Selling is giving: giving time, attention, counsel, education, empathy, and value", write co-authors Bob Burg and John David Mann in their revolutionary and sales mindset altering book Go-Givers Sell More. The authors build on their message of giving first articulated in their now classic business fable The Go-Giver: A Little Story About a Powerful Business Idea, and apply it successfully to improving the sales experience for both the sales representative and for the buyer.
Bob Burg (photo left) and John David Mann point out that most people believe they would never be successful in sales. They also make the startling revelation that many current members of the sales profession harbor that secret belief themselves. The authors recognize the problem as sales people having the entire idea of sales backwards. For the authors, this backwards approach considers sales as getting people to do something almost against their will, through convincing sales pitches and manipulation. Because this concept is based on taking advantage of others, it fails. The authors provide the paradigm changing idea that sales is about giving advantage to others. Sales at its best and its most effective, according to the authors, is all about giving.
Bob Burg and John David Mann understand that the almost universal approach to sales training is about such things as prospecting dialogue, qualifying questions, overcoming objections, and closing the sale. That standard theory of what leads to sales success is very wrong, according to the authors. In truth, those same sales people experience great difficulty in every step of the sales process, leaving the entire concept very suspect in the end. The authors begin at the other end of the sales discussion by adding value from the very beginning, by giving. Instead of the close, the authors prefer the open, and they also believe in listening and learning from the other person. Instead of the traditional idea of controlling the sales conversation, the authors recommend shifting the focus away from control and getting, and concentrate on giving and helping others succeed.
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