I met someone the other day and asked him what he did professionally, and he told me he was in medical equipment sales, so I asked him my normal introductory questions when I meet a salesperson; what company was he with, how long had been there and in sales overall, they types of people he called on, did he enjoy it, what were his biggest challenges?
Like most of these situations, when I run into a salesperson that I meet for the first time, they answer my questions and eagerly talk about themselves and their profession. Then he got around to asking me what I did, and I told him I was in individual sales performance transformation.
Now in most cases, before someone can ask me what exactly that means, I follow it up with this: I help salespeople to win more deals, sell with less stress, earn more income, and free up more time so they can be happier in their personal lives.
It is very straightforward, and about half of the time, when I say this to a salesperson, they will respond with, “Oh, Wow! That’s interesting. How do you do that?” But the other half, like this salesperson, respond with: “Oh really?! You should read the fill-in-the-blank book.”
You should read the Challenger Sale!
You should read Never Split the Difference!
You should read Getting to Yes!
Or whatever book, but those seem to be the ones I hear the most lately. So I said to him, “What do you think I will learn from reading it that I don’t already know?”
OK, so I will stop here so you don’t think I am being a complete jackass, but hopefully you can see where I am trying to go in these situations.
Remember, a salesperson – a salesperson - asked me what I did for a living and I basically said I help SALESPEOPLE transform the way they sell so they can live better lives. Without asking any qualifying questions or follow up, they immediately recommend that I should read a book on sales!
But in most of these situations, the salesperson comes to a self-realization, that they just exposed how they probably sell in real life. They don’t begin to qualify, they don’t ask meaningful questions or try to understand the situation, and they jump right into their solution, which in this case, was their version of a solution to a problem that I didn’t even have.
These conversations usually turn completely around, with the other person admitting some of their biggest sales challenges and frustrations. But they always get the main point, which is to talk less, listen more, and question thoroughly before giving an answer.
Now, if you are thinking that this is a silly example or this isn’t representative of how an individual may really sell, I say with all due respect that you are wrong. Great salespeople always take the time to learn in any situation. You never know when you may meet someone who could alter your career or life with a simple suggestion or acknowledgment.
I know several senior executives, and not all sales senior executives, but CEOs, CIOs, and COOs who hired their best salespeople from chance interactions, be it on an airplane, in a hotel lobby, or while on vacation. They weren’t actively looking to hire a salesperson, but they will ALWAYS hire a great salesperson because they know how hard they are to come by.
The reason why they wanted to hire these great salespeople was because of the questions they asked. They had a chance conversation, the salesperson asked some great, deep, meaningful questions and usually shared some insights, and the executive thought to themselves – I wish we had more salespeople like this. And they didn’t come from their industries either. It wasn’t like they happened upon a salesperson who sold software or services or technology hardware.
You see, good executives know that they can teach any salesperson about their products and services, but they also know that they can’t teach someone how to be a great salesperson. They’ve witnessed a constant stream of turnover year after year. They’ve seen the never-ending cycle of new sales training and methodologies and processes that don’t move the needle positively over the long term. Often times this great salesperson they met references some book, article, or publication they read that stimulates the thinking and curiosity of the executive. So they think to themselves – I wish all of our salespeople were like this.
As salespeople, with the profession we have chosen, we always need to be ready to perform; because you never know when a great opportunity may unexpectedly come along.
Oftentimes, salespeople will ask me which books I recommend to help them be better salespersons. If you’ve been following me for some time, you know I don’t read traditional books on selling. In fact, I haven’t read one for over twenty years. I was incredibly fortunate to have a mentor in my mid-twenties who was one of the best salespeople in the world.
He taught me how elite salespeople, those in the top 5%, really sell. I had read a couple of books on sales before I met him, and I never looked at them again because I had one of the best teachers in the world, and he wasn’t telling or teaching me anything that was in the sales books I had read.
Now don’t get me wrong - I read books on how to help salespeople get better, but they aren’t books written to tell salespeople how to sell. And please don’t interpret this that there are not any good sales books out there, because I am sure there are. If a salesperson finds a book that truly helps them to sell better, that’s great. Sometimes you can read an entire book or attend a seminar and only pick up one or two little things that provide a real learning experience that helps break through a personal or professional barrier or plateau that gets you to the next level. Those are great and well worth the time and investment.
But when people ask me for book recommendations to help them sell better, it’s impossible to give a recommendation unless I know their performance gaps and where they struggle. But in general, most salespeople who are not consistent performers and have been unable to achieve that breakthrough, haven’t done so because they have not set goals, they have not committed to goals and they do not have a plan that they can execute to every day, week, month and year to achieve their highest level of performance.
So I would recommend Stephen Covey’s 7 Habits of Highly Effective People or Brendon Burchard’s High Performing Habits. Both are excellent, but Brendon’s book may be a little better for someone who has never really established a system of setting goals and then creating habits to achieve them.
I would recommend reading both, but I would start with Brendon’s. But figure out your needs gaps. It may be a book on creating and generating influence or persuasion, maybe a book on Emotional Intelligence, or NLP, or how to interpret body language.
A friend of mine’s daughter is a salesperson for an enterprise software company and their sales are very consultative in nature, and she has to work with different executives across different functions. Although she was doing OK, she was having some struggles, so he asked for a book recommendation to help her with sales, and I told him to have her read The McKinsey Way.
If she wanted to be more consultative, why not learn how arguably the best consulting firm in the world does it? There is not a single chapter in The McKinsey Way on how to sell, but she will learn to be a better salesperson for her selling environment. In fact, if you don’t have a transactional sale, that book would help anyone.
Whatever it may be for you, I can tell you that all Elite salespeople are always reading – always. So make it a habit to always have a non-fiction book that will help improve yourself professionally and personally and read at least one book a month.
That should be your initial goal – because if you are in sales and you want to be great, then you need to read not just one book but as many as you can to help you learn, grow, and be the salesperson someone says – I wish she worked for us.
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