Selling Boldly: Applying the New Science of Positive Psychology to Dramatically Increase Your Confidence, Happiness, and Sales

WALL STREET JOURNAL BESTSELLER!


YOU ALREADY KNOW WHAT TO DO

I am not going to teach you much in this book that you don t already know.

You re a professional salesperson. You do this for a living. You know, for example, that testimonials and referrals are among the best ways we have to grow sales, right? But do you ask for them enough? Most people don t.

You know that calling a customer on the phone is more effective than emailing her, but you still often revert to email.

You know your customers buy other products and services that you can help them with, but you don t ask them about these products. You d like to help them, and they would like more of your help that is why they ve been with you for five or ten or twenty years but nevertheless we don t ask them.

There is a difference between knowing what to do, and actually doing it.

I know you know.

With Selling Boldly, we start to do what we already know. We will cover what keeps us from doing these things (fear), how to overcome it (by listening to your happy customers), and how to implement these simple but powerful sales growth techniques (by briefly planning them, also doing them).

Because sales growth comes from doing, not knowing.

Today, we start doing.

And growing.

These approaches are laid out in this book, in precise detail, for you to imple­ment in your own work.

Alex doesn t hold anything back in this manual for selling more.

What s the secret to selling more?

There is no secret.

There is no magic bullet.

There is only the work.

There are only the mindsets, and the communications.

 

In Selling Boldly, Alex teaches readers how to attain these mindsets, and how to implement these communications, so that sales have no choice but to grow!

I am not going to teach you much in this book that you don t already know. You re a professional salesperson. You do this for a living. You know, for example, that testimonials and referrals are among the best ways we have to grow sales, right? But do you ask for them enough? Most people don t. You know that calling a customer on the phone is more effective than emailing her, but you still often revert to email. You know your customers buy other products and services that you can help them with, but you don t ask them about these products. You d like to help them, and they would like more of your help that is why they ve been with you for five or ten or twenty years but nevertheless we don t ask them. There is a difference between knowing what to do, and actually doing it. I know you know. With Selling Boldly, we start to do what we already know. We will cover what keeps us from doing these things (fear), how to overcome it (by listening to your happy customers), and how to implement these simple but powerful sales growth techniques (by briefly planning them, also doing them). Because sales growth comes from doing, not knowing. Today, we start doing. And growing.

About the Author xi

PART I Fear Is the Greatest Enemy of Sales . . . and Positive Psychology Is the Antidote 1

Chapter 1 The Single Greatest Killer of Sales 3

Chapter 2 The Massive Cost of Fear in Sales 11

Chapter 3 The Antidote to Fear: The New Science of Positive Psychology 23

Chapter 4 The Selling Boldly System: Step 1 Get Your Mindset Right; Step 2 Behave Accordingly (Communicate Boldly) 31

Chapter 5 The Selling Boldly Toolkit: Planners and Downloads 39

PART II The 10 Critical Mindset Shifts for Dramatic Sales Growth 49

Chapter 6 About These Critical Thinking Shifts 51

Chapter 7 Proactive Selling versus Reactive Selling 59

Chapter 8 Confidence versus Fear 69

Chapter 9 Boldness versus Meekness 73

Chapter 10 Optimism versus Pessimism 79

Chapter 11 Gratitude versus Cynicism 85

Chapter 12 Perseverance versus Surrender 91

Chapter 13 Value and Relationship versus Products and Services 99

Chapter 14 Taking Constant Communication Action versus Overplanning and Underexecuting 103

Chapter 15 Making It Look Easy versus Laboring 107

Chapter 16 Plan–Driven versus Inquiry–Driven 111

PART III How to Develop the Selling Boldly Mindset 115

Chapter 17 Why Feedback from Happy Customers Is the Key to Developing the Selling Boldly Mindset 117

Chapter 18 How to Get Testimonials from Your Happy Customers 123

Chapter 19 Transcript of Actual Customer Interviews 139

Chapter 20 How to Use Testimonials Internally to Change Your Mindset and Your Culture 147

PART IV From Mindset to Technique: Powerful Sales Growth Actions 151

Chapter 21 About These Communications 153

Chapter 22 Focus on What You Can Control 163

Chapter 23 Silence Is Money 167

Chapter 24 Don t Forget about the Prospects 171

Chapter 25 Use the Phone Proactively 175

Chapter 26 Always Ask for the Business 191

Chapter 27 Tell Your Customers What Else They Can Buy from You 197

Chapter 28 Let Your Customers Tell You What Else They Buy 205

Chapter 29 Following Up Will Make You Rich 209

Chapter 30 Sell with Your Testimonials: Show Your Prospects How Happy Your Customers Are 213

Chapter 31 What Percent of Your Business Do We Have? 221

Chapter 32 People Love Giving Referrals ButWe Hate Asking 225

Chapter 33 The Power of Handwritten Notes 233

Chapter 34 The Post–Delivery Call 237

Chapter 35 Putting It All Together with the The One–Page Sales Planner 239

Chapter 36 For Owners, CEOs, Executives, and Managers: This Is How to Implement Selling Boldly at Your Company 243

Chapter 37 Now, Go Help More People More 251

Acknowledgments 253

Appendix: 100 Questions to Ask Your Customers and Prospects (and Yourself) 255

Index 265

ALEX GOLDFAYN is the CEO of The Revenue Growth Consultancy, a seven–figure solo con­sulting practice which adds 10% to 20% annual sales growth to clients by system­atically implementing the mindsets and actions in this book, with layers of accountability, recognition and reward. Alex does more than 50 speeches and workshops each year, and regularly keynotes large annual association meetings as well as sales kickoff events.