When things don’t go well on a sales call, salespeople usually ask themselves, “Why did I lose that sale?” and then move on. But learning the answer can mean the difference between landing and losing the next sale. Richard Schroder is a recognized thought leader in win/loss analysis and sales training. Now in From a Good Sales Call to a Great Sales Call he teaches how to assess strengths and weaknesses based on information from the most qualified source available: the buyer. Refreshingly direct and right to the point, this system is based on 12 years of research and thousands of sales prospect interviews. This comprehensive, powerful program leads to better sales techniques and increased close rates. In short, it works. (McGraw-Hill)
Month: September 2010
Categories
Writer’s Digest, September 2010
Ask the Pro: Literary Agent Ted Weinstein
Writer’s Digest, September 2, 2010
by Kara Gebhart Uhl
BEST ENCOUNTER AT A WRITING CONFERENCE: A slightly wild-eyed writer sat across from me with a haphazard stack of papers and proceeded to pitch me the proposal he had stayed up all night working on at Kinko’s after his own printer had run out of ink. I agreed to read the proposal and called him back a few days later to say I’d be interested in representing it if he would work with me to cut it in half. We revised it together, I sold it to an imprint at Simon & Schuster that published it well, and it was even optioned for a movie. Only later did I find out that 26 other agents had already turned down [Bob Welch’s] proposal for what became American Nightingale.
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Secrets of the Moneylab
Books like Predictably Irrational and Nudge have brought behavioral economics into the mainstream. But while we all marvel at how different — and weird — real people behave compared to the “rational actors” of traditional economics, in the end we go back to business as usual. After all, what do a few laboratory experiments have to do with making a buck? As economist Kay-Yut Chen has shown, quite a bit. Chen started behavioral economics research at Hewlett-Packard, founding the first such “moneylab” at any company, let alone one in the Fortune 500. His groundbreaking research into human behavior has led to tangible results for HP. In fact, he has saved the company millions of dollars by showing how changing the right conditions can make people behave very differently. Chen and science writer Marina Krakovsky reveal how to translate the counterintuitive findings of behavioral economics into concrete action steps for businesses of any size. Secrets of the Moneylab: How Behavioral Economics Can Improve Your Business shows how tackling your real-world problems like a scientist can open up entirely new realms of possibility and profit. (Portfolio/Penguin)
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The Postcatastrophe Economy
One of the most prescient financial analysts of the past decade predicts the next economic iceberg and explains how all of us can steer clear. The Great Recession was just the beginning, says analyst Eric Janszen. If we remain on the current course, an even bigger catastrophe is imminent. Inclined to disbelieve him? He predicted the last two busts well before they happened. Our problems, according to Janszen, are rooted in the flaws of the debt-driven FIRE economy (Finance, Insurance, and Real Estate), which dwarfs and is coming close to extinguishing America’s “Productive Economy,” the making and selling of real things. The government’s tried-and-true methods of currency depreciation, tax and interest rate cuts, and fiscal stimulus won’t cut it this time around. The only way out is to change our fundamental approach. With a startling grasp of the complex factors at play, Janszen’s new book The Postcatastrophe Economy: Rebuilding America and Avoiding the Next Bubble cuts through the rhetoric to get at the heart of our recent financial woes. This urgently thought-provoking book shows how political failures have impeded our country’s economic progress and offers solutions for a more sustainable and stable economic future. (Portfolio/Penguin)
Guest appearance on Writers on Writing
Recorded on KUCI-FM, September 1, 2010
(Running time 20 minutes)