The Only Sales Guide You'll Ever Need

The media could not be loaded.  As someone who has edited and published a few books for different authors and also as someone who has read dozens and dozens of books on the topic of sales, I have to say, this book was a HUGE surprise! I've been a periodic reader of Anthony’s blog and watched a few of the interviews he did with Selling Power magazine and as such, I thought I had him pegged. I thought I knew what I was in for with his book. But I was wrong. Holy crap! Anthony’s book is freakin incredible! I'm truly blown away at how beautifully and brilliantly it's structured. I went into it thinking there wasn't really much new to be said about sales and was frankly expecting more of a creative repackaging of familiar concepts and strategies. Wrong again. I was delightfully surprised at how many times I was surprised—caught off guard by a truly fresh and inspired perspective or nugget of wisdom.But what I think I was least prepared for was the absolute mastery he conveys in terms of his framework and vocabulary. Each step, each word, is so clearly used with such deliberate intent. It's abundantly clear that he has spent a ridiculous amount of time fine-tuning these components, or elements as they’re referred to in the book, over the years! He knows exactly how each one builds off of and depends on the another. He conveys the sequence of development with unwavering confidence and they never feel forced or fluffed. He doesn’t just make clever connections. He makes bold, authoritative declarations of how things absolutely do work—not theories or philosophies of what might be true. And I’m telling you, it’s 100% credible and believable.Anthony’s style of writing in this book is so clean, tidy, stripped down, and packed with power. I know what an almost unimaginable amount of work, editing, and rewriting it takes to get a manuscript to this level. So HUGE congrats to Anthony for having the humility and patience to be open to and accept what was no doubt an insane amount of feedback and critiquing.So...I'm going out on a limb here. I’m going to say that due to the level of truly expert craftsmanship, fresh insight, and succinct power contained in this book, I’m giving it the label of...THE best sales book I've ever read. I thought long and hard before making such a declaration. But it’s one I full-heartedly stand by. I really do believe it's just that good.Anthony, I’m SO glad you've written this book and truckloads of kudos to you for doing such a fabulous job of pulling it all together!Now as a little bonus at the end of my review, I mentioned how clearly and concisely Anthony writes, right? Well to help illustrate that, I’m going to share with you my Top 40 favorite quotes from the book. And each one is concise enough to fit in a tweet--140 characters or less and should give you a quick, yet comprehensive sense of the lessons contained in this book. Here they are, starting at number 40 and counting down to my favorite:40 - Your contacts may not remember anything from your slide deck, but they will remember your stories.39 - To succeed in sales, you must develop the necessary relationships before you need them.38 - Self-discipline is essential to sales success. Your good intentions are worthless unless they are coupled with disciplined action.37 - In sales, nurturing can be defined as “creating value before you claim any.”36 - Great negotiating is not about winning; it’s about creating agreement despite conflicting needs.35 - What concerned your parents should now concern you because the people you spend time with can build you up or pull you down.34 - Put prospecting first. You can’t cram prospecting. It must be a daily discipline. Block out time every day for this activity.33 - Prospecting is a campaign, not an event. It’s a series of “touches” that lead to a conversation and an opportunity to meet.32 - Respect your competitors and believe they are every bit as good as you are.31 - The antidote to complacency is initiative. Initiative is irrefutable evidence that you care about your customers.30 - There is no way to rush relationships, and there is no way to rush trust.29 - Stories are compelling. They move ideas out of the realm of the theoretical and into the real world.28 - If you call to ask your prospective client “if anything has changed,” you will immediately identify yourself as a time waster.27 - In sales, you must continually open new relationships. Remember, no opportunity is ever closed that hasn’t first been opened.26 - If you don’t tackle problems quickly and directly, you’ll be replaced as surely as you replaced the salesperson before you.25 - Your job is to create and sell a compelling case for change and then manage and lead that change.24 - Self-discipline is the fundamental attribute of all successful people. It allows them to take action even when they don’t want to.23 - Failure is simply an event. It doesn’t define you or your future.22 - If you want to ruin your career in sales, just start saying, “It can’t be done.”21 - When you hold yourself to a higher standard than anyone else can imagine, you always soar above the mark that others have set for you.20 - Choose to be a leader. Take responsibility for producing results, for helping your clients create the outcomes you sold them.19 - If you can’t devise a win-win agreement, you must walk away. This is the price of being a professional, of being a trusted adviser.18 - Eliminate distractions. When it’s time for you to do your prospecting, turn off your e-mail, the Internet, and your smartphone. Focus.17 - It is 100 percent your responsibility to grow, to develop yourself both personally and professionally.16 - A “no” is not failure. It’s information.15 - Being grateful is one of the most empowering choices you can make.14 - Sales is all about gaining commitments from your prospects. But the most important commitments are those you make to yourself.13 - Don’t wait. Initiate. Set yourself in motion and seize the initiative. Be productive, engaged, and innovate.12 - When you know you are doing the right thing, the outcome of the sale matters less.11 - Most people don’t fail because they can’t do something. They fail because they aren’t willing to do what it takes to succeed.10 - Reframe setbacks and obstacles as feedback that helps you make adjustments. Then try again.9 - In basketball, the game is over when the buzzer sounds. There is no buzzer in sales… because the game never ends.8 - The hard-sell closing techniques of the past may be dead, but the need to ask for commitments from the client is not.7 - The ability to think on your feet is no excuse for being unprepared.6 - The more desperate you are to fill your pipeline with opportunities, the more difficult it is to do so.5 - Your clients are not looking for a vendor. They want a partner who will charge into battle and tip the balance in their favor.4 - Small salespeople ask weak questions.3 - Negativity is the only cancer that spreads by contact.2 - It’s a simple truth: the more you care about your customer’s results, the better your own results will be.1 - Finish this sentence: “I sell ____.” If you answered with anything other than “outcomes,” you are wrong.And that’s it. The title to Anthony’s book is about as bold as they come. But it may in fact, be just that. I wholeheartedly recommend picking up your own copy and seeing for yourself whether or not this is indeed, “The Only Sales Guide You’ll Ever Need.”

This book is incredible! I will be referring back to it repeatedly as I continue to develop as a home consultant. I am new to sales and this book has so many resources to help me along the way. Even the quotes at the beginning of chapters are so useful for social media and just posting around my workstation. I highly recommend this book to anyone at any level in sales or management of sales people.

My team uses it wth our coaching program. Excellent topics, structure and advice.I did not Iike the audio. Was too momtone for me, did not keep my attention. That's why I didn't give a 5 star.I usually listen to all my books on audible, but not this time.

Short Version - Buy this book NOW if you are experiencing any of the following:- A sense of having no control over your sales activity- Losing clients that you thought were "in the bag" because you and your firm were "doing good work"- Frustration that "prospects" on your list are calling other firms for bids, but not yours- An unpredictable and empty pipeline that leaves you feeling desperate and panicked.There are no easy fixes here, but there are simple, concrete, and absolutely spot-on strategies that *will* increase the success of your sales efforts.Long Version:I have owned several businesses over the last 20 years. During that time, the push-me/pull-you of selling vs. producing work for clients has been a constant source of frustration, learning, and challenge. While there are many terrific books on mindset, selling techniques, and strategies, "The Only Sales Guide You'll Ever Need" has the combination of no-nonsense "tough love" and immediately doable action steps that should set up any business owner/chief relationship builder for success.The first part of the book deals mostly with issues of mindset and, dare I say it, character. Other reviewers have done an excellent job of outlining the content of the book, so I won't repeat that here. Perhaps the most important takeaway though is that selling is about building *real* relationships with your clients. We give lip service to "networking" and "relationship selling", but it is very rare to find sales professionals who truly build on and value their relationships with clients and prospects in a way that is genuine and service focused.Iannarino points out rightly that the very foundation of being able to build relationships is being able to keep commitments to yourself and to others. From there, he outlines a wealth of useful attitudes and practices to put in place that have already paid dividends in our own sales efforts. We have re-engaged several existing clients and made confident and valuable pitches to companies that had been "out of our reach" before getting deeper into the discipline of research and value creation he outlines.The second part of the book is a primer on the down and dirty tactics of successful selling - from Cold Calling (which is not "dead" no matter what the "gurus" say) to helping clients initiate and manage change, Iannarino covers each step of the sales life cycle with a series of clear and easy to implement steps.True confession: Cold calling has been the great bane of my ownership existence for every reason that Iannarino describes. My one disappointment with the book was that I felt that I needed A LOT more input and guidance on the cold calling process -- then lo and behold, it turns out his second book is focused on just that topic. So, no argument there.In short, I've found this book together with Blount's "Fanatical Prospecting" to be fantastic resources in jumpstarting our sales efforts over the past year. I can't recommend this book highly enough.

Muchas veces va a historias que son aburridas.

especially for newbies in sales very helpful, and for me with 25+ years in sales a good explanation, what I've done right in the past and where there are areas to improve.

Un essentiel pour tous ceux qui évoluent dans la vente B2B. La profession change et Iannarino nous montre comment ne pas rester sur le carreau

I’ve read many sales books over the years that I’ve found useful, both as a sales person and now as a director of sales – from Mark Hunter’s High Profit Selling to Jeb Blount’s Fanatical Prospecting. Anthony Iannarino’s The Only Sales Guide You’ll Ever Need takes sales to another level. It’s an absolute must-read for anyone who wants to achieve success and improve value to their customers.Anthony’s excellence advice ranges from storytelling, optimism, dealing with rejection, belief, studying your wins and losses and working on your strategy. He also recommends more reading at the end of each chapter from different authors. Every successful sales person I’ve met invests in sales books. The Only Sales Guide You’ll Ever Need will make a difference to your career.

Beautiful book... Worth every penny. The introduction itself is priceless, have to now see what the content has to offer. Very promising.