The Seller’s Challenge: How Top Performers Master Deal-Killing Obstacles in B2B Sales
There is a common question that troubles all sellers at points in their career: “So what do I do now?” It may be uttered out of fear or confusion but it’s that moment of paralysis where they realize they are about to lose an opportunity that they had invested much time to win.
The Seller’s Challenge is a “tactical field manual” that taps current research, best practices and real-life examples to help sellers craft action plans that optimize productivity and drive success. It’s all about what top-performing sellers do – how they research, plan and implement activities that maximize their chances of winning.
Each chapter is designed to be read on its own. Readers can read the entire book or just pick the chapters that interest them the most. If you look carefully and closely there are caution signs that will guide the seller toward the best course of action.
The Seller’s Challenge focuses on:
- o Helping the seller “map” the role of each stakeholder, what matters to each buyer, each stakeholder’s sense of urgency and which solution they support.
- o The fundamentals of executing conversations that are buyer-centered including how to research and prepare, how to craft a focused opening, research blind spots, share relevant insights, and plan an “advance.”
- o Preparing sellers to handle one of the most perplexing and complicated challenges: selling to resistant buyers by sharing insight to alter the buyer’s perspective on the deal and when and how provocation can aid the seller.
- o Understanding when and how sale calls fail and three vital skills used by top performers to elevate their calls.
- o Helping sellers engage and collaborate with gatekeepers, develop the right mindset and determine whether the gatekeeper is a protector, regulator or imitator.
- o How to combine cognitive and emotional elements to optimize the seller’s position in contrast to the Status Quo. Often buyers view change as risk-laden while the Status Quo appears to be risk-free.
- o Helping sellers learn how to gauge the “investment worthiness” of an RFP, identify caution signs, discover when to break the rules and how to develop a plan to win the “beauty contest.”
- o What a seller must know and do to sell effectively to committees with as few as five or as many as twenty stakeholders, how to deploy a sales team, and the elements of a winning sales presentation.
- o Developing a strong working relationship with Procurement by understanding the fundamentals of how they evaluate suppliers and identify actions that sellers can take to improve their position as the preferred supplier.
- o Preparing the seller to negotiate price demands by understanding the buyer’s mindset about price, anticipate price challenges, and choose wise countermoves that protect both profit and commission.
Over the course of ten chapters, we share the harsh realities, myths, data, best practices, game-changing approaches and guerrilla tactics that will elevate a seller’s prospects of winning good business. The book includes many addendums in the form of checklists and worksheets that simplify the content.
Come join our community of sellers. Become a voice for the selling profession.
Tom Williams
Tom Saine
Table of Content
Dedication xi
Foreword xiii
Introduction xvii
Chapter 1: Selling to Multiple Buyers: Discovering Who Buys, Who Cares and What Matters 1
Chapter 2: Blocking and Tackling: Planning and Executing Buyer Centered Conversations 29
Chapter 3: Selling to Resistant Buyers: The Power of Insight Driven Conversations 47
Chapter 4: Road Blocks, Potholes and Speed Bumps: Why Sales Calls Fail 61
Chapter 5: From Gatekeeper and Blocker to Map Maker and Guide 83
Chapter 6: Better Eat Your Wheaties: Selling Against the Status Quo 101
Chapter 7: Surviving and Winning Beauty Contests (RFPs) 129
Chapter 8: Inside the Black Box: Harsh Realities of Selling to a Committee 151
Chapter 9: Frenemies: Partnering with Procurement 177
Chapter 10: The Price Is Never Right: Managing Discount Demands 201
Notes and References 229
Build Your Professional Library 235
Acknowledgements 241
About Us and Contact Information 243
Connect With Us 244
Training, Workshops and Speaking Engagements 245
Free Additional Resources 245
Index 247
Write a Book Review 253
About the author
Tom Saine is a Senior Consultant with Strategic Dynamics Inc. with a Ph.D. in Communicationfrom Northwestern University. He is a former senior executive for ARAMARK Corporation.
In his tenure with ARAMARK, Tom served as Associate Vice President for Major Account
Sales, Vice President of Client Retention, and Vice President of Sales. His background in sales
management for ARAMARK includes supervising direct sales for the U.S. and Canada, developing the division’s strategic plan, and creating a master plan for retaining business.
Prior to his years at ARAMARK, Tom was on the faculty of the University of Florida and the University of Denver. Tom has published extensively on group communication, decision-making, negotiation, and organizational communication. In 2007, he joined the team at the Miller Heiman Group as a Senior Consultant helping customers optimize sales growth and productivity. Tom assists executives in forging strategic sales plans and enhancing the skill sets of their frontline sales team. Tom has extensive sales enablement experience in such areas as key account management and retention, sales strategy, prospecting skills, closing deals, and negotiating complex contracts.
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