Steve Yastrow - Ditch The Pitch book review

In a nutshell (176 pages), this is Yastrow's method for building the skills and competencies to be able to sell in a more human way rather than having one sales presentation repeated regardless of the audience. This may seem obvious but the number of sales presentations I’ve sat through where part, or all, of the pitch, had little or nothing to do with me or my business is astounding. It sends a mixed bag of messages along the lines of, I don’t know who you are or what you do, I don’t care, here is what I want to talk about. Yastrow uses Improv as the groundwork of his theory, and it works.

What I got out of it

The method of communicating a sales message to a customer that Yastrow recommends is really close to how I was already selling, which means I would look at the business and ask the person, or people, I hope to sell to questions to see how what I have to offer fits in with their goals. I always have key points I want to discuss and usually most of them, if not all, come up at some point in a constructive conversation. This book gave me some insights and tools to tighten up my method that I really appreciate.

What was difficult

While not a big deal, I think Yastrow underestimates the autonomy of the customer a bit in the sense that just because a sales rep’s pitch to me was useless doesn’t necessarily mean I won’t do business with him. It just means he wasted our time and I don’t think very highly of him. Also, it means I will avoid meeting with him as much as possible. While I would never rely on a customer's perception and ability to connect the dots for me, a bit of this does happen, customers are rarely oblivious. He gives an example of a car salesman explaining that a drum set fits better in a minivan than an SUV. I don’t think you should be so literal or specific on obvious points.

Recommendation

Everyone in sales should read this book. If you’re lazy you won’t benefit at all, but if you’re willing to rely on your abilities and you’re willing to do the work to be able to present to anyone anywhere (by mastering your materials and product or service knowledge) then I believe this method of selling will be tremendously effective for you. The basis of successful sales is to know your market, your products or services, and how to sell your products or services (your line), front and back, and if you have done that, then this method will work for you. It’s also a lot more fun.