Thull is a leading-edge strategist who, as president and CEO of Prime Resource Group, has designed and implemented business transformation programs for companies such as Shell Global Solutions, 3M, Microsoft, Siemens, Citicorp, IBM, Raymond James, and Georgia-Pacific. His previously published works include The Prime Solution and Mastering the Complex Sale.
In this volume, Thull explains “how high-performing salespeople, [‘the best of the best’] connect and win in high stakes sales.” He goes on to point out that his book “is about creating conversations that achieve relevancy, credibility, and respect between individuals, no matter what the context.” Over the course of nine chapters, Thull establishes and then sustains a direct and informal, indeed conversational, rapport with his reader. He thoroughly examines the mind-set, strategies, and skills that power exceptional selling. Of special interest to many readers is Thull’s focus on various misconceptions about high-performance salesmanship. Those salespeople whom Thull refers to as “the best of the best” consistently and convincingly demonstrate that most traditional ideas about sales are no longer appropriate. For example:
Myth: “All prospects will buy.”
Reality: Only certain customers will and should buy.
Myth: “A good salesperson can sell anything to anybody.”
Reality: A good salesperson weeds out poor prospects and focuses on high-gain opportunities.
Myth: “Customers know what they need; it’s my job to deliver it.”
Reality: Customers can be unclear and even wrong about their needs; the salesperson’s responsibility is to complete an accurate diagnosis of need(s).
Myth: “Never walk away when money is on the table.”
Reality: Always walk away unless certain that you can improve the prospect’s business.
Myth: “The customer is always right.”
Reality: The customer needs and deserves professional guidance to make an appropriate decision.
According to Thull, many (too many) salespersons never develop what he characterizes as the “Diagnostic Mindset,” a point-of-view or set of beliefs which provides the foundation for a conversational, diagnostic style that is uniquely suited for exceptional communications. Thull explains what the “Diagnostic Mindset” is, why it works so well for the best salespeople, and how others can–and should–use it to achieve comparable success. Throughout his narrative, Thull includes all manner of reader-friendly devices which summarize key points, and, correlate them with real-world situations. Not all of those in sales who read this book will be both willing and able to develop the “Diagnostic Mindset.” In fact, many will remain hostage to what James O’Toole characterizes as “the ideology of comfort and the tyranny of custom.” Those who do develop this mindset will stand apart not so much by what they sell as by how they sell.
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