On September 28, 2011, my wife and I went to our 18 week ultrasound to find out if our first child would be a boy or a girl. We found out it was a boy, and that he had a special heart. Our unborn son was diagnosed with a critical aortic stenosis with evolving hypoplastic left heart. Which means if he made it to birth, he’d have half a heart, need at least 3 open heart surgeries, and likely have a very difficult life. There was a new, cutting edge surgery, though, that might allow our son to have a whole heart. This complicated heart surgery would need to happen before he was born. We ended up doing it. Twice. Our son was born and we named him Ari. He’s since had two major open heart surgeries, has had scar tissue cut out of his heart twice, and has had 3 out of his 4 heart valves moved or replaced...      

In Insight Selling: Surprising Research on What Sales Winners Do Differently, we reveal the results of our extensive analysis of over 700 B2B purchases from the buyer’s perspective. In our research, we found that sales winners consistently exhibit behaviors on three levels: they connect, convince, and collaborate. 1. Connect Sellers connect the dots between buyers’ needs and solutions they offer. Sellers connect with people by listening to buyers and connecting with them personally. 2. Convince Sellers persuade buyers they will achieve worthwhile results. Sellers minimize the perception of risk by demonstrating experience, building trust, and inspiring confidence. Sellers persuade buyers they are the best choice. 3. Collaborate Sellers collaborate with buyers by being proactive and responsive. Sellers educate buyers with new ideas and perspectives. In this infographic, we share the road to becoming an insight seller and what you need to do in each level to maximize your sales results...      

After studying over 700 B2B purchases, sifting through hundreds of pages of data, talking to tens of thousands of sellers and sales leaders, and more than a year in the writing process, we are thrilled that our new book, Insight Selling: Surprising Research on What Sales Winners Do Differently is finally here. In it we outline exactly what today’s sales winners are doing to stand out from the pack and find themselves in the winner’s circle more often than the rest. And it provides a roadmap for you to do the same. Buy Insight Selling from your favorite book retailer: Amazon | B&N | BAM | 800-CEO-Read      

Think about someone you seek out when you're working through a challenge. They help you think things through, see what’s important. They ask the right questions. They listen. They don’t just give you answers—they help you come up with them. On the other hand, they’re not afraid to tell you what they think, share their ideas, and take a stand when they feel strongly about something. People like this make us better. They help us see what's possible. That's why we get so much from interacting with them. That's why we seek them out. Again and again. The sellers who are winning major sales these days are starting to look just like these people. Today's buyers have a lot of information and choices because of the Internet, but they don’t necessarily have more wisdom or confidence. They need people to share ideas, and help them think ideas through. Yet this is where so many sellers are struggling, falling short and losing, while a select few are getting it right and winning...      

Since articles like "The End of Solution Sales" and "Selling is Not About Relationships" were published in the Harvard Business Review, there's been a lot of disagreement in the sales world about what's working and what's not. The arguments behind these articles were steeped in data. The arguments against these articles seemed more based on experience and belief. Which were true? We didn't care one way or the other, but we certainly wanted to know. So we decided it was time to collect and analyze fresh data to find out what's really going on in sales. We undertook research from the buyer's perspective to understand what buyers want from sellers and what sellers can do to tip the scales in their favor. To find out, we studied over 700 B2B purchases made by buyers with $3.1 billion in annual purchasing power. We found that sales winners don't just sell differently, they sell radically differently, and they exhibit a specific combination of behaviors to achieve better outcomes than second-place finishers. Guess what? It is most certainly not the end of solution sales. Not even close...      

In the latter half of the 1700s, German astrologist and physician Franz Anton Mesmer treated his patients by looking deeply into their eyes and waving magnets in front of their faces. Mesmer believed barriers in our bodies disrupted the natural flow of the processes that gave us life and health. He further believed his penetrating eye gazing and object waving restored natural order inside his patients and relieved all sorts of maladies. In fact, he is reported to have cured headaches, swooning, blindness, paralysis, and a long list of additional ailments, even hemorrhoids. He became quite the celebrity, at one point touring major cities across Europe to demonstrate the efficacy and power of his medical advances. It is reported that as he worked with his patients, he would gain complete control not just of their actions, but of their thoughts, their perceptions of reality, and their feelings. When he did this, the patients were said to be...Mesmerized! And thus a new word was born...      

Breaking your way into new accounts and setting meetings is one of the most difficult tasks sellers face. But if you want to be successful in sales, you need to be able to build your own pipeline and drum up your own business. To increase your odds of landing initial meetings, follow these five appointment-setting tips: Reach out during "off hours": Business leaders don’t punch in at nine and out at five. The gatekeepers, however, are a different story. If you're trying to get through to an insulated executive, try calling early in the morning (before 8 am), late in the evening (after 6 pm), or during lunch. One of my colleagues has had great success reconnecting with prospects when he sends emails first thing in the morning (4 am)! This strategy not only ensures he gets his all-important follow up done before the day gets away from him, it also gives the prospect the opportunity to respond that day—and they often do...      

There's been a lot of noise the last couple years declaring relationship selling dead. "The Internet has changed everything." "Personal connections don't matter anymore." "Selling is not about relationships." "Throw out everything you thought you knew about sales, Armageddon is coming!" Blah, blah, etc. As we've discussed before, we strongly disagree with the idea that selling is not about relationships. Relationship building is still critical to winning sales. But it has changed. We wanted to know exactly how—from the buyers' perspective. So we studied more than 700 buyers representing $3.1 billion in annual B2B purchases across multiple industries to learn what sales winners did differently from sellers who came in second. We found that sales winners consistently do three things: They connect, convince, and collaborate with buyers. Our research found that sales winners make strong personal connections at more than double the rate of second-place finishers. Relationship building in sales is far from dead...      

A couple of years ago, I was involved in a major rebranding effort for a Fortune 100 financial services firm. Based on extensive research, their chief marketing officer decided their new brand positioning should be focused on "easier." Easier to do business with. Easier to conduct banking transactions. Easier to get a mortgage, car loan, or business investment from. Sounds great, right? Problem is they weren't easy to do business with. I knew, because I happened to be a client of the firm. When I walked in to do a simple thing like get a new debit card, I was told the process could take up to three weeks—and I'd have to give them my old card first, meaning I'd have to spend three weeks without any access to my accounts. Unfortunately, this situation isn't all that uncommon in business. Many firms I know make their customers—existing and new—jump through endless hoops to do business with them. Just think about your average bank. Insurance firm. Car dealership. Phone company. Utility provider...      

Perhaps the most respected voice of all time in sales is SPIN Selling author Neil Rackham. John and I were honored to have him write the foreword for Insight Selling. It's a great commentary on the state of and changes occurring in the world of modern sales. We hope you find it as insightful as we did. Without further ado... A mixed blessing of my job is that I get to review a lot of sales books. Roughly once a week I receive a manuscript from a hopeful author or publisher, asking me for comments and feedback. Of course, what they are really asking for is a rave review that will help the book sell. Reading all these expectant winners, looking for good things to say, can be a challenging task. I'm often tempted to reply with the comment often, but wrongly, attributed to Samuel Johnson: "Your work is both good and original. Unfortunately the parts that are good are not original, and the parts that are original are not good." On the plus side, it does mean that I see a lot of ideas before they become public and I get a good sense of current trends in sales thinking. On the downside, for every book that I can honestly endorse, I kiss a whole pondfull of literary frogs...