Marc Miller - A Seat at the Table

Praise for Marc Millers best-selling book, Selling Is Dead

Youll find this a thoughtful book. Its provocative and insightful. Selling Is Dead presents a new and useful perspective on creating and managing large selling opportunities. And like most books that make you think, its not a quick read. But its ideas are worthwhile and will repay the effort.

Neil Rackham, consultant and business thinker, author of SPIN Selling

A collaborative and commercial approach that is a key element of the growth journey. Selling Is Dead not only addresses the importance of a team-focused selling framework, but other critical success factors as well.

Damian A. Thomas, general manager and corporate sales leader, General Electric Company

Selling Is Dead is a wonderful blend of balanced, forward thinking, and practical common-sense guidance on how to mutually win with your customer in todays highly competitive marketplace. Planning from your buyers point of view to make them more productive and competitive is critical in large account sales and this book will show you how.

David N. Townshend, senior vice president of global sales, Marriott International

The authors articulate the dichotomy of the large sales challenge. Like most companies, our business units at Siemens have unique selling challenges. This is an insightful book that teaches salespeople how to identify, adapt, and adjust to the type of large sales in which they are engaged.

Thomas Poole, regional vice president, Siemens Medical Solutions

This book is a revelation that builds upon the progression of great books in the selling genre from Carnegie to Rackham. It neatly wraps the essential ingredients of strategies, tactics, organizations, and people into a framework that can continuously produce large sales for your enterprise.

Jim Daley, chairman, PCi Corporation

Marc Miller has a keen ability to articulate how the best sales people are successful. This newest addition to his books goes a step further to ensure salespeople build relationships that endure the test of time. Your customers should hope all salespeople read this book because it will make them that much more successful by learning to share their objectives, problems, and issues.

Dolf Kahle, CEO, Visual Marketing Systems

Todays selling environment has changed dramatically, and sales teams need to adjust or risk obsolescence. Selling Is Dead teaches salespeople how to strategically adjust, add more value, and create customer abundance.

David Peckinpaugh, former executive vice president of sales and marketing, Experient

MARC MILLER

Published by Greenleaf Book Group Press
Austin, Texas
www.greenleafbookgroup.com

Copyright 2009 Marc Miller

All rights reserved under all copyright conventions.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system,
or transmitted by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording,
or otherwise, without written permission from the publisher.

Distributed by Greenleaf Book Group LLC

For ordering information or special discounts for bulk purchases, please
contact Greenleaf Book Group LLC at PO Box 91869, Austin, TX 78709,
(512) 891-6100.

Design and composition by Greenleaf Book Group LLC
Cover design by Greenleaf Book Group LLC

Publishers Cataloging-in-Publication Data
(Prepared by The Donohue Group, Inc.)

Miller, Marc (Marc T.)
A seat at the table : how top salespeople connect and drive decisions at the
executive level / Marc Miller. 1st ed.

p. ; cm.
ISBN: 978-1-608320-07-3
1. Selling. 2. Sales personnel. 3. Success in business. I. Title.
HF5438.25 .M56555 2009

Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper

09 10 11 12 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

First Edition

To my family and parents: Jack, Ann, and my children Jenny, Jason, James, Marc, Jeannete, and Julia. I am blessed with great parents and wonderful children.

To the great folks at O.C. Tanner: Kent Murdock and all his talented associates. But especially John McVeigh, a great leader and risk taker.

To Dolf Kahle, David Peckinpaugh, Tom Hobson, Chris Peer, Gabriel Torok, and Bill Hinsch. But especially Mark Woodka for his continued help and strategic guidance.

To my partners Dave Kelly and Joe Palmisanothank you.

To Greenleaf Book Group: Clint, Tanya, Alan, Ryan, Kristen. But especially Lari Bishop, editor extraordinaire. This book, in its current form, would not have been possible without her.

A special thanks to my partners at Livescribe: Tim, Eric, Joyce, Byron, and Jim Marggraff. But especially Frank Moura, my new partner, for his help and faith in this new application.

To my associates Jeff and Donna. But especially to Lisa Banach, for never complaining when asked to go above and beyond. Thank you.

And last to my wife Janet for all her support. Without her understanding, patience, and love, writing this book would not have been possible.

Connecting to customer strategy is a game changer. This is not selling as usual. In fact, its the opposite. When done properly, the client no longer sees you as a salesperson. You are now a businessperson focused exclusively on helping the customer achieve their strategic goals. And when that shift occurs, everythingand I mean everythingchanges.

John McVeigh, senior vice president of global sales, O.C. Tanner Corporation

L ETS BE FRANKSELLING HAS an ugly connotation, even consultative selling. New research indicates that senior executives do not see salespeople as consultative at allat least not consultants who can drive or grow their businesses. Instead, they see a group with blinders onmyopically focused on making the short-term sale that adds little value to the mission of their customers enterprise. Candidly, how do you feel about those stockbrokers cold-calling you in the middle of the day? Do you really believe those people are worthy of your time, or have your best interest at heart? Unfortunatelyjustifiably or notthese are the people you are compared to when reaching out to new executives and prospects that you could help, given the chance.

This voice-of-customer research delivers both good and bad news for salespeople. The bad news is that business executives and corporate customers feel that far too many salespeople are tactical product-pushers disengaged from the real meaning and purpose of their organizations. These salespeople may have a genuine desire to help, but the help is in the wrong areas. This makes them a well-intentioned group, but misaligned and disconnected from what the customer really cares about.

Now heres the good news. All of the difficulties companies are facing in our turbulent, constantly shifting economy are actually creating the opportunity of a lifetime for salespeoplespecifically, the opportunity to play a far more important role in the lives of the customers on whom they call. For those special salespeople who embrace this new role, the world will be one of endless opportunity. Their customers will see them as