Decoding the BS of Business, Selling to Executives (Paperback)

~ Jerry Vass (Author), Iris Herrin (Author) "It took us 20 years for us to catch on to this expensive problem..." (more)
Key Phrases: Persuasive Executive Conversation

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Executives and professionals speak different languages, as disparate as Swahili and Greek. Agendas, vocabularies, and cultural conditioning destroy meaningful communication between them.

This book exposes selling myths and profit-killing gaps between illusion and reality.

Executives live in a different world from the rest of us. They think differently, act differently, and buy differently. For the professions—those in our culture who package and sell information for a living—architects, lawyers, engineers, accountants, brokers, MBAs, CPAs, marketers, and consultants of every stripe, persuasion and profession, a shift of thinking is required to design and hold a Persuasive Executive Conversation.

A number of preconceptions and cultural myths need to be bulldozed to clear the way for this thinking shift. Three things are required to answer the Buyer’s questions and sell well in the executive suite: the story, the tools and the delivery. We will explore each and help you prepare a presentation that works from the executive’s point of view, that you can take into any boardroom, tell your story, and double your changes of getting hired.

When selling to executives what you sell is different from how you sell it. While professionals are expert at delivering services to their clients, they are amateurs at telling people what they do for a living. These skills are not taught at Harvard, Yale, or State U.

Our job is to help people make money. For three decades we have intensively trained 12,000 managers, professional salespeople, and consultants to persuade at the executive level. While doing so, we discovered a critical element that managers overlook or ignore that can cost one-quarter, or more, of sales revenues.
So what is this low-grade infection that limits a firm’s potential and costs so much money? What is this counter-intuitive malaise that works against the philosophies and strategies of reputable companies managed by bright, educated people? It is this: corporations and consulting firms spend big money to hide what they do from their Buyers.

It is nearly impossible to get a company, much less a salesperson, to explain what they do for a living stated in the Buyer’s terms; they cannot tell a selling story that is different form the competitors’, makes sense in the Buyer’s world, or is even interesting. In many cases, they insult the Buyer’s intelligence. The executive market calls it BS.

What we learned from our Clients will surprise you as it did us: If a firm can cut the BS and answer five logical questions on the mind of every executive-level Buyer, sales successes can double.
For the professional this book is a cash cow that can be milked for the rest of your career.

--This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 209 pages
• Publisher: Vass, Inc. (June 19, 2006)
• ISBN-10: 0962961027
• ISBN-13: 978-0962961021
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 5.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #677,931 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 Buy This Book and Prosper, June 11, 2007

By	Gary McLean - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

12 years ago I went through VASS Executive Sales Training, read Soft Selling in a Hard World, and doubled my income every year thereafter. In this new book, Jerry and Iris expand further on the foundation for success in persuasion based on the buyer's (in this case, the C-suite executive) 5 fundamental tough questions for all sellers. Do not be fooled by the brevity of the text - every sentence is packed with power for those who are willing to set aside their egos long enough to recognize it. This is a playbook for advancing your sales career to a new level of performance, fun, and money.

5.0 out of 5 stars Love His Books, Took His Course, They Work!!, May 15, 2009

By	John (Tampa, FL) - See all my reviews

I read this book and took Jerry's course on selling to executives. This book, and Jerry's approach overall, are direct and to the point. He nails it.

5.0 out of 5 stars paradigm shifting, September 10, 2006

By	Samantha Ward (Chicago) - See all my reviews

"Decoding the BS of Business" by Vass & Herrin gave me an inside view of how the executive prospect thinks and shatters some currently accepted ideas about business. In fact, it's a little controversial. In "Decoding", Vass & Herrin pull back the curtain on some real businesses.

"Decoding" challenges some of the basic wiring of business communication. And it delivers some common sense solutions for finding undiscovered profit.

Jerry Vass is a master at penetrating the subtle but costly business communication and sales problems of our age. In "Decoding the BS of Business", he takes his new perspective to a higher level, the executive boardroom and it is a terrific adjunct to his "Soft Selling in a Hard World".

If "Soft Selling" is a tactical hand book for the salesperson, then "Decoding the BS" is a strategy book for the businessperson.