Now their latest research reveals something even more surprising: Being a Challenger seller isn’t enough. Your success or failure also depends on who you challenge.Picture your ideal customer: friendly, eager to meet, ready to coach you through the sale and champion your products and services across the organization. It turns out that’s the last person you need. Most marketing and sales teams go after low-hanging fruit: buyers who are eager and have clearly articulated needs. That’s simply human nature; it’s much easier to build a relationship with someone who always makes time for you, engages with your content, and listens attentively. But according to brand-new CEB research—based on data from thousands of B2B marketers, sellers, and buyers around the world—the highest-performing teams focus their time on potential customers who are far more skeptical, far less interested in meeting, and ultimately agnostic as to who wins the deal. How could this be?The authors of The Challenger Customer reveal that high-performing B2B teams grasp something that their average-performing peers don’t: Now that big, complex deals increasingly require consensus among a wide range of players across the organization, the limiting factor is rarely the salesperson’s inability to get an individual stakeholder to agree to a solution. More often it’s that the stakeholders inside the company can’t even agree with one another about what the problem is.It turns out only a very specific type of customer stakeholder has the credibility, persuasive skill, and will to effectively challenge his or her colleagues to pursue anything more ambitious than the status quo. These customers get deals to the finish line far more often than friendlier stakeholders who seem so receptive at first. In other words, Challenger sellers do best when they target Challenger customers. The Challenger Customer unveils research-based tools that will help you distinguish the "Talkers" from the "Mobilizers" in any organization. It also provides a blueprint for finding them, engaging them with disruptive insight, and equipping them to effectively challenge their own organization.

    It delivers business wisdom aimed at keeping clients by utilising the keys to modern marketing - price, brand, packaging and relationships.

    This, he says, is "all that matters," and his latest book aims to demystify buying principles for salespeople. From the red cloth cover to the small trim size to the amusing (but not cloying) cartoons on almost every page, this is an appealing and accessible book. The author is obviously enthusiastic, if not manic, about sales, and though some of his mantras verge on hokey, much of his prose is straightforward and realistic. Each chapter includes a mini table of contents, pull quotes and takeaway sound bites, examples of typical whines from salespeople (e.g., "the client said they spent their whole budget") paired with a positive response (e.g., "Decision makers make the budget. Non-decision makers spend the budget"), and plenty of advice and ideas that can be taken in and studied as a whole or referred to at random for inspiration. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Review This isn't just a red book; it's a Red Bull of high-energy sales tips & counsel. -- David Dorsey, The Wall Street Journal (May 3rd 2006) See all Editorial Reviews -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Product Details Hardcover: 220 pages Publisher: Bard Press; 1st edition (September 25, 2004) Language: English ISBN-10: 1885167601 ISBN-13: 978-1885167606 Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5.2 x 0.7 inches Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces

    Now, in the first book of its kind, successful entrepreneur Patrick Riley shows you how to boil all the elements of your business proposal into one persuasive page magnify your business potential in the process.

    Most solo consultants and boutique consulting firms are perpetually within six months of bankruptcy due to the sputtering unreliability of their new business engines.The problem, according to international consulting expert David A. Fields, is twofold: 1) lack of a consistent, proven plan, and 2) fundamental misunderstanding about what clients want in a consultant. Fields, who has helped hundreds of consultants and boutique firms worldwide build lucrative, sustainable practices, replaces the typical consultant's mindset of emphasizing expertise and differentiated processes with a  focus on building relationships, engendering trust, and solving clients’ existing problems. In The Irresistible Consultant’s Guide to Winning Clients: Six Steps to Unlimited Clients and Financial Freedom, Fields synthesizes his decades of experience into a step-by-step approach to winning more projects from more clients at higher fees. From nuts-and-bolts business advice and tactics to a deeply insightful breakdown of the human side of a very human profession, Fields delivers a comprehensive guidebook that is at once highly approachable and satisfyingly detailed.

    Written by Julia McCoy, who spent years of her life teaching herself the elements of successful online writing and launched a writing business that hit seven figures within five years, this book is your essential blueprint to learning what it takes to write great online copy, both as a freelancer and brand/business owner.In this book, Julia walks you step-by-step through the process of how to craft the seven forms of online content:1. Web Content2. Blogging3. Social Media4. Advertising/Sales Copy5. Industry Writing6. Journalism 7. Creative WritingJulia also takes you through the basics of SEO (search engine optimization) for the online writer and creator, without overloading you: you'll get a key list of the top tools on the web to research keywords, learn how to hone your best key phrases, and the tactics of how and where to place them in your content. Illustrated, easy-to-understand, and fun to read, this is a comprehensive yet digestible resource for writers and businesses alike on how to create successful online content.After you read this book, you'll be able to: Define your audience and the terms they use to search in Google Write great content that will get picked up by Google Know the basics of what it takes to write all seven forms of online copy Create blogs that are evergreen and engaging Know how to write the "secret" bits of copy that search engines love: meta descriptions, tags and more Know how to use Twitter chats, live streaming, and Facebook groups, and other platforms to find your people and confidently market yourself as a writer Access a comprehensive list of online writing tools and resources in the final Appendix Julia McCoy has built a successful freelance writing career and a multi-million dollar copywriting agency out of nothing but the amount of hard work, time, and self-teaching she put into it: and she believes any writer has what it takes to create great online content, provided they learn the essential tactics of adapting to all online copy forms. But she knows it's hard to find these fundamentals in one place: which is why she decided to write a book to offer everyone just that opportunity. A writer and internet marketer from an early age, Julia started three companies, enrolled in college, and wrote a book by 16.

    That simple, profound story has inspired hundreds of thousands of readers around the world-but some have wondered how its lessons stand up to the tough challenges of everyday real-world business. Now Burg and Mann answer that question in Go-Givers Sell More, a practical guide that makes giving the cornerstone of a powerful and effective approach to selling. Most of us think of sales as convincing potential customers to do something they don't really want to. This mentality sets up an adversarial relationship and makes the sales process much harder than it has to be. As Burg and Mann demonstrate, it's far more productive (and satisfying) when salespeople think like Go-Givers. Cultivate a trusting relationship and focus exclusively on creating value for the other person, say the authors, and great results will follow automatically. Drawing on a wide range of examples of real-life salespeople who have prospered by giving more, Burg and Mann offer tips and strategies that anyone in sales can start applying right away.

    Patterson*, bestselling novelist and former Chairman and Creative Director of J. Walter Thompson, U.S.A., Inc."An invaluable, easy-to-follow blueprint for winning, serving and keeping customers...This book is a must for any business." --Jere W. Thompson, President and CEO, The Southland CorporationMichael LeBoeuf, one of the nation's foremost business consultants, presents a hard-hitting, action-ready rewards-and-incentives program for creating a winning sales team. This classic no-nonsense guide is completely revised and updated for today's computer-driven world. It contains everything you need to know about successful selling and--most important of all--how to win customers for life."I've always believed that it's a mistake to separate selling, managing and service from each other. How to Win Customers and Keep Them for Life is an easy-to-follow guide for putting them together with great results." --Ed Flanagan, President, Sales Marketing Executives--Greater New York

    This title enables readers to learn how the cash flow generated from property investment appreciates in value and ensures financial freedom, as well as the freedom to be your own boss.

    The legendary Harvey Mackay is back with the sum total of decades of sales know-how-teaching go-getters how to make the sale and hit the numbers, day in and day out.In his irrepressible and irreverent style, Mackay shares decades of solid-gold selling wisdom, with inspirational lessons such as:Big shots are just little shots who kept shooting Helping someone up won't pull you down-and could very easily pull them to your side Be like the turtle: If he didn't stick his neck out, he wouldn't get anywhere at allCovering everything from how to find the right mentor to earning the loyalty of your customers to overcoming rejection, Mackay delivers road-tested, real-world selling advice that has stood the test of time.In a digital world, the human touch has never been more decisive. And nobody connects with customers, readers, and audiences better than Harvey Mackay.

    Schaefer shows you how to use the latest breakthroughs in social networking and influence marketing to achieve your goals through:In-depth explanations of the sources of online influence—and how they can work for or against youInterviews with more than 50 experts, including tech blogger Robert Scoble, Influence author Robert Cialdini, and industry thought leaders such as Mitch Joel, Jay Baer, and Christopher S. PennAn insider’s look at the controversial social scoring company Klout and its process for assigning influence numbers to everyonePractical, actionable tips to increase your own personal power and online influenceMore than a dozen original social influence marketing case studiesEven if you already use social media platforms such as Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, Twitter, or blogging to maintain an online presence, this eye-opening, action-ready guide shows you how to reach the “superconnectors” who ignite epidemics through word-of-mouth influence . . . and become one yourself.This is the future of marketing at your fingertips: low-cost, high-speed, influence driven, and powerful. Filled with fascinating case studies, interviews, and insider advice, this essential guide prepares you for the next wave of social networking. This is how to win friends and influence people in the digital age—with a Return on Influence.

    Dramatically increase your ability to sell by learning how to control the mind of your prospect using 30 psychological tiggers to motivate, influence and persuade.

    Bring me blogs, e-mail, YouTube videos, MySpace pages, Google AdWords . . . I don't care, as long as it's shiny and new.Wait. According to bestselling author Seth Godin, all these tactics are like the toppings at an ice cream parlor. If you start with ice cream, adding cherries and hot fudge and whipped cream will make it taste great. But if you start with a bowl of meatballs . . . yuck!As traditional marketing fades away, the new tools seem irresistible. But they don't work as well for boring brands (meatballs) that might still be profitable but don't attract word of mouth, such as Cheerios, Ford trucks, Barbie dolls, or Budweiser. When Anheuser-Busch spends $40 million on an online network called BudTV, that's a meatball sundae. It leads to no new Bud drinkers, just a bad case of indigestion.Meatball Sundae is the definitive guide to the fourteen trends no marketer can afford to ignore. It explains what to do about the increasing power of stories, not facts; about shorter and shorter attention spans; and about the new math that says five thousand people who want to hear your message are more valuable than five million who don't. The winners aren't just annoying start-ups run by three teenagers who never had a real job. You'll also meet older companies that have adapted brilliantly, such as Blendtec, a thirty-year-old blender maker. It now produces Will it blend? videos that demolish golf balls, Coke cans, iPhones, and much more. For a few hundred dollars, Blendtec reached more than ten million eager viewers on YouTube.Godin doesn't pretend that it's easy to get your products, marketing messages, and internal systems in sync. But he'll convince you that it's worth the effort.

    Take the initiative to read and implement Art's rational principles and you will sell much more and develop a prospect base of potential customers who will call you when they are ready to purchase or graciously take your future calls. This is THE BEST sales text I have read in the past twenty years."--REX CASWELL, PhD, VP, LexisNexis Telephone Sales"You get only one chance to make the right impression in sales. If a top prospect gets a hundred calls a week, you want to be the one he remembers and buys from. Art's proven methods create a unique brand for you and position your offering as the best option. Art's advice isn't just smart, it's priceless."--BOB SILVY, VP, Corporate Marketing, American City Business Journals"Smart Calling effectively enables inside sales reps and organizations to accomplish a top priority--acquiring new customers. Art's pragmatic and actionable techniques will increase productivity, success, and professional satisfaction."--BILL McALISTER, SVP, Inside Sales, McAfee"A must-read, must-own book for anyone who wants to increase their sales right away with less effort and more fun. I'm so sure this book is a winner for anyone who needs to call prospects that I'll personally assure you that your results will increase noticeably after reading it, or I'll send you your money back."--MIKE FAITH, CEO & President, Headsets.com, Inc."If you need to make a first call to anyone, for whatever reason, this book is for you. More than common sense, it's a real-world, no-fluff, simple approach that anyone can use to be successful."--DARCI MAENPA, President, West Coast Chapter, American Teleservices Association; Director, Member Support, Toastmasters International

    Success, in turn, comes from understanding one basic principle: how to be more trusted. Likeonomics offers a new vision of a world beyond Facebook where personal relationships, likeability, brutal honesty, extreme simplicity, and basic humanity are behind everything from multi-million dollar mergers to record-breaking product sales. There is a real ROI to likeability, and exactly how big it is will amaze you.Likeonomics provides real-world case studies of brands and individuals that have used these principles to become wildly successful, including:- An iconic technology brand that awakened a revolution among their employees by standing for something bigger than their products- A Portuguese singer who used YouTube to rack up more than 30 million views and launch her professional career. A regional team of financial advisors that went from being last in the nation among 176 branches to first, and stayed there for 13 of the next 15 years- A tiny professional sports talent agent who achieved the impossible by landing the #1 drafted player in the NFL draft as a client through the power of relationships- Author Rohit Bhargava is a founding member of the world's largest group of social media strategists at Ogilvy, where he has led marketing strategy for clients including Intel, Pepsi, Lenovo, Seiko, Unilever, and dozens of other large companiesWith Likeonomics as a guide, readers will get unconventional advice on how to stand out in a good way, avoid the hype and strategic traps of social media, and appeal to customers in a way that secures your company as a trusted and believable resource.