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Rating: 
Summary: Great food for thought
Review: Having listened to Schiffman's tapes on "Getting Through" on cold calls and being incredibly unimpressed, it was a huge leap of faith to buy "Sales Don't Just Happen". However, I think this book is actually very good because it offers very simple ways for a salesperson to determine which of your prospects are actually interested and which of them are just wasting your time. He leaves the gimmicks behind in this book and suggests ways to move you and your prospect along in the sales cycle. After reading the book, I realized that I've been spending a lot of time on prospects who aren't going to buy from me, but act like they might and I've also realized that perhaps I haven't done my homework and given them great reason to. If you're a salesperson frustrated with the deals you've lost or the deals you were never even in on in the first place, read this book. It will take about 3 hours and its well worth the time.
Rating: 
Summary: Highly Recommended!
Review: In Sales Don't Just Happen, Stephan Schiffman, the founder of a fast-growing sales training company, expands on his approach to selling based on developing a proposal that makes sense to the prospect. He fills his book with discussions of the same basic principles he has presented in several other books, though each has its own emphasis, such as cold calling or making a more effective close. Here Schiffman ranges through the four key phases of the sales cycle - prospecting, interviewing, presentation and close - to teach 26 strategies (one main technique per chapter) that push a sale forward. At the end of each chapter, he summarizes how to apply that chapter's tips. These methods are generally quite useful, though familiar, basic approaches. One warning: if you've read Schiffman's other sales books, you may experience a sense of déjà vu. But otherwise, we from getAbstract recommend this solid manual to any corporate sales rep who makes in-person presentations in quest of large sales.
Rating:
Summary: A Salesperson second bible!
Review: Steve Schiffman is the man! Steve has come out with a book that you will bookmark a ton of pages within the book that you will go back and referance throughout your sales career. If you have his Cold Calling and Closing books this book is a great complement to other books in your arsenal!
Rating:
Summary: Luck Is for Rabbits
Review: The core concept in this book is that success in sales depends almost entirely on a possible purchaser's willingness to become (in effect) a collaborator with the salesperson inorder to determine HOW best to meet the possible purchaser's needs, solve her or his problems, achieve his or her objectives. (Note: A "possible" does not become a "prospect" unless and until she or he commits to take the Next Step.) The progress and satisfactory conclusion of this collaborative process require a series of Next Steps to which the prospect is agreeable. Schiffman asserts (and I wholly agree) that sales "don't just happen"; rather, they are achieved by the aforementioned process which requires a prospect's permission to collaborate, permission which the salesman must obtain at each stage. The sequence of Next Steps is not merely a buying of time, however. On the contrary, if skillfully managed by the salesperson, it accelerates the buying cycle as objections are systematically eliminated. To repeat, the objective for the salesperson at each stage in the process is to have the prospect agree to their taking, together, the Next Step. Moreover, the Final Step is not closing on a given sale. There is no Final Step. If I understand Schiffman's thinking and the 26 strategies which he advocates, there is always a Next Step to strengthen even more the relationship with the buyer who will presumably make other purchases later. Recently I learned that, after surveying many thousands of consumers of various products and services over a period of five years to learn why they no longer did business with certain companies, researchers were told that 1% of the customers had died; 3% had moved out of the area; 5% had been "influenced" away; 9% had found "better service" elsewhere; and 14% had experienced "unresolved conflicts" with the given company. That adds up to 32%. Now here's the kicker: 68% left because of "perceived indifference." Hence the obvious importance of what happens after a sale is made. Schiffman is dead-on when insisting that one of the salesperson's greatest challenges is to proceed, relentlessly, to each Next Step after one sale and before the next each customer. In this book, he explains HOW to do that, also why; it is the salesperson's responsibility sustain forward movement. Schiffman also explains why, in certain situations, it would be a waste of time to continue with certain clients without their permission. That does not preclude sustaining contact, and doing so with style and grace. His eminently sensible implication is that there are significant differences between cultivation and solicitation. Throughout the book, the reader is provided with an abundance of practical advice which includes don'ts as well as do's. For example, Schiffman explains in Chapter 2 how to find out "who's really playing ball"...and who isn't; in Chapter 8, how to make forward progress even when the prospect says no; in Chapter 12, new ways to wake up sleeping prospects; in Chapter 20, how to raise the tough issues before the prospect does; and in Chapter 24, "how to find out where we really stand in the prospect's world." Simply knowing what the 26 "proven strategies" are is well worth the cost of this book; having Schiffman explain how to use each most effectively creates for the book a value that is incalculable. Of course, the best advice in the world is worthless unless and until it results in appropriate action. Success doesn't just happen.
Rating:
Summary: Another Masterpiece!
Review: This selection from Stephan Schiffman is an excellent tool for sales professionals. It is a clear concise guide to move prospects to clients. I am a huge fan of Schiffman, and his ideas previous books have boosted my productivity and helped me close more sales. Therefore, I had huge expectations for this book, and I was not let down. Schiffman included actual case examples from his company, including some of their failures and how they corrected them. I have many pages bookmarked for future referrence. Many salespeople "fall of the wagon" every now and then. Schiffman helps the sales profession get back on the wagon to success. Sales Don't Just Happen: 26 Proven Strategies to Increase Sales in Any Market covers many of the topics discussed in more detail in other Schiffman books. However, I strongly suggest that you read the other targeted selections, such as Cold Calling Techniques, Closing, Telesales etc. The targeted guides, as I call them, will complement the Sales Don't Just Happen book. Buy this book, you will not be disappointed.
Rating:
Summary: Another Masterpiece!
Review: This selection from Stephan Schiffman is an excellent tool for sales professionals. It is a clear concise guide to move prospects to clients. I am a huge fan of Schiffman, and his ideas previous books have boosted my productivity and helped me close more sales. Therefore, I had huge expectations for this book, and I was not let down. Schiffman included actual case examples from his company, including some of their failures and how they corrected them. I have many pages bookmarked for future referrence. Many salespeople "fall of the wagon" every now and then. Schiffman helps the sales profession get back on the wagon to success. Sales Don't Just Happen: 26 Proven Strategies to Increase Sales in Any Market covers many of the topics discussed in more detail in other Schiffman books. However, I strongly suggest that you read the other targeted selections, such as Cold Calling Techniques, Closing, Telesales etc. The targeted guides, as I call them, will complement the Sales Don't Just Happen book. Buy this book, you will not be disappointed.
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