Details

<p>Foreword xi</p> <p>Preface xix</p> <p>Acknowledgments xxix</p> <p><b>Part I: “What We Got Here Is a Failure to Communicate”</b></p> <p>1 The More You Sweat, the Less You Sell 9</p> <p>2 Nobody Buys a Value Proposition 31</p> <p>3 You’ve Got to Get Your Mind Right 53</p> <p><b>Part II: Taking It to the Street</b></p> <p>4 Earning the Keys to the Elevator 83</p> <p>5 Diagnosis Trumps Presentation Every Time 107</p> <p>6 Cutting Through the Smoke and Mirrors 131</p> <p>7 It Doesn’t Pay to Surprise a Corporation 159</p> <p><b>Part III: Breaking Away with Exceptional Credibility</b></p> <p>8 “Show Me the Money” 187</p> <p>9 Connecting at the Level of Power and Decision 209<br /> Epilogue 229<br /> Index 231</p>

"I am a Jeff Thull fan...Jeff's book has something profound to teach each of us- starting with me!"- Tom Peters, author of <i>Re-Imagine!: Business Excellence in a Disruptive Age</i>

<p><b>JEFF THULL</b> is a leading-edge strategist and valued advisor for executive teams worldwide. As President and CEO of Prime Resource Group, he has designed and implemented business transformation programs for companies such as Shell Global Solutions, 3M, Microsoft, Siemens, Citicorp, IBM, Raymond James, and Georgia-Pacific, as well as many fast-track start-up companies. He has gained a reputation as a leader in the area of sales and marketing strategies for companies involved in complex sales. He is an in-demand public speaker who has delivered more than 2,500 speeches and seminars. Thull is also the author of <i>The Prime Solution</i> and the Wiley title, <i>Mastering the Complex Sale.</i></p> <p>For more information, please visit www.primeresource.com.

<p>If you’re one of the six million people who work in the fast-paced, high-stress world of complex sales, you want the latest strategies and skills for success. This practical guide gives you the tools to take your sales game, your communication skills, and your career to the next level of success. </p> <p><i>Exceptional Selling</i> features street-level straight talk about the one-on-one skills that professionals need to succeed. In this prescriptive and practical guide, author Jeff Thull challenges conventional thinking and gets down to the key ingredients of sales success—the magic formula based on a powerful communication mindset, exceptional skills, and winning disciplines taken from the best in the business. You’ll get the edge you need to set yourself apart from the competition, connect to your customers’ hearts and minds, and clearly establish the value you offer. <p><i>Exceptional Selling</i> is about what works. Its focus is the most dynamic and challenging part of the sales process: the authentic conversation—<i>what</i> top sales professionals talk about with their customers as well as <i>how</i> they say it. Successful communication resides at the intersection of content and delivery, substance and style. It’s your key to privileged access and privileged insight. <p><i>Exceptional Selling</i> is a step-by-step guide to the kind of critical conversations you must have to win the high stakes sale and build powerful relationships. From the crucial first call that sets the stage, to the critically important C-suite executive conversations that build your credibility, to the financial conversations that create a compelling case for your value (and all the important conversations in between), you’ll find specific examples that will propel you forward and help you achieve greater success and profitability. <p>This is the first book to apply powerful diagnostic principles directly to sales conversations. It shows you how to create a customer engagement in which the common barriers to success—limited access, ambiguous words, objections, and cutthroat negotiations—melt away. If you want to set yourself apart from the rest, connect with your customers, raise the bar for your competition, and win in the game of high stakes sales, <i>Exceptional Selling</i> is the book that will take you there.

In his book <i>Exceptional Selling</i>, sales expert Jeff Thull shatters decades-old assumptions about B2B selling and presents a new approach that he calls Diagnostic Selling. Thull delivers straight talk about the one-on-one skills that professionals need in order to set themselves apart, connect with their customers, and raise the bar for the competition. --<i>CRM Magazine, October 2006</i> <p><i>Exceptional Selling's</i> approach extols the value of Diagnostic Selling: professional involvement and emotional detachment, not confrontation and persuasion. Author Jeff Thull breaks down complex business-to-business sales with clear, step-based directions, easy to understand diagrams and charts, and case studies of successes and failures. Exceptional Selling gently prods salespeople toward corrective strategies for errors that often go undiagnosed in the chase for the deal.--<i>Sales & Marketing Management Magazine</i>, October 2006</p> <p><i>Exceptional Selling</i> focuses heavily on the actual processes of the diagnostic process Thull advocates and offers excellent advice and examples on such topics as protecting the customer’s ego during the sales cycle, learning how to develop analyses of customer needs that are credible, and (perhaps my favorite topic in the book) why you should avoid those PowerPoint presentations the industry is addicted to. --Rick Chapman, Managing Editor and Publisher of Softletter</p> <p>Many salespeople believe their sales are successes or failures based on emotional connections with customers who are either too involved or too distant. Author Jeff Thull sets out to change conventional thinking. Thull advises how to deal with all stages of the sales cycle stages. He breaks down complex business-to-business sales with clear, step-based directions, easy to understand diagrams and charts, and case studies of successes and failures. Exceptional Selling gently prods salespeople toward corrective strategies for errors that often go undiagnosed in the chase for the deal. --Tali Arbel, <i>ManageSmarter.com</i></p>

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