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    Death of the Snake Oil Salesman
    Death of the Snake Oil Salesman
    Death of the Snake Oil Salesman
    Ebook130 pages1 hour

    Death of the Snake Oil Salesman

    By Bernard J. Jones

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    About this ebook

    Most people think that Selling is telling. Telling everyone how great the product is. This was the Snake Oil Salesman’s special skill. He could talk for hours. He didn’t even take a breath!

    It was all about what he wanted. And all he wanted was your money. There is a slight problem with this model. It doesn’t work. The Snake Oil Salesman is a thing of the past. Dead. There is a better way.

    Long live the Sales Partner! This satirical yet practical account of personal sales encounters offers an array of techniques for:

    • Rationalising success and failure
    • Improving your self-confidence
    • Focusing on your client’s interests
    • Seeing selling as a problem-solving exercise
    • Quantifying and reporting client issues
    • Proposing solutions that have a high chance of success


    Selling isn’t telling. It’s about partnering with your clients to build trust and help them achieve their objectives.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherFaris Digital Solutions Pte Ltd
    Release dateJan 12, 2015
    ISBN9789814645904
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      Book preview

      Death of the Snake Oil Salesman - Bernard J. Jones

      Copyright © 2014 by Bernard J. Jones

      E-published by

      Faris Digital Solutions Pte Ltd

      Email: marketing@adalsebook.com

      Website: www.adalsebook.com

      This edition first published in 2014

      All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

      Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

      E-ISBN 978-981-4645-90-4

      DEDICATION

      For my beautiful family, Kath, Caleb, Victoria

      To my wonderful Mum, Gwen, who managed to raise 6 of us, thank you.

      Definition of a Snake Oil Salesman

      Snake Oil Salesman is an American term for a peddler of medicinal remedies with no therapeutic value other than the psychosomatic. Someone who recommends a product that will make him or her money, without caring whether it has any benefit to the customer.

      A person of dubious trust. A purveyor of doubtful products. A person who ingratiates the buyer, sells things of no value, then disappears. A shyster. Cares only for himself or herself.

      Death of the Snake Oil Salesman

      The species known as the Snake Oil Salesman, sadly, is in rapid decline, almost dead in modern business. The swindler who could sell sand to Arabs, ice to the Eskimos and coal to Newcastle is a thing of the past. There were some real characters out there (and still are), but customers are smarter now. They want the product to work and produce results. Value for money—not some silvertongued shyster who’s full of false promises.

      The end of an era, I say, wiping a tear from my eye, as I was one of them. I bid them farewell, and all the best. And while it was originally a male domain, there are now a lot of Snake Oil Saleswomen as well.

      They don’t mean to offend anyone. They just see selling as an easy way of making money. Tragically, this short-term view usually equates to a short-lived career. These days, everyone sees through the rogue like a pane of glass. Really quickly. The Snake Oil Salesman / woman is a thing of the past. Dead. Long live the Sales Partner!

      In this practical, two-part book of proven selling techniques I show the two stages of winning business. You work as partners with your clients to:

      Open the deal, and

      Close the deal

      Take your prospects and customers through the steps in a genuine way. Look at selling as a partnership where you address each party’s interests. It’s all about how you think and behave.

      This book deals with Stage One—Opening the Deal. Enjoy the ride. Sorry, the read. And bid farewell to that odious Product-Pushing Snake Oil Salesman once and for all.

      BERNARD J. JONES

      ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

      Thank you to all of our clients, for trusting us to train your people. Particularly Gavin Mortlock, our first client 12 years ago, and who is still our client today. And Cynthia Ng, who really knocked us into shape as a training business.

      All of the people I have met in my professional (some may well laugh) life who have shaped my career and who possibly feature in this story. Especially my great friend Tom Karnasuta, who has met more sales people than anyone I know. He taught me how to sell. And Wayne Shah, the brilliant cash flow / business process analyst who knew more about most clients’ business than they themselves knew.

      My editors and advisors, Michael McKinnon, Scott Dixon and Carol Campbell, who taught me how to write at the age of 50. My mate Stuey Diamond, for making me think about monetising our knowledge.

      My illustrator, friend and erstwhile colleague, Peter Groenewoud, the original partnership sales guy. Thanks for the excellent sketches and for our superb memories of working on the big deal.

      My bemused colleagues at Chase in the Singapore ’90s—Brian Moran, Nick Franck, Jimmy Yap, Kate Jackson, Mark Powell, Kevan Albrighton, Mike Whitehead, Hiten Joshi and Joe Stark— who patiently coached me to become a salesman while probably wishing they’d never met me.

      My great mates John Crouch and Rod Wood, who dubbed me the Snake Oil Salesman back in 1990. And Steve Douglas, Jason Reed Wagner and Charles Hamilton Ferguson, the entrepreneurs.

      Mostly my wife Kathryn Mary McMahon, who has inspired me to run a business and has always believed in my ability to string together a good book. Let’s hope it lives up to those expectations.

      Let’s face it. If you can’t sell a book on selling, you shouldn’t waste your time writing it in the first place!

      ABOUT THE AUTHOR

      Bernard Jones is a cancer survivor, entrepreneur, salesman, trainer, and part-time writer.

      He has worked in sales and training for over 30 years and taught thousands of people around the world how to sell. His sardonic humour and self-deprecating style brings a stark reality to the world of selling: it’s not easy out there, you possibly lose more deals than you win. But there are some good tools to help you. This book is one of them.

      His message is straight, a simple philosophy taught to him by his father Desmond. You’re dead for a long time - go for it.

      In loving memory of my great Dad, Desmond.

      Please buy this book so Bern can become a full-time writer.

      Contents

      Acknowledgements

      About the Author

      Introduction

      Chapter 1 : The Snake Oil Salesman

      Chapter 2 : Self-belief

      Chapter 3 : Starting out in selling—the wonder years

      Chapter 4 : Developing a client relationship

      Chapter 5 : Death of the Snake Oil Salesman

      Chapter 6 : Investigate client interests

      Chapter 7 : Map the processes and obstacles

      Chapter 8 : Prioritise client needs

      Chapter 9 : Ask the client what they want

      Chapter 10 : Confirm understanding

      Chapter 11 : Tailoring a solution

      Chapter 12 : Short-Term, Long-Term Relationship

      Chapter 13 : Conclusion

      Appendix 1 : Sample Call Report

      Appendix 2 : Sample Proposal and Business Writing Techniques

      Appendix 3 : Sample Meeting Agenda

      Appendix 4 : Whiteboards and flipcharts

      INTRODUCTION

      John doesn’t sell. He is an IT professional, a geek. He thinks sales people are like, weird.

      I asked him, Do you sell in your job, John?

      He laughed at me disdainfully. Of course not, I’d never do that, um, sell, like, I, well I just couldn’t do that, that’s like, all those cowboy insurance guys and stuff.

      I persisted.

      So how did you get your job, John? Did someone see you walking along and said, ‘Hey, John, you look like an IT kinda guy. We’ve got a mainframe with loads of Legacy applications we’re trying to migrate. We’ve got a great job for you. You can start Monday! Congratulations, welcome to the team! By the way John, how much money do you want?’ Is that how you got your job, John?

      John was startled by this provocative question: No, of course not.

      Well, what happened? How did you get your job?

      I applied for it, of course.

      How?

      Looking like a witness

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