What do you think?
Rate this book
CustomerCentric Selling
FROM THE BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF SOLUTION SELLING The program that is revolutionizing highend selling, by showing companies how to "clone" their top sales performers CEOs would pay anything to replicate their best salespeople; CustomerCentric Selling TM explains instead how to replicate their skills. It details a repeatable, scalable, and transferable sales process that formats the questions that superior salespeople ask, and then uses the results to influence and enhance the words and behaviors of their colleagues. CustomerCentric Selling TM shows salespersons how to differentiate themselves and their offerings by appealing to customer needs, steering away from making one-way presentations and toward having meaningful and goal-oriented conversations. Currently offered in workshops and seminars around the world, its program provides step-by-step directions to help sales
304 pages, Hardcover
First published November 18, 2003
51 people are currently reading
238 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
Read
November 9, 2025In "Customer Centric Selling: How Changing the Conversation Leads to Lasting Success" by Michael T. Bosworth and John R. Holland, the authors challenge the traditional idea of selling as a performance of persuasion. They argue that modern buyers don’t want to be sold to - they want to be understood. Instead of pitching products, salespeople should become skilled diagnosticians who uncover what their customers truly want to achieve. This transformation from 'product pusher' to 'trusted advisor' changes the entire sales dynamic, helping sellers build trust, shorten cycles, and close deals that last. The central idea is simple but revolutionary: people don’t buy because they are convinced by a salesperson - they buy because they convince themselves. The job of a great seller is to facilitate that discovery process.
The book opens with a scene familiar to many salespeople: a well-prepared rep, armed with product knowledge and polished slides, enters a meeting full of hope - only to leave with vague promises of follow-up and no real progress. Despite their effort, the conversation falls flat because it focuses on 'what' the product is, not 'what it enables'. Bosworth and Holland call this mismatch the 'misalignment.' Most salespeople are trained to speak in nouns - product names, specifications, and features - while senior decision-makers think in verbs: reducing costs, improving speed, or increasing market share. When a salesperson talks about a 'scalable platform,' the executive silently asks, 'How does that help me achieve my goals?' The disconnect forces buyers to make the mental leap from technical attributes to business outcomes - a leap few will bother to make. Consequently, the salesperson gets passed down the chain of command to people who care about the details but lack the authority to approve the purchase.
To break this pattern, the authors insist on a mindset shift: stop selling products, start helping buyers achieve outcomes. Executives don’t buy technology; they buy results. Successful selling means entering the conversation already fluent in the customer’s business language - understanding how they measure success and framing your offering in those terms. If you talk about increasing forecast accuracy or accelerating time-to-market, you stay in the room with the people who can actually say 'yes.' The moment you revert to technical jargon, you lose relevance and get delegated out of influence.
Once this perspective is in place, the book reframes what a sales cycle really is. A true sale doesn’t begin when a seller makes contact; it begins when a buyer articulates a goal that you can help them achieve. Without a defined, measurable goal, there is no prospect - only a conversation. The key, then, is to guide buyers toward sharing their objectives openly. People are more willing to discuss aspirations than failures, so sellers should focus on understanding goals rather than probing for pain. The authors liken this process to a doctor diagnosing a patient. When you visit a skilled physician, they don’t start prescribing treatments - they ask intelligent, specific questions to uncover the cause of your symptoms. The more relevant their questions, the more you trust their expertise. Likewise, in sales, every thoughtful question builds credibility. Buyers begin to see the salesperson not as someone trying to push a product, but as someone capable of understanding and improving their business.
This diagnostic approach transforms the nature of the conversation. The salesperson’s role becomes guiding the buyer through a self-discovery process where they connect their goals to the seller’s capabilities. The buyer, not the seller, defines the 'solution.' By the time they realize, 'If we had this ability, we could hit our target,' the product has become their idea - a solution they own. This ownership is critical because people defend what they help create. Instead of being convinced by external pressure, they persuade themselves internally, becoming champions who advocate for your offering inside their company. At that point, closing the sale feels natural, not forced.
Of course, simply asking random questions isn’t enough. Bosworth and Holland introduce a structured conversational tool called the 'Solution Development Prompter (SDP)' - a framework for guiding discussions systematically while keeping them natural. The SDP acts as a conversational roadmap, ensuring that every dialogue is focused, relevant, and replicable across a sales team. It has two sides: the diagnostic half, which uncovers goals and gaps, and the solution half, which translates product capabilities into meaningful, real-world applications. The authors emphasize the formula EQPA - Event, Question, Player, and Action - as a way to describe product features in context. For instance, rather than talking about 'mobile access,' you might ask, 'When managers need to review deals at the end of the quarter, would it help if they could instantly check the latest pipeline data from anywhere?' This subtle shift transforms a technical feature into an action-driven scenario that executives can visualize and value.
On the diagnostic side, each scenario has paired questions designed to expose obstacles preventing the buyer from reaching their goal. These are not random queries - they are purpose-built to lead the buyer toward realizing their own need for what you offer. The magic lies in balance: asking enough to diagnose the situation thoroughly but not so much that it feels like an interrogation. Used correctly, the SDP keeps conversations fluid and authentic while ensuring every exchange leads somewhere meaningful.
With practice, these conversations start to flow naturally. The process resembles jazz more than a script - structured but improvisational. You might begin with an open-ended question like, 'How do you forecast today?' and let the dialogue unfold. Each response provides material for the next question, guiding the buyer from describing their process to acknowledging its limitations. When frustration or uncertainty surfaces, you know you’ve found an opportunity. Reflecting it back - 'So, your team depends on a few major deals each quarter?' - deepens trust and highlights the cost of the problem. Only after fully diagnosing the situation do you pivot to your solution scenarios, presenting them as exploratory questions rather than pitches. This sequence allows the buyer to connect the dots organically and declare, in their own words, how your capabilities could help. Once they verbalize that connection, the hard part of selling is already done.
After establishing this shared vision, the next step is making it tangible before it fades. Bosworth and Holland emphasize the importance of documentation through two critical tools: the 'champion letter' and the 'sequence of events'. The champion letter, sent immediately after a successful meeting, captures the buyer’s goals, the challenges discussed, and the vision for success you co-created. It isn’t marketing fluff - it’s a validation of mutual understanding. When the buyer agrees with it and shares it internally, they become your advocate. The sequence of events follows, mapping out each milestone toward a final decision - technical reviews, demonstrations, financial approvals - complete with owners and deadlines. This approach turns selling into project management. Both parties know what comes next, and momentum replaces uncertainty.
The brilliance of this structure is how it redefines the seller-buyer relationship. Instead of manipulation or pressure, it becomes collaboration. Instead of chasing decisions, you co-own the process. The buyer feels in control, and you gain predictable progress. This transparency builds immense trust and eliminates the adversarial dynamic that so often plagues traditional sales.
By the end of "Customer Centric Selling", it’s clear that the most successful salespeople don’t rely on charisma, clever presentations, or closing tricks. They rely on empathy, structure, and disciplined curiosity. Selling becomes less about convincing and more about facilitating - less about products and more about possibilities. By diagnosing before prescribing, speaking in the language of outcomes, and letting buyers author their own solutions, sales professionals earn the credibility that keeps them in the room where decisions are made.
In conclusion, "Customer Centric Selling: How Changing the Conversation Leads to Lasting Success" teaches that lasting success comes not from pushing harder but from listening smarter. When sellers align their conversations with the way buyers think, they stop competing for attention and start collaborating toward results. Every question becomes a bridge of understanding, every meeting an opportunity for shared discovery. In a world overflowing with pitches and pressure, the salesperson who helps buyers convince themselves doesn’t just close deals - they build relationships that endure.
The book opens with a scene familiar to many salespeople: a well-prepared rep, armed with product knowledge and polished slides, enters a meeting full of hope - only to leave with vague promises of follow-up and no real progress. Despite their effort, the conversation falls flat because it focuses on 'what' the product is, not 'what it enables'. Bosworth and Holland call this mismatch the 'misalignment.' Most salespeople are trained to speak in nouns - product names, specifications, and features - while senior decision-makers think in verbs: reducing costs, improving speed, or increasing market share. When a salesperson talks about a 'scalable platform,' the executive silently asks, 'How does that help me achieve my goals?' The disconnect forces buyers to make the mental leap from technical attributes to business outcomes - a leap few will bother to make. Consequently, the salesperson gets passed down the chain of command to people who care about the details but lack the authority to approve the purchase.
To break this pattern, the authors insist on a mindset shift: stop selling products, start helping buyers achieve outcomes. Executives don’t buy technology; they buy results. Successful selling means entering the conversation already fluent in the customer’s business language - understanding how they measure success and framing your offering in those terms. If you talk about increasing forecast accuracy or accelerating time-to-market, you stay in the room with the people who can actually say 'yes.' The moment you revert to technical jargon, you lose relevance and get delegated out of influence.
Once this perspective is in place, the book reframes what a sales cycle really is. A true sale doesn’t begin when a seller makes contact; it begins when a buyer articulates a goal that you can help them achieve. Without a defined, measurable goal, there is no prospect - only a conversation. The key, then, is to guide buyers toward sharing their objectives openly. People are more willing to discuss aspirations than failures, so sellers should focus on understanding goals rather than probing for pain. The authors liken this process to a doctor diagnosing a patient. When you visit a skilled physician, they don’t start prescribing treatments - they ask intelligent, specific questions to uncover the cause of your symptoms. The more relevant their questions, the more you trust their expertise. Likewise, in sales, every thoughtful question builds credibility. Buyers begin to see the salesperson not as someone trying to push a product, but as someone capable of understanding and improving their business.
This diagnostic approach transforms the nature of the conversation. The salesperson’s role becomes guiding the buyer through a self-discovery process where they connect their goals to the seller’s capabilities. The buyer, not the seller, defines the 'solution.' By the time they realize, 'If we had this ability, we could hit our target,' the product has become their idea - a solution they own. This ownership is critical because people defend what they help create. Instead of being convinced by external pressure, they persuade themselves internally, becoming champions who advocate for your offering inside their company. At that point, closing the sale feels natural, not forced.
Of course, simply asking random questions isn’t enough. Bosworth and Holland introduce a structured conversational tool called the 'Solution Development Prompter (SDP)' - a framework for guiding discussions systematically while keeping them natural. The SDP acts as a conversational roadmap, ensuring that every dialogue is focused, relevant, and replicable across a sales team. It has two sides: the diagnostic half, which uncovers goals and gaps, and the solution half, which translates product capabilities into meaningful, real-world applications. The authors emphasize the formula EQPA - Event, Question, Player, and Action - as a way to describe product features in context. For instance, rather than talking about 'mobile access,' you might ask, 'When managers need to review deals at the end of the quarter, would it help if they could instantly check the latest pipeline data from anywhere?' This subtle shift transforms a technical feature into an action-driven scenario that executives can visualize and value.
On the diagnostic side, each scenario has paired questions designed to expose obstacles preventing the buyer from reaching their goal. These are not random queries - they are purpose-built to lead the buyer toward realizing their own need for what you offer. The magic lies in balance: asking enough to diagnose the situation thoroughly but not so much that it feels like an interrogation. Used correctly, the SDP keeps conversations fluid and authentic while ensuring every exchange leads somewhere meaningful.
With practice, these conversations start to flow naturally. The process resembles jazz more than a script - structured but improvisational. You might begin with an open-ended question like, 'How do you forecast today?' and let the dialogue unfold. Each response provides material for the next question, guiding the buyer from describing their process to acknowledging its limitations. When frustration or uncertainty surfaces, you know you’ve found an opportunity. Reflecting it back - 'So, your team depends on a few major deals each quarter?' - deepens trust and highlights the cost of the problem. Only after fully diagnosing the situation do you pivot to your solution scenarios, presenting them as exploratory questions rather than pitches. This sequence allows the buyer to connect the dots organically and declare, in their own words, how your capabilities could help. Once they verbalize that connection, the hard part of selling is already done.
After establishing this shared vision, the next step is making it tangible before it fades. Bosworth and Holland emphasize the importance of documentation through two critical tools: the 'champion letter' and the 'sequence of events'. The champion letter, sent immediately after a successful meeting, captures the buyer’s goals, the challenges discussed, and the vision for success you co-created. It isn’t marketing fluff - it’s a validation of mutual understanding. When the buyer agrees with it and shares it internally, they become your advocate. The sequence of events follows, mapping out each milestone toward a final decision - technical reviews, demonstrations, financial approvals - complete with owners and deadlines. This approach turns selling into project management. Both parties know what comes next, and momentum replaces uncertainty.
The brilliance of this structure is how it redefines the seller-buyer relationship. Instead of manipulation or pressure, it becomes collaboration. Instead of chasing decisions, you co-own the process. The buyer feels in control, and you gain predictable progress. This transparency builds immense trust and eliminates the adversarial dynamic that so often plagues traditional sales.
By the end of "Customer Centric Selling", it’s clear that the most successful salespeople don’t rely on charisma, clever presentations, or closing tricks. They rely on empathy, structure, and disciplined curiosity. Selling becomes less about convincing and more about facilitating - less about products and more about possibilities. By diagnosing before prescribing, speaking in the language of outcomes, and letting buyers author their own solutions, sales professionals earn the credibility that keeps them in the room where decisions are made.
In conclusion, "Customer Centric Selling: How Changing the Conversation Leads to Lasting Success" teaches that lasting success comes not from pushing harder but from listening smarter. When sellers align their conversations with the way buyers think, they stop competing for attention and start collaborating toward results. Every question becomes a bridge of understanding, every meeting an opportunity for shared discovery. In a world overflowing with pitches and pressure, the salesperson who helps buyers convince themselves doesn’t just close deals - they build relationships that endure.
May 8, 2025
Not bad just not for my purposes. I rented over 10 books from the library on sales and this was the least useful. It's not for sole proprietors. Even though the other books were about sales management and teams, a lot of the knowledge was transferrable to my independent entrepreneurship. This one, not so much. Anything transferrable was basic knowledge already in other books. All you need to know is the main premise which is personalize your pitch to the individual customer. Pretty much everything else in the book stems from that.
February 5, 2023
It might sound stupid, but this is the first thing I have voluntarily read that was work-related that I read so I could get better at my job. No ragrets, in the two months it took me to read I completely transformed the way I do my own work and talk with my own clients. Made my first sale last week. Highly recommended book.
June 23, 2018
One of the best sales books on tools and techniques I have ever read.
Solutions Development Prompter is a great tool.
This book a bit broader than just sales, also into Marketing and Sales management, but overall a great methodology for complex enterprise stuff.
Solutions Development Prompter is a great tool.
This book a bit broader than just sales, also into Marketing and Sales management, but overall a great methodology for complex enterprise stuff.
Read
June 16, 2020Applying customer centric selling is customizing the sales process itself just as much if not more than customizing the product/service to the customer. Customize the drive and the destination will be marvelous.
April 17, 2019
Dull at times...but there's some valuable information within. Recommend.
April 21, 2020
Garbage snake oil salesmen methods from garbage snake oil salesmen.
June 22, 2010
Horrible book. The guy who wrote Solution Selling--and then sold the franchise in the late '90s--basically put a layer of makeup on his old methodology and is attempting to repackage it. But what really got me was his ongoing slams against marketing professionals. He talks about marketers who crow about getting 70 leads from a trade show, and then half of the leads are students and consultants. Hello, we've been through two recessions--there is no marketer alive who does that and is still employed. Reading this book made me understand what jews feel like when they read Mein Kampf.
March 19, 2022
I really found the sales approach mentioned in this book to be great. It talked a lot about the typical techniques that are often used in a sales cycle (like offering sales discounts), in order to speed up a sale. (Which is a no-no)
The book highlighted how this is the incorrect approach for Customer Centric Selling.
I also liked how it mentioned the method of first diagnosing a buyer’s problem before recommending a solution.
There was a lot of great info in this book that can help any organization doing sales.
The book highlighted how this is the incorrect approach for Customer Centric Selling.
I also liked how it mentioned the method of first diagnosing a buyer’s problem before recommending a solution.
There was a lot of great info in this book that can help any organization doing sales.
December 14, 2015
Some of the chapters have nuggets of wisdom that are interesting observations on broken sales process, as well as some insight on sales levers that were well communicated, even if not always substantiated with much more than the author's opinion. Unfortunately, the spots of insight were buried in an otherwise tedious and outdated read.
May 5, 2008
Several good concepts that are not taught in Solution-Selling, like why trade shows and conventions are a complete waste of money when following the traditional methods of displaying wares and standing in the booth like a shoe-salesman.
September 11, 2013
Es una introducci�_n al concepto. Requiere m��s trabajo pero es un buen libro de inicio
December 26, 2013
Brilliant book; more a guide than a theoretical book. SERIOUSLY recommend to anyone in a sales role
December 4, 2015
Eye-opening.
Read
January 25, 2016Definitely a must.
February 1, 2016
Presents SELLING with a completely different philosophy. I enjoyed reading it.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews