Jill Konrath’s SNAP Selling Does Not Belong On Your Bookshelf!

Jill Konrath’s new book, SNAP Selling, does not belong on your bookshelf!

Before Jill kills herself or me, let me clarify things.  SNAP Selling belongs on your desk–within arm’s reach.  It should be dog-earred, book marked, highlighted, and annotated.  SNAP Selling should be your daily guide and reminder about how to thrive in the new world of professional selling.

We live in a new world, it’s not the economy that’s created this–a change has been building for a number of years.  The way people buy is changing profoundly, except too many sales people haven’t woken up to this, employing the same tired tricks, techniques, and approaches —- increasingly faster, at a higher volume. Listen up, IT DOESN’T WORK!  Those days are long past  — if they ever existed.

Today’s reality is the Frazzled Customer, Jill describes in her first chapter.  Everyone in business has too much on their plates.  Everyone, customers and sales, alike, is time poor.  No sales professional hoping to be iNvaluable to their customer can afford to waste the customer’s time.   No sales professional can afford to waste their own time.

Too often, sales people make selling more complicated then it need be.  They apply their techniques, slick presentations, the 7 great opening lines, and 11 closes.  They forget about the customer, focusing on their own goals and quotas.  SNAP Selling turns this upside down.  Top sales professionals do a few things, they keep make things Simple for their customers.  They are Aligned with the customer as they go through their buying processes.  As they help the customer through their buying process, they help the customer focus on the most critical issues and Priorities.  Through the entire process, they create value (iNvaluable), not just with their products and services but in helping the customer through the process.   

It seems almost too logical and simple, but that’s the secret, that’s what customers are begging for.  Jill has captured what top performing sales professionals do to set themselves apart from everyone else.  More importantly, she captures and presents it as a powerful guide to every sales professional.  That’s why you need to keep it in arm’s reach, it’s a resource you should use every day.  As you are helping guide your customer through their decision process, Jill provides great guidance for how you can create great value in each step.  She doesn’t provide trick, just sound advice on how to have the highest impact with customers.

If you are relatively new to selling, SNAP Selling is your guide to success.  If you are an experienced professional, pick it up at least once a week.  Re-read Jill’s chapter on meetings, using it as a mental checklist to help you prepare.  If the customer’s buying process seems bogged down, look at the book to see how you can breakthrough, creating greater urgency and getting things going.  When you are facing the biggest challenges in a deal, when you are struggling with what you should do next, how you can differentiate yourself, how to connect with the customer and demonstrate the value of your approach–use the book for ideas.

SNAP Selling is a great guide in reminding sales professionals how to connect with their customers most effectively, producing results for the customer and for their own organizations.   No sales professional can afford to be without this.

Also, a thank you to Jill for including me in her acknowledgments.  While I contributed nothing to the book, I am flattered and humbled.  Thank you Jill!