Lead, Sell, or Get Out of the Way: The 7 Traits of Great Sellers

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.