Dale Carnegie - The Sales Advantage: How to Get It, Keep It, and Sell More Than Ever

Advance Praise for The Sales Advantage

This book, in black and white, paints a colorful picture of a success model for sales professionals. If you struggle with tough prospects, hidden buyers, and the effort to generate leads, The Sales Advantage will reveal how thousands of successful pros have put this system to use. Read the book, follow the leaders, and make more money!

DAN SEIDMAN SPEAKER AND AU THOR, THE DEATH OF 20TH CENTURY SELLING

Our salespeople love the Dale Carnegie Sales Advantage. It teaches them to project, in the minds of our buyers, an image of a place where they have never been, but would like to be! This approach opens up opportunities to talk about solving their business issues, placing a prospect in a receptive and positive mode. Best of all, it really works! The Sales Advantage is a truly valuable part of our sales curriculum.

HAL JOHNSON VICE PRESIDENT EXECUTIVE RESOURCES, ADT SECURITY SERVICES, INC.

The Sales Advantage is filled with real-world examples that salespeople can immediately apply on the job. It a wonderful guide for the salesperson of the future.

MARSHALL GOLDSMITH CO-EDITOR OF THE BESTSELLING BOOK THE LEADER OF THE FUTURE , AND THE ORGANIZATION OF THE FUTURE

In the last 100 years, two words have defined business, personal, and sales advantage: Dale Carnegie. This book will help you learn, and earn.

JEFFREY GITOMER AUTHOR OF THE SALES BIBLE

Dale Carnegies principles are exemplified in this wonderful book, which shows how to build effective long-term relationships with ones customers. The real-life stories demonstrate that when we practice these principles, both parties win.

JOANNE SHAW PRESIDENT AND CEO THE COFFEE BEANERY

THE FREE PRESS

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Copyright 2003 by Dale Carnegie & Associates, Inc.

All rights reserved,
including the right of reproduction
in whole or in part in any form.

THE FREE PRESS and colophon are
trademarks of Simon & Schuster Inc.

DESIGNED BY KEVIN HANEK

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

The sales advantage: how to get it, keep it, and sell more than ever /

Dale Carnegie & Associates, Inc., J. Oliver Crom, Michael Crom.

p. cm.

Includes index.

1. Selling. 2. Sales Management. 3. Sales personnelTraining of.

I. Crom, J. Oliver. II. Crom, Michael A. III. Dale Carnegie & Associates.

HF5438 .S152 2003

658.85dc21 2002075237

ISBN 0-7432-1591-5

ISBN 13: 978-0-7432-5076-4 (Print)

T he two key questions that sales professionals most often ask us are: 1) How can I close more sales? and 2) What can I do to reduce objections?

After more than sixty years in the sales training business, weve learned the answer to those questions is pretty straightforward. Frankly, you learn how to sell.

Thats not the answer most people expect to hear, but its one we truly believe. No matter how much we want to find otherwise, theres no magic formula that eliminates objections or increases closing ratios. Overcoming objections and gaining commitment are both logical outcomes of a successful sales process. You want to meet a good closer? Find a good salesperson who truly understands how to sell.

Its often hard to believe that top performers need to learn how to sell. Yet we have encountered an extraordinary number of experienced and successful sales professionals who have discovered our statement to be true. In fact, by consistently practicing and applying proven principles, theyve been able to increase sales and earn more money than they ever thought possible.

That tells us the Sales Advantage process is a proven way to build relationships and enhance your sales career, no matter how long youve been selling.

Dont get us wrong. Were not saying that learning the sales process is easy. And were certainly not implying that we can sell today the same way we sold ten years agowe cant. Its a different world out there. Customer attitudes have changed. Technology is breaking down barriers between nations but creating different kinds of barriers between our customers and us. Companies are downsizing. Territories are expanding. Were being asked to generate more sales with fewer resources. And it doesnt stop there.

These issues represent a variety of daily challenges. For example, its tough when a customer promises a signed contract on Wednesday and she buys from a competitor on Tuesday. Its frustrating to handle service issues on a day when we plan to do nothing but prospect for new opportunities. Its hard to realize that, after months of building a relationship with a decision-maker, the actual decision-maker is someone weve never met. Sure, technology and globalization are changing the world of selling. But honestly, most of us are more concerned about how to overcome the hurdles we face on the job every day.

Learning how to sell using the Sales Advantage tools and principles will increase the odds that well overcome these challenges successfully. How? By learning to see the buying and selling process from the customers point of view. With that ideal as our foundation, well then learn to use timeless and proven tools. These tools will help us build credibility, uncover the customers Dominant Buying Motive, and develop strong business relationships that lead to referrals and repeat sales. In the end, when we offer a solution to a customer, well be more confident that it is the right solution, instead of just hoping it is.

Look at it this way: How can we sell the total value of our products and services if we havent learned how to gather information in a way that tells us whats important to the customer? How can we maximize our prospecting efforts without a strategic approach for finding and evaluating new opportunities? How can we get past frustrating barriers, such as voice mail, if we dont know the basics of good account penetration? How can we be prepared to address objections if we dont fully understand the customers primary interest and buying criteria? When we consider these questions, it becomes pretty evident why a thorough understanding of the entire buying and selling process is a critical element in any successful sales career.

As you embark on your voyage to improve your sales skills, you will understand why learning how to sell using an effective process gives you an edge in the marketplace. If you become committed to making these tools and principles a part of your selling strategy, you will stand out from thousands of salespeople who simply sell on instinct. Your prospects and customers will view you differently when you meet with them. Instead of thinking, Heres another salesperson, theyll think, Heres someone who can help me. Heres someone I trust.

As you read this book, we would like to offer four suggestions to help you get the maximum benefit for your time invested:

Our real life examples come from people who live in the selling trenches every day. They know what its like to leave twenty messages for someone and never get a return phone call. They were once skeptical about trying a new approach, but did it anyway and got results. Theyve hit sales plateaus and found ways to overcome them. The bottom line: Every successful selling tool mentioned in these examples has been tried and proven by a sales professional somewhere in the world. If they can do it, so can you. Open your mind to the possibilities.