Baseline Selling
By Dave Kurlan
Authorhouse (2005)
Reviewed by William Phenn for Reader Views (1/06)
Baseline Selling was written by a man that knows sales. Dave Kurlan started selling while still in his childhood years. Greeting cards, knives, pots and pans - he ran the gamut. Kurlan’s sales career paralleled so much of my own that I could relate to him immediately. When he spoke of the Wearever incident it brought fond memories of my own Wearever days (burning apples in the “Waterless Cookware”). Kurlan has truly paid his dues in the sales profession. Now, he passes on his many years of knowledge in these 203 pages.
Baseline Selling is so much more than just an instructional book on sales and closing techniques, it is an in depth book on the business of sales. From First Base to Home Plate, Kurlan makes you a player. He explains the “Five ways to get to first base”, “The Seven Challenges” of getting there, and everything in between. Topics such as goal planning, how to reach decision makers, phone manners and prospecting, just to name a few, are covered.
Then on to “Second and the Quality,” “Cause and Effect” and a very important one, “Too Much Empathy ” and many more items of interest. Kurlan shows how to overcome prospect problems by learning to anticipate them.
As I continued running to Third, I was shown how to demonstrate added value in a presentation to a prospect. I was shown how to present my company as a solution to the prospects problem and how to help the prospect make a decision, as to his present vendor or my company.
Finally, rounding third and heading for Home Plate, Kurlan hit this reader with, “The Six Biggest Presentation Challenges.” Things to say, do, not say and not do. My favorite was, “Mouth Marbles,” where the author suggests a course in speech therapy. Kurlan goes further into dealing with objections and shows the proper close. At Home Plate he stresses the theories of closing and how it is all in the timing. He concludes the book with a very interesting chapter on, “Account Management,” and what to do after the sale.
Baseline Selling is definitely a Homerun for Kurlan. His presentation of this very informative volume made for an enjoyable experience. In my usual manner with a great book, I give Kurlan and Baseline Selling an A+ (Must read).
