Sprout!: Everything I Need to Know about Sales I Learned from My Garden [Hardcover]

Alan A. Vengel (Author), Greg Wright (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 9, 2004

Written by two experienced salesmen who have built successful careers while keeping both fun and profitability front and center, "Sprout! combines practical wisdom with a clever gardening analogy to provide an easy-to-implement model for success. Working with thousands of successful salespeople in all different stages of their careers, the authors are well-suited to address the symptoms of and solutions to premature job burnout. By following the book's simple garden metaphor, and adhering to the user-friendly steps outlined, salespeople can beat the career blues and sustain themselves for the long term, regaining their passion for sales in the process. "Sprout!'s formula also enables organizations to better retain precious talent, thus creating a healthy sales framework--and healthy sales professionals--throughout the inevitable ups and downs of a long-term selling career.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

From the Publisher SPROUT! is about sustaining a successful career in sales and keeping it both fun and profitable. Written by two guys who have had the privilege of building sales careers that have been fun and profitable and who have each worked with thousands of successful sales people in all different stages of their careers—SPROUT! combines practical wisdom with a clever gardening analogy to provide sales people with an easy to implement model for sustaining and growing their careers, while having a good time in the process.

Although all career choices present challenges for sustaining success, it seems to us that sales professionals in particular are constantly measured against very rigid, economically-driven barometers and exposed to constant internal and external competition. As a result, the potential for job burnout is very high in the sales industry. The cost to sales organizations in lost talent, rehiring and re-training negatively impacts the corporate bottom line. Unfortunately, but unmistakably, the emotional toll of burnout can be devastating to any sales professional’s career.

The authors have noticed clear plateaus in the "energy" of the salespeople they have worked with. While most sales people are well schooled in the nuts and bolts of the selling process there seems to be something missing for them that can cause premature burnout. That’s where SPROUT! comes in handy. By using a Selling Garden metaphor and its accompanying mind-set, salespeople can find relief from harmful stress, and put more fun and passion into the selling process.

By following the authors’ simple Sales Garden metaphor, and by adhering to the user-friendly steps outlined in SPROUT!, salespeople can beat the career blues and sustain themselves for the long term, regaining their passion for sales in the process. But that’s not all. Our simple formula also enables organizations to better retain precious talent, thus creating a healthy sales framework—and healthy sales professionals -- throughout the inevitable ups and downs of a long term selling career.

All this, from seeds sowed in our Sales Garden.

About the Author

Alan Vengel is a consultant, speaker, and educator in management training and organizational development. He is a partner in Vengel Lash Associates, a San Francisco Bay Area-based business consulting firm. Vengel is also the author of The Influence Edge.

Greg Wright started his own consulting practice at the age of 27 and has 27 years in the "selling game." He spends 80% of his time with executive level sales professionals, helping them figure out how to sell core products to more customers every day. His client companies include food, medical, high tech, and energy companies. Wright’s consulting firm is based in San Diego.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 150 pages
• Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Publishers; 1 edition (January 9, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1576752070
• ISBN-13: 978-1576752074
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.8 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,986,401 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Inspirational!, February 13, 2004

By 

LG Lover "jrvista" (Vista, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sprout!: Everything I Need to Know about Sales I Learned from My Garden (Hardcover)

SPROUT! is a well-written, easy-to-read, inspiring book. The long-term sales skills of planning, seeding, and nurturing are often overlooked by even the best salespeople. I love the concept that cultivating mutual trust and respect allows both the salesperson and their customers to win. This book will help you keep your sales skills honed over the long-term and remind you that selling is fun!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not Just for Sales Professionals, April 10, 2007

By 

Rebecca Byer - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sprout!: Everything I Need to Know about Sales I Learned from My Garden (Hardcover)

A great book that uses a gardening analogy to teach how to improve your sales ability. Even though I'm not a sales professional, this book gave me excellent ideas how to go about improving customer relationships in my consulting business. I'd recommend this book to anyone who wants to build relationships with other people.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Using the garden and gardening as a model, June 4, 2004

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sprout!: Everything I Need to Know about Sales I Learned from My Garden (Hardcover)

In Sprout!: Everything I Need To Know About Sales I Learned From My Garden, Alan Vengel (consultant, speaker, and educator in management training and organizational development) and Greg Wright (San Diego based business consult) collaborative in using the garden and gardening as a model to illustrate easy and practical ways for sales professionals and managers to generate peer support and motivation. Job burnout rates in professional sales is very high, as a result, the loss of employee talent, experience, and the consequent expenditures for rehiring and re-training replacements is a corrosively expensive drain on the corporate bottom line -- not to mention the emotional toll burnout represents in devastating so many men and women in their careers as sales professionals. By adhering to the "user friendly" steps outlined, explained, and illustrated in Sprout!, salespeople can beat "career blues" and successfully continue in their chosen profession with renewed vigor and appreciation. Very highly recommended reading!