We've all been there. Someone reaches out to you. They're enthusiastic. Ask for information. Want to talk to you on the phone. Ask for a proposal. Tell you they're "genuinely interested" in what you're offering. And "need something concrete to discuss in a meeting that's coming up." And then...nothing. The sale doesn't move forward. No decision is made. No further action from your side required. And "they'll be back in touch when they know more." Here's the thing: sometimes the people we start talking to are not the people we should be talking to. Sellers I speak with often talk about the need to develop their networking skills to "go around someone and get to the real decision maker."      

When people talk about differentiation, the word they most associate with it is 'unique.' Now, the word 'unique' is fraught with problems and danger. The first reason is because what people say is unique often isn't actually unique. In fact, it comes across as pretty common. For example, one company might say, "What makes us unique is our depth of experience. We only have people with 20 years of experience working on our projects." Or another company might say, "Well, our technology is customized specifically for your industry." Even another company might say, "Our level of customer service is truly the best in the industry." Oftentimes, these things are valuable, but the definition of the word 'unique' is being without equal...      

In The Benchmark Report on High Performance in Strategic Account Management, we analyzed data from over 370 companies that engage in formal strategic account management. We asked about the top challenges that limit account growth and found the number one difference between high performers and the rest is: having an effective strategic account planning tool. Only 19% of high performers reported having an effective account planning tool as challenging compared to 53% of everyone else (see graph to the left). The challenge of having an effective tool does not, however, exist in a vacuum. Companies that don’t have an effective tool often don’t have one because they’re not committed to account growth as a systematic process, and they don’t commit to account planning as a necessary component of account growth success. In any case, if you don’t have an effective tool you use across all accounts, it’s virtually impossible to make real progress in growing accounts systematically.        

The sales landscape has shifted in the last few years. Buyers are more informed than ever, competition is stiffer, and products and services are increasingly seen as replaceable, leaving most sellers at a loss for the best way to add value and differentiate. Yet, some sellers continue to win consistently. To find out what these sellers are doing differently than the rest, we undertook a massive research effort. In our study, we looked at 700 B2B purchases made by buyers who represent $3.1 billion in annual purchasing power. We found that the sellers who win harness the power of ideas. And in our new book, Insight Selling: Surprising Research on What Sales Winners Do Differently by bestselling authors Mike Schultz and John Doerr, we share exactly how they do it...      

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...      

There’s a revolution underway in sales. What used to work, even just a few years ago, is no longer enough to win major sales today. As a result, a new breed of seller, who's beating out the competition and winning the sale, has emerged: the insight seller. Insight sellers share new ideas and perspectives with their buyers, and they collaborate with buyers to develop the best solutions. They don't just sell the value of their products and services, they become the value. To succeed as an insight seller, we've identified 12 key attributes, which we divide into tendencies and qualities that drive their success. They're divided like the image to the left. Insight sellers share 7 tendencies—these are the predispositions that drive how people choose to spend their time:  Passion for Work and Selling: Insight sellers have a desire for success in general and for selling in particular...   Image source: Schultz, Mike, and John E. Doerr. Insight Selling: Surprising Research on What Sales Winners Do Differently. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, 2014.      

What do James Franco, Daniel Craig, and Mo'Nique all have in common? They're described as actors who bring gravitas to their roles on the big and small screens.* Another is Sir Patrick Stewart, who embodied gravitas as Capt. Jean-Luc Picard on Star Trek: The Next Generation. Picard had power and authority. He commanded respect. When he spoke, the Enterprise—and everyone else in the universe—listened. Gravitas is rooted in Latin, meaning heavy, serious, having gravity. In the sales world, gravitas means you're someone to be taken seriously. When buyers take you seriously, they're more apt to take your advice and buy into your ideas. That's why gravitas is a key quality of an insight seller. Got Gravitas? What It Means for Winning Sales Insight sellers possess 12 key attributes needed to succeed in sales. We've divided them into tendencies that drive behavior and qualities that guide those actions. Gravitas is one of five qualities found in sellers who consistently win sales. So what does gravitas look like?      

You've been working on a sale for 4 months and everything's going great. Your potential customer, the decision maker, is talking as if the deal is done. But before final sign off, you must meet with the CFO. You get to the meeting. The CFO is icy. She opens by saying, "I have a hard stop in 45 minutes, and the only issue I have with the project is the price. I’m prepared to sign off on it, but things have been tough and I am going to need you to drop your fees by 15%. If you can do that, the deal is done." Sellers who aren't prepared for this situation lose sales. Or maybe they win them, but they only do so after dropping their prices and cutting their margins. Anyone who's been around in the world of sales has heard of win-win negotiation. The idea is to work collaboratively to develop creative solutions that expand the pie and create success on both sides. Some people go as far to say that win-win is the only approach you need to know for success...      

A long time ago, I was fly fishing with a grizzled, old, big company leadership consultant. I asked him what he thought differentiated good consultants from great consultants—those at the pinnacle of the game. He said, "Let me think." A little while later, we were in the middle of the river when he turned to me and said, "A great consultant will say what he has to say to the client—what the client needs to hear—but that might get the consultant fired. Though, at the end of the day, the consultant has the interpersonal skills not to get fired." In other words, great consultants are assertive, but also have a deep well of emotional intelligence. What makes for a great consultant, in this case, also makes for a great insight seller. In fact, assertiveness is one of the 12 key attributes of insight sellers.      

Good negotiators have the ability to recognize the negotiation style of the other party. When a buyer comes to the negotiation in partner mode, it allows you to work collaboratively to create possibilities that expand the pie and result in the best possible agreement for both sides. But what about when your buyer takes a different approach? What if your buyer is just trying to get the price reduced, get more from you for less, or something else altogether? Despite the benefits of a partner-style negotiation, you need to know how to deal with positional buyer tactics when they arise. In this infographic, we share 18 of the most common tactics a buyer might use, what they look like, and how you can be prepared for and respond to each so you can successfully negotiate with buyers on their terms. View the infographic now.      

You’ve spent months working with the buyer, defining needs, and collaborating with them to build a solution. You both agree in principle, but when you ask them to sign on the dotted line, you hear: "I just need to run this by the CFO..." "There's just one more thing: I need you to give us..." "I'm ready to sign today...but I need you to drop the price by 10%." Much sales success is determined in the negotiation process. Sales negotiations gone wrong drive down margins, lengthen sales cycles, and lose you deals that you otherwise should have won. In this webinar, Mike Schultz, President of RAIN Group and bestselling author of Rainmaking Conversations and Insight Selling, will share 4 essential keys for sales negotiation success. Watch the on-demand webinar.        

Last week we shared our infographic on 18 Tactics Buyers Use in Sales Negotiations. The infographic highlights the most common sales negotiation techniques that buyers use, what they look like, and how you can prepare for and respond to each so you can successfully negotiate with buyers on their terms. Knowing these tactics exist isn't enough. You need to be able to identify these tactics and respond accordingly in the heat of moment during your sales conversations. As a part of our RAIN Sales Negotiation Training program, we've developed SPEED cards to help sellers quickly recall this information and put their learning to practice. These flashcard-like learning tools are proven to help sellers not only memorize important negotiation concepts, but to speak fluently about them in their sales conversations. Test Your Knowledge of the 18 Sales Negotiation Techniques.      

One of the major findings of our research on What Sales Winners Do Differently is that today's sales winners don't just sell the value of their products and services, they are the value. They are knowledgeable experts who bring ideas and new perspectives to the table. Essentially, they harness the power of ideas when selling, and it gives them the winning edge. It's difficult to harness the power of ideas, however, if you, you know, don't like ideas. Perhaps that's a bit simplistic, but the point is valid. Some people love to read. They are Harvard Business Review junkies. They watch webinars and seek out the newest research. They enjoy noodling over the 'next thing' on the horizon. These people like ideas. They like knowing. Their natural curiosity helps them.        

Last month we released a complimentary white paper, 5 Common Sales Negotiation Mistakes. In this new SlideShare presentation, RAIN Group Presidents Mike Schultz and John Doerr highlight the 5 common pieces of advice that cause sellers to say and do the wrong things in negotiations, resulting in alienated buyers, damaged relationships, and lost deals. Click here to view the SlideShare now.      

Money and budget issues are tricky, and they are almost never what they first appear. When buyers say some version of "Money is going to be a problem," they often mean something else. The following are 7 common price objections we hear and what buyers are really thinking when they say them...