Author: Ron Volper, PhD
Publisher: Career Press, 224 pages
Book Review by Paiso Jamakar
There have been countless books written in recent years on how to increase sales, but only those who are in the battlefield of sales struggling to sell in this, the toughest recessionary economic environment since the US Great Depression of the 1930s really know how tough it really is, now.
A business owner friend of mine said to me recently: “Nowadays, I work twice as hard but do only half as much sales – even with much reduced prices and faster delivery – as I used to before the economy went south….does that mean I can do just as much sales as before by contacting and seeing four times as many customers? Nope, don’t bet on it. It’s totally unpredictable. There’s no guarantee. It depends on whether there is good or bad (economic) news coming out that day…did more people lose jobs…by what percent did house prices decrease…by how many points did the Dow go down?
So this book addresses the question of how to increase your sales in a down market. It presents twenty strategies to do that. Have they worked for readers? One of people whose comments have been posted on its back cover writes: “His recommendations to increase sales are thoughtful and creative, but more importantly, they work. They worked for me at two public companies, and they’ll no doubt work for other sales and marketing executives and their salespeople.”
So who is Ron Volper and what is his background on sales and business development? The book and some of his clients state that he is someone who has advised 90 of the Fortune 500 firms and many mid-sized companies on how to increase sales and has trained more than 30,000 salespeople in the past 25 years. He is also an adjunct faculty member at New York University.
The book is organized neatly into 20 chapters laying out the 20 strategies that top salespeople use to sell products and services to cautious buyers. The first 10 strategies are directed primarily at salespeople to sell more, and the other 10 are aimed more towards sales managers to help increase sales volumes of their teams.
It is well worth your time to get this book, closely read and understand, and try out these sales strategies that are actually being used by successful salespeople. It is important to note that the book is based on actual sales reports, what sales managers, sales people and customers have said what they tell one another and do. More importantly, it is based on observations of actual sales encounters and meetings.
Reading and understanding the sales strategies is not enough, I believe. Utilizing them in face-to-face situations is best in order to get results for your company.
If the current economic situation has made sales more difficult than ever, you need his book. If you are facing some of the following challenges in your sales career, this book provides the solutions to them. Most sales people are now facing them on a daily basis, as I have learned in conversations with them.
Your customers have tighter budgets because their revenues have plunged, and so has their net income, if there is any.
They’re telling you that buying decisions are now being made by a committee, instead of just themselves, as management seeks to get a tighter rein on costs and expenses.
They want you to lower your prices, to “sharpen your pencil,” and they’re getting quotes from several vendors.
They’re asking for proof of return on investment on your product or service.
They’re buying smaller quantities of products or want to first do a trial on your services.
They will pay you for your services only if they bring in more sales for them.
With tight-fisted customers having become very cautious in buying, fearful of the future of the U.S. economy and their markets, sales people whose numbers have dived need this book more than ever before. One of the most important parts of this book that you will discover on how to get more sales is the MORE model.
