Forceful Selling: How You Can Experience Explosive Growth by Harnessing the Forces of Change

This is one of the best, if not the best books on selling I've ever read. Over the last decade or so, "solution selling" has been touted as the end all be all of selling. Brett demonstrates that in this era of global competition and instant access to information, the customer already understands the variety of possible solutions that might be useful to them. What customers really want today are people who can help them affect the kind of change that they need to achieve their business goals. This simple, but powerful concept has caused me to rethink a lot of what I've been taught over the last several years. Brett goes on to do a thorough explanation of how we can transform ourselves into change agents, overcome opposition, create value for our customers, and win in the market. I highly recommend this book to anyone in business.

With one announcement of layoffs and cuts by global companies coming after another, Brett Clay's book is more relevant than ever. To survive, companies large and small must figure out how to work smarter not harder. Salespeople who study the principles in Forceful Selling and learn to help their customers harness the forces of change will be in a much better position to turn bad news into opportunity as they lead their customers through the uncertainites of today's market place. Clay shares his wisdom in a way that is both engaging and immediately applicable. This book is one not to be missed!

Recently, before reading Brett Clay's work, I was privileged to have Brett present his design and the concepts for his work in a seminar of several strong and competent writers. What should be appreciated about this robust and seminal work is not only the skill with which he crafts his ideas, but the novel way that he reframes and recasts those principles that we've long accepted as determining in how "sales" are achieved. Brett has given solid thought to just how we fashion the ideas that predicate our thinking in this arena. He remodels those conceptions in a manner that is more appropriate not only to our understanding of the past dynamics of the "sales" process but to the fashioning of an enhanced sense of what that "morphing" arena will look like in the future. To be forewarned is to be forearmed and Brett Clay's efforts in this vein are foundational to the next generation of business dynamics interpretation and appreciation.

I've recently heard Brett Clay speak about "Forceful Selling" at his latest seminar. As a psychology and religion professor, I have to admit that I have never learned so much science, philosophy and math so quickly! I came away with a wealth of ideas: Western and Eastern mythologies, mind-body-space technology, as well as social-psychologies and all from a corporate-trained MBA! Clay makes plain his ideas about the "force(s)" to which one must to be attuned for lasting relational skillfulness. His authority goes beyond the rigorous research he's clearly given this work; it draws from years of experience as a colleague, spouse, friend, student, father, son, and an inventor among inventors. I cannot wait to give this book to my colleagues and clients for holiday gifts.

Brett Clay has written a forceful book about selling named what else? Forceful Selling. And if anyone knows how to sell himself or his product, it's Brett Clay, M.B.A. With a resume that includes twenty years of experience as a sales trainer, consultant and vice president of sales, marketing and business development at numerous high-technology companies, including Microsoft, Clay is more than qualified to teach others how to sell. He has studied what works and what doesn't, and he knows what mistakes and misconceptions a salesperson must overcome to be successful. With many practical and personal examples, and numerous activity worksheets to analyze one's customers and one's personal sales technique, Forceful Selling is certain to change any salesperson into a force to be reckoned with. Becoming a force, however, does not mean embodying the myth of the pushy salesperson who makes cold calls to manipulate people into buying a product they do not want and will later regret. As Clay demonstrates, the biggest mistake a salesperson can make is to believe the customer needs his product. Clay makes it clear that no one needs a product. The product is a solution to the customer's problem, but to sell the product as a solution is insufficient. The salesperson's job is not only to understand what the client's problems and needs are but to explore the changes the organization must incorporate and then sell the client on how the product can transform the organization for the better. A salesperson must focus on becoming the agent of change for his clients and their business. Change is the real focus of Forceful Selling. Clay has created his Change Leadership Framework to make change happen in an organization, with the salesperson as the guiding force. This Change Leadership model is vital in an age when people prefer to go online to gather information and make their purchases, thus devaluing the assistance of salespeople. To adapt to this Internet marketplace, salespeople cannot simply sell a product; they must know their clients inside and out and be extraordinary at helping clients achieve their goals. Change leadership then progresses from learning the customer's goals to finding out what change must take place within the organization so the product may be introduced as a means to achieve the goals. Beyond bringing his years of experience to Forceful Selling, Brett Clay has thoroughly studied the psychology and theory of selling. Throughout the book, he discusses a wide range of theories from Adam Smith's The Wealth of Nations to Maslow's theories of what motivates human behavior. At the book's foundation are the German psychologist Kurt Lewin's psychological theories about how change happens in groups. Clay applies these theories to show that all companies have goals, and the salesperson must remember, "a goal is a change you try to reach through satisfying certain needs." The successful salesperson will understand the client's goals, and he will find