Selling To VITO (The Very Important Top Officer) (Paperback)

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Editorial Reviews

Review

"After twenty years of selling, I realize not having this information has probably cost me four million dollars income!" -- Frank Hayes, Charlotte, NC

"As a result of implementing Tony's ideas, I won my company's Rookie of the Year award, became the third ranked salesperson in a company of 1,000 salespeople, and emerged as the #1 sales rep in the West." -- Peter T. D'Errico, Sales Representative

"Destined to become a widely recommended reference by all sales professionals who are serious about achieving greatness." -- Tom Hopkins, Author, How to Master the Art of Selling

"With Tony as your coach and Selling to VITO as your training guide...you'll become unstoppable." -- Dr. Denis Waitley, Author, The Psychology of Winning

Product Description

This book contains all the tactics you need to get appointments with impossible-to-reach top decision-makers. They in fact are the Very Important Top Officers (VITOs), the people with the ultimate veto power who hold the key to bigger commission checks, every sales award you could possibly win, and VITO to VITO referrals that you can take to the bank!

You'll quickly learn how to:
Get into new accounts at the top
Keep out of time-consuming log-jams-and into VITO's office
Promote loyalty at the top with existing customers and capture add-on business
Increase the size of every sale

Selling To VITO offers innovative new ideas and street-smart tactics for reaching the very top person in any organization. It's based on the seminars that have helped thousands of sales professionals from top corporations like Canon, 3M, Hewlett-Packard, and MCI bust quotas and increase commissions. It can help you, too, by getting you to the right person so you can do what you do best: SELL!

Anthony Parinello is without question the country's foremost expert on getting appointments with, and selling to, top decision makers. This book is the product of his twenty-three years of award-winning sales performance.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Adams Media; 2 edition (1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1580622240
• ISBN-13: 978-1580622240
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 5.9 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (57 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #18,456 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

52 of 52 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Selling is an unnatural act, March 8, 2001

By	Joanna Daneman (Middletown, DE USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 10 REVIEWER)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)

One of my former bosses said "Selling is an unnatural act." You have to do things you would normally shy away from, put your ego in your pocket and be exceptionally brave. And calling on decision-makers (VITO's) requires some real guts, and also some special know-how.

The problem with most sales trainings is that they say "call on the decision-makers" but neglect to teach you the right way to reach that person. Many large firms now have preferred-vendor programs and limit from whom they will buy; if you aren't on the "A" list, you won't even get in the door. So if you tend to call on the end user or the purchasing manager, you may find you have trouble making sales except to your established customers. Real explosive sales growth comes from developing new customers, and if you sell important services or capital equipment, or even supplies you should be talking to the decision-makers.

Important people have rings of handlers, gatekeepers and other systems to protect their time and attention. You might have just the product that will save their company money, streamline their production, solve a pressing problem and be just what they are looking for. But if you don't have the tools to get your message across to the man or woman who can make it happen, they may never find out.

Years ago, I had sales training done by a VP of a successful firm. He explained how to contact top decision makers by making yourself be seen as a mutually beneficial business partner. For example, the book explains how to write a value proposition in a letter that explains how you can provide mutual benefits, without trying to get an in-person sales call. It also explains how to deal with the gatekeepers--they've heard it all, seen it all, so you'd better be treating the VITO's admin assistant as if he or she were the top officer themselves. And it gives important info on using the phone--phone skills can be more effective than sales calls. This book is a tremendous resource for training people to break out of their habits and reach the customer who can really make things happen.

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Kicking in the front door to higher sales, November 11, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Selling to Vito: The Very Important Top Officer (Paperback)

Everyone talks about how to sell to the customer once your in the door and have an established relationship with the account. Anyone who's gone through Solution Selling, SPIN, etc., understands the need to listen to the customer and direct him/her to your solution. The unanswered question remains - how do you get in front of the right person to begin with. What if you've never called on the account before and have no relationship. Selling to VITO will give you a workable blueprint for effectively getting to the right person. I've tried it and I like the structured approach. It also offers great advise on how to avoid spending much time with SEMORE, the guy who will suck up your time with never ending requests for information but unable to actually buy your product. While your "hit" rate will depend on how closely aligned your product is to who you think VITO is in your suspect organization, with "Selling to Vito" you will be better armed to get in the door and stay there. - SM

20 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A New Addition to My Top Three Sales Books, February 23, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Selling to Vito: The Very Important Top Officer (Paperback)

I read lots of books on selling. I've read some great books by people who've never sold anything and lousy books by great salesmen, but this is the first great book I've read by a great salesman. Selling to VITO is the first sales book that I need to carry with me to use for reference. Most sales books provide lots of theoretical knowledge that the reader can HOPEFULLY apply to real selling situations. Parinello delivers a book with REAL things to say and things to write. He tells you what to do and what order to do it in. In order to apply the material in this book, you will need to understand how to translate his examples into your selling situation. Tony helps you with this by giving you a mental process to work through the translation. There's no fluff here. If you are serious about corporate sales, don't miss this book. It won't be easy to follow the instructions within, but if you do, the results will be profitable.