New Sales. Simplified.: The Essential Handbook for Prospecting and New Business Development

To give you a sense of how much value I get from this book, I just purchased the Kindle version after having read the paperback version twice several years ago. I want to make sure I have it available to reference at all times. I’ve said before about New Sales.Simplified, I loved the stories, the irreverent tone, and the honesty of this book. But what I appreciated most was that it delivered on its title – this book really does simplify what you have to do successfully acquire new customers. Here are my highlights from this book: The Stories - Frank, the overpaid account manager, who almost screwed up a huge sale because he did not understand that a sales presentation is a dialogue not a monologue. The founder of SlimFast flying into a sales presentation on his Gulfstream and providing some billionaire-level sales wisdom to his eager sales rep. The receptionist who considered the sales manager to be her personal assistant. These and many other stories in the book made me laugh, made the author’s points well, and made this an enjoyable read. Chapter 3 – Before Weinberg gets into his system for creating better sales hunters, he points out that the CEO is supposed to set strategy for a company, not the sales force. I share his amazement at how often executives don’t do this. Weinberg explains why it is so important in this chapter. Chapter 4, page 49: Weinberg’s description of the New Sales Driver is straightforward and helpful. These are three simple points for establishing a new sales initiative. I think this information is also helpful as a simple diagnostic for figuring out where your current new business sales efforts can be improved. Chapter 5 – Selecting Targets. Many sales people aren’t using target lists well (or at all), and this chapter lays out exactly how to put one together and work it. Everyone knows they should have this list, but a much smaller group of people actually put it in place and work it. Weinberg lays out a well-constructed set of steps here to develop your own workable targets. He’s also got some good insights about why failing to create a well-targeted list contributes to a lack of perseverance among sales hunters. Chapters 7 and 8 – These chapters are a fantastic, step-by-step explanation of how to construct a sales story that becomes the backbone of every communication with prospects and referral sources. These chapters alone make this book worth the price of admission. I love the quote on page 89 decrying the over-emphasized ‘elevator pitch’: “The last time I checked, there was not a whole lot of business being transacted in elevators.” The author’s Sales Story system takes the elevator pitch to a whole new level. I am already thinking this through for my own business. Chapter 9 “Your Friend the Phone” is all about the lost art of picking up the phone, connecting with prospects, and opening up new business relationships. It provides practical specifics around approach, wording, and the proper way to construct a sales script. I specifically noted Weinberg’s advice on page 113 about not over qualifying. Chapter 11 on structuring winning sales calls. This chapter also stands out because of its simple, step-by-step process, this time for how to conduct a great face-to-face sales call. Weinberg shows how the Sales Story we have just constructed pays off when you are in-person with a prospect. He’s got another great story here on what not to do on face-to-face sales calls. And, on pages 139 and following the author walks us through a well-conducted sales call from beginning to end. Very useful. Chapter 13 on Sales Presentations. This is a great discussion of what to do and definitely not to do when conducting the ubiquitous and often deadly PowerPoint presentation in a sales context. Check out the very well done sample script on page 175 and the opening objectives on page 178. In addition, this book has brief but important discussions of time blocking (pages 183-185) and individual business planning (pages 188-191). Anyone who has ever been on commission understands that these are the steps that turn an intellectual understanding of sales into actual results. Again, these are the simple but complete steps that make great business books like this one so useful.

Can't say enough great things about this book. Cover to cover this book has value. I took over 20 pages of notes and am reworking not only my sales processes based on this material but those of my team. Every sales leader should read this book because many of the problems Mike addresses in "New Sales Simplified" can't be addressed by salespeople. Mike says the single biggest obstacle to new business generation is the using of salespeople for both hunters and farmers. He is 100% right. How much time to we have our people waste doing farm work, service work, busy work. The rarest of all salespeople, those that can find and close new business end up being frustrated and we waste their real talent. Here are the opening questions that Mr. Weinberg asks and answers: Why are there so many new theories, new books, new methodologies? Why are there so few A-players on sales teams? Why are so many companies and individual salespeople not achieving their sales goals—particularly their new business development goals? Why does the mention of the word prospecting cause even veteran salespeople to freak out or hide? Mike raises important issues: are all sales created equal. Why do we pay the same for repeat business (order taking) than we do new business? Why do we rack and stack independent of the territory, challenges or skill it took to make those numbers? New Sales Simplified isn't only a very detailed plan about how to succeed in business development, read get new accounts and business closed, but also a sales management manifesto. Finally some sanity in the business of sales. I won't make a long review because you need to buy and start using this book right away. If you make a living in sales or managing sales people this is possibly the most important read for you this year. Here are some of the really good points the author makes. Great book. Glad I got it, Wish I had written it. "The sales team’s job is to take a clear strategy and execute it to perfection in the market. Salespeople should not be making it up as they go along. Where I’m from, it’s the chief executive’s job to determine and articulate the company’s strategy" "The hybrid hunter-farmer sales role is the model that dominates small and mid-size companies. This single issue is hurting new business development sales more than any other issue today." "Most organizations would agree that only 10 percent to 15 percent of their sales team could be classified as true A-player hunters that can be consistently relied on to deliver new business year after year. Why do we use Hungers as farmers when we all agree there are an abundance of account managers?" If we are not closing new deals, the problem can be identified either as: • Poor target selection or lack of focus on selected targets • Lame sales weapons or lack of proficiency deploying weapons • Inadequate planning or lack of execution of the plan ASSUMPTIONS FOR THAT MODEL TO WORK: • The business has a clear strategy, a defined place in the market, and there is demand for its offering. • The sales compensation plan is not working against the desired sales effort. • The sales talent would at least qualify as “average.” "Read this slowly: Prospective customers are not interested in what you do; they are only interested in what you can do for them. Said another way, no one cares how smart you are or how great you think your company is. They want to know what’s in it for them. No one argues this point. When I share these concepts with clients, everyone nods and agrees. But intellectual assent to the concept isn’t enough. That conviction must get carried into the sales story we use." I could go on posting the 20 pages of notes and quotes, but I won't. Great book. NOT THEORY - BUT A COMPLETE SYSTEM AND ACTION PLAN. Note: this isn't a selling system or how to do rapport. Plenty of books on that (New Solution Selling, People Skills, SPIN Selling, on and on). This is a book on how to find, target, and book new business. Period. The book assumes that you have skills and are willing to work. If you've got those attributes this book will make money for you!

I have one year experience in sales. This book is worth your time of you intend to buy. Why? Mike ACTUALLY gives you a plan of attack if you're a total newbie or have some experience. I'm one of those guys who will go after any opportunity that comes my way. The whole year from September 2014-December 2015 my approach was to create a random list from the internet. And go out and sell. I never researched accounts or plan the next steps forward if my approach is unsuccessful. Mike gave me a plan of what to do. Very useful for newbies and experienced guys with no plan of attack. Its funny this book has hateful reviews. If you're the type of person who gets offended by words or 'honesty'. Don't read this book.

Brief background of me to understand my perspective along with why I read: I am responsible handling new business generation for a small size logistics company; I've been in this role for little over a year. Prior to that worked in "Sales" for large transportation company for almost 8 years. Reason I tell you that and word sales is in quotes is because until now I've never really had to do sales. Working for a transportation company with significant fixed infrastructure which the customers were integrated into was much easier to reach out to customers for new business development as they needed our assets. So fast forward I work for non asset based logistics provider where I'm selling our services couple in a highly saturated industry where customers are bombarded with literally 100's of thousands of options. This has produced an environment where customers receive 100's of emails a day requesting meetings to discuss their services. What I learned quickly is that I didn't know how to sell and I didn't know how to get customers to meet with me unless I had a prior relationship. Enter this book and it has been the start of my becoming truly, effective salesman able to generate significant amounts of new business for my company. What I liked about this book is few things: 1. The flow is logical process oriented, which anyone who's in sales knows the sales process has a very particular flow to it. This book does great job of guiding the reader through the process as it should be. 2. Balances content with supporting information. Mike is great story teller and the examples where he applies the concepts he's presenting really help the reader visualize what their own version of this process might look like. 3. Current w/old school twist - Mike while presenting fresh concepts doesn't abandon the foundations of success sales. Instead he shows how using newest technology, ways of presenting information, processes that work with today's customers we can maximize effectiveness while building on fundamentals of sales. I am not where I need to be yet in terms of sales producing, but I am getting there. WIth Mike's book as one of the pillars of my sales education I feel much more comfortable then where I was 1 year ago let alone 3 months ago. It's like Jim Rohn says "Become a millionaire not for the million dollars but for what it makes of you to achieve it." I feel sales is same way you shouldn't set goal of high performing salesman simply for the status of that instead you should because of what you will need to become that high performing sales person. Thank you for taking the time to read this; great book by a great author. You won't be disappointed!

Do you want to grow revenue? Then you'll need to close new business. If your reps aren't bringing in enough new business, it could be that they forgot, or never knew how to develop new business. In his hot-off-the press book , "New Sales. Simplified." Mike Weinberg puts forth an interesting proposition as to the underlying causes. In fact, he offers a "not-so-sweet 16" top reasons why reps fail at new business development. There is one reason as to why so few reps know how to hunt for new business, however, that I find to be the most intriguing. Mike contends that because many of today's sales reps began their career during times of economic prosperity. They simply never had to learn how. During the whole of the `90s and between 2002-2007 most sales organizations benefited from high demand for their products and services. Salespeople could get away with being reactive. Of course, we're dealing with a very different environment today. Reps must proactively hunt for new business. Hunting takes certain skill sets and certain personality types. Reps who are great at relationship management, customer service, problem solving, and client retention are not necessarily successful hunters. That's why they are referred to as "farmers." Farming is equivalent to account management and it requires a service mentality. While both hunters and farmers are always needed, and both new accounts and current accounts are important, if you want to grow revenue in today's environment you'll need a large army of well-trained hunters and a smaller contingent of farmers. And that's where "New Sales. Simplified." comes in. After his ten-year run as a successful sales hunter Mike spent the next ten years and fifty client engagements developing, road-testing, revising and refining his New Sales Driver framework comprised of 3 essential components: 1. Select targets 2. Create and deploy weapons 3. Plan and execute the attack In "New Sales. Simplified." he goes into specific details on how to accomplish each task. To start with, you must ask an essential two-part question: Where is the business going to come from and who should I pursue? Launching an attack without a clear vision of your target is not a good strategy. Mike makes a very important point about the process of selecting target accounts. It is a rare opportunity to be strategic. He states "It's surprising how often senior executives or even first-line sales managers take for granted that their people are working the right accounts. Choosing our target accounts, which effectively also means how we should be investing our time, is one of the few truly strategic things we do in sales." It is not enough, he points out, to collect a pile of folders, trade publications, local business lists, and printouts from various databases. Instead, Reps need to create a real, workable, list based on analysis and a well-reasoned thought process. Mike explains exactly how to do this in "New Sales. Simplified." Once you have your targeted list, you can move on to step two which is to consider what's in your arsenal. Mike offers suggestions on many weapons including social media, email, digital marketing, and content. The most important weapons, however, are the sales story, and the sales call. The chapter on creating and delivering a powerful sales story, alone, is worth the price of the book. Mike delivers something else that many sales books lack...hard-hitting advice that may seem contrarian. For instance, when it comes to calling into an account to score an appointment, Mike advises to "Stop overqualifying!" He goes on to explain his view, "If we're proactively calling target accounts, the decision has already been made that we want to see them face-to-face." It is a targeted account for a reason. Get the meeting. Then prepare yourself properly to conduct the most successful meeting possible. Mike's advice also shines in this area. He reveals great techniques for structuring the call, delivering the power statement, and asking questions designed for specific objectives. The cover of "New Sales. Simplified." boldly proclaims that the book is "the essential handbook for prospecting and new business development" and it doesn't disappoint. If you need to hunt for new business and aren't sure the best way to plan your attack and attack your plan, then this book is for you. If you manage a sales team that needs to elevate their new business performance to new heights, then do yourself and your team a favor and get a copy for everyone.

New Sales Simplified A great training book Do you have a hard time prospecting? Not that you want to right? Are you having a hard time getting new customers? Has it been so long since you worked on getting new customers that you don't even remember how to do it? From this book: Here are sixteen reasons sales people fail at new business development: 1. You haven't had to prospect, don't know how, or haven't seen it modeled well for you. 2. You spend too much time waiting...waiting on the company or waiting for new materials, clearer instructions, or leads. 3. You allow yourself to become a prisoner of hope to a precious few deals and stop working the process to create new opportunities. 4. You can't effectively tell a sales story. 5. You have done an awful job selecting and focusing on target accounts. 6. You are late to the party and end up playing an already in progress game. 7. You have become negative and pessimistic. 8. You are either faking your phone effort or could be much better on the phone. 9. You are not coming across as likeable or are not adapting to your buyer's style. 10. You are not conducting effective sales calls. 11. You babysit and over-serve your existing accounts. 12. You are too busy playing good corporate citizen and helping everyone else. 13. You don't own your own sales process and default to the buyer's. 14. You don't use your calendar well or protect your time. 15. You have stopped learning and growing. 16. You just aren't built for prospecting and hunting new business. Do you see yourself here? If you're a manager do you see your salespeople here? I do. I have a person or type rather that matches every single one of these reasons and that is why as a sales consultant I am urging everyone I work with, hell everyone I know to buy this book. In Sales Simplified, Weinberg deals with every one of these issues. He shows you how to focus on what you need to do to be successful, to break out of your funk it need be. In a clear and interesting way he gives you examples of what you need to do to shrug off your failures, overcome your challenges, even those that are self-induced and get on with your success. He addresses all of the basics so that you can use this book as a guide to work on your specific issues. Here for example is what he says about overcoming the challenges of voice mail. He urges us to use it as an example to leave special message, one that will get us a return call. And here are six tips that he gives us for a leaving a productive and winning voice mail: 1. Adopt a positive perspective 2. Expect and prepare for it 3. Use a snippet of your story 4. Take the long view; see it as part of a campaign 5. Ask for a call back, state that you will call again 6. Be human. Use humor or guilt, not anger All good stuff this. And all stuff that you can use over and over again. This is my kind of book because it is so straightforward and does deal with the basics, the very basics that are the building blocks of a successful sales career. I highly recommend this book to anyone involved in selling anything to anyone at any time.

BUY THIS BOOK NOW!!! I would give this book 10 stars if I could. After reading numerous sales books looking for a way to improve my skills, I came across New Sales. Simplified. I purchased and read 1/2 the book in one sitting - making notes and highlighting on almost every page. This truly is a treasure chest for any salesperson. The information is provided in a straightforward - dare I say simple - way but it makes so much sense and I can attest that it works. Looking at my prospect list and dream account list I tried some of the techniques offered by Mr. Weinberg. The first three dream accounts granted me appointments whereas I struggled for a year or more in some cases to get in front of them. Oftentimes as salespeople we know what we need to do but try to work around it by doing what we think makes sense or we give in to the pressure of deadlines and become more focused on ourselves than the person across from us. Mr. Weinberg brings the focus back to where it should be - the customer's needs and headaches. I used his suggestions for crafting my "sales story" as well as the words to use when on the phone and in person. The section on locking in the appointment is true gold and has paid off numerous times in just the last couple of weeks. Mr. Weinberg puts the information together in a way that I do not feel goofy or like I am reading from a script when speaking with my prospects. There are many formats provided that allow you to feel comfortable in the words you are saying. Do not pick up this book if you are looking for a way to make less phone calls. In fact, know that I am confident and comfortable on those initial prospect appointment setting phone calls I am making more than ever. And this from someone who used to dread picking up the phone because I struggled to differentiate myself from the others in the industry. If you are a salesperson, in management, or own a company that relies on the salespeople for generating income, purchase a copy or several to distribute. You truly will not regret it and your sales will be impacted. I can't say it enough...BUY THIS BOOK!

I read my fair share of sales material; books, online blogs, articles, etc. but New Sales, Simplified is quite honesly the absolute best "blocking and tackling" new business development, prospecting book I have ever read. You can read the other reviews and the chapter by chapter descriptions, they are helpful, but honestly cover to cover each chapter contains SALES GOLD! What is so helpful about this book is twofold. First, it contains ideas, processes and sales strategies that you can employ immediately into your sales organization and I believe if they worked for Mike they can work for us/you. Secondly, the ideas, suggestions and recommendations regarding selling in this book are common sense and teachable tactics that make it very easy for a salesperson to understand and grasp the meaning of the message. This book is so GOOD, I am actually using it as a book study for ALL salespeople in our organization, unpacking each chapter, drilling on down on how what Mike is teaching us, can be used in our everyday interaction with prospects, targets, and customers. My sales people actually have this book open on their desks using the scripts and email suggestions on a daily basis. These are 20 year veterans in our industry learning news sales techniques from this book! Trust me, if you are in sales or sales management you WANT to read this book and it WILL be a book that you will continually refer back to over time. Put this book in your cart right now, go to http://newsalescoach.com, bathe your brain in more sales gold, and sign up for Mike's Blog posts. You will not be disappointed! Can you tell I am a fan!? On top of all of sales greatness this book is so REASONABLY priced you can afford to buy one for every single sales person you know without thinking twice! I will be pitching my "Sales Story" this afternoon in front of a new prospect and I can't wait!

Il libro mi è piaciuto molto. E' semplice, diretto e senza troppi fronzoli. La lettura potrebbe essere resa più veloce dall'assenza di alcuni dettagli personali dell'autore ma è proprio questa tratto che rendono il libro ovviamente autobiografico. In sostanza, è decisamente il manuale che ciascun venditore alla prima esperienza avrebbe bisogno di leggere. Non ha una formula risolutoria ma offre metodo e soprattutto consigli utili di cui siamo tutti consci ma che a ben vedere, proprio a causa della scarsità di metodo ed organizzazione, talvolta si fallisce a mettere in atto. Con dei piccoli, semplici consigli il libro guida il venditore nella costruzione di un metodo di volta, in volta, adattabile alle necessità del caso e del business che nonostante gli anni che passano, non perde di validità e consenso.

I am a big fan of Mike and his methods. To me they scope out a ‘first principles’ approach to sales and makes the complicated simple.

Es macht Spaß, das Buch zu lesen. Gut geschrieben und sehr hilfreich für alle, die neue Wege in der Neukundenaquise gehen wollen. Selbstreflektion inklusive. Werde ich mehrfach lesen.

Better ways to frame sales

Comprei esse livro por acreditar que não tinha as qualidades necessárias para ser um vendedor, mas esse livro me mostrou que metodologia e disciplina são essenciais no alcance do sucesso, assim como em muitas áreas da vida. Meu respeito por vendedores de verdade aumentou tremendamente. A maioria dos vendedores são ruins. Acredito que esse livro tem um forte potencial para aqueles que realmente tem a perseverança e disciplina para tratar vendas não como um talento natural, mas também como um processo.