Selling Change: 101+ Secrets for Growing Sales by Leading Change

While I'm not directly engaged in sales per se (I'm a Software Architect) I often face the challenge of "selling" an out-of-the-box idea/architecture, or having to stand up as sole opposition to a "group think" style idea. Whatever the challenge is, influencing people to open up their mind and accept change is hard. Doing so while trying to sell them something for money is even harder :-) What's unique about this book is its practical prescriptive approach, with specific dos and don'ts, that if internalized and used can really make us all more powerful in driving the change necessary to succeed. In some ways, this book resembles the "Art of War" for selling change - One of my favorite example is Secret #71 - change the rules! This Secret is a nod to the wider "Game Theory" of which I'm a big fan. Many efforts are doomed to fail no matter how hard we try because the rules of the game are stacked against us. The time to look at the rules of the game are before the effort begin. Last, despite its comprehensiveness and depth, the book is quite easy to read. It's yellow color almost reminds me of the "for dummies" series (which the book is NOT part of), and inside, every Secret is anchored in quotes from famous leaders, and illustrated with light hearted cartoons. I would highly recommend the book to anyone looking to fight for change, especially but not limited only to sales.

Brett Clay has done a masterful job of educating his readers on the sales process. Clay understands that customers do not make a purchase unless they want to change something in their business or their life. He teaches you how to be the agent for change. Selling Change is a must-read for sales professionals who want to improve their ability to understand their customers' motiviations to buy.

An outstanding book on sales! I am going to give this book to my sales manager when I am done reading it. Brett Clay presents the material is an easy to understand format to apply the ideas. A super "how to" book that hits the mark.

Brett Clay's "Selling Change" explains why it is imperative that in the twenty-first century, salespeople must be agents of change. The reason? Because four major forces are changing the current business world. Without giving away all four forces here, the first is that no longer do countries compete against each other, nor do companies compete, but because of the power of the Internet, now individuals must compete with individuals from across the world and be prepared to outsell one another. This new competitive market is the world that today's salesperson must operate within, and failure to keep up with the changes in the business world will simply result in--failure. In "Selling Change," Clay gives the modern salesperson the tools necessary to stay competitive and make the sale amid constant change. The organization of "Selling Change" is what makes it perfect for the busy salesperson. Divided into 101+ secrets (there are actually 107), the salesperson can read one secret each day, mull it over during the day, and apply it. The book is laid out so each secret covers a two-page spread. On the left-hand page is "What I Need to Know" while the right-hand page contains "What I Need to Do." The reader is first given a nugget of truth about sales and needed change, and then the instructions for its implementation. The "What I Need to Know" section includes an Action Summary of the key points. For example, Secret # 11 is "Be an Amateur Psychologist," and the Action Summary points are: "Be a Student of People," "Put yourself in their shoes," and "Develop an infinite curiosity and appreciation for people." Included beside the Action Summary is a humorous cartoon, featuring the bulldog character first introduced in Brett Clay's previous book "Forceful Selling." The cartoons provide a visual memory to imprint on the brain and quickly remind the reader of the main points of the secret. It would be wrong for me to give away any more of the "Secrets" of "Selling Change," but I will say that Brett Clay has a keen understanding of clients and what motivates them to purchase a product, and this understanding is essential for salespeople to acquire if they wish to succeed. Clay's belief that the salesperson must become an amateur psychologist is reflected in his use of animal metaphors to describe different clients, ranging from turtles and geese to beavers. He illustrates the scale of these various clients' anxiety, stability, action, confidence, openness (to change) and risk. Clay also explains how people respond differently to the same forces, so it is important to understand both the forces and how the client perceives them. He reminds the salesperson not to analyze situations from how he would react or what he would do in that situation, but to understand that if he were the client, why the client would react in a certain manner. While psychology is important to "Selling Change" so is the use of logic and data. Clay reminds us that people have a fear of