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Conversations That Win the Complex Sale

Using Power Messaging to Create More Opportunities, Differentiate your Solutions, and Close More Deals

Erik Peterson and Timothy Riesterer

McGraw-Hill, 2011

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With widespread competition and the commoditization of products and services, salespeople have difficulty differentiating their offerings from their competitors’ goods or services. Many sales reps resort to severe price cuts, the ultimate self-defeating differentiator. Sales message consultants Erik Peterson and Tim Riesterer propose a different tactic. Their book presents the core concepts from their popular “Power Messaging workshops,” which teach salespeople how to engage prospects in compelling, profitable sales conversations. This eye-opening program has helped salespeople improve their results for 20 years. getAbstract recommends this book to salespeople who want to stand out from the competition and win their prospects’ attention and agreement.

Summary

Do You Have Gas in Your Tank?

In 1986, Alain Prost, a French Formula 1 champion, held the lead for most of the German Grand Prix, but he ran out of gas in the last lap. Prost jumped out of his car and tried to push it across the finish line. He received a thunderous ovation from the crowd as other cars zoomed past him.

Many sales professionals are in the same situation – stuck with sales systems like Prost’s car: powerful but not able to get them across the finish line. But salespeople who offer the correct messages during their sales conversations can beat their competition. Sales systems give salespeople the opportunity to win, but they only work when the right sales messages provide the fuel that powers them. You can have a great system, but without the right message, you will never cross the finish line.

When sales start to dry up, most sales professionals try to replace their systems. Often, in fact, their messages are at fault instead. Research shows that companies believe the three main problems that deter sales are bad economic times, commoditization and an inability to differentiate their products from their competitors’. Sales conversations are the ...

About the Authors

Erik Peterson is vice president of strategic consulting at Corporate Visions. At the same company, Tim Riesterer is chief marketing officer and senior vice president of products and consulting.

Conversations That Win the Complex Sale

Using Power Messaging to Create More Opportunities, Differentiate your Solutions, and Close More Deals

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Do You Have Gas in Your Tank?

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