Why Killer Products Don't Sell – How to run your company to a new set of rules

Coming from conversations with executive teams of technology companies, venture capitalists, and M&A advisers, the insights contained in Why Killer Products Don't Sell are gold dust. First the book lays bare the claim that sales is sales is sales. It exposes the 4 very different 'Buying Cultures' and how they should be approached: Value Offered, Value Added, Value Created, and Value Captured. But it also gives a proven methodology for assessing a company's product mix ('offering' vs 'buying culture'), and a transformation approach to optimize sales and improve competitiveness.

Table of Contents:
Acknowledgments xi Foreword xiii Introduction xv What this book is about xv Why we wrote this book xvi A bar in Rotterdam xvii Who should read this book xix How to use this book xxiii 1: Some killer products really don t sell 1 So many products, so few sales 1 Heroic failures 4 So firstly, what is a failure? 8 2: It s not how you sell, but how customers buy 11 Sales is sales is sales right? 11 Four buying cultures 14 How does all this relate to Geoffrey Moore s Chasm? 17 WIIFM so what exactly does all this mean to me? 19 How do people buy? 22 Momentum = getting the right people on board 26 Managing risk 27 3: If they are buying are you selling? 29 Choosing the correct buying culture 29 Exploring the buying cultures 31 Different buying cultures, different operational cultures 37 What does a Value Captured company feel like? 40 What does a Value Created company feel like? 43 What does a Value Added company look like? 47 What does a Value Offered company look like? 50 4: The best kept secret Value Created sales 53 Why Value Created 53 Why do so many companies get it wrong? 55 Vital signs 56 Why is Value Created difficult? 62 A Value Created salesman working in a Value Added company 63 And now some good news 66 5: The magic of a Value Created company 71 The perfect storm 71 The case for change 73 Management 74 R&D 79 Marketing 80 Sales 82 Delivery 94 Support 95 Safety notes 99 6: So what can I do about it? 109 CEO 109 CEO of a start-up 110 Chief Operations Officer 111 Sales Director 112 Head of M&A 113 Head of Marketing 114 Investors or VCs 114 Head of Innovation 116 7: Always change a winning team 119 Can you have too much success? 119 So, are you performing? 120 Transformation the OCA methodology 123 Using the OCA methodology 133 The Final Word: A summary 137 Appendix 139 Index 167

About the Author :
Ian Gotts founded Nimbus Partners and as CEO has driven its growth over the last 10 years. His company has won numerous awards: D&T Fast50, D&T European Fast500, REALBusiness Hot 100, and The Sunday Times TechTrack 100. Nimbus is a Microsoft Gold Partner and has been singled out as a high potential partner. Ian is a member of the Microsoft worldwide Software + Services Partner Advisory Council and the UK Partner Advisory Council, and he appears on stage alongside Microsoft regularly. Nimbus was recently featured in Steve Ballmer's (Microsoft CEO's) keynote video to 10,000 partners at the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference in Denver. Ian is also a founder, investor and advisor to technology companies. Dominic Rowsell is a business iconoclast and change management CEO. He is a highly experienced presenter and speaker. His expertise comes from practical experience in behavioural change, service sales, pre/post merger integration, leadership change and strategic thinking. As happy with five people as with five hundred, Dominic is a relaxed yet energetic speaker. His style uses cynical wit with a dry sense of humour and always draws his audiences into active involvement - he loves a heckler! He is both pragmatist and humanist and these attributes are key when having to point out painful realities to the Boardroom.