Roadmap to Revenue: How to Sell the Way Your Customers Want to Buy

by Kristin Zhivago

Buyers have changed the way they buy. But sellers have been slow to change the way they sell. This disconnect is proving to be frustrating for both sellers and buyers. Sellers aren't getting the sales they need, and buyers aren't getting the information they need to make a buying decision. In this one-of-a-kind revenue-growth how-to book, Revenue Coach Kristin Zhivago lays out the method that she has used to help hundreds of business owners and managers reverse-engineer their successful sales so they can manufacture new sales in quantity. Armed with these methods, managers can map out their customers' buying process and take the right steps to support every stage of that buying process. They can position their products and services in a way that will make them more attractive and valuable to prospective customers. They can focus their efforts on marketing and selling methods that will work (and stop wasting money on those that won't); produce content that satisfies buyer concerns; and use social media channels in a way that appeals to customers - and leads to more sales.

Genres: Business, Nonfiction

294 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 1, 2011

About the author

Kristin Zhivago is a "revenue coach" who helps CEOs and entrepreneurs increase their revenue doing whatever will make the greatest difference in the shortest amount of time. She uses efficient "detective" methods to find out what's broken and what's working, then helps the company leaders make appropriate changes to processes, products, services, and people to ensure that the company will generate more revenue.

Zhivago's most recent book, "Roadmap to Revenue: How to Sell the Way Your Customers Want to Buy," reveals a process that any company manager can use to understand exactly what customers expect from the company and how to make its products and services more attractive to potential buyers. She has perfected these methods as she has worked in dozens of industries, for hundreds of companies, serving millions of customers.

Zhivago is primarily a consultant, but she also speaks worldwide on revenue generation and blogs at RevenueJournal.com.

Reviews

[Janette Fuller · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ms. Zhivago advises businesses to stop trying to "sell" and "market". Instead try to figure out how to make the purchase easier for the customers who would benefit from your product or service.

The Roadmap to Revenue method consists of the following three phases;

Discover ~ Interview current customers (or prospects) on the telephone to find out what they want to buy and how they want to buy it. Record and organize the information that is collected in these interviews and present the information to the leaders of your business.

Debate ~ Analyze, discuss and prioritize what the customers have told you. Identify the issues most important to the customers.

Deploy ~ Map out the customer's buying process so you can support it at every step. Develop an action plan. Your goal is to fix what is broken, and improve what needs improving. Develop strategies that will better support your customers' buying process.

The author provides detailed information to support a business that wants to make the shift from company-based to customer-based. This book provides everything you need to know to start the process. The author emphasizes that this is an on-going process that will lead to significant increases in your sales. This is not a quick or easy fix, but it will lead to long-term rewards.

I do not have a formal education in business or any of the business-related fields. This was a challenging read for me, but the book is organized in a way that a layman can understand and benefit from it. I found this book to be a very content-rich offering that really goes deep into the "meat" of business management. The author offers free pdf downloads on her blog that will support the information in this book.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who is serious about taking their business to the next level. The information is this book can be applied to all types of organizations that focus on selling a product or service.

[Laura Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

So this was pretty interesting. I work in Sales, so I thought I’d read something that could potentially help my statistics as an employee, and the company as a whole. The whole concept here is to stop “selling and marketing” and find a way to help your customers with the product that would help them. While it doesn’t help in pertaining to my business itself, I can see its aid for someone starting up a new business. It’s well written, in terms even the layman like myself can understand.

[Regina Foo · Rating 4 out of 5]

An innovative reading for marketing and sales people. The author is able to pin point the problem of company-centered selling strategies and described the ways to shift to customer-centric.

Highly recommended to those who involve in marketing and sales and small business owners.

[Sara Thompson · Rating 3 out of 5]

This gets 3 stars because I don't think it's a bad book in any way but it wasn't for me. I have a small business and this book seems written for larger businesses than I have.
The marketing ideas are great - in fact they are exactly what we are doing already.