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Today, the most dramatic growth opportunities come from divergent offerings.

Salespeople following problem-based models often fail to uncover opportunities until very late in the call – if at all.”ch that encourages discussion of opportunities much earlier in the sales process.

— Neil Rackham: SPIN Selling

As suppliers seek to sell ever bigger, more complex, disruptive, and expensive ‘solutions’, B2B customers are naturally buying with greater care and reluctance than ever before, dramatically re-writing the purchasing playbook in the process.

As a result, traditional, time-tested sales techniques no longer work the way they used to.”

— Matthew Dixon and Brent Adamson: The Challenger Sale

Much of what we believe about sales derives not from the inherent nature of selling but from the information asymmetry that long defined the context in which people sold. Once that asymmetry diminishes and the seesaw re-balances, everything gets upended.

Whether you’re in traditional sales or non-sales selling, the low road is now harder to pass and the high road – honesty, directness and transparency – has become the better, more pragmatic, long-term route.”

— Daniel Pink: The Surprising Truth About Persuading, Convincing, and Influencing Others

Most people do not listen with the intent to understand; they listen with the intent to reply.”

— Stephen M.R. Covey: The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

No matter what our vertical specialty – sales, marketing, manufacturing, finance, administration, management, service, and on and on – achievement in the twenty-first century dramatically depends on our ability to thrive in a system of connections more vast, more varied, and more exposed than any before in the history of man.

Success now requires new skills and habits, a new lens for seeing, and a new consciousness for relating.”

— Dov Seidman: How

When you don’t close a sale, open a relationship to build a long term, successful enterprise.”

— Patricia Fripp

Make the customer’s problem your problem. By solving their problems, you create a partnership.”

— Shep Hyken

Trust is the glue of life. It’s the most essential ingredient in effective communication. It’s the foundational principle that holds all relationships.”

— Stephen Covey

The confident ask questions to learn what will connect. The insecure just keep talking with the hope something will stick.

— Simon Sinek

The key is to recognize that customers are also looking to lower their interaction costs, so any contact with them must be meaningful.”

— McKinsey Quarterly