‘Til You Make It: Does That Work?
      3. There’s Nowhere to Hide in a Transparent World
      4. Adopt and Adapt Best Practices to Escalate Your Value and Sales
    2. 2 Collaborative Selling: Where Every Conversation Matters and Everyone Wins
      1. Why Collaborative Selling Works
      2. Collaborative Selling Is Consultation Plus
      3. When You Collaborate, Everyone Wins
      4. How Collaborative Selling Works in Challenging Situations
      5. Is Collaborative Selling Worth the Effort?
      6. Quick Tips for Collaborative Selling
  9. Part II: The What and How of Collaborative Sales Conversations
    1. 3 Systematized Success: Make Every Conversation Count
      1. Five Steps to Systematic Sales Success
      2. Prepare to Succeed
      3. Prove the Value
      4. Quick Tips for Using the WIIFT System ™
    2. 4 Tribal Types: Work and Sell with Buyers the Way They Want to Be Worked With
      1. Introducing the Tribal Types ™ Model
      2. Achievers
      3. Commanders
      4. Reflectors
      5. Expressers
      6. Identifying and Using Tribal Types
      7. Strategies for Selling with Tribal Types
      8. Quick Tips for Using Tribal Types
    3. 5 Wait: The Conversation Starts with You
      1. Five Actions to Prepare for a Conversation that Counts
      2. Action 1: Eliminate Your Distractions
      3. Action 2: Focus on What’s in It for Them in This Conversation
      4. Action 3: Review Notes from Previous Meetings or Research
      5. Action 4: Check Your Mirror and Materials
      6. Action 5: Prepare Your Mind to Engage with the Buyer
      7. Quick Tips for Preparing for Your Sales Conversation
    4. 6 Initiate: Win Them at Hello with a Purposeful Start
      1. Five Actions to Ensure a Purposeful Conversation Start
      2. Action 1: Greet
      3. Action 2: Explain Why You Are Connecting
      4. Action 3: Ask Questions to Engage and Get Them Talking
      5. Action 4: Use Appropriate Eye Contact and Open Ears
      6. Action 5: Focus on What They Are Communicating—Words and Intent
      7. Adjust Your Initiation to the Situation
      8. Quick Tips for Initiating Your Conversation
    5. 7 Investigate: Investigation or Interrogation?
      1. Five Actions to Investigate Compelling POWNs ™
      2. Action 1: Ask Relevant, Open-Ended Questions
      3. Action 2: Listen Actively
      4. Action 3: Ask Follow-Up Questions
      5. Action 4: Paraphrase What the Buyer Has Stated
      6. Action 5: Qualify and Confirm Your Opportunity
      7. Group Investigations
      8. Quick Tips to Investigate POWNs ™
    6. 8 Facilitate, Part I: Create Collaborative Solution Presentations Focused on the Buyer
      1. Five Actions That Make It Easy for Buyers to Connect to Your Solution
      2. Action 1: Explain Your Solution by Connecting Whats to WiifTs
      3. Action 2: Include Others in the Presentation and Ask for Feedback
      4. Action 3: Provide Proof to Support Your Solution
      5. Action 4: Present Costs Followed by Value
      6. Facilitating a Group Sales Conversation
      7. What to Do When Your Solution Doesn’t Fit
      8. Quick Tips to Facilitate the Presentation of Your Solution
    7. 9 Facilitate, Part II: Work Through Objections
      1. Action 5: Ask for and Work Through Objections with Stop, Drop, and Roll ™
      2. Prepare to Work Through Objections
      3. Tap Into Emotions That Affect Working Through Objections
      4. Skip the “Buts” That Hinder Collaboration
      5. Strategies to Work Through Objections with the Tribal Types
      6. Traps to Avoid When Faced with Objections and Concerns
      7. Turn Objections Into Opportunities
      8. Quick Tips to Work Effectively Through Objections
    8. 10 Then Consolidate: Close Every Conversation with Purpose
      1. Know What You Are Closing
      2. Five Actions That Consolidate Your Win 3 Conversations
      3. Action 1: Complete a Decision Readiness Check
      4. Action 2: Confirm the Value Your Solution Will Provide
      5. Action 3: Ask for a Decision or Commitment to Action
      6. Action 4: Identify the Next Steps with Specifics
      7. Action 5: Close the Conversation
      8. Quick Tips for Consolidating Your Conversations
  10. Part III: The Factors That Make or Break Your Sales
    1. 11 Will You or Won’t You Succeed? It’s Your Choice
      1. “Skill and Will”: The Dynamic Duo of Sales Success
      2. The Success Drivers of Top Sales Professionals
      3. Quick Tips to Build Your Drive to Succeed
    2. 12 The Tools of the Trade: What’s in Your Toolbox?
      1. Sales Conversation Preparation Tools
      2. Powerful Technology-Based Tools
      3. The Most Important Sales Tool: You!
      4. Quick Tips to Use What’s in Your Toolbox
    3. 13 Now What? Action Time!
      1. Target Your Success with Ready, Aim, Succeed
      2. Get Ready
      3. Take Aim
      4. Act to Succeed
      5. Take Action, and Update and Confirm Your Plan
      6. Celebrate!
      7. Quick Tips to Achieve Your Goals
  11. Index

Product information

  • Title: Conversations That Sell
  • Author(s): Nancy Bleeke, Jill Konrath
  • Release date: April 2013
  • Publisher(s): AMACOM
  • ISBN: 9780814431818