Mike WeinbergNew Sales. Simplified.: The Essential Handbook for Prospecting and New Business Development

To give you a sense of how much value I get from this book, I just purchased the Kindle version after having read the paperback version twice several years ago. I want to make sure I have it available to reference at all times. I’ve said before about New Sales.Simplified, I loved the stories, the irreverent tone, and the honesty of this book. But what I appreciated most was that it delivered on its title – this book really does simplify what you have to do successfully acquire new customers. Here are my highlights from this book:The Stories - Frank, the overpaid account manager, who almost screwed up a huge sale because he did not understand that a sales presentation is a dialogue not a monologue. The founder of SlimFast flying into a sales presentation on his Gulfstream and providing some billionaire-level sales wisdom to his eager sales rep. The receptionist who considered the sales manager to be her personal assistant. These and many other stories in the book made me laugh, made the author’s points well, and made this an enjoyable read.Chapter 3 – Before Weinberg gets into his system for creating better sales hunters, he points out that the CEO is supposed to set strategy for a company, not the sales force. I share his amazement at how often executives don’t do this. Weinberg explains why it is so important in this chapter.Chapter 4, page 49: Weinberg’s description of the New Sales Driver is straightforward and helpful. These are three simple points for establishing a new sales initiative. I think this information is also helpful as a simple diagnostic for figuring out where your current new business sales efforts can be improved.Chapter 5 – Selecting Targets. Many sales people aren’t using target lists well (or at all), and this chapter lays out exactly how to put one together and work it. Everyone knows they should have this list, but a much smaller group of people actually put it in place and work it. Weinberg lays out a well-constructed set of steps here to develop your own workable targets. He’s also got some good insights about why failing to create a well-targeted list contributes to a lack of perseverance among sales hunters.Chapters 7 and 8 – These chapters are a fantastic, step-by-step explanation of how to construct a sales story that becomes the backbone of every communication with prospects and referral sources. These chapters alone make this book worth the price of admission. I love the quote on page 89 decrying the over-emphasized ‘elevator pitch’: “The last time I checked, there was not a whole lot of business being transacted in elevators.” The author’s Sales Story system takes the elevator pitch to a whole new level. I am already thinking this through for my own business.Chapter 9 “Your Friend the Phone” is all about the lost art of picking up the phone, connecting with prospects, and opening up new business relationships. It provides practical specifics around approach, wording, and the proper way to construct a sales script. I specifically noted Weinberg’s advice on page 113 about not over qualifying.Chapter 11 on structuring winning sales calls. This chapter also stands out because of its simple, step-by-step process, this time for how to conduct a great face-to-face sales call. Weinberg shows how the Sales Story we have just constructed pays off when you are in-person with a prospect. He’s got another great story here on what not to do on face-to-face sales calls. And, on pages 139 and following the author walks us through a well-conducted sales call from beginning to end. Very useful.Chapter 13 on Sales Presentations. This is a great discussion of what to do and definitely not to do when conducting the ubiquitous and often deadly PowerPoint presentation in a sales context. Check out the very well done sample script on page 175 and the opening objectives on page 178.In addition, this book has brief but important discussions of time blocking (pages 183-185) and individual business planning (pages 188-191). Anyone who has ever been on commission understands that these are the steps that turn an intellectual understanding of sales into actual results. Again, these are the simple but complete steps that make great business books like this one so useful.

Can't say enough great things about this book. Cover to cover this book has value. I took over 20 pages of notes and am reworking not only my sales processes based on this material but those of my team.Every sales leader should read this book because many of the problems Mike addresses in "New Sales Simplified" can't be addressed by salespeople. Mike says the single biggest obstacle to new business generation is the using of salespeople for both hunters and farmers. He is 100% right. How much time to we have our people waste doing farm work, service work, busy work. The rarest of all salespeople, those that can find and close new business end up being frustrated and we waste their real talent.Here are the opening questions that Mr. Weinberg asks and answers: Why are there so many new theories, new books, new methodologies? Why are there so few A-players on sales teams? Why are so many companies and individual salespeople not achieving their sales goals—particularly their new business development goals? Why does the mention of the word prospecting cause even veteran salespeople to freak out or hide?Mike raises important issues: are all sales created equal. Why do we pay the same for repeat business (order taking) than we do new business? Why do we rack and stack independent of the territory, challenges or skill it took to make those numbers? New Sales Simplified isn't only a very detailed plan about how to succeed in business development, read get new accounts and business closed, but also a sales management manifesto. Finally some sanity in the business of sales.I won't make a long review because you need to buy and start using this book right away. If you make a living in sales or managing sales people this is possibly the most important read for you this year.Here are some of the really good points the author makes. Great book. Glad I got it, Wish I had written it."The sales team’s job is to take a clear strategy and execute it to perfection in the market. Salespeople should not be making it up as they go along. Where I’m from, it’s the chief executive’s job to determine and articulate the company’s strategy""The hybrid hunter-farmer sales role is the model that dominates small and mid-size companies. This single issue is hurting new business development sales more than any other issue today.""Most organizations would agree that only 10 percent to 15 percent of their sales team could be classified as true A-player hunters that can be consistently relied on to deliver new business year after year. Why do we use Hungers as farmers when we all agree there are an abundance of account managers?"If we are not closing new deals, the problem can be identified either as: • Poor target selection or lack of focus on selected targets • Lame sales weapons or lack of proficiency deploying weapons • Inadequate planning or lack of execution of the planASSUMPTIONS FOR THAT MODEL TO WORK:• The business has a clear strategy, a defined place in the market, and there is demand for its offering. • The sales compensation plan is not working against the desired sales effort. • The sales talent would at least qualify as “average.”"Read this slowly: Prospective customers are not interested in what you do; they are only interested in what you can do for them. Said another way, no one cares how smart you are or how great you think your company is. They want to know what’s in it for them. No one argues this point. When I share these concepts with clients, everyone nods and agrees. But intellectual assent to the concept isn’t enough. That conviction must get carried into the sales story we use."I could go on posting the 20 pages of notes and quotes, but I won't. Great book. NOT THEORY - BUT A COMPLETE SYSTEM AND ACTION PLAN. Note: this isn't a selling system or how to do rapport. Plenty of books on that (New Solution Selling, People Skills, SPIN Selling, on and on). This is a book on how to find, target, and book new business. Period. The book assumes that you have skills and are willing to work. If you've got those attributes this book will make money for you!