First, think of yourself as a consumer, which should be easy to do since you are one. If you are the typical consumer, you have long looked upon “sales” with suspicion – and often for good reason! Too often you have had the tranqu... Read more

First, think of yourself as a consumer, which should be easy to do since you are one. If you are the typical consumer, you have long looked upon “sales” with suspicion – and often for good reason! Too often you have had the tranquility of your evening interrupted by an unwanted phone call. Too often, as a consumer, you have been disappointed by undelivered promises on over priced goods. Too often you have been “sold” by someone much more interested in what’s in it for them than how they might effectively meet and exceed your expectations. Too often you and your needs have been secondary to the producer’s and the company they represent. And too often your real frustration with the “sales” experience has only just begun with the completion of the transaction. Fortunately for you and the rest of the consuming public a new age is dawning, a Consumer Driven Age. Advances in technology have resulted in an ever-shrinking world, opening up a vast number of markets and the solutions they provide. This reality is making it possible for the consumer to regain their rightful place as the drivers of the buying process. Consumers have the ultimate “vote”: they decide which businesses do and which businesses do not prosper. With an ever-increasing universe of the sources of goods and services a mere mouse click away, buyers no longer need to subject themselves to the abuses of being “sold”. Either a business puts customer’s needs first or the customer goes to the business that does. Now think of your self as a salesperson (what I refer to as a producer), which should also be fairly easy to do. A Consumer Driven Age is all well and good for the consumer, but what of you? What is to become of you? Is the death of your sales profession upon you? Well, if are unable or unwilling to put the needs of the consumer ahead of your own, the dawning of this new age is grim news. If you don’t have confidence that sales done the way buyers want it to be done can result in a successful career, the prospects are dire; a career change is definitely in order. But what about the rest of us? What is to become of salespeople who have and will continue to sell the right way? How are we affected by the Consumer Driven Age? Are we obsolete too or is it the case that we are more valuable than ever? For you, if you practice selling the right way, the Consumer Driven Age is also good news. For you, if your mission it is to understand and know your clients’ needs and to guide them to the best possible solution, opportunities abound. You will be invaluable because you will be giving those who hold the wealth of the nation what they want. “Driven” was written to show you how to become that invaluable salesperson. My 20 plus years of sales and sales management have revealed a very interesting paradox: When I place my own needs first, I struggle to make ends meet; when, however, I put the effective satisfaction of others needs first, both their success and my own are often the result. In a Consumer Driven Age, that paradox becomes the dominant principle, because no one has to do business with me. It is in this reality that the sales profession regains its honor. In this book you will find powerful principles, insights, and skills to enable and equip you. Such simple and yet profound principles as: Businesses exist for the sole purpose of satisfying the legitimate needs of consumers; Consumers want good businesses to thrive for it assures their futures needs will also be satisfied; and You must sincerely care about what matters to your clients highlight the Consumer Driven sales model. “Driven” also introduces some fresh and innovative ideas to the sales process, for example: knowing that communication is the transfer of an idea or concept from one mind to another – and is therefore full of challenges; understanding the importance of proximity to maintaining the relationships wh Less