Cambridge Business Association
Selling to Win
Book

Selling to Win

Richard Denny
Kogan Page, 2006
First Edition: 1988
Buy book or audiobook

Read or listen offline

Amazon Kindle
auto-generated audio
  • 0.5×
  • 0.75×
  • 1×
  • 1.25×
  • 1.5×
  • 1.75×
1×
auto-generated audio

Editorial Rating

6

Qualities

  • Applicable

Recommendation

British sales expert Richard Denny demystifies the sales process in this readable and easy-to-process text. He covers the basic tenets of sales, from getting the first appointment to asking the right questions to closing the deal. His concepts aren’t particularly groundbreaking. Anyone working in sales should be familiar with most of his ideas, and might need to be ahead of his coverage on communication technology, such as voice mail, e-mail and beyond. Yet, getAbstract finds that the book serves as a useful introduction to the ABC’s of selling and suggests that up-and-coming salespeople can certainly benefit from its contents.

Summary

Everybody Sells

Everybody sells, but not everybody sells well. Whether you are a doctor, lawyer, homemaker or real-estate agent, sometime you will need to sell yourself, your ideas or your services. To survive and excel in today’s competitive atmosphere, you need to learn how to sell and persuade. Know your product, take on challenges and seek opportunities to become a "star" sales professional.

"Solution" Selling

"Consultative" or solution selling has replaced the "tell and sell" of yesteryear. Solution selling involves building relationships, learning about prospective clients, identifying a problem, then offering a solution with your product or service. These skills do not require a sales spiel; anyone can learn and master them to become a professional seller.

Most people are familiar with the 80/20 rule. To apply it here, understand that 80% of a company’s sales come from 20% of its salespeople. To move into the top 20%, think, look and act like a sales professional. Don't just take orders and don't use hard-sell techniques. Instead, help your customers make the correct buying decisions and buy exactly what they need.

The Super Six

Super...

About the Author

Richard Denny is chairman of a leading British sales and management training firm, a speaker and an author. His books include Motivate to Win, Communicate to Win and Succeed for Yourself.

Comment on this summary