In the last three decades, the business world has seen changes. In the 70’s many long-held facts of American Management were overturned by Quality Improvement as a competitive advantage. Japanese corporations in particular were gaining share with higher quality, as perceived by the customer and were also lower in cost. In the 80’s the computer revolution made it possible to engineer, introduce and distribute new products in lesser time. Technology also made it possible to provide those products with high quality service and support the competitive edge. But now, none of these – quality, technology or a lean organisation is a competitive advantage. If you have them, you are in the race; if you don’t, you are dead.
Today, the single most powerful resource for gaining a competitive edge is the quality of the sales force selling that product.
The book is built on 6 bedrock questions (questions posed by Ozzie the oracle-one of the fairy tale characters in the book!)
- Who are our customers?
- Who are our competitors?
- Why do customers want what we are selling?
- What would make them prefer to buy from us?
- Why might they prefer to buy from us?
- Why might they prefer to buy from our competitors?
- What added value does our sales person have to offer to make a sale?
The book describes the profits of four specific types of sales people who have different personal career drives, different personalities and who need different kinds of skills because they must use different approaches to finding customers and making sales. Each type could be effective, but only when matched to customers’ needs.
Customers are classified as progressive customers, relationship customers, gate swingers and world customers. To meet their specific needs are the sales people – the wizard, the relationship builder, the closer, the captain and crew.
The interesting discovery we come across is there is no perfect sales person who is universally effective with all customers. So called sales superstars are ineffective with the “nuts and bolts selling”. The strengths that make one sales person successful in one selling situation might turn into weakness in another selling situation. How to leverage this discovery into a successful sales strategy is what this book is all about.
Selling the Wheel is racy, enjoyable, entertaining and offers a wealth of information as the story bounces across the fundamentals of building a world class sales organisation. A must for anyone in sales and is strongly recommended for anyone who wishes to sell more, quicker. The most. seasoned sales person would find ‘the wheel’ a useful read and for the rookie an imaginative story that teaches the principles of selling that no class-room could ever offer Happy Reading!
A man can succeed at almost anything for which he has unlimited enthusiasm
– Charles Schwab –
