Review of #SalesTruth by Mark Weinberg

Marketing is an area where many small businesses could do a better job. Many of us are excellent practitioners, skilled at our chosen professions. Once we get a client, we do great work providing that client with whatever product or service we have on offer. But how do we get those clients in the first place?

Recently, I’ve been told repeatedly that accountants, for instance, are not very good at marketing and may be a bit disinterested in it. It’s a very general statement, but one with a firm foundation in truth. For those of us who have spent most of our lives working for someone else, marketing isn’t something that we probably have a lot of experience doing. But given that you do have to find those customers to serve, I decided to put in some time developing that skill set. As with most other things, I decided to start by reading a book. Those of you who know me know I’ll read a book about almost anything.

After spending a few minutes browsing the selections at Barnes and Noble, I bought a copy of #SalesTruth by Mike Weinberg. I never heard of Mr. Weinberg, but I liked the setup of his book more than I liked the others that were on the shelf. Cost me about $27. That’s more than I usually pay for a book, but I figure if it results in even one more customer engagement it pays for itself.

The full title is #SalesTruth: Debunk the Myths. Apply Powerful Principles. Win More New Sales. I’d like to share my experience with you. Mr. Weinberg is a consultant whose main line of work seems to be helping organizations improve their sales by coaching their staff and doing presentations to the salesforce. He also, of course, writes books. His main premise is that the most successful sales professionals are good at the basics. He has a passionate disdain for consultants who advocate for various fads in sales, such as relying on social media and other newer marketing tools. It’s not that he doesn’t think those tools are helpful, he just thinks they’re overhyped and should be used as an addition to the older tools, rather than as a replacement.

I won’t give away the whole plot, but the book is divided into chapters that form a list of concepts the author thinks are important for sales professionals to focus on. None of them are earth-shattering. There’s no magic bullet. And that’s kind of Mr. Weinberg’s point. Here are a few of the ideas that resonated with me. They aren’t going to make you a master salesperson from scratch. But this reminder of the basics could improve your results.

Finding new customers requires focus and prioritization – This is pretty obvious, right? But for those of us that are small business folks, focused on other skills, how much time do we spend looking for customers? Do we even try to find new customers? Or do we just sit back and wait for worth-of-mouth to bring them to us?

Most small businesses aren’t household names. You have to either find a way to bring the customers to you or you must go to the customers. A lot of us get very focused on serving the customers we already have and will only look for new customers when we have time. Mr. Weinberg suggests turning this around and making sure you dedicate an early part of each day to finding new customers. He suggests a variety of tactics, such as cold calling, email marketing, and visiting businesses.

Identify Strategic Target Accounts – I’m surprised this isn’t a must-do for marketers. When I teach my students at the community college about marketing, I try to put a lot of emphasis on target marketing. Mr. Weinberg makes it even more specific. Go beyond just creating a target profile and identify those potential customers that fit the profile. Then go after them. Seems right to me. Because as most entrepreneurs eventually figure out, in order to achieve your goals in business you must make the idea more concrete, develop a plan, and then go do it. If we don’t approach these accounts that we would so much love to have, how will we ever get to do business with them?

Craft Your Message – What would you say to potential customers if you had the chance? Is it about them or is it about you? In the author’s view, too many businesses make their marketing all about themselves. Instead, they need to identify what they can do for their customers. I agree with this 100%. In my own case, it’s imperative that I be able to explain why a business owner should engage me to do their taxes, or keep their books, and not one of my larger rivals. Some of my clients could do the work themselves. I have to be able to explain what I bring to the table that is different than any of those other options. And that message must resonate with that particular client.

Well, you ask, how do you even know what that why even is? The first step should be the “discovery”of what the client’s situation is and what problem they need solved. How do you know your solution is right if you haven’t even listened to what the client has to say? They teach this in business school. Research your client and listen to them BEFORE presenting them with options. This focus on the client will make you a more reliable partner when you do get that opportunity to present yourself in front of your potential customers.

Practice and Prepare – The last point I wanted to share, is that in the author’s experience, the best salespeople spend lots of time preparing for their opportunity. I’ve always thought that sales was an area that some people are made for and some aren’t. That’s probably very true. But like most other things in life, being predisposed to do something well still requires dedication and practice to be great at. Mr. Weinberg tells a story of a used car salesmen who spends a lot of time preparing the lot and becoming familiar with his inventory. That way when the chance comes to interact with a potential customer, everything is in place to go smoothly. That seems like great advice that maybe some of us don’t put into practice. When you have a potential new customer, do you need to start from scratch preparing? Or do you already have a process in place to win that customer?

To sum up, I’d recommend this book to anyone. It won’t teach you how to sell. But it will reinforce things that you may have learned before but don’t put into practice as much as you should. It was a very easy read. At about 230 pages, I was able to finish it in a week.

James | 12/01/2019

Blog

Recent Posts:

Review of #SalesTruth by Mark Weinberg