usiness
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Volume 20, Number 2 Copyright 2003 Business Book Review, LLC All Rights Reserved
Dave Stein
2002 Dave Stein
Adapted by permission of Bard Press
ISBN: 1-885167-55-5
Introduction
Because technology has changed business so drastically, Stein believes that the sales principles and strategies
professional salespeople learned in school, the techniques they read in books, and the tips, tricks, and secrets they picked
up when they were new on the job are either too stale to be effective or demand an entirely new perspective. They represent
answers that do not fit a selling environment that requires the sales professional to: manage information as working
capital, protect their sales proposition from the competition, establish credibility with the prospect, gain and maintain
access to key people, and position their offerings as uniquely valuable. How Winners Sell fills that gap by presenting a
comprehensive plan with specific strategies and tactics that will give the sales professional an effective and sustainable
advantage in outselling the competition in todays hypercompetitive business-to-business marketplace.
Business Book Review Vol. 20, No. 2 Copyright 2003 Business Book Review, LLC All Rights Reserved
Dave Stein
Business Book Review Vol. 20, No. 2 Copyright 2003 Business Book Review, LLC All Rights Reserved
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Dave Stein
Business Book Review Vol. 20, No. 2 Copyright 2003 Business Book Review, LLC All Rights Reserved
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Dave Stein
Business Book Review Vol. 20, No. 2 Copyright 2003 Business Book Review, LLC All Rights Reserved
Page 4
Dave Stein
Business Book Review Vol. 20, No. 2 Copyright 2003 Business Book Review, LLC All Rights Reserved
Page 5
Dave Stein
Business Book Review Vol. 20, No. 2 Copyright 2003 Business Book Review, LLC All Rights Reserved
Page 6
* * *
A subject index is provided.
Dave Stein
Remarks
Stein begins How Winners Sell by advising us that
in selling, what worked then doesnt work now. This
is because, as he reminds us, buyers are really smart
today. They know a lot about the vendorits fees, prices,
financial condition, weaknesses in its offerings, and its
unhappy customers. They know all the sales approaches
and how to take advantage of them. They know that many
of the sales pitches they hear are just a lot of hype. And,
they know that there are more companies than ever, trying
to sell very similar products/services to the very same
businesses. This knowledge makes it a buyers market and
increasingly difficult for sales professionals to compete,
and theres more. Information technology has resulted in
the Internet, which gives prospects almost infinite sources
of free or cheap information about products, services,
markets, technology, and people. This technology as also
led to the expectation that the sales rep will be available
and well-informed 24/7. Sellers unable to meet those
expectations can quickly be replaced by clients and by
their own companies. Nonetheless, as Stein demonstrates
with almost every one of his 21 strategies, this infoglut
challenge holds a golden opportunity, providing the sales
professional with the chance to become a thought leader
or trusted advisor to the client.
Essentially, How Winners Sell is a strategic-selling
training manual, geared to increase business strategy,
customer satisfaction, marketing, and personal growth
skills. It provides practical, relevant, and substantive tools
that sellers can use to establish themselves as separate and
distinct sources of competitive advantage. The strategies,
tactics, and tips (theres not a lot of theory here) are offered
with the goal of helping individuals transform themselves
from vendors into business partners, who are able to
share and manage risk. It is a partnering that goes far
beyond peddling offerings toward: gaining knowledge
of the customer and knowledge of where value can be
added; uncovers needs and diagnoses problems; designing
customer-focused solutions that resolve the prospects
issues and locks out the competition in the process; and
planting perennial seeds that not only grow the account
over the long term, but that also permit the vendor to reap
more accounts throughout the industry.
Business Book Review Vol. 20, No. 2 Copyright 2003 Business Book Review, LLC All Rights Reserved
Page 7
Reading Suggestions
Reading time: 13-15 hours 255 Pages in Book
Dave Stein
Business Book Review Vol. 20, No. 2 Copyright 2003 Business Book Review, LLC All Rights Reserved
Page 8
Dave Stein
CONTENTS
Selling: What Worked Then Doesnt Work Now
Chapter 1: What Its All About
PART 1: RETOOLING YOURSELF TO WIN
Business Book Review Vol. 20, No. 2 Copyright 2003 Business Book Review, LLC All Rights Reserved
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Dave Stein
Business Book Review Vol. 20, No. 2 Copyright 2003 Business Book Review, LLC All Rights Reserved
Page 10