Synopses & Reviews
“Conversations That Sell is the game changer you’ve been looking for. Nancy Bleeke gives you tools and techniques to easily engage customers in winning conversations that make objections vanish, and allow you to effortlessly close the deal.”
— Jeb Blount, CEO of SalesGravy.com, and author of People Buy You
“To succeed, sales professionals must distinguish themselves from their competition. Conversations That Sell provides a blueprint for enlightening conversations that collaboratively guide customers to their best decisions in ways your competitors never thought of, and your customers never dreamed possible. Any salesperson looking to elevate their position with their customers must read this book!”
— Kendra Lee, President of KLA Group, and author of The Sales Magnet
To be a successful salesperson these days, you need to be having conversations with prospective buyers—collaborative, value-filled, and focused on What’s in it for Them. Conversations That Sell shows you how to build the will and the skills you need to get to Win3, win cubed: the solution that benefits you, the buyer, and your company.
Customers today are more informed than ever before, and they want to be listened to and engaged through the buying process. They also want you to use their time effectively. Learn how to make every conversation count—and make the sale—using the author’s five-step system: Wait, Initiate, Investigate, Facilitate, Then Consolidate (WIIFT).
Packed with powerful ideas and practical tips, this book will help you develop your will to succeed and the skills to prepare for each conversation; investigate problems, opportunities, wants, and needs; build value for your solution; and close the conversation. You’ll see how using the Tribal Types model to identify and adapt to your buyer builds relevancy and efficiency into your sales. Pertinent examples and resources round out this essential guide.
The tools you’ll pick up here can be used in all sales situations—and in all conversations. You’ll gain the valuable ability to self-assess and self-correct your conversation midstream, and also learn how to:
• Prepare for an effective sales call using the Quick Prep Tool
• Build your drive: the confidence and competence you need to succeed
• Work through objections in a positive way
• Keep the focus where it belongs: on the buyer
There’s no doubt about it: Every sales conversation benefits from a salesperson who is well-prepared, fully engaged, and ready to work with the buyer in a collaborative way. Learn how to make every conversation count—and watch your close ratios soar.
Nancy Bleeke is President of Sales Pro Insider, a training and consulting firm that specializes in helping salespeople improve their customer service and sales skills, and enhance their leadership ability. Clients who have benefited from her innovative approach to sales include Motorola, CVS-Caremark, MassMutual, Celestica, and Rexnord.
Review
"Nancy represents a new breed of sales training and coaching pioneers: She is refreshingly straightforward; devoid of sycophancy and passionate about making a difference." --Top Sales magazine
Synopsis
Today’s buyers want more from sales professionals than a simple consultation. What they’re hungry for are meaningful, collaborative conversations built on mutual value and trust, that result in a Win3...where they, the seller, and the organization, achieve a winning outcome.
Conversations That Sell introduces sales professionals to the collaborative conversation skills they need to capture the buyer’s attention and secure business. Based on the author’s five-step sales system, What’s in It for Them (WIIFT)—Wait, Initiate, Investigate, Facilitate, Then Consolidate—the book shows readers how to:
• Prepare for an effective sales call
• Identify sales opportunities and the factors that drive buyers to act
• Adjust their approach to the type of buyer—Achievers, Commanders, Reflectors, and Expressers
• Make conversations flow easily
• Address problems, opportunities, wants, and needs
• Work through objections
• Advance and close sales
• And more
Packed with valuable tools and examples, salespeople in all industries will discover how to increase their short- and long-term sales success by keeping the focus of every conversation where it belongs—on the buyer.
Synopsis
Winner of the
Top Sales World Magazine's 2013 Top Sales & Marketing Book Award, Gold Medal
Synopsis
Conversations That Sell introduces sales professionals to the collaborative conversation skills they need to capture the buyer's attention and secure business. Packed with valuable tools and examples, salespeople in all industries will discover how to increase their short- and long-term sales success by keeping the focus of every conversation where it belongs---on the buyer.
Synopsis
Leveraging her years of experience as a sales professional, sales manager, and sales coach, Nancy Bleeke became the founder and president of the training and consulting firm Sales Pro Insider. Now, with a shrewd understanding of buyer burnout and the need for more meaningful, collaborative conversations that will capture the buyer's attention and drive buyers to act, Conversations That Sell shares Bleeke's five-step sales system designed to help salespeople in all industries increase their short- and long-term success. Packed with valuable tools and shrewd real-world examples, this book provides insight into Bleeke's driven, determined approach to buyer conversations and shows readers how to identify sales opportunities, address buyer needs, work through objections, and keep the focus of every conversation where it belongs--on the buyer. Through it all, she maintains a keen awareness of her readers' motivation, and the real reason behind the importance of her message--to help sales professionals achieve winning outcomes.
Synopsis
What do customers most hunger for? Meaningful, collaborative conversations built on mutual value and trust. Learn the collaborative conversation skills you need to capture the buyer's attention and secure business.
Synopsis
This book introduces sales professionals to the collaborative conversation skills they need to?capture the buyer's attention and secure business.
Today's buyers want more from sales professionals than a simple consultation. What they're hungry for are?meaningful, collaborative conversations?built on mutual value and trust, that result in a win...where they, the seller, and the organization, achieve a winning outcome. Based on the author's five-step sales system, What's in It for Them (WIIFT) - Wait, Initiate, Investigate, Facilitate, Then Consolidate - Conversations That Sell shows you how to:
- Prepare for an?effective sales call - Identify sales opportunities and the factors that?drive buyers to act
- Adjust their approach?to the type of buyer - Achievers, Commanders, Reflectors, and Expressers
- Make conversations flow easily - Address problems, opportunities, wants, and needs
- Work through objections - Advance and close sales; and more
Packed with valuable tools and examples, salespeople in all industries will discover how to increase their short- and long-term sales success by keeping the focus of every conversation where it belongs...on the buyer.
About the Author
NANCY BLEEKE is president of Sales Pro Insider, a training and consulting firm specializing in sales effectiveness. Her clients include Motorola, CVS-Caremark, Celestica, MassMutual, and Rexnord.
Table of Contents
Contents
Foreword, by Jill Konrath
Acknowledgments
Introduction
PART I
Selling in Today’s Transparent World
1 The Importance of You in Selling: Being a Real Part of the Solution
Your Role in the Solution You Sell
Fake It ‘Til You Make It: Does That Work?
There’s Nowhere to Hide in a Transparent World
Adopt and Adapt Best Practices to Escalate Your Value and Sales
2 Collaborative Selling:Where Every Conversation Matters
and Everyone Wins
Why Collaborative Selling Works
Collaborative Selling Is Consultation Plus
When You Collaborate, Everyone Wins
How Collaborative Selling Works in Challenging Situations
Is Collaborative Selling Worth the Effort?
Quick Tips for Collaborative Selling
PART I I
The What and How of Collaborative Sales Conversations
3 Systematized Success: Make Every Conversation Count
Five Steps to Systematic Sales Success
Prepare to Succeed
Prove the Value
Quick Tips for Using the WIIFT SystemTM
4 Tribal Types:Work and Sell with Buyers the Way They Want to Be
Worked With
Introducing the Tribal Types™ Model
Achievers
Commanders
Reflectors
Expressers
Identifying and Using Tribal Types
Strategies for Selling with Tribal Types
Quick Tips for Using Tribal Types
5 Wait: The Conversation Starts with You
Five Actions to Prepare for a Conversation that Counts
Action 1: Eliminate Your Distractions
Action 2: Focus on What’s in It for Them in This Conversation
Action 3: Review Notes from Previous Meetings or Research
Action 4: Check Your Mirror and Materials
Action 5: Prepare Your Mind to Engage with the Buyer
Quick Tips for Preparing for Your Sales Conversation
6 Initiate: Win Them at Hello with a Purposeful Start
Five Actions to Ensure a Purposeful Conversation Start
Action 1: Greet
Action 2: Explain Why You Are Connecting
Action 3: Ask Questions to Engage and Get Them Talking
Action 4: Use Appropriate Eye Contact and Open Ears
Action 5: Focus on What They Are Communicating—Words and Intent
Adjust Your Initiation to the Situation
Quick Tips for Initiating Your Conversation
7 Investigate: Investigation or Interrogation?
Five Actions to Investigate Compelling POWNsTM
Action 1: Ask Relevant, Open-Ended Questions
Action 2: Listen Actively
Action 3: Ask Follow-Up Questions
Action 4: Paraphrase What the Buyer Has Stated
Action 5: Qualify and Confirm Your Opportunity
Group Investigations
Quick Tips to Investigate POWNsTM
8 Facilitate, Part I: Create Collaborative Solution Presentations
Focused on the Buyer
Five Actions That Make It Easy for Buyers to Connect to Your Solution
Action 1: Explain Your Solution by Connecting Whats to WiifTs
Action 2: Include Others in the Presentation and Ask for Feedback
Action 3: Provide Proof to Support Your Solution
Action 4: Present Costs Followed by Value
Facilitating a Group Sales Conversation
What to Do When Your Solution Doesn’t Fit
Quick Tips to Facilitate the Presentation of Your Solution
9 Facilitate, Part II:Work Through Objections
Action 5: Ask for and Work Through Objections with Stop, Drop,
and Roll™
Prepare to Work Through Objections
Tap Into Emotions That Affect Working Through Objections
Skip the “Buts” That Hinder Collaboration
Strategies to Work Through Objections with the Tribal Types
Traps to Avoid When Faced with Objections and Concerns
Turn Objections Into Opportunities
Quick Tips to Work Effectively Through Objections
10 Then Consolidate: Close Every Conversation with Purpose
Know What You Are Closing
Five Actions That Consolidate Your Win3 Conversations
Action 1: Complete a Decision Readiness Check
Action 2: Confirm the Value Your Solution Will Provide
Action 3: Ask for a Decision or Commitment to Action
Action 4: Identify the Next Steps with Specifics
Action 5: Close the Conversation
Quick Tips for Consolidating Your Conversations
PART I I I
The Factors That Make or Break Your Sales
11 Will You or Won’t You Succeed? It’s Your Choice
“Skill and Will”: The Dynamic Duo of Sales Success
The Success Drivers of Top Sales Professionals
Quick Tips to Build Your Drive to Succeed
12 The Tools of the Trade:What’s in Your Toolbox?
Sales Conversation Preparation Tools
Powerful Technology-Based Tools
The Most Important Sales Tool: You!
Quick Tips to Use What’s in Your Toolbox
13 Now What? Action Time!
Target Your Success with Ready, Aim, Succeed
Get Ready
Take Aim
Act to Succeed
Take Action, and Update and Confirm Your Plan
Celebrate!
Quick Tips to Achieve Your Goals