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What Great Salespeople Do: The Science of Selling Through Emotional Connection and the Power of Story
Build better relationships and Sell More Effectively With a Powerful SALES STORY “Throughout our careers, we have been trained to ask diagnostic questions, deliver value props, and conduct ROI studies. It usually doesn’t work; best case, we can argue with the customer about numbers―purely a left brain exercise, which turns buyers off. This book explains a better way.”
―John Burke, Group Vice President, Oracle Corporation “Forget music, a great story has charm to soothe the savage beast and win over the most challenging customer. And one of the best guides in crafting it, feeling it, and telling it is What Great Salespeople Do . A must-read for anyone seeking to influence another human being.”
―Mark Goulston, M.D., author of the #1 international bestseller Just Discover the Secret to Getting Through to Absolutely Anyone “Good salespeople tell stories that inform prospects; great salespeople tell stories that persuade prospects. This book reveals what salespeople need to do to become persuasive story sellers.”
―Gerhard Gschwandtner, publisher of Selling Power “This book breaks the paradigm. It really works miracles!”
―David R. Hibbard, President, Dialexis Inc™ “ What Great Salespeople Do humanizes the sales process.”
―Kevin Popovic, founder, Ideahaus® “Mike and Ben have translated what therapists have known for years into a business solution―utilizing and developing one’s Emotional Intelligence to engage and lessen the defenses of others. What Great Salespeople Do is a step-by-step manual on how to use compelling storytelling to masterfully engage others and make their organizations great.”
―Christine Miles, M.S., Psychological Services, Executive Coach, Miles Consulting LLC About the This groundbreaking book offers extraordinary insight into the greatest mystery in how the very best salespeople consistently and successfully influence change in others, inspiring their customers to say yes . Top-performing salespeople have always had a knack for forging connections and building relationships with buyers. Until now, this has been considered an innate talent. What Great Salespeople Do challenges some of the most widely accepted paradigms in selling in order to prove that influencing change in buyers is a skill that anyone can learn. The creator of Solution Selling and CustomerCentric Selling, Michael Bosworth, along with veteran sales executive Ben Zoldan, synthesize discoveries in neuroscience, psychology, sociology, anthropology, and other disciplines, combining it all into a field-tested framework―helping you break down barriers, build trust, forge meaningful relationships, and win more customers. This book teaches you how
―John Burke, Group Vice President, Oracle Corporation “Forget music, a great story has charm to soothe the savage beast and win over the most challenging customer. And one of the best guides in crafting it, feeling it, and telling it is What Great Salespeople Do . A must-read for anyone seeking to influence another human being.”
―Mark Goulston, M.D., author of the #1 international bestseller Just Discover the Secret to Getting Through to Absolutely Anyone “Good salespeople tell stories that inform prospects; great salespeople tell stories that persuade prospects. This book reveals what salespeople need to do to become persuasive story sellers.”
―Gerhard Gschwandtner, publisher of Selling Power “This book breaks the paradigm. It really works miracles!”
―David R. Hibbard, President, Dialexis Inc™ “ What Great Salespeople Do humanizes the sales process.”
―Kevin Popovic, founder, Ideahaus® “Mike and Ben have translated what therapists have known for years into a business solution―utilizing and developing one’s Emotional Intelligence to engage and lessen the defenses of others. What Great Salespeople Do is a step-by-step manual on how to use compelling storytelling to masterfully engage others and make their organizations great.”
―Christine Miles, M.S., Psychological Services, Executive Coach, Miles Consulting LLC About the This groundbreaking book offers extraordinary insight into the greatest mystery in how the very best salespeople consistently and successfully influence change in others, inspiring their customers to say yes . Top-performing salespeople have always had a knack for forging connections and building relationships with buyers. Until now, this has been considered an innate talent. What Great Salespeople Do challenges some of the most widely accepted paradigms in selling in order to prove that influencing change in buyers is a skill that anyone can learn. The creator of Solution Selling and CustomerCentric Selling, Michael Bosworth, along with veteran sales executive Ben Zoldan, synthesize discoveries in neuroscience, psychology, sociology, anthropology, and other disciplines, combining it all into a field-tested framework―helping you break down barriers, build trust, forge meaningful relationships, and win more customers. This book teaches you how
- GenresBusinessNonfiction
256 pages, Hardcover
First published December 16, 2011
6 people are currently reading
163 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
April 1, 2025
I think I would have like it better if I didn’t listen to it. The reader has the most BORING voice in the world and it was hard to listen to.
Some good information- basically story telling to access the right brain in a sales meeting. Definitely will use some of the strategies and examples- but it was pretty repetitive.
Some good information- basically story telling to access the right brain in a sales meeting. Definitely will use some of the strategies and examples- but it was pretty repetitive.
February 22, 2024
Ce que je retiens :
- raconter des histoires fait la différence en sales et en leadership
- atteindre le cerveau neocortex - partie 3
- une bonne histoire : le point, le contexte, les complications, le turning point, la résolution
- le non verbal compte 10 fois plus que le verbal
Citations :
People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care.
—Theodore Roosevelt
—-
According to neuroscientist Paul D. MacLean, the brain developed in three stages (see Figure 2.1) over the course of human evolution, resulting in a "triune" structure (i.e., consisting of three parts). First came the reptilian (survival) brain, then the limbic (emotional) brain, then the neocortex (think-ing) brain. Today, that's the same order in which our brains develop in the womb.
For the sake of coherence, we have found that it's best to build a story by working backward, in the following order:
1. The point of the story (yellow)
2. The story's resolution (red)
3. The story's setting (green)
4. The story's complication (white)
5. The story's turning point (blue)
Starting with the point might seem counterintuitive at first, but it's really not.
Business-to-Business Buy Cycle
1. The buyer becomes curious about a new approach.
2. The buyer expresses a set of needs.
3. The buyer is willing to brainstorm new ways with someone he trusts.
4. The buyer sees a new way (the solution).
5. The buyer must get a committee of others to agree to consider change.
6. The buyer understands the value of the new way versus the cost of maintaining the status quo.
7. The buyer sees a path to implement.
8. The buyer makes a decision to act, to sign, to commit.
The first thing to understand about storytelling is that it's not just what you say but how you say it. In fact, it's mostly how you say it. People tend to think of spoken language as our primary means of communication, but studies suggest that words alone make up only 7 percent of human com-munication. The other 93 percent consists of tone of voice (38 percent) and nonverbal cues (55 percent) such as facial expressions, gestures, and body posture
"You listen into people's eyes"" Doc Barham told me.
I said: "What?"
"When you sit down with people, what you first notice is people's eyes, and then you look and listen into them for their hurt, pain, fear, anger, and terror, and when you do, they share whatever it is with you.
What makes an empathic listener? Consider the Chinese character for listening-it tells us a lot about what listening really is (see Figure 8.1).
The first thing to note is that the symbol comprises much more than just hearing words (ear). Listening also involves the eyes, the heart, and undivided attention. The last feature of the symbol-king-connotes the idea that when truly listening to someone, we treat that person like royalty.
- raconter des histoires fait la différence en sales et en leadership
- atteindre le cerveau neocortex - partie 3
- une bonne histoire : le point, le contexte, les complications, le turning point, la résolution
- le non verbal compte 10 fois plus que le verbal
Citations :
People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care.
—Theodore Roosevelt
—-
According to neuroscientist Paul D. MacLean, the brain developed in three stages (see Figure 2.1) over the course of human evolution, resulting in a "triune" structure (i.e., consisting of three parts). First came the reptilian (survival) brain, then the limbic (emotional) brain, then the neocortex (think-ing) brain. Today, that's the same order in which our brains develop in the womb.
For the sake of coherence, we have found that it's best to build a story by working backward, in the following order:
1. The point of the story (yellow)
2. The story's resolution (red)
3. The story's setting (green)
4. The story's complication (white)
5. The story's turning point (blue)
Starting with the point might seem counterintuitive at first, but it's really not.
Business-to-Business Buy Cycle
1. The buyer becomes curious about a new approach.
2. The buyer expresses a set of needs.
3. The buyer is willing to brainstorm new ways with someone he trusts.
4. The buyer sees a new way (the solution).
5. The buyer must get a committee of others to agree to consider change.
6. The buyer understands the value of the new way versus the cost of maintaining the status quo.
7. The buyer sees a path to implement.
8. The buyer makes a decision to act, to sign, to commit.
The first thing to understand about storytelling is that it's not just what you say but how you say it. In fact, it's mostly how you say it. People tend to think of spoken language as our primary means of communication, but studies suggest that words alone make up only 7 percent of human com-munication. The other 93 percent consists of tone of voice (38 percent) and nonverbal cues (55 percent) such as facial expressions, gestures, and body posture
"You listen into people's eyes"" Doc Barham told me.
I said: "What?"
"When you sit down with people, what you first notice is people's eyes, and then you look and listen into them for their hurt, pain, fear, anger, and terror, and when you do, they share whatever it is with you.
What makes an empathic listener? Consider the Chinese character for listening-it tells us a lot about what listening really is (see Figure 8.1).
The first thing to note is that the symbol comprises much more than just hearing words (ear). Listening also involves the eyes, the heart, and undivided attention. The last feature of the symbol-king-connotes the idea that when truly listening to someone, we treat that person like royalty.
March 7, 2018
Easily the best book on selling I’ve ever read. This may change the trajectory of my career.
April 1, 2025
oke aje
January 10, 2017
As much as the whole left brain vs. right brain idea has been proven to be a myth, this book turned out to be a FANTASTIC read. I do not necessarily believe it's the BEST sales book out there but it teaches you one of the most POWERFUL skills on earth... STORY-TELLING.
A simple yet effective 4 step structure:
1) Setting
2) Complication
3) Turning point
4) Resolution
And of course the POINT!
On top of all the many different stories, they give an easy structure to for trainers to use in seminars.
Worth it!
A simple yet effective 4 step structure:
1) Setting
2) Complication
3) Turning point
4) Resolution
And of course the POINT!
On top of all the many different stories, they give an easy structure to for trainers to use in seminars.
Worth it!
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews