Table of Contents
The Problem
1 A Curious Problem 3
2 Finders, Minders, and Grinders: The Business Development Imperative 14
Obstacles
3 Beyond Pixels: Selling a Service Is Different from Selling Things (and Harder) 27
4 Obstacle #1-What They Didn't Teach You in B-School: If I Am Supposed to Be the Expert, Why Do I Feel So Stupid about Sales? 37
5 Obstacle #2-But I Don't Want to Sell: Moving Past Willy Loman 45
6 Obstacle #3-Things Aren't What They Once Were: It Is Harder Than Ever to Sell Expert Services 56
7 Obstacle #4-A Blizzard of Bad Advice: Everything You Know about Sales Is Wrong 67
How Clients Buy
8 The Secret to Selling: Never Say Sell 83
9 Element 1-I Am Aware of You: What Was the Name of Your Firm Again? 95
10 Element 2-I Understand What You Do: You Do What? 112
11 Element 3-I Am Interested: These Are My Goals 127
12 Element 4-I Respect Your Work: You Have the Right Stuff to Help Me 138
13 Element 5-I Trust You: You Have My Best Interests at Heart 154
14 Element 6-I Am Able: I've Got Budget and Buy-In 168
15 Element 7-I Am Ready: The Timing Is Right 181
Putting the Seven Elements to Work
16 A Chain Is as Strong as Its Weakest Link: Using the Seven Elements as a Diagnostic Tool 197
17 Getting to Work: Learning to Think and Act Like a Rainmaker 212
18 All Business Is Local: From the Silk Road to the Information Superhighway 223
19 Our Vision of the Future: A Roadmap for Change 229
Notes and References 241
Acknowledgments 248
About the Authors 251
Index 253