Geoffrey James - How to Say It: Business to Business Selling: Power Words and Strategies from the Worlds Top Sales Experts

Table of Contents

Geoffrey James, the best writer in the B2B sales business, has gathered compelling, relevant, and thoroughly field-tested content from the experts in fifteen critical B2B selling areas and served them up for you in a powerful, organized, and deliciously consumable way. If youre in sales or sales management, youre going to love this book.

Dave Stein, CEO and founder of ES Research Group

This amazing book offers great sales nuggets that can help B2B salespeople improve their skills, expand their confidence, increase their income, and drive up customer loyalty. A must-read for newly hired salespeople and a great refresher for the seasoned pro.

Gerhard Gschwandtner, publisher of Selling Power magazine

Geoffrey James has an unusual and distinct advantage as an author: (1) Hes been a reporter, with deep access into his beat, and the wisdom to use this resource to select the best from each. (2) Hes a versatile and well-rounded business observer with active involvement in information technology, marketing, sales and the broader art of networking, and, of course, publishing. (3) Hes been a writer with a following of a half million readers a month who are more than willing to correct his observations of the sales world. And finally, (4) he knows how to write... simply and directly!

Howard Stevens, CEO of HR Chally

Geoffrey James knows salespeople. Hes written a short, pithy book with real-time examples that resonateno matter what we sell. Read this book and you not only will sell smarter, but you will increase your success rate ten-fold. Geoffrey removes sales fears and puts the fun back in sales.

Joanne Black, founder of No More Cold Calling

In a world where bookshelves are packed with intricate advice and complex selling models, Geoffreys book delivers a fresh perspective around the natural yet powerful simplicity of the selling processfrom crafting a winning sales strategy to developing the skill set of a top producer. Rather than overcomplicate and overanalyze, How to Say It: Business to Business Selling provides practical solutions that any salesperson can quickly digest and leverage today.

Keith Rosen, author of Coaching Salespeople into Sales Champions

Followers of Geoffreys blog, Sales Machine , know salespeople are made and not born. If you want to take apart a sales machine and see what makes it tick, this book is for you. Youll be up and running and on the fast track in no time.

Linda Richardson, founder and executive chairwoman of Richardson

I like this book. The world needs a basic manual for B2B selling.

Mike Bosworth, author of Solution Selling

To build a portfolio of B2B accounts requires in-depth knowledge that can be worth the effort and time to acquire. Geoffreys work is a valuable addition to the tools that are available to the budding B2B expert.

Robert Carr, CEO of Heartland Payment Systems

Geoff has taken the mystery out of business to business selling by providing pragmatic advice annt ic advid insights. People brand-new to selling as well as seasoned veterans will learn how to be more effective salespeople and improve their ability to build long-term customer relationships.

Sam Reese, CEO of Miller Heiman

Geoffrey James does a superb job of bringing to life the keys to successful selling for those who are new to the profession of selling as well as those who have been selling for decades. If you are a sales coach, sales leader, or salesperson, this book is a must-read.

Sharon M. Daniels, CEO of AchieveGlobal

PRENTICE HALL PRESS
Published by the Penguin Group
Penguin Group (USA) Inc.
375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, USA

Penguin Group (Canada), 90 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 700, Toronto, Ontario M4P 2Y3, Canada (a division of Pearson Penguin Canada Inc.)

Penguin Books Ltd., 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England

Penguin Group Ireland, 25 St. Stephens Green, Dublin 2, Ireland (a division of Penguin Books Ltd.)

Penguin Group (Australia), 250 Camberwell Road, Camberwell, Victoria 3124, Australia

(a division of Pearson Australia Group Pty. Ltd.)

Penguin Books India Pvt. Ltd., 11 Community Centre, Panchsheel Park, New Delhi110 017, India

Penguin Group (NZ), 67 Apollo Drive, Rosedale, Auckland 0632, New Zealand (a division of Pearson New Zealand Ltd.)

Penguin Books (South Africa) (Pty.) Ltd., 24 Sturdee Avenue, Rosebank, Johannesburg 2196,

South Africa

Penguin Books Ltd., Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England

While the author has made every effort to provide accurate telephone numbers and Internet addresses at the time of publication, neither the publisher nor the author assumes any responsibility for errors or for changes that occur after publication. Further, the publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.

Copyright 2011 by Geoffrey James LLC

Some material in this book is adapted from content that originally appeared on the Sales Machine blog on CBS Interactives BNET.com website. That original material is copyright by CBSi. Some of the content originated with interviews conducted for articles that appeared in Selling Power magazine. Use of those interviews is by permission of Selling Power .

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the authors rights. Purchase only authorized editions.

PRENTICE HALL PRESS is a registered trademark of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication D>PRnata

James, Geoffrey, 1953

p. cm.

ISBN : 978-1-101-55903-1

1. Industrial marketing. 2. Business communication. 3. Selling. I. Title.

HF5415.1263.J36 2011

658.804dc22 2011030654

Most Prentice Hall Press books are available at special quantity discounts for bulk purchases for sales promotions, premiums, fund-raising, or educational use. Special books, or book excerpts, can also be created to fit specific needs. For details, write: Special Markets, Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014.

This book is dedicated to my friend and mentor Gerhard Gschwandtner, publisher of Selling Power magazine.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Id like to thank my editor at Prentice Hall Press, Maria Gagliano. I originally handed her a manuscript that was little more than a collection of blog posts. She saw there was much more that I could do with the material and insisted that I make it more useful, with more examples and a more logical structure. I will be forever grateful that she was patient enough to make this book the best I could possibly make it. I also want to thank my agent, Lorin Rees, for helping me prepare the book proposal and for making sure that it got Marias attention.

Over the years, Ive interviewed dozens of sales gurus, and their thoughts are naturally reflected in this book. Some of them were so influential that Ive identified them in the text. However, for the sake of completeness, here are my heroes, the sales trainers and thinkers of the world: Tom Hopkins (handling objections), Brian Tracy (effective presentations), Linda Richardson (closing sales, management coaching, and competitive selling), Ron Willingham (psychology of sales), Mike Bosworth (solution selling), Randall Murphy (sales negotiations and consultative selling), Sam Reese (strategic accounts), Tom Sant (effective proposals), Jeff Gitomer (customer referrals), Jeff Seeley (sales process), Neil Rackham (access to decision makers), Earl Taylor (building rapport), Rob Scher (emotional intelligence), Tom Roth (pinpointing good prospects), Robert Cialdini (influencing customers), Art Mortell (handling rejection), Jeff Keller (positive attitude), Omar Periu (getting motivated), Wayne Turmel (effective questioning), Joanne Black (referral selling), Jerry Acuff (building customer relationships), Mark Shonka and Dan Kosch (selling at the C-level), Sharon Daniels (setting sales priorities), Wendy Weiss (cold calling), Jim Holden (international sales), Waldo Wingman (sales missions), Michael St. Lawrence (seeing for results), Bill Stinnett (customer results), Andrea Sittig-Rolf (cold calling), Jeff Thull (high-stakes selling), Howard Stevens (world-class selling), Steve Martin (heavy-hitter selling), Phil Geldart (building teamwork), Greg Winograd (following through), Terri Sjodin (persuasive presentations), Julie Thomas (adapting to customers), John Asher (correcting sales mistakes), Duane Sparks (breaking sales records), Donal Daly (reducing sales costs), Tom Black (simplifying sales processes), Thomas Ray Crowel (power prospecting), Barry Rhein (elevator pitches), Ed Rigsbee (sales partnering), Dean Schantz (power of story), Dean Brenner (effective communications), Mark Selleeamnqrs (sales funnel), Robert Nadeau (defending prices), Keith Rosen (qualifying prospects), Ryan Kubacki (selling intuitively), Sharon Daniels (complex sales), and Nancy Martini (customer-centric selling).