In Lead, Sell, or Get Out of the Way, Ron Karr outlines a repeatable process based on the powerful idea that great sellers lead relationships in the same way that great leaders sell ideas. This customer-focused mindset is the key to Ron Karr's proven leadership selling process. Using 20 years of research with companies of all sizes, Karr reveals what great sellers do, and shows how anyone can implement the same powerful principles. He reveals the seven critical traits of a sales leader, which include vision, customer focus, creative thinking, and accountability. Developing the seven traits is the key that helps salespeople shift from a task-oriented sales process to a purpose-oriented process. When that happens, sales excellence results.
Table of Contents:
Acknowledgments xv
Introduction Leading the Way xvii
Two Ways to Grow a Business xviii
Three Choices xix
You Can Lead xix
You Can Sell xix
You Can Get Out of the Way xix
The Integrated Dialogue TM xx
1 The Case for Leadership 1
Beyond the Lone Ranger 2
Leaders Don’t Puke 2
The Job of Being a Sales Leader Never Ends 5
You Sell Ideas 6
Lead with the Outcome! 7
Why Wouldn’t You Sell This Way? 9
The Leadership mix 9
Don’t Waste Time! 11
Leaders Don’t Get Sidetracked by Price 11
“It All Sounds the Same!” 12
You Must Lead the Team 14
Old Sales Model Versus New Sales Model 15
2 The Five Beliefs of Effective Leaders 17
Belief #1: You Have Everything You Need 17
Belief #2: You Can Improve Any Area of Your Life That You Choose 18
Belief #3: Everything Is Possible 19
Belief #4: Preparation Maximizes Your Potential 20
Belief #5: Customers Come First 25
Are You Ready? 27
3 The Seven Traits of Great Sellers 29
Trait #1: Visualizing 29
Trait #2: Positioning 32
Trait #3: Building Alliances 33
Trait #4: Asking Good Questions 34
Trait #5: Creating Powerful Value Propositions 36
Trait #6: Communicate Persuasively 38
Trait #7: Holding Yourself Accountable 39
4 Visualizing 41
Visualize Big! 41
Reinventing the Business 43
How to Create a Clear Vision 45
Seven Elements of a Clear Vision 46
Blank Piece of Paper 46
“Think Tank” Method 46
Make It Specific 47
Can You Evangelize? 47
Use Intuitive Judgment 49
Build for the Long Term 50
Element of Time 51
Personal Vision Versus Customer Vision 51
Attract Customer’s Time and Attention 51
Develop Alliances 51
Reduce Your Sales Cycle 51
Improve Your Positioning 53
Uncover Hidden Traps 53
Improve Your Closing Ratio 54
Your Turn! 55
Personal Accountability 55
Your Chapter Four Commitment 56
5 Positioning 59
Strategic Positioning: Where Do You Want to Go? 60
Four Buying Phases 62
No Need 62
Looking 62
Deciding 62
Rolling Out 62
No Need 64
You May Still Get Stuck in the “Looking Phase” 66
Tactical Positioning: What Do You Say and Do in Support of Your Strategy? 67
Positioning by Title 68
Positioning by Product or Service 69
Positioning by Resource 70
Improved Revenues 70
Improved Productivity 71
Reduced Operating Costs 71
Increased Competitive Edge 72
Your “Resource Proclamation” 73
How I Created My First Resource Proclamation 75
Fine-Tune It! 78
Beware of Preconceptions! 79
The Global Resource Proclamation 80
Ingredients of a Successful Global Resource Proclamation 81
Communicate the What 81
Keep it Simple 82
Make it Memorable 82
The Situational Resource Proclamation 83
Resource Proclamation Dos and Don’ts 85
Why You Need the Resource Proclamation 86
Your Chapter Five Commitment 87
6 Building Alliances 89
Building Internal Alliances 90
Winning the War, Not the Battle 97
Acknowledge 98
Empathize 98
Provide Solutions 98
Make a Commitment to Move Forward 98
Seven Steps for Conflict Resolution and Building 99
Do Not Assign Blame 99
Strip Away Emotion 99
Put Your Needs to the Side 99
Find Out What’s Important to the Other Person 99
Find a Middle Ground 99
Engage the Other Person to Jointly Develop Solution 99
Secure Agreement 99
Building Customer Alliances 100
The Comparative Mindset 100
The Implementer Mindset 100
The Decision-Making Mindset 100
A Fourth Mindset 103
You May Need More Than One Coach 105
Advocate Alliances 106
Social Networking and Alliance-Building 107
Build “End to End” Alliances 108
Your Chapter Six Commitment 110
7 Asking Good Questions 113
Questions that Earn Time, Interest, and Attention 114
How Much Thought Do You Give to Your Questions? 115
Are You Opening with the Questions a Leader Would Ask? 115
Issues-Based Questions 119
Are You a Trusted Advisor? 120
Leaders Use This Stuff—Because It Works! 123
Issues-Based Questions Affect Everything 125
The Magic of “Three” 127
Transform the Conversation 128
“Do You Mean I Can Never Ask Status-Based Questions?” 129
The Delta of Opportunity 130
Illustrative Questions 131
The Clarification Question 132
The Consequence Question 134
No Scripts! 135
Listen to the Answers 136
What’s the Intent? 137
Sales Leaders Never Stop Asking Issues-Based Questions 139
Your Chapter Seven Commitment 140
8 Creating Powerful Value Propositions 143
What’s Still Missing? 145
The Consequence of the Prospect’s Choices 148
The Consequence Question 148
You Are Asking People to Change! 149
Change Can Be Painful! 149
What Is the Consequence of Not Working with You? 150
Build Up to the Consequence Question 152
The Value Equation 153
Don’t Try to Use a Script to Set Up Your Consequence Question! 154
Do You Fear the Consequence Question? 159
Deal or No Deal? 161
Three Motivators 162
Tangible 163
Intangible 164
Emotional 167
What’s the Compelling Reason? 169
Case Study: Kodak 170
The All-in-One Value Proposition 171
Kodak’s Strategic Plan 172
The Value Is in the mix 173
Take the Time, Make It Unique 175
Your Chapter Eight Commitment 175
9 Communicating Persuasively 177
Your Communications MBA 178
Low-Impact Presentations Deliver Low-Impact Commissions 179
Move Forward Anyway 180
The Leadership Communication Profile 182
Skill #1: Establishing Congruence 183
Did You Hear the Story About .? 185
Skill #2: Assessing the Audience and the Opportunity 186
Assessing the Audience 187
Assessing the Opportunity 190
The Perfect Assessment 192
Skill #3: Translating the Message 193
Skill #4: Making Them Laugh 197
Skill #5: Giving Them Options 200
Skill #6: Supporting the Message with the Medium (Not Vice Versa) 201
Three Dos and Don’ts 202
Don’t Overload Screen with Words 202
Use Pictures and Photographs 203
Don’t Read Slides Verbatim 203
Skill #7: Conflict Resolution 205
Your Chapter Nine Commitment 208
10 Holding Yourself Accountable 211
The Big Misconception 212
Leaders Are Accountable to Themselves First 215
“You’re Fired!” 216
Accepting Personal Responsibility 218
Taking Action 218
Monitoring Results 218
Noticing What’s Working and What’s Not 218
Changing Course as Necessary 218
Getting Off the Launching Pad 218
Quality of Success Actions 219
The Sales Process 225
Your Chapter Ten Commitment 227
Epilogue 231
Finally, Let Me Introduce You to Phil 233
Appendix Productivity Tools for Sales Leaders 237
CRM’s Customer Relationship Manager Software 237
Databases 238
Marketing 239
Networking 240
Sales Team Productivity Resource 241
Or Contact Us Directly! 243
Index 245
About the Author :
RON KARR is a popular public speaker and in-demand business consultant known internationally as a business development expert. As President of Karr Associates, Inc., he specializes in helping organizations and professionals generate remarkable sales and operational results. His client list includes such companies as Agfa, Morgan Stanley, MetLife, Wright Medical, and UPS.
