If you're involved in selling anything in today's economy, you know that priorities, business drivers, and competition are very different than they were a year or two ago. So, what's a sales professional to do?
Author Paul D'Souza knows where you're coming from. As an experienced sales guy he has done a lot of the analysis for you and his book, "The Market Has Changed - Have You?" is just what you might need to develop your own strategy to adapt to the new market dynamics.
Paul's book takes you through 25 steps exemplifying what he refers to as the "Wha-Do" sales philosophy (apparently, "Wha-Do" means "The Way of Harmony" in Japanese). This philosophy is all about creating leverage through people (relationships) and applying repeatable principles and business practices.
(Paul has more on the Wha-Do philosophy on his site)
A solid foundation
A lot of the concepts Paul brings to bear are rooted in things you've heard before - setting goals, understanding your motivation, setting out a plan, developing discipline in how you execute, etc. But a couple of aspects are different in this book.
First, Paul comes at this from the perspective of a sales person. If you're involved in selling, you know that you hear "no" more often than you hear a "yes" so it's vital that you have clarity of purpose and a compelling reason to keep driving until you get another "yes." The methods Paul exposes in this book will "snap in" to your selling workflow pretty easily without feeling unnatural or fluffy.
Second, this is as much a workbook as it is a reading book. The book is filled with worksheets, cues, and examples to enable you to go from a cerebral understanding of the material well into the next step of documenting and personalizing the content. In other words, if you really follow the process and use the worksheets provided in the book, you'll have your own plan - not just a bunch of new ideas.
It's about what you bring to the table
I think Paul's methods work because they tap into your inner strengths and motivations, but they are also anchored in creating clear and compelling value for your customers. By design, this will drive you to better understand your customers and why they buy so you can increase the odds that your approach and message will resonate with them.
They also help bring you beyond your "one against the world" view and tap into your colleagues, your mentors, and even your customers themselves to increase your success.
This is a compelling read and well worth your time if you're a sales or marketing professional looking for an advantage.
But this book is not just for hardcore sales people. It will also help anyone who relies on relationships in their job, such as doctors, dentists, personal trainers, retailers, investment bankers, business development, alliances people, and more.
Check it out, and start adapting to the new reality of the market.