Cambridge Business Association
Knock Your Socks Off Selling
Book

Knock Your Socks Off Selling

Jeffrey Gitomer and Ron Zemke
AMACOM, 1999
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Editorial Rating

5

Qualities

  • For Beginners
  • Engaging

Recommendation

The outlook for selling as a career has darkened with the spread of automated and electronic transactions and product sales. How, then, can the modern salesperson succeed? By embracing a consultative sales approach, a salesperson can build one-to-one relationships with clients and become their expert resource for product information. Starting from shine-your-shoes-and-tuck-in-your-shirt basics, consultants Jeffrey Gitomer and Ron Zemke present a highly readable, detailed plan for managing every aspect of the transition from transactional to relationship-based selling. Beginning salespeople can use this book as a how-to guide for developing their careers, while seasoned professionals will gain from its straightforward instructions for developing a portfolio of long-term customers. Managers will relish the tools for cataloguing and improving their sales force’s skills. For these reasons, getAbstract recommends this book for sales professionals at every level.

Summary

Consultative Selling

"Knock your socks off selling" is a consultative approach to corporate sales. In contrast to sales rep selling, where you give your presentation to as many qualified prospects as possible, consultative sales involves a complex process of delivering customized information and service to long-term customers. The consultative salesperson builds a one-to-one relationship with their clients, becoming a valued source of information and advice about the product line.

To build a consultative selling practice, you must make five key commitments:

  1. Believe that your products are an outstanding solution for your customers’ needs.
  2. Believe that you have the ability to help customers solve problems.
  3. Uncover, define and understand each of your customer’s individual needs.
  4. Partner with your customers.
  5. Care about your customers’ business objectives and help them to achieve their goals.

Becoming a "Born" Salesperson

Customers buy the salesperson, not just the product, so you must work on yourself. People who are "born to sell" share a ...

About the Authors

Jeffrey Gitomer Gitomer is president of Buy/Gitomer, editor of the monthly newsletter SalesMasterMind, and author of The Sales Bible, Customer Satisfaction is Worthless - Customer Loyalty is Pricelesand Sales Moves a weekly column. Ron Zemke is president of Performance Research Associates. He is co-author of the Knock Your Socks Off Service series and author of Service America America and 18 other management titles. He has been senior editor of Training Magazine since 1976.

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