This is a really cool book by Philip Delves Broughton:

What struck me about this book was that it didn’t try to position itself as some new scientific methodology for improving your stats as a salesperson. Nor did it evangelically preach someone’s view of sales and how life should be if you want to achieve your full potential. The book takes an objective observatory stance, where the author simply seeks out people who excel in the field of sales and attempts to understand what drives them, how they do what they do and why it is working for them. Personality traits are explored from a qualitative angle to give a broad sense of character and what may or may not be similar across different successful sellers.

From Moroccan souq rugs, through USA teleshopping to Japanese Life Insurance, the author takes a very broad and international sample of successful salespeople. as you might expect there are certainly some extravagant stories from this special breed of person.

Of particular interest to me were those individuals who were in the tech field, more specifically towards the final chapters where a hybrid type is identified. A hybrid type being someone who can comfortably straddle the core skills of both technical and soft skill competence. Having been in technical sales for many years, this type of individual really resonates with me as I believe it’s possible to be both technically competent as well as commercially and emotionally intelligent. Having that underlying knowledge base on the technical aspects of products can significantly boost credibility in a sales engagement and underpins Expert Selling.

This book definitely comes recommended as worth reading.

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Brilliant Selling by Jeremy Cassell and Tom Bird takes a one inch deep, one mile wide look at selling skills, activities and results. If you are new to selling or just need to step back for a refresher this is a great book to get you started.

The book takes you through a journey to understand all aspects of selling. Starting with views on your personality as a salesperson, moving through processes and planning to effective to communication for understanding buyer needs and motivations. The journey is a well structured one where each chapter builds nicely on the previous nuggets of wisdom. Although lacking depth in some areas it does provide an excellent springboard to give a wide view of the topic and also stirs lots of different ideas for you to think about.  I found the content associated practical exercises very useful to help me understand and analyze my current opportunities. They can really give you a push to think laterally and honestly about where your opportunities really sit.

One major highlight for me in the book was the section on understanding buyers mindsets, needs and motivations. This includes the main reasons why people do or don’t buy. The documented survey results really help isolate buyer fears and motives; every salesperson should have an understanding of these to help bridge that cross-table relationship between buyer and seller.

Another recommended read. If you would like to purchase this book, please support this site in the process, by clicking the image above.

In the last decade, SPIN Selling has become one of the most prominent sales methodologies. Primarily, the methodology is developed by the Huthwaite Research company under the direction of and based on the research of psychologist, Neil Rackham.

From the outset the research has metered itself by requiring strict empirical evidence to prove or disprove theories as they are examined in real life situations.  This is a scientific view of sales behaviors from a group of scientists. There are no subjective opinions here, only hard facts and figures are used to back up statements and views.  Sample groups are often wide, diverse and for the most-part large enough to provide a credible read on the activity or behaviour being measured.

The 30,000ft view of the SPIN selling approach takes us through four defined stages during a single sales cycle. It suggests that the use of effective questioning can help us understand the prospects situation, identify problems they need to address, the impacts of the problems and the result of finally resolving them. This journey from introduction, through discovery to solution presentation and closing is dissected in much detail.

Alongside the scientific stats, there are also a wealth of case studies and anecdotes related to the challenges and trials experienced as the research progressed.  In addition, there are a number of common myths examined and dispelled around the whole sales process, from first impressions to closing techniques, there are some real eye-openers.

Although I’m sure in-depth results and transcripts could be found, a great strength in the book is it’s ability to summarize findings for us in a concise and understandable manner. The whole system is described in around 200 pages, I would suggest anyone working in sales would benefit immensely from investing a couple of days worth of reading the text.

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