The Ultimate Sales Machine: Turbocharge Your Business with Relentless Focus on 12 Key Strategies [Hardcover]

Chet Holmes (Author)

Book Description

Release date: June 21, 2007

Chet Holmes has been called ?one of the top 20 change experts in the country.? He helps his clients blow away both the competition and their own expectations. And his advice starts with one simple concept: focus! Instead of trying to master four thousand strategies to improve your business, zero in on the few essential skill areas that make the big difference.

Too many managers jump at every new trend, but don?t stick with any of them. Instead, says Holmes, focus on twelve critical areas of improvement?one at a time?and practice them over and over with pigheaded discipline.

The Ultimate Sales Machine shows you how to tune up and soup up virtually every part of your business by spending just an hour per week on each impact area you want to improve. Like a tennis player who hits nothing but backhands for a few hours a week to perfect his game, you can systematically improve each key area.

Holmes offers proven strategies for:
? Management: Teach your people how to work smarter, not harder
? Marketing: Get more bang from your Web site, advertising, trade shows, and public relations
? Sales: Perfect every sales interaction by working on sales, not just in sales
The Ultimate Sales Machine will put you and your company on a path to success and help you stay there!

Editorial Reviews

Review

Chet Holmes is one of the greatest teachers of marketing, sales, and business success in the world today. This incredible book will supercharge results in every part of your business. (Brian Tracy, author of The Way to Wealth)

Reading Chet HolmesÆs book can turn your business into a high-performing, massively profitable, superior money-making force in whatever field or market you compete in. . . . ItÆs essential reading for anyone craving business greatness and prosperity. (Jay Abraham, author of Getting Everything You Can Out of All YouÆve Got)

Chet has the best material IÆve seen for how to attract an army of top producers and how to get the most out of them once you get them. (T. Harv Eker, bestselling author of Secrets of the Millionaire Mind)

The Ultimate Sales Machine is an amazing book that will powerfully change the way you do business. Chet Holmes is a one-of-a-kind talent and this incredibly practical book is the embodiment of his highly successful approach. (Stephen M. R. Covey, author of The Speed of Trust)

The Ultimate Sales Machine [is] a book that puts it all together to help you dramatically increase your sales if you are wise enough to follow its advice. (Michael Gerber, bestselling author of The E-Myth and E-Myth Revisited)

No hype or theory here. Chet offers sound, yet simple, business advice to grow your business stronger than ever! (Tom Hopkins, author of How to Master the Art of Selling)

This book will be a classic for as long as businesses seek to improve their profits, their sales, and their futures. (Jay Conrad Levinson, author of the Guerrilla Marketing series)

This is by far the best sales book I have ever read and I have read hundreds. As someone who runs [more than] fifteen companies and employs more than six hundred people, I can honestly say this is a book I will refer to for decades to come. (A. Harrison Barnes, CEO, Juriscape)

Chet not only knows more and better ways to grow sales than probably anyone, but even more important, he has the systems that make his concepts realistic and easy to implement. Most of the books IÆve read on business growth are interesting. But this manÆs material is out-of- the-park great. (Loral Langemeier, author of The Millionaire MakerÆs Guide to Creating a Cash Machine for Life)

About the Author

CHET HOLMES is an acclaimed corporate trainer, strategic mastermind, business growth expert, and lecturer. His nearly one thousand clients have included major companies like Pacific Bell, NBC, Citibank, Warner Bros., GNC, Wells Fargo, EstŽe Lauder, Merrill Lynch, and W. R. Grace, as well as small businesses of every kind. Holmes has also designed hundreds of advertising campaigns and sales systems for hundreds of industries.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Portfolio Hardcover; annotated edition edition (June 21, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1591841607
• ISBN-13: 978-1591841609
• Product Dimensions: 6 x 0.9 x 9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (160 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #73,954 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Chet Holmes is an acclaimed corporate trainer, strategic mastermind, business growth expert, and lecturer. His nearly one thousand clients have included major companies like Pacific Bell, NBC, Citibank, Warner Bros., GNC, Wells Fargo, Estee Lauder, Merrill Lynch, and W. R. Grace, as well as small businesses of every kind. Holmes has also designed hundreds of advertising campaigns and sales systems for hundreds of industries.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

81 of 93 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent material, some new and unique ideas July 26, 2007

By John Chancellor TOP 500 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

No matter what business you are in, no matter what product or service you provide, you can benefit from the wisdom of the "Ultimate Sales Machine".

The book starts off where most of the work is needed ... with top management. Everyone today complains of too much to do and too little time. Chet describes how he cut his work days from 16 hours to a normal work day and got more done in the process. The first step is to become proactive rather than reactive. Adopt the mantra, "If you touch it, take action." We let our desks pile up with material that we read, examine and think about but never get around to taking any action on. Develop the habit of touching a letter, memo or report once. Take action and get it off you desk.

We also let the small interruptions rule our day. Eliminate these pesky interruptions by scheduling "got a minute" sessions. Also hold regular staff meetings where general questions can be answered for the benefit of everyone.

Most of us are good at making "to do" lists. Chet's offers some excellent advice. Never have more than six items on your list. Make sure those are the most important things for you to get done. Leave the minor tasks off your list and only work on those things on your list.

The book is divided into twelve chapters or steps which if you implement all the steps will totally transform your organization. Chet stresses the importance of strategic thinking as opposed to the reactive style of most managers.

He has a very interesting and unique approach to hiring superstars. Age and background are not relevant. Results are the only thing that counts. While his approach is a little bold and many people will be reluctant to try it, it is very difficult to argue with success.

The book is well written and contains plenty of exercises. There are some original ideas and you will certainly benefit if you choose to implement some of his ideas.

He gives lots of good ideas about how to create your ultimate sales machine. In the final analysis, his best advice is "pigheaded determination", Whatever you are doing, if you give up when you meet a little resistance, you will never achieve the level of success you are capable of achieving.

The book is filled with good ideas that can really make a difference in your business - but only if you follow them with pigheaded determination.

207 of 247 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Sales = Pestering? April 5, 2008

By Nick Fury

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

I am another one who does not understand why this book has gotten so many 5-star reviews. Essentially, I have just finished reading "How to Sell without being a Jerk!" by John Klymshyn and these two books seem to pull at the same topic from two completely different angles.

Chet Holmes take on Sales is, I feel, to wear the client down with repeated calls and sales pitch till they give in. He advocates that someone with High Influence (that is, an ability to empathize with others) and a High Ego (High drive and determination - never say die attitude) is absolutely necessary to be a Superstar Salesperson. At the end of the day, this never say die attitude requires you to push your product (because you feel that it is good for your client, regardless of what he thinks) relentlessly until he gives in and buys from you.

All these is good as long as the product which your client buys works out for him at the end. Alas, I'm into Structured Products Sales in a Private Bank and sometimes we all know that some products do not work out well if the markets are not cooperative! The failure of a product is never covered in any of Chet's materials. All his stories have happy endings - the executive who after 6 months gave in and bought advertisement space (through his relentless selling) and again bought more advertisement space after some more months when the first series of advertisements did not make any impact FINALLY saw the truth in Chet's words when his sales jumped etc etc - Never has Chet's advice been wrong or the products he sold not worked out (or these have been pleasantly omitted).

I think the book has some useful gems to take away and it has helped me address some of the weaknesses in my own selling. However, this 'Take No prisoners' approach may not be for everybody all of the time.

Also, I do not agree with his material on Presentation. He mentioned that it is necessary to have a very dramatic and visual approach to your slides to have your clients at the edge of their seats. In addition, humor is often an effective and useful content to have in your presentation. NOTHING WRONG HERE. However, this presentation style may not be for everyone. I've been trained in presentations and have learnt that doing a presentation with NO SLIDES is also a very effective way to conduct a presentation because then the audience would have to pay attention to you instead of staring at the slides. I'm not saying that one is right and the other wrong - I feel that at the end of the day, YOU would have to decide what is most comfortable ane effective for you and your audience when giving a presentation.

Chet's way is definitely one way to succeed in Sales - he is a living example. But to call his way the Ultimate Sales Machine is just over the top.

22 of 26 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Practical, useful, helpful - this passes the Mitsu Fisher sniff test November 25, 2007

By Mitsu Fisher

Format:Hardcover

One of the things I like about this book is that it deals in specifics. Most sales books are stuffed with vague, flowery platitudes. While fun to read, they don't justify the time spent. This book promises to cover 12 specific strategies, in the subtitle. Okay, that's a good start.

Right then, let's take a look at these 12 "strategies".

The first one has to do with time management. At first I was disappointed because I thought I was reading a book about sales and not time management. However, the information is helpful and of course, time management is pre requisite to achievement in any field. The author offers a very an important addition to the traditional Franklin approach that wildly increases productivity. Definitely worth a look.

The second strategy has to do with training and setting standards. Okay, it's important stuff and the improvement process offered was sound and undoubtedly works but the topic does not get me all fired up. This topic may be of greater interest to mature businesses.

Strategy next is about having better meetings using "workshop training" to improve the company. Again, good stuff, every company needs it but not my prime interest.

Next up, "becoming a brilliant strategist". Okay, but when are we going to get to the sales stuff. What I really want to know is if this book can add to my "general fund of knowledge" about how to build a great sales organization. At this point, I'm beginning to wonder.

Now we are cooking with gas. The next strategy is about hiring superstars. This chapter offers some refreshingly candid and useful information about how to find, hire and motivate top talent. Best chapter yet. I can use this information now.

The following chapter talks about getting the best buyers. The author makes the case that taking the time to figure out who your best customers are, pays big dividends. Nothing new here.

The books then devotes a chapter to marketing. It talks a lot about advertising and how to make it work. Good information but not of interest because I don't advertise. Too expensive and sometimes of questionable value.

Chapter 8 goes into graphics and mistakes people make when they present. Snoozer. Old news.

Next comes more detail about how to find your best buyers. "Been there, done that."

Chapter 10 is all beef. It's about how to sell and the importance of standardizing the process...and it's good information. What I like most is his "this is not rocket science, but it is science" approach. Worth the price of admission.

The next chapter is about how to keep clients. Good information, but not what I bought the book for.

The final chapter is a wrap up and talks about how to use all 12 strategies together. Mildly interesting, but not what I bought the book for.

My overall opinion of this book: Really good. Four stars. I say this because most of the information is really good and I'm sure quite effective. My only hesitation comes from the fact that this book seems more suited to small/medium sized business owners and not enterprise professional management.