Cambridge Business Association
Insight Selling
Book

Insight Selling

Sell Value & Differentiate Your Product with Insight Scenarios

Michael Harris
Sales & Marketing Press, 2014
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Editorial Rating

8

Qualities

  • Innovative
  • Applicable

Recommendation

The Internet provides such comprehensive product information that B2B buyers needn’t deal with B2B sellers until quite late in the sales cycle. At that stage, customers don’t need features-and-benefits information; they need specific insights told through stories that are tailored to their situation. Sales-training expert Michael Harris explains how B2B salespeople can deliver these insights for maximum results. His technique transforms B2B prospects’ classical wariness of sales representatives into enthusiasm for learning about and buying what they sell. Harris backs up his recommendations with impressive research. He explains why salespeople must be able to tell good stories to win customers. Ironically, the author is a good instructor, but he could be a better storyteller. In most chapters, he explains his point of view quite satisfactorily, but in some, he’s confusing and even contradictory. When Harris is on target, his advice is very useful. getAbstract recommends his potent approach to B2B salespeople who need to know how to tell their product’s story for maximum sales impact.

Summary

Insights, Not Product Details

In sales in the past, buyers relied on salespeople for the information they needed to make intelligent purchase decisions. Now, thanks to the Internet, buyers can easily research alternative products and services and compare prices. Today’s buyers rarely deal with salespeople until they have progressed through 60% of the sales cycle. The tendency of buyers is to commoditize B2B products and services and to insist on discounts from sellers. Buyers do not want salespeople who “show up and throw up” litanies of features and benefits, or who irritate them with 20 questions. Buyers seek useful insights that enable them to make solid purchase decisions. They “do not have the time or expertise” to understand the best options. They find it difficult to filter and make sense of the overwhelming amount of information on the Internet. Buyers can’t determine the “generic value” of particular products or services. Many don’t purchase or they purchase based only on price.

“Insight Scenarios”

An insight scenario is a very brief story about a company you rescued from an emergency through the use of your product or service. A well-constructed...

About the Author

Michael Harris is the CEO of Insight Demand, a firm which teaches salespeople to deliver insights to buyers so they can sell value and differentiate their offerings.

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