Stop Selling and Start Listening: Marketing Strategies That Create Top Producers

Reviewed by William Phenn for Reader Views (7/06) Chip Cummings is a sales veteran with over $1 Billion in sales, and has run more than 17 companies! He coaches and consults on marketing training for some of the highest producing salespeople and corporations in the world - including GMAC, Ellie Mae Corporation, AT & T, Argent Mortgage Corp., and many others. There are a lot of books and programs on sales and marketing training and talking about how to be successful, but very few that give you the step-by-step instructions of how to do it. "Stop Selling and Start Listening" is an 8 CD set that is going to change all that. Marketing over sales, the Million Dollar Journey will launch you into an intriguing world of power; power that you will have after listening to the pointers, tips and suggestions that Chip makes. The ideas that he implants in you such as where are you now and where are you going? He will show you the Rules of Marketing, so that you may turn Suspects into Prospects. But most of all in this segment, how to make customers into Evangelists. Chip continues with many sets of rules, the rule of reality and the rule of reach, just to name a few. Then off to another valuable lesson on not who you know but who knows you. This is where you learn about the value of the internet. E-zines and Websites are the next lessons to be learned and Mr. Cummings does an excellent job of presenting this portion. He discusses the Secrets of Profitable Websites as the second most important marketing tool. How to make your website into your brochure, how to generate traffic, get higher up on the search engine ladder and much more. "Stop Selling and Start Listening" has the tools to build your success in business, with Mr. Cummings showing you the way to find and keep good customers through good communication. I found, "Stop Selling and Start Listening" to be a very well presented lecture both in content and presentation. The quality of the CDs was well done, the graphics on the packaging was professional and Chip speaks with a very pleasant voice. I gave, "Stop Selling and Start Listening" my highest A+ rating.

Over the past 10 years I have read many books on marketing only to find that most of them are too general to be effective. I found this book to be packed with laser focused strategies to help anyone directly reach their target or niche market. The best part is that all of the author's ideas can be implemented immediately for any business that requires a continuous influx of new prospects. He offers the steps A-Z for utilizing a website specifically designed to capture leads by providing the visitors what they want - information. This is a book that I will definitely keep on my bookshelf for future reference.