CustomerCentric Selling

Rating:
Summary: Required reading for execs
Review: As reviewed in our January 6, 2004 issue:

Let's cut to the chase: This is the best book on sales we've read in many, many years.

"CustomerCentric Selling" doesn't break new ground with sales tricks and techniques; rather, its strength is in the fact that it ties sales, marketing, and business imperatives together in a way that has the potential to turn conventional selling approaches on their collective ears.

In fact, there's a bit of a paradox here: If you're a dyed-in-the-wool software sales rep with a quota to meet or beat, you may be disappointed in this book, because you won't find any magic bullets you can employ to meet your month-end number.

If you are that beleaguered sales rep, you may even find yourself annoyed with Bosworth and Holland, because their message is that your obsession with quotas is misguided. That's easy for them to say, right? They don't have a sales VP banging them on the head every Monday morning.

But that's exactly the point: If you're that rep, get your sales VP to read "CustomerCentric Selling" Better yet, get the company's CEO, CFO, COO, CTO, VP marketing, investors, and board of directors to read it.

"CustomerCentric Selling" does such a superb job of outlining why people buy -- and when and from whom -- it should be required reading prior to the creation of any business plan.

Yes, it has the word "selling" in the title, but this book is a really a business book more than it is a sales manual.

Bosworth and Holland won't give you 15 clever opening lines for telesales, or 12 terrific PowerPoint templates. But they will help you understand what it is that you're selling, whom you should be selling it to, where you should find them, and how you can refine and manage the messaging as well as the sales process.

In other words: Read this book when you're ready to stop screwing around. Read this book when you've realized that selling to early adopters isn't really selling, it's order-taking. Read this book if you're tired of acting as referee between marketing and sales.

Although "CustomerCentric Selling" isn't written specifically to software people, the fact that the authors have spent most of their lives with technology companies permeates every page. Because it applies a sales perspective to Geof Moore's chasm concepts, the relevance for software companies is very high indeed.

Rating:
Summary: Required reading for execs
Review: As reviewed in our January 6, 2004 issue:

Let's cut to the chase: This is the best book on sales we've read in many, many years.

"CustomerCentric Selling" doesn't break new ground with sales tricks and techniques; rather, its strength is in the fact that it ties sales, marketing, and business imperatives together in a way that has the potential to turn conventional selling approaches on their collective ears.

In fact, there's a bit of a paradox here: If you're a dyed-in-the-wool software sales rep with a quota to meet or beat, you may be disappointed in this book, because you won't find any magic bullets you can employ to meet your month-end number.

If you are that beleaguered sales rep, you may even find yourself annoyed with Bosworth and Holland, because their message is that your obsession with quotas is misguided. That's easy for them to say, right? They don't have a sales VP banging them on the head every Monday morning.

But that's exactly the point: If you're that rep, get your sales VP to read "CustomerCentric Selling" Better yet, get the company's CEO, CFO, COO, CTO, VP marketing, investors, and board of directors to read it.

"CustomerCentric Selling" does such a superb job of outlining why people buy -- and when and from whom -- it should be required reading prior to the creation of any business plan.

Yes, it has the word "selling" in the title, but this book is a really a business book more than it is a sales manual.

Bosworth and Holland won't give you 15 clever opening lines for telesales, or 12 terrific PowerPoint templates. But they will help you understand what it is that you're selling, whom you should be selling it to, where you should find them, and how you can refine and manage the messaging as well as the sales process.

In other words: Read this book when you're ready to stop screwing around. Read this book when you've realized that selling to early adopters isn't really selling, it's order-taking. Read this book if you're tired of acting as referee between marketing and sales.

Although "CustomerCentric Selling" isn't written specifically to software people, the fact that the authors have spent most of their lives with technology companies permeates every page. Because it applies a sales perspective to Geof Moore's chasm concepts, the relevance for software companies is very high indeed.

Rating:
Summary: What a disappointment !!
Review: I had eagerly awaited the arrival of Michael Bosworth's latest work because his first book, Solution Selling, made such a tremendous impact in my own sales career. Unfortunately, this book does not deliver. I found very little in the way of new ideas, illuminating concepts, or fresh approaches to selling in the 21st century. Instead, the entire book speaks with an air of condescension, constantly referring to "most salespeople," "traditional salespeople," or "most companies," in a derogatory manner . . . as if most salespeople or most companies are beneath the authors, and simply don't "get it."

With the exception of a few concepts, such as "crossing the chasm" - which the authors borrowed from the work of Geoffrey Moore - there is very little in this book that is not more thoroughly addressed in Solution Selling.

For the avid reader of sales literature, you'll want to add this too your collection. But, don't expect to learn much. For those looking for new ideas and techniques that you can really put to practical use, I recommend looking elsewhere.

Rating:
Summary: Good stuff...but a hard read
Review: I have to compliment Mike on the subject matter. His program has some very good information and methods for managing the sales process. However, it was a tough read. Be prepared to honker down and read a lot of text. He really limited the graphics this time. Hey Mike, a picture is worth a thousand words. I thought that this book would be a major change from Solution Selling...especially since he bad mouthed Solution Selling early last year, but it was really some extensions to the original thoughts he had years ago. The new stuff is great, the extentions from Solution Selling you can get from the guys that bought the company from him.

Rating:
Summary: It's a great read
Review: I just got Customer Centric Selling in the mail and immediately started reading it and could not put it down. It's a GREAT read!
This book is a completely new way of looking at customer relationships. In essence you tell people how to make a meaningful connection. That's something very few people know how to do. Stop talking product features or customer benefits, start talking about real life situations that people can relate to. That discovery is so simple and yet so powerful. I also like the analogy with a jazz band and an orchestra. Only those who understand math can appreciate jazz and only those who architect relationships creatively can deliver a good riff.
I am proud of you and I appreciate your kind acknowledgments up front. You are a class act! I should not forget John in the process, I can see the rich synergies between the two of you. Your real life examples make this book very valuable.

Rating:
Summary: Real world sales strategies
Review: I make my living teaching sales people how to sell on value rather than price. Some debate if sales is an art or a science. I believe it's a little of both and by applying the techniques put forth in this book sales people will increase their probability of success.
The authors apply "real world" techniques and actual sales experience which is rarely found in how to sell books.
The "rookie rep" and the seasoned professional will both benefit from this enjoyable read.

Good luck and good selling

Rating:
Summary: Long awaited & satisfies!
Review: I successfully relied on Mike Bosworth's methodology for decades as I sold "disruptive" technologies. Now a Sales and Marketing EVP, my staff, I and our customers are ready for a change.

The people who make the buy decisions now, the motivations, and every stage of the process has shifted. Buyers are more savvy. This is both a plus (it's no longer disruptive technology, but core) and a negative (because they've been burned).

These changes are met head-on in this book with practical advice that can be implemented immediately from my newbies to my seasoned reps and marketers. I'm making this text required reading for my whole staff. It helps us migrate from traditional marketing and selling to what works in today's more sophisticated environment.

Rating:
Summary: Long awaited & satisfies!
Review: I successfully relied on Mike Bosworth's methodology for decades as I sold "disruptive" technologies. Now a Sales and Marketing EVP, my staff, I and our customers are ready for a change.

The people who make the buy decisions now, the motivations, and every stage of the process has shifted. Buyers are more savvy. This is both a plus (it's no longer disruptive technology, but core) and a negative (because they've been burned).

These changes are met head-on in this book with practical advice that can be implemented immediately from my newbies to my seasoned reps and marketers. I'm making this text required reading for my whole staff. It helps us migrate from traditional marketing and selling to what works in today's more sophisticated environment.

Rating:
Summary: Virtuoso speaks with brilliant clarity and practical detail
Review: I've read all the top, 'usual suspect' sales books. Before reading CustomerCentric Selling, I was most impressed with Mastering the Complex Sale, by Jeff Thull. Mr. Thull has summarized current sales challenges in a very compelling and distinctive way. However Mike Bosworth demonstrates that he is the true thought-leader, the virtuoso in this field, and is most generous in providing a wealth of practical how to detail that isn't the case in Mr Thull's book.

I work with a multi-billion dollar revenue vendor serving the bio-tech industry. I will be taking immediate action to bring Mr. Bosworth's CustomerCentric Selling organization in to assist with our sales & marketing processes.

Rating:
Summary: Fantastic new approach!
Review: If you interact with others in the workplace and happen to be among the 90% of us who are not natural born (intuitive) salespeople, you need to read this book! Customer Centric Selling offers an abundance of new and useful ideas about how to work with others who make buying decisions. Unfortunately, these fundamental paradigms are unrecognized by most salespeople until they have many eureka moments by studying the concepts presented here. Bosworth and Holland have done a great service enabling a major step forward in the sales and buying professions by writing this book.
Customer Centric Selling goes beyond a promise that strong relationships with prospects will ultimately lead to sales success. Instead, the book describes how to be more selective in chosing better prospects. It explains how to focus energy on winnable accounts. Bosworth and Holland describe how to have a conversation that is of greater value to a prospect and as a consequence also to the salesperson. The book offers specific and useful methods for improving sales efficiency and effectiveness by helping prospects make better decisions. What is really cool is that all of these mutual benefits occur within a workplace where both parties are more comfortable, have more fun, and enjoy greater business success as a result. This is the ultimate win-win-win and win some more end result!