The Seller's Challenge: How Top Performers Master Deal-Killing Obstacles in B2B Sales
There is a common question that troubles all sellers at points in their career: "So what do I do now?" It may be uttered out of fear or confusion but it's that moment of paralysis where they realize they are about to lose an opportunity that they had invested much time to win.
The Seller's Challenge is a "tactical field manual" that taps current research, best practices and real-life examples to help sellers craft action plans that optimize productivity and drive success. It's all about what top-performing sellers do - how they research, plan and implement activities that maximize their chances of winning.
Each chapter is designed to be read on its own. Readers can read the entire book or just pick the chapters that interest them the most. If you look carefully and closely there are caution signs that will guide the seller toward the best course of action.
The Seller's Challenge focuses on:
o Helping the seller "map" the role of each stakeholder, what matters to each buyer, each stakeholder's sense of urgency and which solution they support.
o The fundamentals of executing conversations that are buyer-centered including how to research and prepare, how to craft a focused opening, research blind spots, share relevant insights, and plan an "advance."
o Preparing sellers to handle one of the most perplexing and complicated challenges: selling to resistant buyers by sharing insight to alter the buyer's perspective on the deal and when and how provocation can aid the seller.
o Understanding when and how sale calls fail and three vital skills used by top performers to elevate their calls.
o Helping sellers engage and collaborate with gatekeepers, develop the right mindset and determine whether the gatekeeper is a protector, regulator or imitator.
o How to combine cognitive and emotional elements to optimize the seller's position in contrast to the Status Quo. Often buyers view change as risk-laden while the Status Quo appears to be risk-free.
o Helping sellers learn how to gauge the "investment worthiness" of an RFP, identify caution signs, discover when to break the rules and how to develop a plan to win the "beauty contest."
o What a seller must know and do to sell effectively to committees with as few as five or as many as twenty stakeholders, how to deploy a sales team, and the elements of a winning sales presentation.
o Developing a strong working relationship with Procurement by understanding the fundamentals of how they evaluate suppliers and identify actions that sellers can take to improve their position as the preferred supplier.
o Preparing the seller to negotiate price demands by understanding the buyer's mindset about price, anticipate price challenges, and choose wise countermoves that protect both profit and commission.
Over the course of ten chapters, we share the harsh realities, myths, data, best practices, game-changing approaches and guerrilla tactics that will elevate a seller's prospects of winning good business. The book includes many addendums in the form of checklists and worksheets that simplify the content.
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Tom Williams
Tom Saine
Author Biography:
Tom Williams is the Managing Director of Strategic Dynamics Inc., a firm that helps organizations accelerate revenue generation. He was formerly Vice President of Worldwide Sales, Marketing and Product Service for an organization that sold high-technology medical products and services through a variety of distribution channels, the CEO of two specialty hospitals, the Vice President and General Manager of an ancillary services division, and the President of a medical services company. Tom has a B.S. in Biology from the University of Detroit, and a MAM (Master's degree in Management) and MBA from the Peter F. Drucker and Masatoshi Ito Graduate School of Management at Claremont Graduate University. He is also a registered and certified Respiratory Therapist. Additionally, Tom is a certified facilitator in most of the Miller Heiman Group methodologies. He routinely sells their services, conducts program facilitation, and provides consulting around their various sales methodologies. Tom is recognized for his expertise in call planning and execution, opportunity management, negotiation, key account management, funnel management, sales coaching and selling to the C-suite. Tom is also the co-author of Selling to Hospitals and Healthcare Organizations: A Glossary of Business Acumen and Personnel. Tom Saine is a Senior Consultant with Strategic Dynamics Inc. with a Ph.D. in Communication from Northwestern University. He is a former senior executive for ARAMARK Corporation. In his tenure with ARAMARK, Tom served as Associate Vice President for Major Account Sales, Vice President of Client Retention, and Vice President of Sales. His background in sales management for ARAMARK includes supervising direct sales for the U.S. and Canada, developing the division's strategic plan, and creating a master plan for retaining business. Prior to his years at ARAMARK, Tom was on the faculty of the University of Florida and the University of Denver. Tom has published extensively on group communication, decision-making, negotiation, and organizational communication. In 2007, he joined the team at the Miller Heiman Group as a Senior Consultant helping customers optimize sales growth and productivity. Tom assists executives in forging strategic sales plans and enhancing the skill sets of their frontline sales team. Tom has extensive sales enablement experience in such areas as key account management and retention, sales strategy, prospecting skills, closing deals, and negotiating complex contracts.
