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Life Health > Running Your Business

No One Said Selling Would Be Easy

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Selling isn’t easy. In fact, it’s getting tougher all the time. The environment is more challenging, and much more is expected of us.

There are countless charlatans out there marketing the “magic bullet” that will allow you to produce better sales results faster and with less effort. But you know that the too-good-to-be-true remedies are just that. There are, however, some who are honest enough to tell you the truth about how to make selling simple (but not easy).

Recently my good friend, sales coach Mike Weinberg, published a new book entitled New Sales. Simplified. I was fortunate to have the opportunity to write the foreword to Mike’s book, and I wanted to write it because I strongly believe that this book will help salespeople improve their sales results and win new business.

Three big ideas are at the heart of Mike’s book. The first is Mike’s insistence that you choose your sales targets thoughtfully—and that you continue to pursue them. Readers of my blog will recognize this idea as something akin to my concept of the dream client. You need to know for which prospects you are able to create breathtaking, jaw-dropping, earth-shattering value and pursue them. Mike’s approach will help you draw up that list and pursue these prospects over the long haul.

Mike’s second really big idea is the sales story. You have to know how to share your ability to create value. You have to know how to convey the value you create in a way that is compelling to your dream clients. Most of all, you need a consistent story. Mike’s book provides instructions on how to build and use your sales story.

Finally, in an act of undaunted courage, Mike has the audacity to suggest that you pick up the telephone. He even goes so far as to suggest you develop a script. Then he provides you with hints on how to do so.

These three pieces together solve a lot of sales problems. The right targets make selling simpler. The ability to create compelling value for those targets makes selling simpler. And a focused, disciplined pursuit of these targets by continually prospecting and unlocking opportunities makes selling simpler. Simpler, but not easy.

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Anthony Iannarino is the managing director of B2B Sales Coach & Consultancy, a boutique sales coaching and consulting company, and an adjunct faculty member at Capital University’s School of Management and Leadership. For more information, go http://thesalesblog.com/s-anthony-iannarino/


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