Rating: 
Summary: A must read!
Review: "If you want to be a superstar in sales or sales management in the Information Technology Industry this is a must read".
Rating:
Summary: A Student of the Selling Process
Review: Having sold in various markets and many levels of selling in my career, I have discovered that you can teach "old dogs new tricks". I saw the airport display for Hope is Not a Strategy and read your customer reveiws before my purchase. Luckily I took the Stockton, CA review with a grain of salt. Rick Page is obviously a student of the proven concepts from most of the thought leaders in sales training from the past. Hope is Not a Strategy has taken the best of these concepts and moved them to a new level. Page has added some elements that have been the missing link for me and brought them together in a different way for sales people to think. All the sales training I have been through in the past has attempted to change the things I do. Hope is Not a Strategy has changed the way I "think". This book goes beyond sales training; this is about sales effectiveness. It was excellent in helping me to further my goal of continous sustainable improvement in my selling skills.
Rating:
Summary: A tremendous resource
Review: Hope is Not a Strategy is an amazing resource. Author Rick Page presents good, clear advice for adapting to the changing landscape of sales and learning how to succeed in the new economy. The trainer of some of the world's most successful salespeople, Page's credentials are outstanding. What's best about the book is that Page simplifies complex selling and presents expert advice in a well-written, easy-to-understand manner. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: A classic book on selling!
Review: Hope Is Not a Strategy is is a classic book on selling. It is well written and is a quick read. It is a must read for anyone associated with selling. Everytime I read it I come away with new ideas. Rick has done an outstanding job in making the sales process understandable.
Rating:
Summary: Go Beyond Sales Scripts to Adding Value for Customers
Review: Hope Is Not a Strategy is most valuable for those who are new to large account and large ticket selling. For those with lots of experience, the book is helpful in providing a structure for sales team planning and coordination. As a test of the book's relevance, I took a potential sale that our firm is wrestling with and put it through the process. A number of valuable insights came from pursuing Mr. Page's process that would probably not have otherwise become part of our approach. Whether the sale will succeed or not, I don't know, but our effort definitely became more effective as a result. I happily give a book that provides that kind of benefit five stars. Thank you! The book has four sections: 1. The Challenge -- The Complex Sale 2. The Solution -- R.A.D.A.R. (which stands for "R.eading A.ccounts and D.eploying A.ppropriate R.esources") 3. Strategies for Execution 4. Winning before the Battle -- Account Management The first section was the least helpful to me (after pursuing complex sales for over 30 years, there wasn't really any new background here). If you are new to complex sales, this material will probably be a real eye-opener . . . especially if you are used to individual sales based on a standard approach. The most amusing section was on how to blend talent on a sales team to get the right mix of skills and orientation. You'll learn about Tellers, Sellers, Hunters, Farmers, Business Developers, Partners, and the Industry-Networked Consultant. The second section was the heart of the book for me, describing R.A.D.A.R. which is "a simplified, six-step process that combines consultative, competitive, and political sales principles into a concise yet comprehensive process." There's a chapter on each element. Value is the first challenge and you are supposed to link your solutions to the customer's pain or gain at the largest possible scale. Value stretches as a chain of value whose links (from highest to lowest value) are strategic advantage, political risk, financial return, cultural change, operational applications, and future/capability -- tools). Resource allocation is the second challenge, and your job is to qualify the prospect to see if you can profitably deliver what that customer needs. Selling strategy is the third challenge, and you try to "win their hearts before it starts" by looking at how you could win or lose in advance so you can build a competitive preference for you and your offering. This frequently involves developing the specifications. Organizational politics is the fourth challenge, and you should go where the power is and keep climbing to higher levels. You should ideally sell to the CEO. Teamwork is the final challenge and you accomplish this by communicating your strategic selling plan throughout your team and partners. In the third section, the most useful part for me was encouragement to change issues and sales tactics to help your potential customer see the maximum advantage you can provide. This may mean changing the scope of the problem and the solutions you offer. I felt most comfortable with the fourth section because I try to stay in contact with clients for many years in order to help them become alert to opportunities where we can help them. In the consulting business, that approach is important because almost everything is custom made for the client. You need to know each other well before you can help them in the best ways. Throughout the book, there are sidebars with specific examples of the principles being described in the main text. These were helpful for the most part. My only complaint is that they were too often about selling computer systems. If all of these points seem like second nature to you, you may find it more valuable to seek out a more advanced book on complex sales. After you finish reading the book, think back to a complex sale that you unexpectedly lost. How could the process in this book have helped you to avoid that result? Good luck!
Rating:
Summary: Go Beyond Sales Scripts to Adding Value for Customers
Review: Hope Is Not a Strategy is most valuable for those who are new to large account and large ticket selling. For those with lots of experience, the book is helpful in providing a structure for sales team planning and coordination. As a test of the book's relevance, I took a potential sale that our firm is wrestling with and put it through the process. A number of valuable insights came from pursuing Mr. Page's process that would probably not have otherwise become part of our approach. Whether the sale will succeed or not, I don't know, but our effort definitely became more effective as a result. I happily give a book that provides that kind of benefit five stars. Thank you! The book has four sections: 1. The Challenge -- The Complex Sale 2. The Solution -- R.A.D.A.R. (which stands for "R.eading A.ccounts and D.eploying A.ppropriate R.esources") 3. Strategies for Execution 4. Winning before the Battle -- Account Management The first section was the least helpful to me (after pursuing complex sales for over 30 years, there wasn't really any new background here). If you are new to complex sales, this material will probably be a real eye-opener . . . especially if you are used to individual sales based on a standard approach. The most amusing section was on how to blend talent on a sales team to get the right mix of skills and orientation. You'll learn about Tellers, Sellers, Hunters, Farmers, Business Developers, Partners, and the Industry-Networked Consultant. The second section was the heart of the book for me, describing R.A.D.A.R. which is "a simplified, six-step process that combines consultative, competitive, and political sales principles into a concise yet comprehensive process." There's a chapter on each element. Value is the first challenge and you are supposed to link your solutions to the customer's pain or gain at the largest possible scale. Value stretches as a chain of value whose links (from highest to lowest value) are strategic advantage, political risk, financial return, cultural change, operational applications, and future/capability -- tools). Resource allocation is the second challenge, and your job is to qualify the prospect to see if you can profitably deliver what that customer needs. Selling strategy is the third challenge, and you try to "win their hearts before it starts" by looking at how you could win or lose in advance so you can build a competitive preference for you and your offering. This frequently involves developing the specifications. Organizational politics is the fourth challenge, and you should go where the power is and keep climbing to higher levels. You should ideally sell to the CEO. Teamwork is the final challenge and you accomplish this by communicating your strategic selling plan throughout your team and partners. In the third section, the most useful part for me was encouragement to change issues and sales tactics to help your potential customer see the maximum advantage you can provide. This may mean changing the scope of the problem and the solutions you offer. I felt most comfortable with the fourth section because I try to stay in contact with clients for many years in order to help them become alert to opportunities where we can help them. In the consulting business, that approach is important because almost everything is custom made for the client. You need to know each other well before you can help them in the best ways. Throughout the book, there are sidebars with specific examples of the principles being described in the main text. These were helpful for the most part. My only complaint is that they were too often about selling computer systems. If all of these points seem like second nature to you, you may find it more valuable to seek out a more advanced book on complex sales. After you finish reading the book, think back to a complex sale that you unexpectedly lost. How could the process in this book have helped you to avoid that result? Good luck!
Rating:
Summary: Better than you expect it to be!
Review: I am an avid reader, and successful sales executive. I have read nearly every book in the bibliography and many others on sales. I avoided buying this book for months because it looked "basic" when thumbing through it in airports and book stores. I finally bought the paperback version and I was amazed at how wrong I was. EVERY Sentence in the book is important! Tom Kosnik's quote on the cover is dead on. This book is worth the value of 12 books on sales in it takes every lesson learned in the field or taught in a book and presents it in a clear, logical and concise manner. It's not that the information is brilliantly new but it is brilliantly presented. Fantastic a must read!
Rating:
Summary: Understanding the sale of complex solutions
Review: I have been around the sales field for over 25 years and Rick Page's book, Hope is Not a Strategy finally put it all together. Having been exposed to almost every sales methodology known to man, someone has finally put it all together in a straight forward way. I encourage anyone who wants to understand how the sales process should work for a competitive, value based solution, read this book.
Rating: 
Summary: Dry & Boring!
Review: I've heard so many good things about this book and was really excited to read it. The excitment quickly died when I started to read it. It reminds me of some of the worst text books I read in college. You know the type dry and packed with meaningless terms that you'd memorized for a test and quickly forget. This not a straight forward get down to business book. The author could of done a much better job in making this an enjoyable read, rather than a painful one. If you dig terms like crucible and disintermediation - go for it. I gave it 2 stars because it does have a message if you can ignore the over complicated way it's presented.
Rating: 
Summary: This book is a waste of money
Review: It is fulll of insightful sounding phrases but has very little of substance to offer.
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