Table of Contents

Foreword 8

Editor's Note 9

Part 1 Setting the Stage: The True Purpose of the Consultative Sales Professional 11

Introduction: How Get Real Got Started 13

1 Sales Is the Greatest Profession 16

2 Not Real: Faking Consultative Selling 20

3 The True Purpose of a Sales Professional - S.E.L. 22

4 Not Real: Selling Selfishly 24

5 Selling On Purpose - Is It Really an Art? 25

6 Not Real: The Easy Way 27

7 The Hard Way Is the Easy Way 29

8 Solutions Selling Defined - It Is Not a Fuzzy Concept! 30

9 Not Real: Bag Diving as Your Method of Differentiation 32

10 Differentiation - Live the Consultative Approach 34

11 Differentiation in the Real World 36

12 Half of Winning Is Just Showing Up 39

Part 2 Tried and True: Get-Real Sales Skills, Processes, and Tactics that Will Transform You into a True Consultative Sales Professional 41

13 Not Real: The Big-Hitter Approach: Part One of a Fable 43

14 When in Doubt, Go Study Your Customer's Business! Part Two of a Fable 44

15 Business Acumen as Your Personal Differentiator 46

16 Searching for New Selling Opportunities 48

17 Not Real: Sales as a Remote-Control Business 50

18 Effective Techniques for Reducing Buyer Defensiveness 51

19 Not Real: Being Defeated by the Fear of Calling High 53

20 "Why Are You Calling on This Person?" "Because He'll See Me!" 54

21 The Importance of Establishing Trust and Credibility 57

22 Not Real: Being Out of Sync with Customers' Buying Preferences 59

23 Reading and Adapting to the Customers' Buying Preferences 61

24 Discovery: The Most Direct Path to Sales Success 63

25 The Magic Question 66

26 Selling Strategically 68

27 The Get-Real Approach to Account Management 70

28 The Get-Real Approach to Opportunity Management 72

29 Being Strategic on Every Sales Call 76

30 Not Real: The Personal Relationship Trap 77

31 Understanding and Leveraging the Politics in Your Customer's Organization 78

32 Presenting the Solution 79

33 Not Real: The Myth of Magic Closes 82

34 The Art of the Get-Real Closing 83

Part 3 Hidden Elements of Sales Professionalism that Will Make You Stand Out from the Rest 85

35 The Triumphs of Calling on Executives 87

36 Not Real: Are You Your Own Competition? 89

37 Managing the Competition and Customers' Reasons for Buying 91

38 Not Real: A Typical Bad Proposal 93

39 A Real Proposal: Clear, Concise, Correct 94

40 Not Real: The Myth of Forecasting 97

41 Sales Forecasting Done Well 98

42 Numbers: Metrics that Matter 100

43 The Secret of Get-Real Goal Setting 102

44 Not Real: Performance-Draining Uses of Technology 104

45 Positive, Performance-Enhancing Uses of Technology 106

Part 4 The Bigger Picture in Professional Sales 109

46 Not Real: "You Are Either a Hunter or a Farmer" 111

47 Hunters and Farmers Are Not as Different as We Think! 112

48 Making Professional Relationships Work 114

49 Not Real: Love 'Em and Leave 'Em! 116

50 A Neglected Step in the Sales Process - Keeping Customers for Life 118

51 Not Real: Out of Balance, On the Edge 120

52 Living a Balanced Life 122

53 Not Real: Living on the Run 123

54 Living On Purpose - Sales as My Profession 124

55 Not Real: Surviving vs. Thriving - Settling for Mediocrity 126

56 Driving Relentlessly for Sales Results 127

57 Living On Purpose Self-Survey 129

58 Concluding Thoughts 130

Appendix

The Get-Real Sales Call Planner 132

The Get-Real Sales Skills and Practices Checklist 134

Bibliography 138

About the Authors 140

Index 141

Resources 143