Visionary Selling: How to Get to Top Executives-And How to Sell Them When You're There

Author: Barbara Geraghty
List Price: $24.00
Our Price: Click to see the latest and low price
ISBN: 0684839857
Publisher: Simon & Schuster (February, 1998)
Sales Rank: 7,240
Average Customer Rating: 4.44 out of 5

Customer Reviews

Rating: 4 out of 5
SELLING TO TOP DECISION MAKERS
OK this one is easy.... Geraghty has compiled a very unique primer not just in selling, but in selling to top decision makers. The book's major spin is that one incorporates the corporate vision of the target client into one's sales spin --- by identifying with common visions and common ideals. The prospective client sees more of a common interest between your company and their own company and are (surprise, surprise!) more willing to plunk money down on the botton line and hire you/use you/ use your product/ services.

For that simple, but very effective advice Geraghty has created a book at least somewhat different from the standard sales tomes that litter the shelves in the low brow business section of bookstores (usually next to Zig Zigler).

The first half of the book articulates Geraghty's visionary Philosopshy and is the best. The last part tells how to incorporate the philosophy into actual presentation details. It is also good. There is a tendancy for the uninitiated or those with no sense of self-evaluation however, to present and merely mirror the image of the client company (I have seen this numerous times). What then happens is that one gets a simple syncophantic ramble from the salesperson doing the pitch. If the punt is as simple as the presenter a sale may result, but business people are rarely as simple and lacking in irony as some would suggest. More often a client who is brazenly and badly flattered can easily see through the scam to the two-bit sales person who makes such a pitch.

The real strength of Geraghty's sales approach is that it really adds another weapon to the the sales person's arsenal: when wedded with honesty, critical appraisal, and consultative selling style, visionary selling is a powerful tool. As such it should part of every current business library.


Rating: 4 out of 5
Roadmap to selling high-level executives
Anyone who's read any sales books at all has usually read many. And I've read many--but most are simple rehashes of the handful of original ideas found in the rest. Barbara Geraghty's Visionary Selling stands out and is a nice addition to any sales library. Uniquely, author Geraghty provides a step by step formula for getting in synch with your C-level prospect's vision. If you've successfully sold to CEOs (and I have) you'll know that they don't really care about the details of your product's features and benefits - so forget boning up on product knowledge. What they do care about is realizing their personal or corporate vision. If you can prove to a chief executive (or any other C- or Chief- level executive) that your product or service will help them do that, you're in. This book shows you, in detail, how to demonstrate you "grok" their vision, so at least you have a chance.

I'd rate this book a definite "worth reading."


Rating: 2 out of 5
Didn't Do It For Me
Visionary Selling didn't strike me as particularly visionary. Geraghty's precept is to sell to the "C" vision. This is simply a variant of "Solution Selling" where the problem is fulfilling the executive's vision. I expected more out of Geraghty's text than the repackaging of an established idea.

Similar Products

Hope Is Not a Strategy : The 6 Keys to Winning the Complex Sale
New Strategic Selling: Unique Sales System Prven Successful By World's
Selling To VITO (The Very Important Top Officer)
Secrets of VITO: Think and Sell Like a CEO
The Power to Get In : A Step-by-Step System to Get in Anyone's Door So You Have the Chance to... Make the Sale... Get the Job... Present Your Ideas


Book Index