Insight Selling: Surprising Research on What Sales Winners Do Differently

What do winners of major sales do differently than the sellerswho almost won, but ultimately came in second place? Mike Schultz and John Doerr, bestselling authors andworld-renowned sales experts, set out to find the answer. Theystudied more than 700 business-to-business purchases made by buyerswho represented a total of $3.1 billion in annual purchasing power.When they compared the winners to the second-place finishers, theyfound surprising results. Not only do sales winners sell differently, they sellradically differently, than the second-place finishers. In recent years, buyers have increasingly seen products andservices as replaceable. You might think this would meanthat the sale goes to the lowest bidder. Not true! A new breed ofseller—the insight seller—is winning the sale withstrong prices and margins even in the face of increasingcompetition and commoditization. In Insight Selling, Schultz and Doerr share thesurprising results of their research on what sales winners dodifferently, and outline exactly what you need to do to transformyourself and your team into insight sellers. They introduce asimple three-level model based on what buyers say tip the scales infavor of the winners: Level 1 "Connect." Winners connect the dots betweencustomer needs and company solutions, while also connecting withbuyers as people. Level 2 "Convince." Winners convince buyers that they canachieve maximum return, that the risks are acceptable, and that theseller is the best choice among all options. Level 3 "Collaborate." Winners collaborate with buyers bybringing new ideas to the table, delivering new ideas and insights,and working with buyers as a team. They also found that much of the popular and current advicegiven to sellers can damage sales results. Insight Sellingis both a strategic and tactical guide that will separate the goodadvice from the bad, and teach you how to put the three levels ofselling to work to inspire buyers, influence their agendas, andmaximize value. If you want to find yourself and your team in thewinner's circle more often, this book is a must-read.