On Selling.........More and less.........

As excerpted from Nicholas Bate's Instant MBA:

"What's the problem here?  Well, essentially the problem is
that too many people are not willing to get their hands dirty,
to do some real selling.....Everybody loves the intellectual
nature of strategic planning, the glamour of marketing, but
selling?  Where's the skill in that?

"That's the thing, actually.  When you are selling, you soon
find out whether your strategies are worth the paper they
are written on because you get your results immediately:
sale or no sale.  No hiding behind long-term market
penetration plans or behind things like 'awaiting the output
of the product focus group'.  This is where the rubber hits
the road."

"Forget the myths about obscure techniques and closing,
here's what you actually need to do.

- More ask, less tell.

-More reasons, fewer bullets.

-More conversation, less PowerPoint.

-More them, less you.

-More decisions, less meetings.

-More concerns, less avoiding realities.

-More lock in, less generic.

-More urgency, less 'any time.'"