Book Review:  Secrets of Question Based Selling, by Thomas A. Freese (return to top of page)

By Paul McCord, Reviewer

How do you connect with and engage prospects and clients?  How do you gather the basic information you need in order to create interest and curiosity?  How do you find and highlight their needs or wants?  How do you determine what your prospect is thinking and what concerns they might have?

 More than likely you use questions, at least to some extent. 

 Since you’re already using questions and since you’ve been taught to never ask a closed-end question and you’ve mastered the art of the open-ended question, why should you pick up Thomas A. Freese’s, Secrets of Question Based Selling: How the Most Powerful Toll in Business Can Double Your Sales Results (Sourcebooks, 2003)?  Because much of what you’ve been taught about questions and questioning is just flat wrong according to Freese. 

 Secrets of Question Based Selling (QBS) is obviously a book about questions and the art of using them to engage your prospect.  But it is far more than a book about questioning; it’s a book about effective selling and how to use questions to prick interest, discover information, engage and feed the needs of multiple participants in the decision making process, get past gatekeepers, get a return call when you leave a voice mail message, and to close the sale.

 QBS isn’t just a book about questions.  Naturally, Freese discusses questions and questioning in great detail.  He lays out a number of types of questions and their uses.  He gives examples of both effective and ineffective questions.  He relates stories of question success—and question failure.  He addresses erroneous traditional question training such as to ask open-ended questions only.  He demonstrates the power of a well-crafted question--and how ill conceived questions lead to self-inflected wounds.

 However, if you look at Secrets of Question Based Selling as a book about questions, you miss the power and essence of Freese’s message.  At its core, QBS isn’t really about asking questions.  It’s about understanding human nature and formulating a sales process that emanates from understanding who people are, how they think, how they respond, and what captures their attention and addresses their needs. 

 Secrets of Question Based Selling is one of a long line of books written over the past two and half decades that tries to set out a rational, workable, effective sales process for the complex sale.  The complex business-to-business sale has been the primary focus of sales process trainers for the last decades with little attention given to the less complex business-to-business and business-to-consumer sale. 

 Although designed for and directed toward the complex sale, many of the strategies and techniques in these sales process books are applicable to other types of sales situations although the authors seldom, if ever, address those situations.  Freese, to his credit, doesn’t ignore the vast majority of salespeople who are not engaged in complex solution selling.  He gives examples from the less lofty world of sales and even an example or two from the world of the one-time close sale. 

 The sales process Freese sets forth covers the gamut of prospect contract, from initial call to the close of the sale.  The primary tool used is questions but the foundation is an understanding of how people respond during the process of considering a purchase of any type, any size—and that basic human nature is the same for the company contemplating a twenty million dollar purchase as the couple contemplating a twenty thousand dollar purchase. 

 Whether you sell health insurance in a one-time close sale to mom and pop or the most sophisticated high tech services to Fortune 50 companies, Secrets of Question Based Selling is filled with gems that will help you connect with your prospects.  You may not choose to adopt the entire sales process Freese presents—the process in its entirety isn’t right for everyone or every situation, you cannot read the book and not walk away without having improved your ability to engage your prospect and your clients—and earn more money.

Book Review: High Probability Selling, by Jacques Werth and Nicholas E Ruben (return to top of page)

By Paul McCord, Reviewer

 Why in the world would I be reviewing a book that’s been on the market for
more than 15 years?  Why not stick with far more recently published items? 

 Legitimate questions.  Ones I asked myself when I began to think seriously about writing a review of the book.  I had read the book a number of years ago.  When I received a new copy of High Probability Selling (Abba Publishing, 2000) by Jacques Werth and Nicholas Ruben, I had no intention of writing a review—wanted to keep the reviews to more recently published stuff, after all the book has had a decade and a half to prove itself. 

 Yet, when I began to skim the book, I was reminded of some of the influences it has had on my thinking over the years, so I decided to read it again in detail.  As I did, the idea of writing a current review became stronger and stronger until—well, here it is.

 When I first picked this book up several years ago, I almost didn’t get past the first couple of pages.  It had, in my opinion, too many things going against it:  it was self-published (at a time when self-publishing was worse than not being published at all); the text was presented as a conversation between a salesperson just learning High Probability selling and others in his company (sorry, this format still drives me nuts); and the print was too large for a ‘serious’ book (not “See Jane Run’ big, but almost twice the size of a standard business book big). 

 A trite basis to make a judgment on a book?  Of course.  But I was only judging whether or not to read it, not whether it was good or not.  Hay, I was young and foolish.  Now, I’m much older—and still foolish, but now I have the laugh and frown lines to indicate my foolishness has been well earned. 

 Nevertheless, despite what I saw as the book’s immediate drawbacks, I read it.  And I’m certainly glad I did.

 The basic thesis of High Probability Selling is—sell prospects who want to buy what you are selling and don’t bother with the others.  Earth shattering, right?  Hardly.  Yet, how many selling processes try to do just what High Probability Selling advocates against?  How many processes are geared toward trying to convince prospects that they really need or want what you’re selling, whether they really do or not?

 As common sense as High Probability Selling is, it goes against the grain of so much that is commonly taught in sales.  There’s no overcoming objections, no closing, no wrestling an appointment out of a prospect, no pressure to buy, no confrontation, no rejection. 

 So, what is there?  There’s a progression of process that is constantly examining the prospect to determine whether the chance of making a sale is high or low.  If the chances are low, the salesperson politely goes his or her own way, seeking a more high probability prospect. 

 The basic idea is a good one, though probably not appropriate for all industries and situations.  High Probability Selling makes a few assumptions: 

·          There are so many prospects available who want to purchase your product or service now that you need not waste time with prospects who aren’t currently ready to buy

·          All prospects will qualify, more correctly disqualify, themselves quickly.  Those who don’t answer your questions appropriately are low probability prospects, so move on. 

·          Persuasion of any kind, in any situation is bad, bad, bad.  Worse than bad.  Hannible Lechner-evil bad.

·          Allowing the prospect to disqualify himself quickly is good for the prospect as it is for the salesperson.

 Most everyone can think of situations where the above assumptions are wrong.  However, in most situations we salespeople find ourselves, they are quite reasonable.  The exceptions are rare and most are situation specific exceptions rather than industry specific—with the obvious exception of the first assumption where there are many industries with a very limited and often tightly knit group of prospects. 

 The above attributes of High Probability Selling are not what I consider the books greatest contribution.  As I mentioned earlier, the book has had a good deal of influence on my thinking.  That influence comes from a concept the book describes as establishing a customer’s Conditions of Satisfaction. 

 For the last decade or two, more and more companies and individual salespeople have been touting their ability to exceed their client’s expectations.  So many companies and salespeople spout the words that you’d think there couldn’t possibly be a dissatisfied customer in America.  Nevertheless, few if any of these companies and salespeople can possibly exceed their client’s expectations because they have no idea what the client expects.  Why?  They never ask.

 No so with High Probability Selling.  More than anything else in the book, I appreciate Werth’s and Ruben’s emphasis on establishing in writing exactly what the customer wants and expects.  Exceeding a customer’s expectations?  Finally, yes you can.  You can if you implement the Conditions of Satisfaction section of the book because you will be one of the few salespeople or companies who really know what your customer expects.  You can because you know, where your competitors can claim but always fail because they have no earthly idea what an individual customer expects.

 Not only does establishing the client’s Conditions of Satisfaction allow you to finally meet your client’s expectations, more importantly, it flushes out any unrealistic expectations.  No longer will you discover to your dismay in the middle of the process that your customer had expectations that you could not possibly meet.  Those days of sales falling apart or leaving a customer angry can be over.

 Whether you fully adopt the process or not, few will be able to walk away from High Probability Selling without having to seriously consider their current sales process in light of what is presented. 

 Dated book?  Yes.  Still worth the time and effort?  Absolutely.

 Copyright 2008, Paul McCord.  May be reproduced without change, with proper attribution and brief bio.  Notice of when and where article is to appear to pmccord@mccordandassociates.com

Book Review:  What The Customer Wants You to Know,
by Ram Charan (return to top of page)

By Paul McCord, Reviewer

 We live in an increasing commoditized world.  Almost any product or service you can think of has been or is in the process of being turned into a simple commodity.  And the heart of commodization is, of course, price.  Who can produce the best at the cheapest price becomes the driving question for consumer decisions—and the supplier’s decisions as well.

 Ram Charan’s central question in What The Customer Wants You to Know (Penguin Group, 2007) is how can a company break out of the commodization spiral and set themselves apart as a premium supplier with premium pricing—and thrive.

 Charan’s solution is a sales process he calls Value Creation Selling (VCS).  A distinctly business-to-business sales process, VCS in essence takes Solution Selling a new level—and adds layers at the same time.

 Selling as currently practiced, says Charan, is broken, outdated, and ultimately a losing proposition for companies using any traditional sales model.  The solution is, naturally, VCS.

 Rather than focusing on discovering a customer need and creating a solution to the need, VCS seeks to discover not only the customer’s problem but also how that problem affects the customer’s revenue and profitability and then seeks to create a solution that adds revenue to the client company.  In other words, the supplier becomes a partner with the client to help the client increase sales, increase revenue and increase profitability.  By thus showing the prospect how your solution not only resolves a need but also adds value to the company’s bottom-line by helping to increase revenue, you become not only the preferred vendor, but the preferred vendor with a premium price.

 The crux of VCS selling is a team approach with the salesperson as the team leader.  The team will consist of individuals from a number of departments, from marketing to finance to legal, all working together to gather a great deal of detailed information about the prospect, the way the prospect currently does business, the prospect’s financial situation, and even the prospect’s customers.  The goal is to understand the prospect’s business so well that a solution can be tailored for the prospect that impacts the prospect’s bottom-line by not only possibly decreasing costs associated with their current need—but that actually adds revenue in some manner.

 This team approach requires the salesperson to take on new roles, learn new skills and develop keen analytical and diagnostic abilities.  It requires developing multi-layered relationships within the prospect company where the salesperson and team members not only identify decision makers but also influencers—and develop relationships based on trust with them all.  It requires a new view of what selling is, what a solution is, what a prospect’s needs are.

Charan’s process is long-term.  According to his experience in helping companies convert to a VCS sales process, the conversion will take about three years from start to a fully functioning VCS company.  In addition he warns, the conversion process not only takes dedication and patience, it’s expensive.

 And the sales process itself takes much longer than most company’s current sales cycle.  If you currently have a long cycle—it will get longer.  If you currently have a relatively short cycle, it will become much longer.

 The value of VCS according to Charan is threefold:

·          Higher pricing and profitability

·          More loyal and committed clients

·          Implementing a process that is difficult, long-term and costly means few competitors will have the patience and dedication to compete on the same level

 Again, being upfront, Charan readily admits the process isn’t for every company or every market.  Only after careful evaluation can companies make an informed decision as to whether they want to travel down this road.  But his promise is that if the process has been well thought-out, the commitment unwavering, and the buy-in to the program universal from the CEO down, the process will change not only the focus of the company, it will change the fortunes of the company like no other process can.

 Even though the above may make it sound like What The Customer Wants You To Know is another book for the complex sale, Charan gives examples of the use of the process from a number of industries, from complex sale industries to mass marketed consumer product suppliers. 

 In the end, Charan’s process is interesting.  Not only will it only be implemented by a few companies, in reality it can only be implemented by a few.  The commitment, costs and patience needed to implement the process and wait for the payoff will prove to be too costly for many, too unwieldy for others, and too complex for most.  In reality, CVS is a process that is probably suited for smaller companies engaged in highly complex sales.  Trying to rebuild a large corporation would more than likely prove to be a nightmare, and seeking to convert a company in a short cycle, highly commoditized industry would probably prove to be more costly than its worth. 

 Yet even with these limitations, the book is worth reading.  Although the process may not be adopted, many of Charan’s observations about the current state of sales and prospect interaction are worth the price of the book alone.

 Copyright 2008, Paul McCord.  May be reproduced without change, with proper attribution and brief bio.  Notice of when and where article is to appear to pmccord@mccordandassociates.com. 

Book Review:  “Metaphorically Selling” by Anne Miller
(return to top of page)

By Paul McCord, Reviewer

Do your presentations grab your listener—or send them into a coma?  Are they filled with charts, data, facts and figures—or do they show your prospect why they should invest in your product?  Do they make your listener yearn for relief from the agony of the presentation–or light up their eyes with interest and enthusiasm?  

How deeply you touch your prospect will determine just how well your presentation will communicate.  If you kill ‘em with boredom, you lose; if you get them involved to the point they see and feel your words, you stand a great chance of winning.

If you’re in sales, your life is filled with presentations—whether presentations to group or one-on-one with prospects, clients, and management.  

Unlike most books on presentations, Anne Miller’s, Metaphorically Selling (Chiron Associates, 2004) isn’t a manual on making presentations, rather this great little book is a guide to making your presentations move your prospects by showing them what you want to communicate through the use of metaphors and similes.  

Miller demonstrates through the use of real-world examples, as well as her own use of metaphors, how how you communicate is as important as what you communicate, maybe even more so.  For example, she shows how a very simple metaphor saved Chrysler from permanently closing their doors; how she won a major training contract by using the company whose business she was seeking as the core of the metaphor that won her the business; how Southwest Airlines diffused anxiety over the retirement of Herb Kelleher by use of a metaphor; how a metaphor helped the family of Karen Silkwood win their case against Kerr –McGee; and many others straight out of real life.

And don’t think of metaphors and similes as simply words.  Miller shows how props, pictures, slides and other media can be used as effective metaphors also.

From the opening of your presentation to the close—and everywhere in-between, Miller shows you how to change your presentations from ordinary to highly effective with the use of the simple metaphor.  Metaphors aren’t just for English class anymore.  Now they’re your ticket to more sales.

 You can find Metaphorically Selling at Amazon or Barnes and Noble

Copyright 2007, Paul McCord.  May be reproduced without change, with proper attribution and brief bio.  Notice of when and where article is to appear to pmccord@mccordandassociates.com

About the Reviewer (return to top of page) Paul McCord is a leading authority on prospecting, referral selling, and personal marketing.  He is president of McCord and Associates, a Houston, Texas based sales training, coaching, and consulting company.  His first book, Creating a Million Dollar a Year Sales Income: Sales Success through Client Referrals (John Wiley and Sons, 2007), is an Amazon and Barnes and Noble best-seller and is quickly becoming recognized as the authoritative work on referral selling.  His second book, SuperStar Selling: 12 Keys to Becoming a Sales SuperStar will be released in February, 2008.  He may be reached at pmccord@mccordandassociates.com or visit his sales training website at www.powerreferralselling.com

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