Harvill - 21 secrets of million-dollar sellers: Americas top earners reveal the keys to sales success

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Praise for Stephen J. Harvill and

21 Secrets of Million-Dollar Sellers

Ive worked with successful financial advisors for decades and have partnered with all the industrys top presenters and thought leaders. No one is better than Steve Harvill when it comes to dynamically delivering actionable, executable, and intelligent content. His presentations and sales ideas make sense and are uncomplicated.

Park Avenue Securities

Steve will guide you on a journey that will show you how to hit the reset button for defining the Relevance you can have in the lives of the customers you serve along with the Value you can create that forms the lasting ties to those customers.

First Clearing

Steve inspires our teams to go beyond their comfort zones.

JCPenney

Steves passion is contagious, his message is powerful, and his presentation is entertaining and enlightening.

Better Business Bureau

What Steve gave to us was so much more than consultation. His impact, without a doubt, is a lasting one that will reap rewards for our mission for years to come.

American Heart Association

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Copyright 2017 by Stephen J. Harvill

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information, address Touchstone Subsidiary Rights Department, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020.

First Touchstone hardcover edition September 2017

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Interior design by Jill Putorti

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Harvill, Stephen J., author.

Title: 21 secrets of million-dollar sellers : Americas top earners reveal the keys to sales success / by Stephen J. Harvill.

Other titles: Twenty one secrets of million-dollar sellers

Description: New York : Touchstone, [2017] | Description based on print version record and CIP data provided by publisher; resource not viewed.

Identifiers: LCCN 2017009299 (print) | LCCN 2017022701 (ebook) | ISBN 9781501153471 (Ebook) | ISBN 9781501153457 (hardcover) | ISBN 9781501153464 (pbk.)

Subjects: LCSH: Selling. | Sales personnelUnited States. | Success in businessUnited States.

Classification: LCC HF5438.25 (ebook) | LCC HF5438.25 .H385 2017 (print) | DDC 658.85dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017009299

ISBN 978-1-5011-5345-7

ISBN 978-1-5011-5347-1 (ebook)

To Laura, who has always said ,

Babe, you can do anything

If you make a living selling anything to anyone, this book is for you. If you are already good at your job, the tips in these pages will make you better. If youre great at your job, you may even rise to become one of the best.

But dont take my word for it. The advice here isnt stuff I made up. These 21 Secrets represent the real behaviors of some of the worlds best salespeople, those who consistently generate a minimum of $1 million in sales a year for their companies. In sales jargon, this rare, elite professional is called a million-dollar produceror even, in some cases, a multimillion-dollar producer.

THE MILLION-DOLLAR CLUB

For my survey, I spoke with a wide variety of top U.S.-based sales producers: wily veterans and young Turks; men and women; people from various regions and of various ethnicities. Since the entire study was based on merit, I didnt set out to find a broad crosssection of interviewees. I figured the mix of age, race, and gender would work itself out, and it did.

Some quick statistics on the salespeople in my study:

They work for companies of all sizes; some are self-employed.

They (or they and their teams) bring in at least one million dollars worth of business every year.

The biggest percentage works in finance or insurance, two industries with lots of salespeople and a wide range of products and services. The next largest percentage comes from the pharmaceutical industry, followed by real estate, automotive, advertising, and medical equipment.

About 75 percent are men and 25 percent are women, reflecting the demographics of the companies I worked with. (Women are more prevalent in real estate and pharmaceutical sales.)

About 70 percent are white (again reflecting the demographics of the companies I worked with); the remaining 30 percent are black, Latino, East Asian, or South Asian.

Most are middle-aged or older, as it takes some time to achieve the level of success I was looking for.

Their estimated annual compensation ranges from $300,000 to a million or more.

How do I know that million-dollar producers actually do these things? Because I asked them.

My name is Steve Harvill, and for more than thirty years, I have helped successful businesses do what they do better, smarter, more elegantly, and more imaginatively. Some of the worlds best-known companies in technology, finance, health care, and other industries hire my consulting firm, Creative Ventures, to present educational programs at conferences and key meetings. The idea is to energize workers and improve their performance: We teach businesspeople how to differentiate themselves from the competition by harnessing the power of story and by thinking creatively. Companies also hire us to come in, study how they do business, and improve their performance. They enlist us to simplify processes that have become unwieldy and to make their teams more effective. We help design and implement corporate strategies for sales forces and other departments of some of the biggest organizations in the world. Microsoft, AT&T, Frito-Lay, American Express, and Southwest Airlines are some of the corporations we have worked with over the years.