Customer Reviews

The New Conceptual Selling® : The Most Effective and Proven Method for Face-to-Face Sales Planning

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NOTE: The review which follows is of the revised and updated (i.e. most recently published) edition co-authored by Robert B. Miller and Stephen E. Heiman with Tad Tuleja.

I read the first edition of this book when it was published 18 years ago. Hence my curiosity about this edition. What's new? In fact, a great deal. Miller and Heiman have thoroughly revised the original material, "page by page, to tighten the prose, clarify explanations, and provide up-to-date examples from [current and recent] Miller Heiman clients." For example, they have refined their explication of Concept and product (as indicated in Chapter 4) and expanded their discussions of Question Types while providing clarifications of two concepts which, apparently, often prove puzzling: Action Commitment and Valid Business Reason.

They have also included discussion of Single Sales Objective in Chapter 5. (This concept was originally developed within the Strategic Selling program and is now a component of Conceptual Selling.) "Most dramatically, we have revised the entire sequence of the Conceptual Selling `modules'...Another new element is a question-and-answer epilogue where we address some of the interesting challenges which our clients have posed to us."

Miller and Heiman respond to 15 questions generated by their "continuing dialogue" with those who enroll in various Conceptual Selling workshops. For example:

#1. Isn't Conceptual Selling just another name for consultative selling?

A: "There are similarities, to be sure, but they're not the same." Miller and Heiman pay due respect to Mark Hanan (author of another business bestseller, Consultative Selling) while explaining how his ideas -- which they greatly admire -- and theirs differ. See the complete response to this question pages 348-349.

#6. Having a Valid Business Reason implies that you know something about the customer before you go in. How do you do that when you're making a cold call?

A: "You're still making cold calls? The whole point of a Valid Business Reason is to render them unnecessary." How so? See the complete response to this question on page 349.

#14. Is Unique Strength another name for "competitive advantage"? And should I compare my company's Unique Strengths to those of the competition?

A: "Not exactly." Miller and Heiman briefly explain that, in economic theory, a "competitive advantage is a point of superiority that one company has over its competitors" whereas a "Unique Strength is much more specific than that: It's the contribution [italics] one company's solution can make make to [italics] one customer in [one] area that the customer perceives as better than any competing solution." See the complete response to this question on pages 361-362.

NOTE: In Buyer-Approved Selling: Sales Secrets from the Buyer's Side of the Desk, Michael Schell also suggests all manner of strategies and tactics by which to formulate and then present what Miller and Heiman identify as a Unique Strength. Presumably they and Schell agree with Warren Buffett, however, who once suggested that cost is what we charge but value is what someone else thinks it's worth. Nothing is a Unique Strength (or whatever else you call it) unless so perceived by customers and, equally important, by prospective customers.

Everyone in sales should have her or his own "toolkit." Some of its contents are provided by the given employee, others are provided by formal training and/or a supervisor, and still others from a book such as this. Long ago, I realized that strategies are "hammers" and tactics are "nails." The former drive the latter. That said, I presume to offer a caveat. Keep in mind this bromide: a camel is a horse designed by a committee.

Obviously, it would be foolish to stuff a "toolkit" with everything offered by Miller and Heiman in combination with everything offered in other excellent books such the aforementioned Consultative Selling and Buyer-Approved Selling as well as Neil Rackham's SPIN Selling, Anthony Parinello's Selling To VITO (The Very Important Top Officer), Michael Bosworth's Solution Selling: Creating Buyers in Difficult Selling Markets and CustomerCentric Selling,and Keith M Eades's The New Solution Selling: The Revolutionary Sales Process That is Changing the Way People Sell.

Presumably Miller and Heiman agree that readers of books such as theirs must be aware of everything available in what could be called "The Salesperson's Super Hardware Store." The challenge is to select and then use effectively those tools which are most appropriate to the given marketplace.

Given how attractively priced the most recently published paperback editions of The New Strategic Selling and The New Conceptual Selling are, I highly recommend both. My guess (only a guess) is that The New Conceptual Selling will be most valuable to those who have sales management and/or sales training responsibilities as well as to those whose career ambitions include obtaining such responsibilities.

After reading enthusiastic reviews I bought this and the Conceptual Selling book. A basic premise is the salesperson's ability to ask questions, and not just talk. Maybe this is a revelation for someone new to sales, but as I kept reading I found this book just restating the obvious. I've been in sales for 25 years, and this book is nothing new. Catchy title, they obviously have a lot of big name clients. Good book for a rookie though, but an insult to veteran salespeople.

I read this book to prepare myself for a salescourse at the company where I work. As it turns out I am no salesman, but the trainer did note that I had a very good insight into the salesprocess. So good, in fact, that he advised me to become a selling consultant for my company instead of a salesman. All that, thanks to having read this book in combination with "The New Strategic Selling" (also by Heiman). If you really want to start selling, you must read this book!

Throw the old rules of traditional sales out the window. Stephen E. Heiman and his co-authors, Diane Sanchez and Tad Tuleja, state in no uncertain terms that to remain a successful sales professional, you need to change the way you view the selling process. They advocate a customer-driven model of sales as the only approach for long-term success. The book includes “personal workshops” to allow you to apply these concepts directly to your sales situation. We ...recommend this book to anyone frustrated by the limitations of product-pitch selling. Note: This book is a revision of Conceptual Selling (by Robert Bruce Miller with Heiman and Tuleja, Warner Books, 1987), which has been updated to reflect the economy of today and tomorrow.

While today the book's content seems pretty basic, at its publication the idea of thoroughly understanding the concept of the customer wasn't exactly widespread. Presenting without prior analyzing the goals and theories of the client, or misunderstanding them, is a prescription for objections. Don't make assumptions, is what we learn from this book, and we should be thankful for being reminded by the authors about this fundamental sales rule.

I read this book right as I was getting out of sales, but this past week I was able to share some of the principles from it with a friend that was just entering sales and it has sky rocketed his results. He told me that he even recieved a bonus from his boss! Truly a book that every person should read whether in the sales field or not because every person needs to better the art of communication. This ones a winner!

I am only half way through the book but it has already made an impact on how I interact with my customers and prospects. The most valuable concept I have taken away from the New Conceptual Selling so far is the Natural Thought Process my customers go through when making a buying decision. Looking forward to reading the rest of the book and increasing my sales and profit.

Do you REALLY know how to sell? If you do this is a great book to learn how. No cheesy closing lines and feigned confidence in yourself. This is a tactical and "in the trench" approach to successful selling. Most important of all...is that it is focused on your customers and not your quota.

This book, together with "The New Strategic Selling" should be mandatory for any sales person. The framework it describes aims for Win-Win sales, steering the sale through a deep understanding and fulfillment of the customer true needs, in a very honest and systematic way. Highly recommended!

This is a very useful book for any sales professional. It may not be revolutionary to some, but most will find that it is well worth reading. I got a lot out of it and I've been in the selling business for 20 years. I am a college professor and use a lot of this to supplement my traditional texts.