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The Intelligence Factor: The Smart Sellers Approach to B2B Prospecting
Are traditional techniques for landing key meetings leaving your calendar permanently empty? Discover the right approach for modern business customers.Struggling to schedule face time with decision-makers? Are cold calling and other routines that used to be lead magnets attracting only silence? Frustrated you can’t seem to get a foot in the door? With almost 20 years of experience and over $40 million in sales to his credit, Erik J. Fisher is a recognized expert on contemporary selling. Now he’s here to share his revolutionary method of getting the meeting and closing the deal so you can become a business-to-business sales champion.
The Intelligence The Smart Seller’s Approach to B2B Prospecting is your essential playbook for success in today’s fierce market. Outlining exactly why all the old strategies you’ve been taught do not work anymore, Fisher lays out in simple and concise language how modern customers think and what you have to do to get their attention. Following his practical steps that put the focus on warm lead generation and techniques used to gain a responsive audience, you’ll soon find yourself beating the competition before they even get into the game.
In The Intelligence Factor, you’ll the highest earners concentrate on business development and not on closing, so you can relearn what you need to compete effectivelySecret systems for cutting through the noise to get important people’s attention from the initial contact, so you have access to decision-makers and not their gatekeepersLittle-known mechanisms for creating movement inside a company and helping you obtain interest from multiple stakeholders all at onceA data-driven approach to understanding each potential buyer’s mindset to give you an edge when you get that sit-downThe confidence to go after the biggest prospects without letting fear of rejection sabotage your chances, and much, much more!The Intelligence Factor is the groundbreaking manual you need to transform your game and become a top-seller in your company. If you like expert advice, easy-to-follow methods, and giving yourself a leg up, then you’ll love Erik J. Fisher’s cutting-edge guide.
Buy The Intelligence Factor to unlock your prospecting prowess today!
The Intelligence The Smart Seller’s Approach to B2B Prospecting is your essential playbook for success in today’s fierce market. Outlining exactly why all the old strategies you’ve been taught do not work anymore, Fisher lays out in simple and concise language how modern customers think and what you have to do to get their attention. Following his practical steps that put the focus on warm lead generation and techniques used to gain a responsive audience, you’ll soon find yourself beating the competition before they even get into the game.
In The Intelligence Factor, you’ll the highest earners concentrate on business development and not on closing, so you can relearn what you need to compete effectivelySecret systems for cutting through the noise to get important people’s attention from the initial contact, so you have access to decision-makers and not their gatekeepersLittle-known mechanisms for creating movement inside a company and helping you obtain interest from multiple stakeholders all at onceA data-driven approach to understanding each potential buyer’s mindset to give you an edge when you get that sit-downThe confidence to go after the biggest prospects without letting fear of rejection sabotage your chances, and much, much more!The Intelligence Factor is the groundbreaking manual you need to transform your game and become a top-seller in your company. If you like expert advice, easy-to-follow methods, and giving yourself a leg up, then you’ll love Erik J. Fisher’s cutting-edge guide.
Buy The Intelligence Factor to unlock your prospecting prowess today!
194 pages, Kindle Edition
Published September 15, 2020
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September 22, 2020
"The Intelligence Factor: The Smart Sellers Approach to B2B Prospecting" by Erik Fisher
Smart Advice In a Well-Written Package: All About Successful Selling
If you are a sales, new business development, call center or marketing person, you will really appreciate and value this book.
Written in a direct, forthright fashion it presents logical, linear information about the sales process, the evolution of the sales process from the 50’s to the 21st century moving from in person, conversational sales to new forms of media (TV, billboards, print and commercials) to what has become mostly online marketing strategies to make this sale.
What is at the nuts and bolts of Fisher’s book primarily comes down to the sales process. But, as the book describes in a very conversational fashion is that eventually consumers (and, yes, including corporations) became savvy to these sales tactics, rendering them essentially useless.
When Fisher talks about The Intelligent Factor, he’s spot on target. When your project yourself as a business partner or trusted advisor you become a step above the perceived “used car salesperson,” trying to get a potential customer to kick the tires to convince them to buy the car.
The basics of the book inform us succinctly that when you become a trusted advisor to a potential customer, and leverage the modern day approach to making a sale, you will flounder and be left in the dust.
Using interesting personal anecdotes, Fisher takes us through his early sales positions as a telemarketer, retail sales person, and later, mortgage banker.
Fisher can be somewhat preachy in places where he tells us that throughout it all he never lost belief in himself. I feel that goes without saying. Regardless of the profession you choose to follow, you cannot be successful with first and foremost, belief in yourself.
Fisher’s book ultimately is a compilation of years of sales advice by sales leaders and businessmen.
He analyzes several factors that successful salespeople have to overcome beginning with fear. And, he talks about managing your time before your time manages you. All good advice but really things we already know and just need to do.
I think one of the most important things Fisher emphasizes that resonates with me is when he refers to speaking their language. Yes! You have to talk-the-talk and know the terminology of the industry your prospecting in. Otherwise you can never develop the rapport with the potential client to close the sale. You have to be an asset not a disadvantage. Customers want to engage in dialogue with those who understand their business and speak their language. You can’t make generalized phone calls. They have to be industry-specific.
Another solid feature of the book is Fisher’s Three-Tier approach in cataloging your prospects with Tier 1 accounts being the best; Tier 2 being those that meet two-thirds of the customer requirements and Tier 3 are those that meet one-third of the customer requirements. This system can help a salesperson organize their approach to calling on customers in a simple, yet definitive way.
I also found Fisher’s Power Hour concept to resonate with me because it’s so true that we aren’t our best all day. You need to find your “power hours” through the day where you focus on your sales outreach activities.
Erik’s Two Cents is also very helpful. It’s like the presentation of a case study and then Erik’s explanation of the case study with ideas for how to approach each scenario. It’s like having test cases to practice with.
All in all there’s a tremendous amount of value in this book from basic sales to more advanced techniques so it’s not just for the beginner sales person but even the more seasoned sales individual will get a lot out of it.
It’s long…you have to stay the course and of course, it’s not for everyone.
As I said in the beginning you need to be in the field to appreciate the content, advice, suggestions, anecdotes and lesson plans to become even better at what you do.
Obviously, the book is designed to be read and applied by either newbies to sales or seasoned professionals…either will garner some good stuff from this book!
The book is creative in its approach to new ideas for the field of sales. The book also contains templates about how to write sales emails, phone messaging, etc., which makes it a “How To” book.
I rate this book a five out of five.
- Mary Cicitta, September 21, 2020
Smart Advice In a Well-Written Package: All About Successful Selling
If you are a sales, new business development, call center or marketing person, you will really appreciate and value this book.
Written in a direct, forthright fashion it presents logical, linear information about the sales process, the evolution of the sales process from the 50’s to the 21st century moving from in person, conversational sales to new forms of media (TV, billboards, print and commercials) to what has become mostly online marketing strategies to make this sale.
What is at the nuts and bolts of Fisher’s book primarily comes down to the sales process. But, as the book describes in a very conversational fashion is that eventually consumers (and, yes, including corporations) became savvy to these sales tactics, rendering them essentially useless.
When Fisher talks about The Intelligent Factor, he’s spot on target. When your project yourself as a business partner or trusted advisor you become a step above the perceived “used car salesperson,” trying to get a potential customer to kick the tires to convince them to buy the car.
The basics of the book inform us succinctly that when you become a trusted advisor to a potential customer, and leverage the modern day approach to making a sale, you will flounder and be left in the dust.
Using interesting personal anecdotes, Fisher takes us through his early sales positions as a telemarketer, retail sales person, and later, mortgage banker.
Fisher can be somewhat preachy in places where he tells us that throughout it all he never lost belief in himself. I feel that goes without saying. Regardless of the profession you choose to follow, you cannot be successful with first and foremost, belief in yourself.
Fisher’s book ultimately is a compilation of years of sales advice by sales leaders and businessmen.
He analyzes several factors that successful salespeople have to overcome beginning with fear. And, he talks about managing your time before your time manages you. All good advice but really things we already know and just need to do.
I think one of the most important things Fisher emphasizes that resonates with me is when he refers to speaking their language. Yes! You have to talk-the-talk and know the terminology of the industry your prospecting in. Otherwise you can never develop the rapport with the potential client to close the sale. You have to be an asset not a disadvantage. Customers want to engage in dialogue with those who understand their business and speak their language. You can’t make generalized phone calls. They have to be industry-specific.
Another solid feature of the book is Fisher’s Three-Tier approach in cataloging your prospects with Tier 1 accounts being the best; Tier 2 being those that meet two-thirds of the customer requirements and Tier 3 are those that meet one-third of the customer requirements. This system can help a salesperson organize their approach to calling on customers in a simple, yet definitive way.
I also found Fisher’s Power Hour concept to resonate with me because it’s so true that we aren’t our best all day. You need to find your “power hours” through the day where you focus on your sales outreach activities.
Erik’s Two Cents is also very helpful. It’s like the presentation of a case study and then Erik’s explanation of the case study with ideas for how to approach each scenario. It’s like having test cases to practice with.
All in all there’s a tremendous amount of value in this book from basic sales to more advanced techniques so it’s not just for the beginner sales person but even the more seasoned sales individual will get a lot out of it.
It’s long…you have to stay the course and of course, it’s not for everyone.
As I said in the beginning you need to be in the field to appreciate the content, advice, suggestions, anecdotes and lesson plans to become even better at what you do.
Obviously, the book is designed to be read and applied by either newbies to sales or seasoned professionals…either will garner some good stuff from this book!
The book is creative in its approach to new ideas for the field of sales. The book also contains templates about how to write sales emails, phone messaging, etc., which makes it a “How To” book.
I rate this book a five out of five.
- Mary Cicitta, September 21, 2020
September 21, 2020
The entire point is the sales process.
And I mean that opening statement in connection to the content of the book but it applies to the subject matter in general too (it's not so much what you sell but how you sell it).
This book isn't joking around, right from the preface it's all about sales, or marketing, or how you present what you sell depending on your point of view. It has some interesting tidbits like: “The invention of television and post-World War II culture changed the landscape of sales. Sales became less about person-to-person conversations and more about making connection through different forms of media such as print, billboards and commercials.” Or on how to get over rejection/anxiety of prospecting: “Go for No. Game-ify prospecting. Flip it on its head and start trying to get more “nos.” Why? Because if “no” becomes the goal, you change the response in your brain. “No” becomes a very positive trigger.” And the same principle is applied with 'objection immunity.'
Also some interesting advice on how to overcome fearl: “Fear is a chemical reaction in your brain. Nothing more, nothing less. Nothing is happening to you physically other than the chemical trigger that's occurring in your brain.”
I also really like that this book includes several frameworks (I think it's better to call them templates but whatever) about how to write sales emails and phone messaging.
And I can't go on without mentioning that I just thought it was funny that connecting with the guys who can actually purchase (called the decision makers in the book) is through “the big secret” of just asking.
My one criticism of this read would be that this isn't completely newbie friendly. For example: “What is the one thing that sets great salespeople apart from the average? If you said prospecting, you are right.” Ok, but what's prospecting? Or at least for *this book* what is it? And this happens again later: “Before you begin customer outreach, it's important to cover the most commonly overlooked aspect of selling: value creation. Value creation is the nucleus of every deal. Without it, your ability to close customers will suffer and if you do happen to get lucky and land a few sales, the customer will often be left with buyer's remorse, which will impact your ability to sell to them more in the future and scale to new customers.” Again, ok, thanks for the heads up. But what's value creation?!
Sure, in both cases it could be argued that as you read you create your own definition (or go off the one you're familiar with) but I would've just liked a baseline instead of having to piecing it together. In fairness I should mention that value creations *is* technically defined: “Value creation can be defined as your ability to help a prospect solve a problem, gain pleasure, or move away from pain.”
Ah huh, yep, don't know about you but if I didn't have a general idea about what it's suppose to be I'd be left scratching my head...worse than I was that is.
However that said I don't think this book is actually meant for newbies so that previous con is really only in proportion to how much of a novice the reader is and in all fairness I highly doubt this is anyones idea of a light read (or at least I shouldn't think it is for someone who knows nothing about sales).
So I rate this five stars because it covers what it promises but I do so with a little hesitance simply because to me this is definitely a book you can't read without some prior knowledge. As someone who likes to pick up books on things I don't know much about (though I should clarify that I'm not a complete novice on the subject matter) I have more appreciation for books that put in the effort to be a little more user friendly. But I can't really fault this one's rating as a result when nowhere does it promise to take you by the hand. Therefor I would really only recommend this to people who are actually looking to know more on this specific topic with the caveat that it gives an overall idea on how to improve on sales but it's by no means a “how to get rich” book.
To conclude I can do it no better than the book itself: “It's important to remember that simply reading a book will not yield the results you desire. Earning a high six-figure income and more is possible if you put in the required work.”
And I mean that opening statement in connection to the content of the book but it applies to the subject matter in general too (it's not so much what you sell but how you sell it).
This book isn't joking around, right from the preface it's all about sales, or marketing, or how you present what you sell depending on your point of view. It has some interesting tidbits like: “The invention of television and post-World War II culture changed the landscape of sales. Sales became less about person-to-person conversations and more about making connection through different forms of media such as print, billboards and commercials.” Or on how to get over rejection/anxiety of prospecting: “Go for No. Game-ify prospecting. Flip it on its head and start trying to get more “nos.” Why? Because if “no” becomes the goal, you change the response in your brain. “No” becomes a very positive trigger.” And the same principle is applied with 'objection immunity.'
Also some interesting advice on how to overcome fearl: “Fear is a chemical reaction in your brain. Nothing more, nothing less. Nothing is happening to you physically other than the chemical trigger that's occurring in your brain.”
I also really like that this book includes several frameworks (I think it's better to call them templates but whatever) about how to write sales emails and phone messaging.
And I can't go on without mentioning that I just thought it was funny that connecting with the guys who can actually purchase (called the decision makers in the book) is through “the big secret” of just asking.
My one criticism of this read would be that this isn't completely newbie friendly. For example: “What is the one thing that sets great salespeople apart from the average? If you said prospecting, you are right.” Ok, but what's prospecting? Or at least for *this book* what is it? And this happens again later: “Before you begin customer outreach, it's important to cover the most commonly overlooked aspect of selling: value creation. Value creation is the nucleus of every deal. Without it, your ability to close customers will suffer and if you do happen to get lucky and land a few sales, the customer will often be left with buyer's remorse, which will impact your ability to sell to them more in the future and scale to new customers.” Again, ok, thanks for the heads up. But what's value creation?!
Sure, in both cases it could be argued that as you read you create your own definition (or go off the one you're familiar with) but I would've just liked a baseline instead of having to piecing it together. In fairness I should mention that value creations *is* technically defined: “Value creation can be defined as your ability to help a prospect solve a problem, gain pleasure, or move away from pain.”
Ah huh, yep, don't know about you but if I didn't have a general idea about what it's suppose to be I'd be left scratching my head...worse than I was that is.
However that said I don't think this book is actually meant for newbies so that previous con is really only in proportion to how much of a novice the reader is and in all fairness I highly doubt this is anyones idea of a light read (or at least I shouldn't think it is for someone who knows nothing about sales).
So I rate this five stars because it covers what it promises but I do so with a little hesitance simply because to me this is definitely a book you can't read without some prior knowledge. As someone who likes to pick up books on things I don't know much about (though I should clarify that I'm not a complete novice on the subject matter) I have more appreciation for books that put in the effort to be a little more user friendly. But I can't really fault this one's rating as a result when nowhere does it promise to take you by the hand. Therefor I would really only recommend this to people who are actually looking to know more on this specific topic with the caveat that it gives an overall idea on how to improve on sales but it's by no means a “how to get rich” book.
To conclude I can do it no better than the book itself: “It's important to remember that simply reading a book will not yield the results you desire. Earning a high six-figure income and more is possible if you put in the required work.”
December 9, 2020
Work Smarter not Harder
Erik Fisher explains how to transform your self from a simps sales person to a “trusted advisor” who understands their consumers needs. The Intelligence Factor offers simple and straight forward guidelines that can assist with everything form time management, business discernment, how to attract prospective clients and how to overcome fear. Weather to be fear of rejection, fear of making a pitch or fear of simply picking up the phone and following up on leads. Fisher explains simple aways to tackle any issue in sales head on.
While it’s always easier to leave any job that doesn’t bring a sense of satisfaction Fisher offers a different approach. Rather than running away from the typical challenges in Sales, the Intelligence factor offers various tools that enables readers to become successful in careers field.
Although this book does focus on elevating yourself in the career of Sales, many of the principles found in this book, can be transformed across different careers. In fact, one of my biggest takeaways from this book is to remember that outworking people will only get you to the top 10% of whatever industry you choose, but to get to the top 1% “you must be intentional in your process and tactics.” In other words work smarter, not harder; and that is where this book comes in handy.
Erik Fisher explains how to transform your self from a simps sales person to a “trusted advisor” who understands their consumers needs. The Intelligence Factor offers simple and straight forward guidelines that can assist with everything form time management, business discernment, how to attract prospective clients and how to overcome fear. Weather to be fear of rejection, fear of making a pitch or fear of simply picking up the phone and following up on leads. Fisher explains simple aways to tackle any issue in sales head on.
While it’s always easier to leave any job that doesn’t bring a sense of satisfaction Fisher offers a different approach. Rather than running away from the typical challenges in Sales, the Intelligence factor offers various tools that enables readers to become successful in careers field.
Although this book does focus on elevating yourself in the career of Sales, many of the principles found in this book, can be transformed across different careers. In fact, one of my biggest takeaways from this book is to remember that outworking people will only get you to the top 10% of whatever industry you choose, but to get to the top 1% “you must be intentional in your process and tactics.” In other words work smarter, not harder; and that is where this book comes in handy.
September 29, 2020
I love how this book has a workbook to go along with it. I think having something with exercises to go along with the whole process is really motivating to put some of the author’s suggestions into practice. I think it’s great that the author brings up artificial intelligence and machine learning and how much sales have changed over time. It’s important to acknowledge that it’s more difficult to stand out and get prospects’ attention, and the author definitely addresses those issues. I think the point that salespeople have to work harder now is a very important one as well. I think the author’s emphasis on confidence is also very poignant, and it applies to many areas of life, not just sales. My only issue with this book is while it is mostly well-written, it can get a bit wordy at times, and I find myself needing to reread some areas.
October 16, 2020
Timely insights for struggling sales.
The ideas presented here by Erik Fisher are not all new and many are common sense. What I found masterful here is the step-by-step action plans, laying out the advice in bullet points, tables, and easy to follow lists. The stories Erik tells about his beginnings in sales are believable, as they sound familiar and add to his likeable style. I especially admired his references to using powerful tools like gratitude and kindness in relationship-building, which are strong foundational skills for any relationship, business or personal.
Though this book is written specifically for Business-to-Business (B2B) sales, there were some good suggestions and tips that I will carry into a customer-based business, and share with friends.
The ideas presented here by Erik Fisher are not all new and many are common sense. What I found masterful here is the step-by-step action plans, laying out the advice in bullet points, tables, and easy to follow lists. The stories Erik tells about his beginnings in sales are believable, as they sound familiar and add to his likeable style. I especially admired his references to using powerful tools like gratitude and kindness in relationship-building, which are strong foundational skills for any relationship, business or personal.
Though this book is written specifically for Business-to-Business (B2B) sales, there were some good suggestions and tips that I will carry into a customer-based business, and share with friends.
September 25, 2020
If you’re looking for a book to help you get rich quick this is not the book for you. If you’re willing to work hard and let go of fear, this book can help you to develop and hone the skills necessary to become a pro at B2B prospecting. The workbook is an absolute value add to the package.
If you’re ready to put in some long hours and do some hard work Fisher’s insightful work is right for you. At 194 pages it’s a pretty easy and quick read that is worth the time if you’re willing to put its advice to use.
If you’re ready to put in some long hours and do some hard work Fisher’s insightful work is right for you. At 194 pages it’s a pretty easy and quick read that is worth the time if you’re willing to put its advice to use.
September 19, 2020
From then to now in sales
Erik Fisher shows how the history of sales changed in the 20th century to today. He took that history, his retail sales work experience, college education, and desire to make big money like his peers to become a millionaire. Now he shares what he learned then, what he knows now, and what’s changing to save others time and money. Awesome read for entrepreneurs.
Erik Fisher shows how the history of sales changed in the 20th century to today. He took that history, his retail sales work experience, college education, and desire to make big money like his peers to become a millionaire. Now he shares what he learned then, what he knows now, and what’s changing to save others time and money. Awesome read for entrepreneurs.
September 25, 2020
The Intelligence Factor is an in-depth guide that shows you how to succeed in sales. The author gives many examples from his own experience to create real world scenarios. This approach not only provides a personal outlook, but allows the book to not be full of facts and figures only. The book is clearly written. It is always significant when a person wants to share their knowledge so someone else can flourish.
October 15, 2020
This book is really informational especially for a business minded person. it talks about sales and marketing and gives good tips on how to grow in the business world. Another good thing about the book is the workbook that is attached to it to give you a hands on with the teachings in the book to help you get a better understanding . Overall the Intelligence Factor is a good in-depth guide to show you how to succeed in sales and marketing aspects as well.
September 18, 2020
A solid read with a lot of information
I found this book to be full of helpful, insightful knowledge about making time work for you, building leads and a successful business. I found all of the advice to be very good and none of the work to be to particularly challenging. Just good, practical guidance.
I found this book to be full of helpful, insightful knowledge about making time work for you, building leads and a successful business. I found all of the advice to be very good and none of the work to be to particularly challenging. Just good, practical guidance.
September 20, 2020
As a small business owner, I found this book to be extremely insightful. The Intelligence Factor is a book that is chock full of tips on how to grow your business and make it massively successful. TIS has tips within it on how to use internet marketing properly and also how to really close a business deal. I love this book and I totally recommend it.
December 10, 2020
The was a great book providing insight into selling - I highly recommend this book if your trying to start a business or simply selling things online such as amazon or eBay. I did notice things I was doing wrong on the online sales markets which I have fixed and it gaining more interests in certain items. Thanks for the information in the book I cant recommend this enough.
December 18, 2020
This book is clearly and concisely written. I gained new perspectives regarding customer service and how to determine what prospective clients actually want and need from me. The author broke down his explanations bit by bit which made understanding and implementing his points easy to follow - especially for someone without much experience.
September 22, 2020
Fisher explains his backstory when he starts out and describes his selling techniques and ways he sells to earn more. Recommended for sales representatives who want to earn more of those who are struggling.
September 27, 2020
This book really seems helpful in getting tips and ideas about B2B selling. The author's experience, describing step by step progression on selling seemed practical, effective and easy to follow steps. It is really an intelligent book on selling. Thanks!
September 20, 2020
Informative
Very informative for any business owner or entrepreneur. Gives great background, tips for success and approaches that are easy to comprehend.
Very informative for any business owner or entrepreneur. Gives great background, tips for success and approaches that are easy to comprehend.
September 21, 2020
A perfect concept book for business owners both large and small. It’s contemporary so it does get you to rethink on how to close a deal and keep the interest of the party you are selling to.
September 22, 2020
Helpful
Really helpful. All entrepreneurs and sales people should read this book . It has many helpful tips that can be used to scale the ladder in your profession.
Really helpful. All entrepreneurs and sales people should read this book . It has many helpful tips that can be used to scale the ladder in your profession.
September 30, 2020
The most comprehensive book ever written on modern sales prospecting. It’s very useful, even for other business endeavors. Great book.
October 14, 2020
Great book
The book gives you great insight on how to open up a store gives you tips on time management.Talks about selling on the teller marketing level . The book covers everything
The book gives you great insight on how to open up a store gives you tips on time management.Talks about selling on the teller marketing level . The book covers everything
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews