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Humanity and technique can combine to be a powerful force that ends up helping both you and your customers achieve your business objectives.The book has only seven chapters plus the foreword, preface, introduction, three appendices, and an index. Respect for those mutual realities is refreshing and important.Fine book. If you are involved in complex selling that involves building long term relationships, I think you find this book to be terrific. Covey (who also provides the forward). He or she is a person with a job and a life. I appreciate its simultaneous emphasis on real human values and solid sales methodology. Wouldn't it be nice if more people understood that truth.
The other party is not just a thing to be manipulated. You both have interests and you both know that you both need something from each other to make the deal work.
This book is also an expanded version of a similar work Khalsa did for Microsoft. I also agree deeply with the book's attitude towards behaving like a real person and engaging your clients knowing that they are also real people.
This book ties in very nicely with the kinds of principles espoused by Stephen R. The seven chapters cover:1)The five Key Beliefs (Consultants and Clients want the same thing, while technique is important intent counts for more, solutions are not inherently valuable, methodology matters, world-class inquiry comes before world-class advocacy.2)How you go about truly qualifying a potential client.3)How you identify qualifying opportunities4)How you use time, people, and money as resources for proper qualification5)All About Qualifying Decisions - how you influence the decision process, how you get access to the stakeholders that decide, what criteria are used to make decisions.6)How to understand and enable decision making through presentations, meetings, and savvy.7)Creating new opportunities.What I appreciate most about this book is that the authors know and admit that not every possible deal makes sense nor is every possible client a good fit for your company.
I wish everyone in sales would read it.Reviewed by Craig Matteson, Ann Arbor, MI While I am not sure of their current relationship (things change so fast nowadays) both authors have been closely associate with or part of Franklin Covey and founded their Sales Performance group.
The first sentence of the introduction says that sales skills are life skills.
For example, "From what you have described, you seem to be happy with your current solution. Mahan Khalsa and Randy Illig have highlighted the importance of truly understanding client needs and offering the perfect solution to avoid time, energy, and money being wasted, both on the seller's and buyer's part.So, what makes a great sales call. Mahan and Randy offer several key principles for becoming "maniacally" client-focused:SALES ISN'T ABOUT SELLING It's about helping clients succeed. I highly recommend this book to all my clients.Mary Donato, President, Applied Principles www.MaryPDonato.com
And if your solution doesn't fit, or they have more pressing needs, maybe you can recommend where they can find another answer. By doing this, you could become a trusted advisor to the client. If there is no fit, find out quickly, shake hands, and part friends. If there's a fit, work together, make money, and have fun.
Make sure it's an intent that's focused on the client's best interests.SOLUTIONS HAVE NO INHERENT VALUE Solutions derive value only from the problems they solve and the results they produce. If you don't ask these questions, it leaves you to guess the answers. A good start is having a philosophy of caring deeply for what it takes to make the customer successful. Why would you consider changing." or "How much funding have you allocated for this project." or "What criteria will you be using to make your decision." To help clients succeed, you need to learn how to ask these hard questions in a soft way.
You must, instead, objectively explore issues, problems, and desired results, as well as what criteria the client will use to make a decision.NO GUESSING Too often, a question you want to ask the client may come to mind, but for whatever reason you don't ask it. The job of a salesperson is to provide expanded awareness of possibilities and superior choices to facilitate a process for clients to make decisions in their own best interests.INTENT COUNTS MORE THAN TECHNIQUE Get crystal clear about your intent before you pick up the phone or walk through the door, because it's going to affect everything else that follows. To truly understand client needs, you need to move off the solution (a counterintuitive move, especially for salespeople).
In my opinion this book speaks to the most basic tenants of capitalism - each and every trade must be a) mutually beneficial and b) entered into freely. It is well written and the advice is practical. This is the best sales book ever written about consulting, it is also the best consulting book ever written about sales. The underlining theme is similar to the Hippocratic Oath - First, do no harm.The book outlines a sales methodology focused on finding value using structured questioning techniques. I highly recommend it. For me, it was truly career changing.While many of the principles are similar to solution selling, there is a vast difference in what Mahan Khalsa espouses. Rather than the "hurt and rescue" techniques of most sales methodologies this centers around awareness and choice with a hearty dose of intent and trust.
It will help you figure out what your client is REALLY thinking, what they really want, and how to get their business, if it is in fact possible. The material is so valuable that you are almost certainly going to be happy with your decision to get both.If you are in intangible sales, this CD/book combo is for you. I'd get both.
6 CDs. 2) since the author is not succinct, one's ability to retain the information is somewhat limited.I found this written version to be a great refresher, and in some ways, an improvement to the CD version. I own the CD version.Very long.
Vastly more succinct.However, I'm not sure that the written version alone would suffice. (sometimes it isn't possible, and this book helps you understand when and why that is) Whew.The "problems" with the CD version are two-fold.
1) it takes a long time to listen to them.
This is not like many books about selling, which are compendia of random tips and tricks. Last July I was honored to be sent a final draft of Mahan Khalsa and Randy Illig's revised and expanded edition of Let's Get Real or Let's Not Play.Mahan and Randy are key members of FranklinCovey's sales performance practice. It's for those who need to get REAL about selling.I highly recommend this book. Here Mahan and Randy lay out the case for process and then employ one of their own to transport us efficiently through their content.Then the "What you have to do" is layered throughout--clear, unambiguous guidance that takes us through the most difficult challenges we face as sellers.Finally, the "How"--the words your client will say and how you might respond, powerful graphics that represent new concepts, and detailed checklists are examples.Let's Get Real or Let's Not Play isn't for the casual, opportunistic skill-and tip-skimmer who PLAYS at sales. (I did a podcast with Mahan. It's posted on my blog and ESR's website: www.ESResearch.com).What is immediately significant about this book is its extreme richness--the product of four concurrent layers of considerable substance.First, and perhaps the most important, is the underlying, immutable philosophy of seeking and handling the truth--the truth about our clients, our solutions, our sales opportunities, and the truth about ourselves.The next layer is methodology.
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