Jim DeSena quoted in
Sales and Marketing Management February 2004 issue
Management tips -TRY THIS
More from the Best

"Small changes in a top performer's actions can lead to big results. Help top performers take their game to the next level - e.g., keeping them up-to-date on new technology or helping them understand the concerns behind a customer's words. Don't assume they know why you're offering to help and don't micromanage." James A. DeSena, author of The 10 Immutable Laws of Power Selling

Excerpt from the 10 Laws

Jim DeSena quoted on Microsoft's bcentral (Tip # 2)

Press Release for the 10 Laws

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This book is for anyone who wants to be a leader in his field. Here's why:

Problems & Change

Either one can stop some people.
Sales leaders thrive on both.

Stand Out and Survive

Standing out in a crowded sales arena isn't easy.

• ·Customers are more demanding than ever.
• ·Product or service advantages don't last long.
• ·Competition comes from unexpected places.
• ·A soft economy makes for a tougher sale.

Finding new customers and better ways to serve existing customers, is a battle sales professionals must win each day. Sales leaders do.

Sales leaders have the courage to act in the face of uncertainty, create confidence in place of concern on the part of their customers and their companies and inspire others to follow their lead in the solutions they create with their customers.

Sales leaders stand out. They are adept at meeting new challenges and taking advantage of those new challenges to deliver high-value, innovative solutions to their customers. They create excitement. They expand possibilities.

Sales professionals still face a daily struggle to find new ways to meet their sales quotas, broaden their customer base, and stabilize their sales revenues. Now is the time for a new approach.

This is the first book to combine both sales and leadership for people who want to be exceptional sales leaders. This is a unique approach that addresses the needs of sales professionals to be successful in this environment of rapid change.

There Has Been an Under Appreciated Shift in the Nature of Sales

Sales professionals need new strategies in order to excel. They must adapt to and take advantage of an environment that is continually evolving because of rapid technology and information advances, mergers, and globalization. Sales leaders are defined by their ability to do this.

Sales professionals who want to continue to be successful realize that the world isn't the same today as it was yesterday. They must adapt to it. Sales professionals have to take the lead in applying new strategies that capitalize on change. They need to lead that change through their customers' and their own organizations. That is the only way to maintain a leadership position. Sales leaders know how to deal with change and turn it to their advantage.

This book is for sales professionals who want to be exceptional in this new environment. The sales leaders model, described in the book, portrays how sales leaders bring together these elements.

 What You Can Expect From This Book

The information contained in this book is the result of 18 years of work in the sales arena. My work in this field began with research into understanding sales competency - what it takes to successfully sell - while I was a marketing manager at AT&T. Since that time, my primary focus has been on helping clients improve sales and leadership.

This book is not about as much about selling techniques as it is about how to be effective, innovative, and sell successfully for larger sales and for the longer term. In every aspect, this book is about leadership in a sales environment. Leadership is about initiative, innovative ideas and inspiring others. Leadership is about constructively channeling change for the benefit of customers and the companies that supply them. This book describes how both organizations and individuals will create an edge by bringing into focus the requirements for being sales leaders.

 The information in this book will help you solve these problems and more:

• How to be a leader in your field
• How to make bigger sales and build customer relationships that last
• How to get things done inside your company to implement sales
• How to be effective and efficient at the same time
• How to work with a difficult boss and get things accomplished
• How to have a more successful career and personal life
• How to create value that customers understand so they will be repeat buyers
• How to avoid the most common traps that lose proposals

This book provides models, strategies, tips, examples, templates and many step-by-step practical suggestions for the reader. I've had the opportunity to work with tens of thousands of salespeople in more than 1500 sales and leadership programs. What I've learned is that if you want to be successful in facilitating the learning process, you have to do three things. First, you have to give people practical information they can use immediately. Secondly, you have to keep people engaged so that they stay interested. Third, you must inspire people to take action. This book does all three.

 The Book Is Organized into Three Parts

Part 1, on sales, is about creating value for customers by understanding their business and what sales leaders do for them that is unique and special. It describes how to deliver high-value solutions in the right markets. It is not about how many calls to make but rather how to make the right calls. Part 1 goes beyond basic selling techniques. It encourages salespeople who want to be leaders in their industry to develop sales by defining their business in customer terms and the specific advantages they bring to the market. It suggests that leaders consider their business model, since that model may ultimately determine how quickly and even if the business will succeed. It provides recommendations on how to ensure that once they identify the problems they solve for their customers, that they can effectively communicate that message to them. It is about winning sales, building relationships and keeping customers.

Part 2, on leadership, describes the qualities that leaders rely on to introduce new, innovative solutions and to lead those solutions through the customer's and the sales professional's organizations. It provides a framework for sales leaders who create innovative solutions for their customers. It takes leadership from selling in the right markets with the right products and right positioning into understanding and challenging the status quo. It is about leading change in a sales environment. It distinguishes between the concepts of management and leadership. It examines how exceptional sales leaders are able to define the limits and then exceed them to deliver innovative customer solutions. It is about how to change the game and make unique and larger sales.

Part 3, on winning, provides the principles of long-term success, such as integrity, that companies such as Johnson & Johnson, a model I saw firsthand when I consulted with them, rely on as a bedrock of their commitments to customers. It suggests that to be a leader for the long term requires a number of traits, such as integrity, planning and balance. Integrity involves trust. Planning means identifying and staying with the right priorities. It entails using time wisely. It is about how to avoid the "management by crisis mentality" that can undermine anyone's effectiveness and distract from the real business at hand.

Order The 10 Laws

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