Marshall Goldsmith – What Got you Here Won’t Get you There in Sales

In a nutshell (224 pages), this is a follow-up from the hit book What Got You Here Won’t Get You There” on management. The authors take for granted that you have experience in sales and have had at least relative success and now want to take your career to the next level.

What I got out of it

While this isn’t a book for beginners, there is still a lot of advice that applies to any level of salesmanship. That said the advice on how to get to the next level is sound and based on a lot of experience and thought. Rather than saying what salespeople should do, or do more of, they list bad habits you should stop doing. It’s great advice and I found myself guilty of a few. It’s helped me tighten up my pitches and sales calls, and I’m sure the customers I work with appreciate it.

What was difficult

There’s nothing in the book that’s glaringly false or foolish, nor is there any part of the book that’s just filler. The authors talk about percentages when discussing how their methods can help, and I feel that without knowing how you sell nor what your sales numbers are it’s a bit of marketing to throughout percentages that you’ll improve. You might get much more or much less than they propose, assuming you take the lessons to heart.

Recommendation

This book is for more than salespeople. If you can get behind the idea that everyone has to sell, be it products and services or ideas and proposals, then you should read this book. It really can help anyone communicate better, not just salespeople.