Jeff Thull on Exceptional Selling: How the Best Connect and Win in High Stakes Sales

There are tons of sales books in the world. A lot of good ones and a lot of not so good ones.

Jeff Thull's is in the good category, in fact, i'd say it is just as its title: Exceptional. Thull talks about how traditional ideas about sales are no longer appropriate and i couldn't agree more.

For example:

Myth: "All prospects will buy." Reality: Only certain customers will and should buy.

Myth: "A good salesperson can sell anything to anybody." Reality: A good salesperson weeds out poor prospects and focuses on high-gain opportunities.

Myth: "Customers know what they need; it's my job to deliver it." Reality: Customers can be unclear and even wrong about their needs; the salesperson's responsibility is to complete an accurate diagnosis of need(s).

Myth: "Never walk away when money is on the table." Reality: Always walk away unless certain that you can improve the prospect's business.

Myth: "The customer is always right." Reality: The customer needs and deserves professional guidance to make an appropriate decision.

I've decided that i like these statements enough to take the positive angle on them as part of my sales philosophy. When i was in school, i took this local course at a nonprofit group on Servant Leadership (Robert Greenleaf was the main author)and Thull reminds me of the many positive things i learned in that course.

According to Thull, "Diagnosis is more effective than presentation [a systematic but numbing review of functions, features, and benefits], first because it is collaborative and second, because it's always focused on the customer. Diagnosis is about observable symptoms of the problems and the parameters of solutions, not opinions or blame."

To focus on the customer in the sales conversation is more than just good for sales. It is good business. It is service to others, which opens far more doors than any other sales method.

Exceptional Selling: How the Best Connect and Win in High Stakes Sales