Book Review - Principled Selling by David Tovey

I’ve ‘known’ David for getting on for a couple of years – I don’t keep an exact record of this sort of thing!  Note that I use ‘known’ in its modern sense.  That is, I’ve read and commented on his blog, I follow him on Twitter and occasionally retweet him and exchange the odd DM, we’ve exchanged opinions on LinkedIn and even spoken on the telephone.  It is only in the last couple of weeks that I actually met him in the flesh for the first time.

The telephone conversation came about when David asked me if he could interview me for his then-forthcoming book as he wanted a view from the frontline of sales.  So when you read this book and see ‘Neil Fletcher’ quoted, yes that is me.

By way of thanks for my time, David gave me a copy of ‘Principled Selling: How to win more business without selling your soul.’  However, that’s as far as it went.  What you are about to read are my own words without influence by anybody.  So, to the book.

Desert Island Discs Part 1



 Tropical marine environments scenic landscape</a> by Margos Jim, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

 Hello Reader!  Do you remember that post of mine from 2011 – If Music be the Food of Life?  No?  Well, go look at it now, I’ll wait here for you.

Down towards the bottom you will see a reference to Desert Island Discs and I thought I would expand on that and give you the whole list.  However, to avoid boring you to sleep I’ve been kind and split it into three posts.

When you have listened to as much music as I have (and still do), it can be difficult to whittle it down to just 8 tracks you would be happy to be stranded with on a desert island.  What criteria do you use?  I suspect they are different for every single person who makes up such a list.  What I have rediscovered in putting together this list is that it is the rhythm of music which appeals to me.  I don’t pay too much attention to lyrics and guitar twiddling often leaves me cold.  It’s the drum and bass lines which really get under my skin.

That said, it’s sometimes difficult to articulate exactly why a certain piece of music moves you.  You just know it does!

All Aboard the Cluetrain!

I recently stumbled across the Cluetrain Manifesto, which I first encountered when it was published in 1999.

To put it in some sort of context, at the time the manifesto was written blogging had been around for about 5-7 years, MySpace was four years in the future, as was LinkedIn, Facebook was 5 years in the future and Twitter was 7 years in the future.

Even so, the authors were bold enough to say:

“Networked markets are beginning to self-organize faster than the companies that have traditionally served them.”

Just consider how much more networked markets are now, with all the new, whizzy, social media tools available to them!

Are You Human or Are You Robot?

In ‘the good old days’ if you wanted to buy something B2B you relied on salespeople to keep you educated – where else could you get detailed product information (outside of trade magazines, exhibitions and the like)?  As part of your education, they also educated themselves regarding your likelihood to buy what they had to offer and when.  The really good ones then ensured that you received appropriate information at the right time and, all things being equal, you bought something from them.  Happiness all round.

In a recent blog post, Gerhard Gschwandtner of Selling Power, quoting the Corporate Executive Board, said that “57% of B2B buying steps are completed before buyers connect with a salesperson.”

Clearly, purchasers are now educating themselves by some other means.  Step forward and take a bow, content marketing.

Do you understand your buyers?

I had never really thought about the answer to this question until I came across the Buyersphere Project a few years ago.  That was a real eye-opener in so many ways, not least because it showed me what can be measured if you put your mind to it!

It also helped me start to understand and rationalise some of what I was seeing in my own sales and marketing efforts.  More truthfully, in the resistance I was seeing from potential customers.  “Why can’t I get those appointments?  Ah, that’s the reason why.”

I was reminded of it again recently when I came across When Did You Last Map the Buying Process of Your Customers? by Tony Zambito on the Sales Benchmark Index website.

As Tony admits in his response to one of the comments, a better question might be ‘Why Haven’t You Yet…?’

Sales Growth - Two Opinions

To steal the introduction from one of the blog posts I’ll point you to in a second, “There are 1,525,124 sales books for sale on Amazon.  On April 24^th, McKinsey added “Sales Growth: Five Proven Strategies from the World’s Sales Leaders” to this crowded field.”

This quote came from Greg Alexander’s “Book Review: McKinsey’s Sales Book” on the Sales Benchmark Index blog.

By one of those strange quirks of Internet fate, on the same day I also read a post about one of the author’s of the same book on Bob Apollo’s Inflexion Point blog: “Exclusive McKinsey Interview: Finding the Mountaintops in Your Markets”

What a fascinating difference in two responses to the same book!

Buying isn't Selling

I recently read a very thought-provoking article by Kristin Zhivago entitled “Are your customers using social media to warn others to stay away?”  Yes, go and read the article so you understand what this post is all about!  Sheesh, do you want me to do ALL the work for you? J

In brief, this is the scenario – Kristin wanted to buy a voice-recording piece of software or app.  She had clearly identified a number of must-haves and don’t-wants so started shopping around.  Here’s key quote No. 1:

The buying process was PAINFUL