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Rethinking the Sales Force

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Rethinking the Sales Force

Redefining Selling to Create and Capture Customer Value

McGraw-Hill,

15 min read
10 take-aways
Audio & text

What's inside?

Changes that affected much of the business world years ago are now having an impact on sales. Adding customer value and selecting competitive channels have become just as critical as a great pitch and the ability to close.

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Editorial Rating

8

Qualities

  • Innovative

Recommendation

In this new classic and hot-seller, Neil Rackham and John DeVincentis write convincingly about the need for sales forces to change with the rapidly changing times, and about how they can successfully adapt. Devoid of cutesy gimmicks, the book takes a solid look at what it takes to sell in today’s market (no matter what your product or service). It gives plenty of strategies and corporate examples, all focused on the new imperative of creating value, as opposed to just communicating it. getAbstract recommends this thorough, intelligent, and conversational book to executives, managers and everyone involved in sales and marketing.

Summary

The New Selling: Creating Value

The area of sales is in an early stage of radical change comparable to the profound changes that began to transform manufacturing and other business areas 20 years ago. Every aspect of selling is changing, from the internal to the external:

  • Sales organizations are restructuring.
  • Geographical territory structures are disappearing.
  • The role and nature of sales management is undergoing a transformation.
  • Customers are fundamentally changing their expectations and purchase patterns.
  • Customers have changing expectations of sales relationships.
  • Technology is changing the function of sales and how customers make purchases.
  • Electronic commerce is creating a continuously changing method of selling.
  • The meaning of selling is shifting - the purpose of sales is being rapidly redefined.

The traditional view of sales - "The purpose of a sales force is to communicate the value of your offerings" - is undergoing the biggest change of all. While sales people have focused on communicating the value of products or services to customers, the rest of the business world has restructured...

About the Authors

Neil Rackham is the founder and CEO of Huthwaite, Inc., a sales consulting, training, and research firm, and author of SPIN Selling, The SPIN Selling Fieldbook, Major Account Sales Strategy, and Getting Partnering Right. He has worked to bring research and analytical methods to the field of sales force management. John DeVincentis is a sales and marketing consultant. He was previously a partner at McKinsey & Co., where he led the firm’s Sales Force and Channel Management practice from 1986 to 1998.

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