Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Jeff Thull is a leading-edge strategist and valued advisor for executive teams of major companies worldwide. As President and CEO of Prime Resource Group and author of three bestselling books, he has designed and implemented business transformation and professional development programs for companies including Shell, 3M, Intel, HP, Tyco, Siemens, Boston Scientific, and Abbott, as well as many fast-track start-up companies. He has gained a reputation as a thought leader in the arena of sales and marketing strategies for companies involved in complex sales.

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Praise for Mastering the Complex Sale

"Jeff Thull's process plays a key role in helping companies and their customers cross the chasm with disruptive innovations and succeed with game-changing initiatives."
―Geoffrey A. Moore, author of Crossing the Chasm and Dealing with Darwin

"This is the first book that lays out a solid method for selling cross-company, cross-border, even cross-culturally where you have multiple decision makers with multiple agendas. This is far more than a 'selling process'―it is a survival guide―a truly outstanding approach to bringing all the pieces of the puzzle together."
―Ed Daniels, EVP, Shell Global Solutions Downstream, President, CRI/Criterion, Inc.

"Mastering the Complex Sale brilliantly sets up value from the customer's perspective. A must-read for all those who are managing multinational business teams in a complex and highly competitive environment."
―Samik Mukherjee, Vice President, Onshore Business, Technip

"Customers need to know the value they will receive and how they will receive it. Thull's insights into the complex sale and how to clarify and quantify this value are remarkable―Mastering the Complex Sale will be required reading for years to come!"
―Lee Tschanz, Vice President, North American Sales, Rockwell Automation

"Jeff Thull is winning the war against commoditization. In his world, value trumps price and commoditization isn't a given, it's a choice. This is a proven alternative to the price-driven sale. We've spoken to his clients. This stuff really works, folks."
―Dave Stein, CEO and Founder, ES Research Group, Inc.

"Our business depends on delivering breakthrough thinking to our executive clients. Jeff Thull has significantly redefined sales and marketing strategies that clearly connect to our global audience. Read it, act on it, and take your results to exceptional levels."
―Sven Kroneberg, President, Seminarium Internacional

"Jeff's main thesis―that professional customer guidance is the key to success―rings true in every global market today. Mastering the Complex Sale is the essential read for any organization looking to transform their business for long-term, value-driven growth."
―Jon T. Lindekugel, President, 3M Health Information Systems, Inc.

"Jeff Thull has re-engineered the conventional sales process to create predictable and profitable growth in today's competitive marketplace. It's no longer about selling; it's about guiding quality decisions and creating collaborative value. This is one of those rare books that will make a difference."
―Carol Pudnos, Executive director, Healthcare Industry, Dow Corning Corporation

Aus dem Klappentext

In today's turbulent and volatile marketplace, even the most experienced professionals are struggling with the rapid commoditization of their complex, high-value solutions. The complexity of the problems to be solved and the competitive threats we face are increasing at an alarming rate. At the same time, your customers are wrestling with mission-critical decisions and evaluating solutions that all sound the same and come packaged with a high degree of risk and a low probability of success. Your success demands an exceptional strategy and precise execution that must clearly set you apart from your competition.

Continuing to evolve the breakthrough thinking of his bestselling classic Mastering the Complex Sale in this new edition, Jeff Thull once again pushes the envelope to give professionals―from individuals struggling with their first call, to senior executives trying to figure out why their value strategy is falling short―a comprehensive guide to navigate and win high-stakes sales. You will find yourself rethinking your beliefs about selling, applying this straightforward strategy, and achieving the success you are looking for.

Jeff will lead you through Diagnostic Business Development, a complete and effective system derived from years of experience with top sales professionals and executive teams worldwide. It is a proven diagnostic, value-based approach that positions you with respect and exceptional credibility as a valued business advisor and contributor to your customers' success. In fact, it's not about selling―it's about guiding quality business decisions that will connect and quantify your unique value and remove your customers' internal barriers that prevent them from moving forward.

This book will show you how to:

• Gain access and connect to the highest levels of powerand influence

• Separate real business from resource drains

• Navigate complex decision networks

• Prevent self-commoditization

• Connect your value to your customers' performance metrics

• Quantify value with an amount your customers believe

• Co-create compelling solutions customers will invest in

Rich with detailed examples and real-world case studies and thorough in its challenge to conventional sales wisdom, this edition of Mastering the Complex Sale gives you the precise guide you've been looking for to win and win big in complex sales.

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Mastering the Complex Sale

John Wiley & Sons

Chapter One

If Our Solution Is So Complex, Why Is It Treated as a Commodity?

The frustration triggered by this chapter's title is shared by a large number of executives, marketers, and sales professionals who are taking their complex, high-value solutions to market and finding it increasingly difficult to win profitable sales. Ironically, it is also shared by their customers, who are wrestling with mission-critical decisions, evaluating solutions that all sound the same, and struggling to achieve the value they expect, when experience has shown them that far too many solutions come packaged with a high degree of risk and a low probability of success. This phenomenon places all of us clearly in the third era of sales.

This is an era in which customers are not saying, "I need a solution!" They know they can get comparable solutions from credible sources. Instead, they are saying, "I need help!"

"I need help in making multiple decisions around this purchase." "I need help in quantifying the business impact of this project to make sure it is the best use of my resources." "I need help in getting my organization to align around the implementation and make the changes required to optimize the value of your solution." "I need help to show measurable results."

Are you equipped to help your customers in Era 3? It seems, at first glance, like a strange question, but it's essential that it be examined more closely. The question is valid because most businesses are applying sales strategies, processes, collateral, and skills originally designed for a world that no longer exists.

John Sullivan, my colleague and director of professional services for Prime Resource Group, wrote about the three eras of selling in the foreword to the first edition of this book. He described the Era 1 approach with its focus on cold calling, presenting, and closing, and a strong dose of overcoming objections. Salespeople were taught to be persuaders (some would call them pests). I like to describe it as the age of "show and tell," "spray and pray," "cram and jam," and "grab 'em by the tie and choke 'em 'til they buy." Salespeople didn't ask customers many questions at all; they told them what to do and they did it in a very aggressive manner. These Era 1 tactics are the source of the common sales stereotypes that live in the minds of many people today. They provided the major impetus behind the creation of procurement systems designed to counteract aggressive sales tactics and protect customers from buying the wrong thing or paying inflated prices.

The sales profession worked to redeem itself with the Era 2 sales approaches that were first articulated by sales gurus like Larry Wilson with his concept of "counselor selling," and Mack Hanan, whose book Consultative Selling was first published in 1970 and is still in print seven editions later. They suggested that salespeople ask questions to learn the customer's view of his or her problem and what the customer thinks the solution should be. Then, salespeople would tailor their products and services to match that picture. In Era 2, salespeople received some new tools and skills, were taught how to do needs analysis (I ask you what you need), and received listening training (so I actually pay attention to what you tell me). There was a lot of relationship skill building, too, because counselors and consultants needed to be seen as credible and trustworthy. Salespeople morphed from persuaders into consultants. It was the era that positioned the salesperson as a problem solver.

You're probably thinking, "What's not to like about Era 2? Why do we need an updated sales approach at all?" The answer is you might not. There is a very subtle assumption underlying all of the great Era 2 sales processes, and if it still holds true for you, they will continue to serve you well. If not, and you find what has worked well for you is no longer effective, your customer may be in Era 3, and your Era 2 strategy and approach could be sabotaging your efforts.

The hidden assumption of Era 2 is that customers clearly understand the problems they need to solve and the solutions that are required to solve them. This was usually true when the Era 2 sales paradigm was formulated. But it is a deadly assumption that may no longer be valid for your customers-and it isn't for a vast majority of today's complex sales. Therefore, if the assumption is no longer valid, the Era 2 paradigm is no longer effective. An Era 2 salesperson engaging with an Era 3 customer is like a doctor who allows patients to self-diagnose their illnesses and self-prescribe medications. In the sales profession, as in the medical world, it is reckless and harmful behavior and a formula for failure.

A question that we like to pose in our seminars is, "What if a doctor conducted annual physicals using the strategy and approach of an Era 2 salesperson?" My physical would go something like this:

Doc says, "Hi Jeff, how are you doing today?" I say, "Great, just great." Doc says, "Are there any concerns I could help you with, anything keeping you awake at night?" To which I respond, "Well, actually, there is. I'm getting to the age where I've noticed a few of my contemporaries have been having heart problems. One, a friend, seemingly in top shape, a guy who exercised much more than me, had a massive heart attack and was gone in an instant. Just tragic. I am really concerned that something like that could happen to me. Is there anything that you could do to prevent that from happening?" Doc says, "Why certainly, Jeff. It's likely that clogged arteries caused his heart attack and we could help you with that. Tell me, were you thinking about open heart, bypass surgery, or angioplasty?"

I'm not sure if you're chuckling at the idea of a physician taking direction from an unqualified patient, but in a live workshop, this elicits a lot of laughter. Let's continue my exam and see where this takes us.

I feel compelled to answer the doctor-and I do know something about this complex area, so I reply, "Well, Doctor, I think open heart would be a little too messy and painful, and I don't want to be out of work for a long time. I'd be more interested in the angioplasty." "Not a problem," says the doctor. "Let me tell you about these great coated stents that I could use ..."

This story is laughable, but if you listen to the questions that salespeople ask in an Era 2 approach, you will quickly see that they are essentially asking customers to do a self-diagnosis and self-prescription and report back the results. Typical questions of Era 2:

What concerns do you have? What's keeping you awake at night? What are some of the major causes of your problems? What are the consequences of your problems? Who besides you will be involved in the decision? What are you looking for in a solution? What sort of budget have you set aside?

The problem with the previous list of questions is that if your customer, like the patient, is not experienced or knowledgeable enough to self-diagnose and self-prescribe, you are basing your...