Perfect Selling (Paperback)

by Linda Richardson (Author)
Key Phrases: checking question, Measurable Objective, Customize Your Solution, Know What You Want the Customer (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

The USA Today and New York Times Bestseller!

Meet your sales objective and close more business in 20 minutes a day

• CONNECT with your customer immediately
• EXPLORE customer needs thoroughly and quickly
• LEVERAGE your solutions persuasively
• RESOLVE your customer’s questions and objections confidently
• ACT when the time is right

"Your thinking 'What? Another book about selling?' Wrong! This book is about winning! These days, when those of us who sell need every molecule of competitive edge we can muster, Linda cleverly pulls it together for us. And she does it with a voice radiating experience, knowledge, and sincere empathy for the challenging job we all have."
--Dave Stein, CEO & Founder, ES Research Group, Inc., and author of How Winners Sell

"In five steps, Linda helps you master the process of the sales call to a tee, freeing your creativity to focus on your customer and deal with the unexpected that will always occur."
--Larry Wilson, sales leadership guru and bestselling author

"For years, Linda Richardson has been one of the top two or three sales training consultants in the world. This is invaluable material and a must-read for anybody who cares about success in selling."
--Geoffrey James, journalist and author of the popular blog, "Sales Machine"

About the Author

Linda Richardson is founder and executive chairwoman of Richardson, a leader in the global sales training industry, and the author of numerous influential books, including Stop Telling, Start Selling and Sales Coaching.

Product Details

• Paperback: 176 pages
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill; 1 edition (June 16, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0071549897
• ISBN-13: 978-0071549899
• Product Dimensions: 7.1 x 5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #85,459 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent pocket guide for sales people!, August 5, 2008

By	BookReview.com (Madison, WI United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

I can't think of a better pocket guide for sales people than this little book. It's "don't sell, help them buy" approach is not entirely new, but this is a concise, practical, easy to use presentation of techniques that work. And it has a great tag line: "Open the door. Close the deal." The five steps--"Connect," "Explore," "Leverage," "Resolve" and "Act" provide a clear organization of the material. There are brief explanations, examples of hypothetical applications and great review check sheets at the end of each chapter. My experience is that business people, and particularly those in sales, do not have the time or inclination to read many books. And when they do they want something that is easy to grasp, quickly, that will make a difference to their lives the next day. This book delivers.

I come to this with many years experience in sales training for small businesses and also large ones (owned by corporations such as W.R. Grace and Dow Chemical). "Perfect Selling" is directed to those already committed to doing it. That is often not the case with lawyers, accountants, business owners and even customer representatives. These people need a reorientation on the importance of sales (not only as a source of revenue, but also as a way to understand the needs of customers that help shape the products and services they offer). Without the proper attitude, I'm afraid this type of person feels hypocritical, as if selling were taking him or her away from their real job. Selling is everyone's job. And in that way I would like to have seen at least a page or two relating selling to marketing, advertising and public relations. I feel that success comes from a corporate sales culture, not merely individuals who assume that this is their task alone.

That's not a criticism of the book. It meets its objectives fully and focuses on areas that need most attention. Two things that I feel really valuable are: 1) the importance of doing background research on prospects from their web sites, 2) debriefing--either by self-assessment or with a partner--after a sales call. This book provides excellent points to check in order to do both. I might have brought up the distinction between "open" and "closed" questions before talking about objective questions, current situation questions, technical questions and future and personal needs questions. But that is minor. I love the terms "Constructing," "Prefacing" and "Drilling Down" and the advice to, "Resolve objections with your customers, not for them." Pages 153-154 offer a great, selling action-plan in a nutshell. If I were still active in sales, I'd tape that to my computer monitor, the front of my appointment calendar or to the sunvisor of my car. Like a great poem, it says everything.

5.0 out of 5 stars Old School Excellence, March 23, 2009

By	Greg Bahue "g" - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is the way I was taught to sell many years ago. I've gotten so good that I have forgotten many of the primary techniques that are the fundamentals of sales. I bought copies for all of my sales guys. Very good tool.

5.0 out of 5 stars Fundamental of Business Interview, March 3, 2009

By	Wo Wei Yan "The Living Benefits Assurance Spe... (Hong Kong) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book is primer of how to interview.

This book is basic on the dialogue framework of Perfect Selling, add selling step on it. Its easy umderstand for a newbie. For an "aged sales" benefit more.

I am salesman 20 years ago. Then reenter sales field a few years ago. I am an insurance agent, attended lots of training. After reading Perfect Selling, I found I had never learn how to do in an sales interview. After long years of selling, bad habbits may build up. Relearn is necessary.

I learn a lot from this books presentatin style. There is action after each chapter. Presentatin is clean and clear. From Stop Telling to Perfect Selling, I can see the change in customer needs. Today's customer need fast and prompt service.

This book is perfect to use as training bandbook for new sales. If you are serious, Stop Telling is must. Read Sales Success Handbook daily if you need to build a habbit of stop telling.