As much as selling has changed, in many ways the fundamental aspects of selling have remained the same. Sellers still need to engage in a systematic process to find prospects, collect research, get prospects’ attention, ask questions, deliver solutions, and close sales. What has changed is the rate at which these events occur and the amount of knowledge and insight necessary from the very first prospect interaction. With the availability of information today, customers have considerably more power than they did just a few years ago. This power demands a better understanding of customer needs prior to the sales call. Customer power also imposes more demands on their time and more complicated decision-making processes. It is no longer possible to sell to one person. Rather, an entire buying center in a matrix-form environment requires a range of versatile value propositions. In light of increased time pressures, questioning can no longer be initiated with broad inquiries like: “Tell me about your business”; or “What keeps you up at night.”

Salespeople are the experts in the sales process and, to be successful, must behave like experts. Sales organizations have increasingly introduced more complicated products and solutions that come with higher internal expectations. These demands require smarter sales and customer goals and team-selling approaches. Salespeople must understand how to navigate not only the customer organization, but also their own sales organization. Sales professionals must become knowledge managers, knowledge brokers, and information dealers. In Transforming Selling you will learn how to become a Resource Manager, Knowledge Manager, and Account Manager. These three sets of skills are the critical triumvirate for becoming a successful seller.