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 I typically read 2 books a week, so you will see plenty of book reviews in the future. I decided to start this segment with my current favorite, Selling to Big Companies by Jill Konrath. I was surprised that I hadn't found this book until now as it's been on the Amazon top sellers list for 2.5 years and was named a "must read" by fortune.
Jill's book is laser focused on one thing - getting the meeting. It shares focus with books like Getting to VITO, but I found Selling to Big Companies to be more applicable to todays selling environment, more in-tune with the idealogy behind The Passive Pipeline and more detailed in each step of the process.
Here are a few of my favorite concepts presented in Selling to Big Companies;
- The absolute neccesity of having a war-chest of real customer stories to pique the interest of your target
- Using the target's perspective to understand why your current methods aren't working
- Creating a profile for your target companies and learning to spend less time on big names with small chances of success
- Identifying enabling conditions and triggering events which make a prime target
- Very detailed processes around researching your prospects to identify your value proposition
- Creating an effective target-specific value proposition
- Identifying the best contacts
- A very detailed process around courting those prospects and getting the meeting
As you can see from the image including my post-it's (a practice I borrowed from Guy Kawasaki), there were a ton of key concepts that I found to be useful or inspiring, but I can't give the whole book way. Any time I open a sales book, I expect to see a re-ordering of the same old concepts with a few new buzz words and a slightly different spin on the solution selling process we're all familiar with by now. That was absolutely not the case with Jill's book and I highly recommend that everyone visit her site and buy the book.
Visit: www.sellingtobigcompanies.com
Update 2/15/09 - You can read more praise for this book here.
Have you read the book? Tell us how the strategies have helped you get the meeting? I'd love to hear real-world situations where Jill's work has been helpful. The best reader response will recieve an autographed copy of Selling to Big Companies! |
