Stop Selling and Start Leading: How to Make Extraordinary Sales Happen

by James M. Kouzes

NAMED THE #3 TOP SALES BOOK OF 2018!

Make extraordinary sales happen!   In the Age of the Customer, sales effectiveness depends mightily on the buyer experience. Despite nearly-universal agreement on the need for creating value in every step of the buyer’s journey, sellers continue to struggle with how to create that value and connect meaningfully with buyers. New research bridges the gap and reveals the behavioral blueprint for sellers that makes buyers more likely to meet with them ― and more likely to buy from them. In Stop Selling & Start Leading , you’ll discover that the very same behaviors that make leaders more effective also work to make sellers more effective, too. This critical shift in the selling mindset, and in the sales role itself, is the key to boosting your overall sales effectiveness. •          Inspire, challenge, and enable buyers
•          Change your behavior to build trust and increase sales
•          Step into your leadership potential
•          See yourself the way your buyers do
•          Feel good about selling again When you’re aiming for quota attainment and real connections with buyers, this book gives you the confidence and skills you need.

Genres: Business

224 pages, Hardcover

First published February 9, 2018

About the author

Jim Kouzes has been thinking about leadership ever since he was one of only a dozen Eagle Scouts to be selected to serve in John F. Kennedy's honor guard when Kennedy was inaugurated President of the United States. Kennedy's inaugural call to action -- "Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country." -- inspired Jim to join the Peace Corps, and he taught school in Turkey for two years. That experience made Jim realize that he wanted a career that offered two things: the chance to teach and the opportunity to serve. It was in his first job back in the U.S. training community action agency managers that Jim found his calling, and he has devoted his life to leadership development ever since.
Jim Kouzes is the coauthor with Barry Z. Posner of the award-winning and best-selling book, The Leadership Challenge, with over 3.0 million copies in print. He's a Fellow of the Doerr Institute for New Leaders at Rice University and also served as the Dean's Executive Fellow of Leadership, Leavey School of Business, Santa Clara University. Jim and Barry have coauthored many bestselling leadership books including A Leader's Legacy, Encouraging the Heart, The Truth About Leadership, and Credibility. They are also the developers of The Leadership Practices Inventory—the bestselling off-the-shelf leadership assessment in the world. Their books are extensively researched-based, and over 500 doctoral dissertations and academic studies have been based on their original work.
Not only is Jim a highly regarded leadership scholar, The Wall Street Journal cited Jim as one of the twelve best executive educators in the U.S. He is the 2010 recipient of the Thought Leadership Award from the Instructional Systems Association, listed as one of HR Magazine’s Most Influential International Thinkers, named one of the Top 100 Thought Leaders in Trustworthy Business Behavior by Trust Across America, and ranked by Leadership Excellence magazine as one of the Top 100 Thought Leaders. Jim was presented with the Golden Gavel, the highest honor awarded by Toastmasters International, and he and Barry are also the recipients of the American Society for Training and Development (ASTD) Distinguished Contribution to Workplace Learning and Performance Award, presented in recognition of their extensive body of work and the significant impact they have had on learning and performance in the workplace.

Reviews

[Tim Hughes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Too often as sales people we can get fixated in grinding out quarter after quarter without looking up. Add to that, the world has changed. Nobody gets up in the morning and says "I would love to talk to a salesperson today". That is where we need to stop working like "type" and actually start leading. Buyers today bring their B2C experience with them to the B2B world, we can get information on our product and services at our fingertips. We can decide to ignore you OR we can see you as the solution to my problem and contact you asking for help. In other words, Inbound. Being a leader is one of the legs that you will need if you want that inbound holy grail. Certainly worth a read.

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a book that I’m going to have to read again just to distill the practices listed. I’d love a sequel on how to combat sleazy business practices, and I like the reframing of sellers as encouraging leaders. Great for anyone looking into starting their own business, not just for B2B sellers.

[Kesu · Rating 4 out of 5]

You are a leader.
Anyone can become a leader at any moment if they aspire to be and have the hunger for it.

That's what Jim Kouzes, Barry Posner, Ph.D. and Deb Calvert have said in their co-authored book 'Stop Selling & Start Leading"

In the first instance I was confident that everything shared in the book is bluff just like most self-help and business books nowadays. It didn't take much time to break my prejudice.

Their book is a live portfolio; a compilation of case studies of sellers and buyers, their mindsets and the associated features that differentiates a leader from a seller and a consumer from a buyer.

Don't want to read other people's stories; no issues. Just turn the last pages of each chapter that contains credible actionable tips and how to work on that.

It is one of those books that one should read once in a while to upskill their leadership, learning from others failures and wins.

You are just a problem away from uplifting yourself from a seller to a leader!