University of Minnesota - UMN Executive Leadership Insights
Selling Is Hard. Buying Is Harder
Book

Selling Is Hard. Buying Is Harder

How Buyer Enablement Drives Digital Sales and Shortens the Sales Cycle

Garin Hess
River Grove Books, 2020
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Editorial Rating

8

Qualities

  • Innovative
  • Eye Opening
  • Insider's Take

Recommendation

Today’s B2B buyers don’t want to waste time on an extended, archaic sales cycle. Serial entrepreneur and “buyer enablement”pro Garin Hess tells B2B salespeople how to help their customers buy more efficiently. He interviewed more than 40 B2B sales leaders and compiled information from many sources, including CEO Insights. Hess tells B2B salespeople to give their clients information promptly and to simplify critical purchasing activities to promote buyer enablement. He details what buyers want, how to accelerate sales procedures, how to create a process buyers like and how to help them go through it – all to benefit your bottom line.

Summary

B2B salespeople need to treat buyers as people, not income sources.

Robert Harris founded Chem-Dry, a global leader in carpet-cleaning franchises. A wise business leader, Harris views prospects not only as potential customers, but as people he can connect with on a personal level. Before Chem-Dry became an international success, Harris and his team pitched a Japanese distributor in hopes of closing a multi-million dollar contract. Chem-Dry was excited about the deal, but the Japanese distributor was not entirely convinced. The distributor saw Chem-Dry as a little company with an unproven track record.

When the Japanese distributor sent representatives to California to meet with Harris and his colleagues, Harris lent a personal touch to the proceedings by taking them to his mountain getaway. He wanted the representatives to make a verbal commitment; the Japanese were reluctant. Their posture was to dodge, demur and delay. Harris was a stunt pilot. Understanding that he needed to break the ice with the Japanese, he invited his visitors to join him for a flight in his private plane. Once in the...

About the Author

Founder and CEO of Consensus – which produces demo-automation software – Garin Hess created two software companies, two industry conferences and a nonprofit organization. 

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