Escaping the Price-Driven Sale: How World Class Sellers Create Extraordinary Profit [Hardcover]

For the record, the quote in my review title is from page 10. "Escaping The Price-Driven Sale" bills itself as being "From the creators of SPIN Selling," even though its author, Neil Rackham, is not directly involved. Rackham is the founder and president of Huthwaite Inc., while "Escaping" authors Tom Snyder and Kevin Kearns are its Senior VP of Strategy and Business Development and CEO, respectively.

That said, my initial impression of the book is that it draws a direct connection to the importance of the "Implication" phase of SPIN selling. In the Implication phase, you work with the customer to review all of the variables, both pro and con, involved with taking or not taking action. "Escaping" points to the "sweet spot" intersection of Industry Knowledge, Business Acumen and Questioning Skills...that spot being "Business Impact (Value) Zone / Customer Discovery Zone"...as the area in which a skilled salesperson can soar.

There are four quadrants to the book:

1). The "Unrecognized Problem"
2). The "Unanticipated Solution"

(both classified as "Consultative Selling")

3). Unseen Opportunity
4). Broker Of Strengths / Cross-Selling

(both classified as "Strategic Selling")

The premise is that if a salesperson is adequately comfortable and skilled in each of these four quadrants and has done their homework prior to approaching a potential or current customer, they are empowered to "escape the price-driven sale."

There are no gimmicks here, no voodoo, and the "methods" are based in common sense. It should not require a massive "paradigm shift" for any salesperson to understand and embrace the principles, but make no mistake about the fact that this approach requires focus, effort, and determination. Readers who are drawn to books on "how to close the sale" or "cold calls that really WORK"...any kind of short cuts, and especially those who think memorizing a sales script is a way to get their foot in the door...are basically order takers and not salespeople. Reading this book would not be the best use of their time unless they're ready to roll up their sleeves and go to work and stop being order takers.

The authors assert that it is too easy for most customers in the modern economy to purchase products or services without the involvement of a salesperson. It's called "The Internet"...look at where you are right now! You're on a Web Site that allows you to purchase products without dealing with a salesperson, cashier, etc. The business world is the same. Your clients have access to more information than you could possibly offer them.

The nuance...and the selling point of the book...is that most customers have access to the raw data but lack the insight to cherry-pick it and shape it into meaningful solutions to increase profit, save money, etc. They are too close to the day-to-day operations, too directly involved, to have the objectivity and creativity needed to find the source of pain and obliterate it. That's the job of the salesperson. Do the homework, connect the dots, THAT is the value you bring to the table.

A powerful book of the 80 / 20 mode. 80 percent of the people who buy it will either put it on the shelf without reading it or will not put the principles into action.

The other 20 percent will "wake up to the new reality." Then 20 percent of THAT 20 percent will be the cream that rises to the top and actually puts the wisdom in this book to good use.

Escaping the Price Driven Sale, by Tom Snyder and Kevin Kearns

For some time, organizations have recognized that products and services continue to become more and more commoditized. As a result, customers want either the cheapest price for these "commodities" or they want something of value above and beyond the products and services. We know this. We have all paid more for the same product when we feel that we are getting that "something extra" that adds value. That may be why you are shopping on Amazon...they may not always have the best price, but you know that you can get great reviews of books (like this one), will receive the book when promised, and be provided exemplary customer service.

In the quest to add value, many organizations have recognized that added value can come from the Sales Process and the Sales Force. Consequently, we have witnessed the tremendous interest in "consultative" selling approaches like SPIN® (the benchmark for consultative selling).

What has been missing up to now is more specific information about what added value customers seek.

Enter Escaping the Price Driven Sale. In this must-read book, authors Snyder and Kearns in an easy to read fashion discuss the recent findings about what customers value. Like all of Huthwaite's work, the content is not based on speculation or theory, but on sound research.

In this book we learn that customers are seeking basically four types of value; 1) value from discovering a problem or issue that was unrecognized, 2) value from discovering a solution to a problem that was unknown 3) value from discovering business opportunities that were unrecognized and 3) capabilities and strengths beyond the product/service.

More that just data, the authors provide specific techniques and practices for salespeople and organizations to build their value to existing and prospective clients. As a result, this book will now be required reading for all of our current and new sales and marketing team.

I strongly recommend this book.

Huthwaite, the premier researcher of successful seller behaviors and the creator of consultative selling SPIN Selling, has researched how world-class sellers sell value and create extraordinary profit. In what I consider a landmark book that provides incredible insight and a roadmap for salespeople and sales organizations to incorporate these skills and practices, the Huthwaite organization has once again raised the bar for professional salespeople.

By reviewing thousands of transactions in which buyers did not select the low-priced provider despite the fact that the sellers' offerings appeared to be the same, the authors (both executives with Huthwaite) identified the four value-drivers (Client Insight Creators) critical to successful complex sales.

In an unusually clear and succinct style, the authors explain how the combination of the seller's business acumen, industry knowledge, and questioning skills can drive value by allowing the client to gain insight about Unrecognized Problems, Unanticipated Solutions, and Unseen Opportunities within their business as well as to see value in the salesperson as a Broker of Strengths (cross-selling).

These insights alone would have made it a great addition to any professional salesperson's library, but the authors incorporated the essentials of the business enterprise to enhance the financial literarcy of the reader and to emphasize the point that value at the C-level is created by focusing on business results and creating opportunities.

Finally, Part 3 of the book focuses on a realistic execution plan for both the salesperson and the sales organization to incorporate these value-selling skills into the workplace.

This combination of research-based insight into value-selling, a focus on the importance of business acumen, and a roadmap for implementation that is presented in a convincing and clear manner makes this book a landmark in the history of sales training.

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