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Book Overview

Chapter 1: Connecting: Recognition and Situation Awareness in Selling --  The opening chapter discusses cognitive knowledge and skills and their influential role in expertise. Connecting (recognition and situation awareness) is examined using the science foundations of empirical studies. The chapter wraps up with a discussion on recognition skills, a key window of expert advantage in selling.
 
Chapter 2: Situation Selling: Leveraging Customer Insights -- In chapter two, you discover new ways to create customer insights from the most common sales situations. The chapter includes compelling, real-world case stories on topics such as handling objections and accessing C-level executives. One such story involves sales expert Steve Hart, who through his creative insights, turns a major adverse situation into a multi-million dollar account.
 
Chapter 3: The Anatomy of Expert Sales Performance -- Throughout chapter three, you'll embark on a discussion about the key drivers of expert sales performance. Next, get ready to discover how experts differ from novices in terms of knowledge, skills, and actions (KSAs). Lastly, deliberate practice is presented as a unique training activity that systematically improves performance. Chapter three breaks down the formula of performance and results. The myth that skills alone drives performance is quickly debunked as you learn of other factors play key roles in performance outcomes.
 
Chapter 4: Expert Attitude and Self Awareness -- The first section wraps up with a lesson on how experts learn to master themselves before mastering their craft. Specific attitudinal mindsets of expertise are presented including; self-confidence, professional integrity, and the willingness to self-access and accept constructive critique. Lastly, the inspiring story of Po-Yon, a salesperson who fought to overcome sales anxiety−a common threat to effective sales performance is chronicled giving readers several strategies to avoid sales anxiety and perform optimally.
 
Chapter 5 (The Six Essentials of Persuasive Communication) -- This chapter explores the three action essentials, (planning, effectively using pausing, and clarity). Chapter five asserts that expertise largely relies on the ability to perform the basic skills, well and consistently. On the surface, these basic skills might seem simple, but the reader discovers how experts apply them to get superior results.
 
Chapter 6: Connecting Skills and Nonverbal Communication -- Chapter six unpacks the first of the three reaction sub-skills, attentiveness. This chapter centers on active listening and detecting nonverbal messages from customers. The myth that you cannot learn to improve implicit skills is shattered as we break down the cognitive actions of the expert seller. Nonverbal communication skills are central to this chapter, as readers learn how to listen with their eyes to improve performance.
 
Chapter 7: Perceptiveness and Responsiveness -- We continue our discussion on reaction skills by taking a deeper dive into the mind of an expert by asking: How does the expert accurately interpret customer messages? And when should she respond to these specific messages? Expert perceptual attributes such as thin slicing and reaction speed are closely examined using actual case stories. Adaptive selling is introduced as a key skill that drives responsiveness.
 
Chapter 8: Performance-Based Learning (PBL) -- We begin the final section by presenting PBL, seven research-based activities that relates to learning through routine work: Predicting increases implicit knowledge by predicting responses and outcomes of targeted tasks and comparing the predictions to the actual result. Piloting is designed to increase the impact of a successful task or method by attempting new ways to improve upon it.Reflection involves reflective learning through experiences. Sellers apply cause and effect thinking analysis to develop lessons learned for future sales situations. Storyboarding seeks to discover root causes of failures and improvement strategies by performing a metaphorical autopsy of a selling situation that produced an unwanted outcome. Modeling targets a specific skill or task for improvement and observing a skilled expert performing it (i.e., field ride-a-long). Expert Coaching transfers tacit knowledge to less skilled sellers through a structured dialogue and performance in action observations. Each activity is discussed in detail within the selling context and supported by real stories and examples. Finally, you are led through a planning guide that shows you when and how to use PBL activities.
 
Chapter 9: Video Interactive Practice (VIP) -- This chapter introduces the innovative training apps called VIP, designed to improve skills faster, on-demand and anytime. You'll engage in a discussion on the science behind VIP and its design principles and examine the different types of apps and how they are used. Finally, you are equipped with specific resources on where and how to access VIP apps.
 
Chapter 10: The Blueprint -- In our final chapter, you journey through a step-by-step action plan for applying the key takeaways from the book. The action plan outlines the right actions to get the most out of the book and systematically improve skills capability. By scanning the QR codes in this chapter, you are connected to the sales blueprint blog community gaining access to invaluable tools, resources and information.