Table of Contents
Praise forHow to Sell Anything to Anyone Anytime
Everyone is in sales in some form, and Dave Kahle blends theory and practice to provide a well-organized primer on the science and art of selling that anyone can understand and put into action.
Deirdre Jones, associate director, Edward H. Schmidt
School of Professional Sales Marketing and International
Business Department, College of Business Administration,
University of Toledo
This is not your typical book on selling strategies. This book is about employing a well-structured approach to providing your customers with a credible, value-enhancing business relationshipa relationship built on a foundation of trustand then actually delivering something to your customers that makes them better. Follow Daves road map, and both you and your customers will benefit from it.
Tom B. Highley, CEO, Tenon Limited
Incredibly powerful in its dissection of the critical path to success in sales! This book will revolutionize your thinking on sales and how you can really sell anything to anybody anytime!
Thomas Sudyk, CEO, Ec Group International
This book makes me want to be 20 again just starting out. It is amazing to me how many times a day it comes back to me when I am talking to people and give them advice that was in the book. Once published, I will buy one for every sales person and every sales manager we have. If you cant win after reading this, you need to be doing something else with your time.
Doug Rathbun, senior executive vice president of sales
and marketing, Lumbermens, Inc.
Dont tell my competitors about this book! Its packed with simple, timeless principles that are applicable to any product. Any service. Anywhere. Its a must-read for anyone that wants to sell something.
Greg Underwood, director of sales, Virbac Animal Health
As usual, common-sense, practical, easy-to-use advice from Dave Kahle that can be implemented the moment you set the book down to improve your sales results. Well worth the read.
John Koeble, vice president of sales,
Continental Packaging Solutions
Simple yet profound sales advice. Destined to become a classic.
Charles Robinson, CEO, WISE Ministries International
This book is a great read for every level of sales professional. If you have been in sales for 30 days or 30 years, you will get something out of this book. Follow the system and your sales will grow!
Steve Coen, WinWholesale, vice president, Western Region
Acknowledgments
Ive written a number of other books, but with this one, more so than the others, I feel a much greater need to acknowledge a whole slew of people.
Im reminded of my father, who died far too young. He provided me a role model of a professional sales person before I even knew what a sales person was.
Then, of course, there is every sales manager and company who ever hired me to sell for them: Jewel Companies, H.C. Electronics, U.S. Surgical Corp, Greening & Hoffman, and White & White. They provided the experience and guidance that laid the foundation for my second career.
Since 1988 I have served hundreds of clients, helping them increase their sales and develop their people. Every single one of them signed a contract and wrote a check. These engagements provided me with the opportunity to practice my craft, assist them in growing their businesses, and further refine the ideas expressed in this book.
Thousands of people have attended presentations at conventions and conferences and interacted with me at Webinars and seminars around the continent. The feedback they provided throughout the years provided the knife that helped me carve out the superfluous from this program, and whittle and shape the message.
My staff, particularly Cheryl, who read every word, has provided me the time and space to write this book.
My wife, Coleen, is forever supportive.
My Savior, Jesus Christ, has transformed my life and brought me to a place where I can touch people with expertise and authority.
I owe them all.
Introduction
So, you want to sell something. Maybe you want to sell yourself to a prospective employer, or maybe you want to start an internet business, open a coffee shop at the corner strip mall, or make more money in your current sales position.
There is a fundamental sales process that applies to every selling situationregardless of what you need to sell, to whom you need to sell it, or the method or medium you need to use. If you can understand and master that selling process, youll be able to sell anything to anyonenot every time, but often enough to make you successful.
Do you remember what the first Iraq war did to the economy? The layoffs spiked, unemployment went through the roof, and nobody wanted to spend money. However, a 50 year-old shoe store wanted to try to buck the trend. Together, we applied some of the principles and practices youll learn in this book. In a depressed economy, when people all around him were cutting back and slimming down, he had the following year over year increases:
March: 18.4%
April: 13.7%
May: 14.2%
June: 10.1%
July: 19.0%
August: 15.4%
I know that you are probably thinking that the Iraq war was a long time ago, but thats precisely my point. In the world of selling, there are timeless universal principles, processes, and practices that can be successfully applied to any product and any market at any time.
Those individuals who recognize and implement those principles, processes, and practices are far more successful than those who dont. Not only can you learn the ageless truths of selling, but you can forever improve your ability to implement them. Thats the premise of this book.
I know what youre thinking: Can sales really be that simple? YES. Regardless of what countless sales books proclaim, selling is not magic, and there are no secrets. Instead, there are identifiable, understandable, reproducible steps in the process which, when implemented with some degree of proficiency, can be expected to lead to a positive outcome.
Throughout my adult life, I have continually sold something. My first real selling experience was during the summer of my college years when I was selling groceries and household items to housewives during the summers of my college years.
From that I moved on to selling mens suits and sport coats in a retail clothing store. Next, I sold amplification equipment to classrooms of hearing-impaired children, I sold surgical staplers to surgeons, and from there I moved on to self-improvement products, sales recruiting (selling people), and then on to 40,000 different items with a wholesale distributor.
In my career as a salesperson working for someone else, I have been the number-one salesperson in the country for two different companies in two distinctly different selling situations and markets.
For the last 20-plus years, Ive had my own business, training tens of thousands of salespeople in a wide variety of industries and productseverything from sophisticated million-dollar pieces of production machinery to $2 hot packs. Ive worked with bosses, owners, and sales executives to help them design and implement more effective sales systems. Ive written seven books and hundreds of articles on selling. Sometimes it feels as though I have literally been a part of selling almost everything to almost everyone.