William "Skip" Miller

Proactive Selling; Control the Process – Win the Sale by William Miller

Not all buyers behave the same way is the main idea behind this book. Miller wants the sales force to understand that there is no cookie cutter pattern to achieving great sales results because buyers are individuals and need to be treated like individual buyers.

Divided into eleven chapters covering topics like having the right tools at the right time, beginning and ending every sales call, educating customers, closing the sales deal, applying proactive selling techniques, and managing the proactive selling process.

All of this information seems common sense to me but I understand why books like this exist. Selling products to people requires a great understanding of what motivates people to buy stuff. If somebody who does not know the product line well serves me, why would I buy that product from that sales person? If I want to buy some product and the salesperson could not be bothered in assisting me, then why would I continue to shop there? If a seller who is trying to push a particular line of products and not listening to my wants approaches me, then why would I buy anything? If I have a sales person who is concerned about what I want and the best product that will fulfill my needs and wants, then I will probably do business with them because they have proved themselves good sales staff.

Miller coaches the reader through the intricacies of making the sale from the sales staff point-of-view. There are numerous examples of how the sales staff can fall down and lose the sale and how the sales staff can correct those mistakes to ensure the successful sale.

Reading sales book is not my idea of fun but I did find the information contained within to be useful.

Happy Reading,… (més)

I really enjoyed this book, as I found it insightful and very well structured. The book is very concise with 5 parts that outline 22 specific common mistakes that sales managers make. You really find yourself nodding in agreement as you read through these mistakes. I think we've all experienced (and made!) at least a few of them.

I recommend this book for sales managers and business owners who are willing to identify their areas of weakness in management, learn from common mistake of others, and most importantly learn from their own mistakes.

Here are the 22 mistakes. If you find yourself making some of these, pick up the book to find the solutions!

* We are a prospecting machine!
* It's all about luck
* Salespeople are self motivated
* I'll focus on my B and C players and make them better
* Salespeople are motivated by money
* I am the team leader
* My management lets me do my job
* I'm the boss
* Things are always tough at the end of the quarter
* It's all about revenue
* My team needs me for this important deal
* Sell, sell, sell...right?
* I'll show them how to do it
* I'm superman
* It's their territory
* I have a sales process...I think
* Metrics and dashboards are for rookies
* Forecasting to 60 percent accuracy
* The stack ranking behind hire and fire decisions
* Culture? I already have one, thanks
* The more I work, the better the example
* I'm the manager, right?… (més)