Selling Above and Below the Line: Convince the C-Suite. Win Over Management. Secure the Sale.

by William "Skip" Miller

Cost, service, functionality--good salespeople know the value propositions that speak to frontline managers. But there's another crucial player in the buying decision, with an entirely different set of criteria.

Top-level executives evaluate proposals from an "above the line" perspective: ROI, time saved, risk lowered, productivity improved. Sales professionals that appeal to both achieve spectacular results.

In Selling Above and Below the Line, master sales trainer Skip Miller shows how to simultaneously sell the technical and financial fit of any product or service--a strategy used by Google, Apple, Cisco WebEx, and other powerhouses. Readers learn to:

* Create energy by including executives early in the sales process
* Ask the right questions and pinpoint big-picture financial needs
* Keep "below the line" managers from feeling bypassed
* Uncover value propositions that target each set of decision-makers

Too often, sales that seemed locked in will stall or go dark. Learn to sell above and below the line, and keep the process moving swiftly toward successful, lucrative deals.

Genres: Business

256 pages, Paperback

First published February 11, 2015

About the author

WILLIAM "SKIP" MILLER is president of M3 Learning, a sales development company. He is the author of ProActive Selling and ProActive Sales Management.

Reviews

[Sean Royce · Rating 2 out of 5]

This entire book is a diatribe that could have been a 1,000 - 1,500 word blog post. Let me save you a few hours of wading through unnecessary anecdotes, summarized as follows:

There are people in charge that think about big problems (Above the Line), and then there are people who solve problems on the ground (Below the Line). You need to sell differently to the higher-ups, they think about gaps, and they have time-bound trains leaving a station. You still need to engage people doing the work, but they are going to ask about feature functionality. Timetravel with your prospect. Be Advil, not a vitamin.

[Lauren Benson · Rating 3 out of 5]

For someone who’s been in sales for a while and has gone through multiple sales trainings before this shouldn’t feel revolutionary, but it’s certainly a good book to remind yourself of good practices.

For greener sales reps, this is great. So many people sell to the user, not the buyer. This is at times overly explicit in the book, but it’s an important distinction and the dynamics between upper level management and lower level needs is a tricky thing to navigate.

Overall good sales book. My main takeaway is time travel questions, go for a decision, and validate customers goals and needs through out the process.

[George Davidson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a book I wish I had read years ago. It is one of those glas shattering moments when you realize you have only been working half the process.

Skip Miller lays out a compelling framework and tools to engage buyers both above and below the line and the key DIFFERENCES in how you approach both. If you haven't read it and you are in sales, pick it up now.

[Corey Marcel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some good stuff

I don't know that anything earth shattering was in here but it did have some good nuggets to take away.