Let's Get Real or Let's Not Play

Rating:
Summary: This work teaches how to show VALUE measurably!
Review: However much people like Mahan's book, the CD is even better! There are six CDs and I listened to them in my car as I drove to and from work. Mahan is a fantastic speaker. I think if I'd read the book, I'd have lent him a tone that he just doesn't have.

The CDs taught me how to go from a problem statement or solution idea and quantify how we will show success against that once we implement our idea. Many of you may have a technique already that can take you from a problem to a set of measures that can show improvement, but I did not.

While this work is targeted at doing sales, I have found it useful in requirements management and scope management for any project imaginable. It helps us to show the customer we are interested in their success more than in their list of features, and to ensure that what we are building truly adds value.

I strongly recommend this CD set to anyone who needs to prove the value of a solution, especially if they don't yet have a technique to do so.

Rating:
Summary: This work teaches how to show VALUE measurably!
Review: However much people like Mahan's book, the CD is even better! There are six CDs and I listened to them in my car as I drove to and from work. Mahan is a fantastic speaker. I think if I'd read the book, I'd have lent him a tone that he just doesn't have.

The CDs taught me how to go from a problem statement or solution idea and quantify how we will show success against that once we implement our idea. Many of you may have a technique already that can take you from a problem to a set of measures that can show improvement, but I did not.

While this work is targeted at doing sales, I have found it useful in requirements management and scope management for any project imaginable. It helps us to show the customer we are interested in their success more than in their list of features, and to ensure that what we are building truly adds value.

I strongly recommend this CD set to anyone who needs to prove the value of a solution, especially if they don't yet have a technique to do so.

Rating:
Summary: Good Book; Could have been a GREAT book
Review: I first picked up the auditio tapes from one of Franklin Covey stores as recommend by the store manager. I listened to the tape. I think the book concept is very applicable and great. I really like his part on issue, evidence, and impact when it comes to analyzing issues. I use it in my consulting work now. I would recommend this to everyone who loves to learn the art of salemanship or marketing. I later went back to the USA and bought CD and the book. I bought more than 200 books in 3 years. This is the only title I bought 3 sets of the same title. Mahan is the man. If you want a book on marketing a consulting service. LETS GET REAL with Mahan Book and LETS NOT PLAY WITH OTHER BOOKS TOO MUCH. Go right into the sfuff in the book Mahan has to offer.

Rating:
Summary: Let's Get Real is Real Good
Review: In Let's Get Real or Let's Not Play, Mahan Khalsa presents a well thought out and carefully explained approach to ethical selling. The book teaches sellers how to help clients succeed, so that the buy/sell environment becomes a win/win situation, instead of an environment where one party wins and the other loses.

This book is congruent with TrustBuild Program philosophy and principles, and it contains a wealth of valuable information. Particularly useful are Khalsa's examples of verbal give and take between sellers and buyers, which show how a seller can keep a meeting moving forward positively, without manipulating the buyer.

Khalsa clearly has the consulting industry in mind, and many of his discussions draw on experiences from that environment. Even so, sellers of complex products will find much of value in the book.

Author Mahan Khalsa observes early in Let's Get Real... that "...sales has often become a fear-based relationship. Customers are afraid they will be "sold" a bill of goods ... Salespeople fear they won't make the sale."

These fears, he says, lead to a dysfunctional situation where buyers institute policies to protect themselves from sellers and sellers wish to protect themselves from being used by buyers.

Khalsa wants sellers to break this "vicious, downward cycle. His prescription: "...be authentic, ...be truthful, ...say what you mean, ...be congruent with what you value." In short, get real.

He believes that sellers and buyers share an important interest - both want a solution that truly meets the client's needs. He reasons that "not buying ... is not the worst that can happen. Worse is if they buy our solution and then figure out it doesn't meet their needs. Then we either spend all our profits and more trying to make it right, or we have an unhappy client."

In Let's Get Real..., Mahan Khalsa presents an approach to sales that is congruent with the TrustBuild philosophy and principles. In addition, the book contains specific examples that support Khalsa's recommendations and demonstrate how to put them into practice.

The book is clearly oriented toward the complex services market and will be most valuable to those in consulting businesses. Those who sell complex products will also benefit from reading this book, but they may have to modify some of the recommendations to make them appropriate for their market. Those in transactional sales will probably not find this book as worthwhile.

Robert Reed
President
TrustBuild


Rating:
Summary: A way to do "this" and not be sleazy, slick or cheesy
Review: It wasn't until I read this book that I felt anything positive about being in "sales". I had done it in my past and I was about to do it again and thank god for this book or I'd still be uncomfortable and tossing and turning in my sleep.

We need a new word, "sales", as this book so aptly puts it, is something you do to someone else. You "sell" them on something. Nobody wants to be sold, we all avoid salespeople and we all feel stupid selling other people on something. And those who do enjoy "selling" someone are almost always in pursuit of their own "victory", oif beating the other person into buying from them, overcoming obstacles, leaping hurdles and getting the BIG CLOSE.

They aren't really focused on the other person, an urge I sometimes fall prey to myself. Our culture makes competition and personal victories very seductive, it is what we talk about, sports teams are rarely congratulated on their effort or fine play unless they win. We view so many things as black and white, which is not natural, throughout human history you can see cooperation as a dominant and prudent way to survive and thrive, not competition (see a dense, but brilliant book on this "Nonzero : The Logic of Human Destiny" by Robert Wright). Sales is a no-win game for everyone.

Maybe there isn't any word, the "trick", the "gimmick" that this book extols is genuiness, simply being real, if you will. You meet someone, you listen, you ask some good questions so that you understand them well and what they are trying to accomplish, if you think there might be a way that you or your company can help them you offer it to them, if not, you wish them well and part graciously.

What is that? Being human? Being real? "being real" has a vaguely cheesy sound to it too, my only complaint about this book is it's title which can turn people off before they even open it. Again maybe there is no word. Many of us will simply go out and meet people and listen well and feel good about what we are doing and be personally successful as well...or are those the same thing anyway :-)

The real value of this book is some excellent exercises you can do in a meeting with someone, things to really challenge you to break out of old patterns, very, very deeply ingrained patterns.

Rating:
Summary: A way to do "this" and not be sleazy, slick or cheesy
Review: It wasn't until I read this book that I felt anything positive about being in "sales". I had done it in my past and I was about to do it again and thank god for this book or I'd still be uncomfortable and tossing and turning in my sleep.

We need a new word, "sales", as this book so aptly puts it, is something you do to someone else. You "sell" them on something. Nobody wants to be sold, we all avoid salespeople and we all feel stupid selling other people on something. And those who do enjoy "selling" someone are almost always in pursuit of their own "victory", oif beating the other person into buying from them, overcoming obstacles, leaping hurdles and getting the BIG CLOSE.

They aren't really focused on the other person, an urge I sometimes fall prey to myself. Our culture makes competition and personal victories very seductive, it is what we talk about, sports teams are rarely congratulated on their effort or fine play unless they win. We view so many things as black and white, which is not natural, throughout human history you can see cooperation as a dominant and prudent way to survive and thrive, not competition (see a dense, but brilliant book on this "Nonzero : The Logic of Human Destiny" by Robert Wright). Sales is a no-win game for everyone.

Maybe there isn't any word, the "trick", the "gimmick" that this book extols is genuiness, simply being real, if you will. You meet someone, you listen, you ask some good questions so that you understand them well and what they are trying to accomplish, if you think there might be a way that you or your company can help them you offer it to them, if not, you wish them well and part graciously.

What is that? Being human? Being real? "being real" has a vaguely cheesy sound to it too, my only complaint about this book is it's title which can turn people off before they even open it. Again maybe there is no word. Many of us will simply go out and meet people and listen well and feel good about what we are doing and be personally successful as well...or are those the same thing anyway :-)

The real value of this book is some excellent exercises you can do in a meeting with someone, things to really challenge you to break out of old patterns, very, very deeply ingrained patterns.

Rating:
Summary: A great no holds bar book
Review: Mahan Kalsa is the master of knowing when to walk away and when to go for the jugular in sales. This no holds bar book will teach you to recognize that your customers and your prospects are no more important than you. His strategies and techniques ensure you will be treated as a consultant, and not just another salesperson. Why is it that salespeople often would rather have a "maybe" than a "no?" Mahan teaches us that to be the best of the best means knowing when to walk away and focus on other priorities. His system will increase your sales immensely, by speeding up your process. 5 stars all the way!

Rating:
Summary: A brilliant practical no nonsense approach to sales
Review: The contents of this book have provided me with the most practical applications to sales I have ever read. For professionals who are involved in large complex consultative sales it is a masterpiece. The book and its contents may provide less value for small uncomplicated transactional sales (or commodity based products). Any person committed to educating themselves on the philosophy and practice of this material will quantum leap their overall sales and consulting effectiveness as it has mine. Thank you Mr. Khalsa

Rating:
Summary: A Real Sales Book for Real Times
Review: The title says it all. If you are in sales you must read this book. I was so impressed with Mahan's work that I have referred to it as a must read in my book, Cracking the Networking CODE- 4 steps to Priceless Business Relationships. Mr. Khalsa strikes right at the core of what it takes to be a success in sales.

Rating:
Summary: A great book for selling large deals
Review: There are literally thousands of books on selling and most leave you with the feeling that you need to shower after you have read them. This one does not. Lets get real has a reality about it and a discussion of a simple process that reenforces all the things you knew about selling. The book hits the right blend of anedotal stories -- so you can see how it would apply to you and discussion of the process elements -- so you can figure out how to apply it yourself. This is no Zig Ziglar book -- this is something I want to conciously try to use every time.

The book is very clearly written and highly usable, breaking each aspect of the approach into small digestable chunks. Its something you can read and more importantly re-read/refresh yourself easily.

There is one limitation of the book. It seems to be geared more toward longer multiple call sales cycles, rather than transaction selling. At least that is the way I read it. I could not see my local car dealer selling this way -- although I wish they would.

This book is one that is going into my frequently read shelf. I would strongly recommend this book to anyone who is looking to build commercial relationship with a client.