Lead, Sell, or Get Out of the Way

In Lead, Sell, or Get Out of the Way, Ron Karr outlines a repeatable process based on the powerful idea that great sellers lead relationships in the same way that great leaders sell ideas. This customer-focused mindset is the key to Ron Karr's proven leadership selling process. Using 20 years of research with companies of all sizes, Karr reveals what great sellers do, and shows how anyone can implement the same powerful principles. He reveals the seven critical traits of a sales leader, which include vision, customer focus, creative thinking, and accountability. Developing the seven traits is the key that helps salespeople shift from a task-oriented sales process to a purpose-oriented process. When that happens, sales excellence results.

Acknowledgments xv

Introduction Leading the Way xvii

Two Ways to Grow a Business xviii

Three Choices xix

You Can Lead xix

You Can Sell xix

You Can Get Out of the Way xix

The Integrated Dialogue TM xx

1 The Case for Leadership 1

Beyond the Lone Ranger 2

Leaders Don’t Puke 2

The Job of Being a Sales Leader Never Ends 5

You Sell Ideas 6

Lead with the Outcome! 7

Why Wouldn’t You Sell This Way? 9

The Leadership mix 9

Don’t Waste Time! 11

Leaders Don’t Get Sidetracked by Price 11

“It All Sounds the Same!” 12

You Must Lead the Team 14

Old Sales Model Versus New Sales Model 15

2 The Five Beliefs of Effective Leaders 17

Belief #1: You Have Everything You Need 17

Belief #2: You Can Improve Any Area of Your Life That You Choose 18

Belief #3: Everything Is Possible 19

Belief #4: Preparation Maximizes Your Potential 20

Belief #5: Customers Come First 25

Are You Ready? 27

3 The Seven Traits of Great Sellers 29

Trait #1: Visualizing 29

Trait #2: Positioning 32

Trait #3: Building Alliances 33

Trait #4: Asking Good Questions 34

Trait #5: Creating Powerful Value Propositions 36

Trait #6: Communicate Persuasively 38

Trait #7: Holding Yourself Accountable 39

4 Visualizing 41

Visualize Big! 41

Reinventing the Business 43

How to Create a Clear Vision 45

Seven Elements of a Clear Vision 46

Blank Piece of Paper 46

“Think Tank” Method 46

Make It Specific 47

Can You Evangelize? 47

Use Intuitive Judgment 49

Build for the Long Term 50

Element of Time 51

Personal Vision Versus Customer Vision 51

Attract Customer’s Time and Attention 51

Develop Alliances 51

Reduce Your Sales Cycle 51

Improve Your Positioning 53

Uncover Hidden Traps 53

Improve Your Closing Ratio 54

Your Turn! 55

Personal Accountability 55

Your Chapter Four Commitment 56

5 Positioning 59

Strategic Positioning: Where Do You Want to Go? 60

Four Buying Phases 62

No Need 62

Looking 62

Deciding 62

Rolling Out 62

No Need 64

You May Still Get Stuck in the “Looking Phase” 66

Tactical Positioning: What Do You Say and Do in Support of Your Strategy? 67

Positioning by Title 68

Positioning by Product or Service 69

Positioning by Resource 70

Improved Revenues 70

Improved Productivity 71

Reduced Operating Costs 71

Increased Competitive Edge 72

Your “Resource Proclamation” 73

How I Created My First Resource Proclamation 75

Fine-Tune It! 78

Beware of Preconceptions! 79

The Global Resource Proclamation 80

Ingredients of a Successful Global Resource Proclamation 81

Communicate the What 81

Keep it Simple 82

Make it Memorable 82

The Situational Resource Proclamation 83

Resource Proclamation Dos and Don’ts 85

Why You Need the Resource Proclamation 86

Your Chapter Five Commitment 87

6 Building Alliances 89

Building Internal Alliances 90

Winning the War, Not the Battle 97

Acknowledge 98

Empathize 98

Provide Solutions 98

Make a Commitment to Move Forward 98

Seven Steps for Conflict Resolution and Building 99

Do Not Assign Blame 99

Strip Away Emotion 99

Put Your Needs to the Side 99

Find Out What’s Important to the Other Person 99

Find a Middle Ground 99

Engage the Other Person to Jointly Develop Solution 99

Secure Agreement 99

Building Customer Alliances 100

The Comparative Mindset 100

The Implementer Mindset 100

The Decision-Making Mindset 100

A Fourth Mindset 103

You May Need More Than One Coach 105

Advocate Alliances 106

Social Networking and Alliance-Building 107

Build “End to End” Alliances 108

Your Chapter Six Commitment 110

7 Asking Good Questions 113

Questions that Earn Time, Interest, and Attention 114

How Much Thought Do You Give to Your Questions? 115

Are You Opening with the Questions a Leader Would Ask? 115

Issues-Based Questions 119

Are You a Trusted Advisor? 120

Leaders Use This Stuff—Because It Works! 123

Issues-Based Questions Affect Everything 125

The Magic of “Three” 127

Transform the Conversation 128

“Do You Mean I Can Never Ask Status-Based Questions?” 129

The Delta of Opportunity 130

Illustrative Questions 131

The Clarification Question 132

The Consequence Question 134

No Scripts! 135

Listen to the Answers 136

What’s the Intent? 137

Sales Leaders Never Stop Asking Issues-Based Questions 139

Your Chapter Seven Commitment 140

8 Creating Powerful Value Propositions 143

What’s Still Missing? 145

The Consequence of the Prospect’s Choices 148

The Consequence Question 148

You Are Asking People to Change! 149

Change Can Be Painful! 149

What Is the Consequence of Not Working with You? 150

Build Up to the Consequence Question 152

The Value Equation 153

Don’t Try to Use a Script to Set Up Your Consequence Question! 154

Do You Fear the Consequence Question? 159

Deal or No Deal? 161

Three Motivators 162

Tangible 163

Intangible 164

Emotional 167

What’s the Compelling Reason? 169

Case Study: Kodak 170

The All-in-One Value Proposition 171

Kodak’s Strategic Plan 172

The Value Is in the mix 173

Take the Time, Make It Unique 175

Your Chapter Eight Commitment 175

9 Communicating Persuasively 177

Your Communications MBA 178

Low-Impact Presentations Deliver Low-Impact Commissions 179

Move Forward Anyway 180

The Leadership Communication Profile 182

Skill #1: Establishing Congruence 183

Did You Hear the Story About .? 185

Skill #2: Assessing the Audience and the Opportunity 186

Assessing the Audience 187

Assessing the Opportunity 190

The Perfect Assessment 192

Skill #3: Translating the Message 193

Skill #4: Making Them Laugh 197

Skill #5: Giving Them Options 200

Skill #6: Supporting the Message with the Medium (Not Vice Versa) 201

Three Dos and Don’ts 202

Don’t Overload Screen with Words 202

Use Pictures and Photographs 203

Don’t Read Slides Verbatim 203

Skill #7: Conflict Resolution 205

Your Chapter Nine Commitment 208

10 Holding Yourself Accountable 211

The Big Misconception 212

Leaders Are Accountable to Themselves First 215

“You’re Fired!” 216

Accepting Personal Responsibility 218

Taking Action 218

Monitoring Results 218

Noticing What’s Working and What’s Not 218

Changing Course as Necessary 218

Getting Off the Launching Pad 218

Quality of Success Actions 219

The Sales Process 225

Your Chapter Ten Commitment 227

Epilogue 231

Finally, Let Me Introduce You to Phil 233

Appendix Productivity Tools for Sales Leaders 237

CRM’s Customer Relationship Manager Software 237

Databases 238

Marketing 239

Networking 240

Sales Team Productivity Resource 241

Or Contact Us Directly! 243

Index 245

RON KARR is a popular public speaker and in-demand business consultant known internationally as a business development expert. As President of Karr Associates, Inc., he specializes in helping organizations and professionals generate remarkable sales and operational results. His client list includes such companies as Agfa, Morgan Stanley, MetLife, Wright Medical, and UPS.

In today's sales world
there's no room for followers. But there's plenty of room for leaders. Competition is intense, and if you don't take a leadership role in producing results for your clients, someone else will. In Lead, Sell, or Get Out of the Way, Ron Karr outlines a repeatable process based on the powerful idea that great sellers lead relationships in the same way that great leaders sell ideas.

No matter what you sell, you must communicate persuasively and effectively what it is you can offer clients. However, sales leaders do even more than that. They raise the bar by finding new opportunities and creating new levels of performance for their customers. They don't just sell products or services; they sell outcomes that transform a customer's world, and they assume personal responsibility for those outcomes.

This customer-focused mindset is the key to Karr's proven leadership selling process. Based on decades of research with companies of all sizes, Karr reveals what great sellers do and shows how anyone can implement the same powerful principles. He offers an in-depth exploration of the seven critical traits all sales leaders share. Today's top sales leaders:

• Have a clear vision of where they're going
• Position themselves powerfully in the minds of customers
• Build alliances rather than go it alone
• Ask powerful questions that result in new sales opportunities
• Create a value proposition that neutralizes the competition
• Communicate well and persuasively
• Embrace accountability and responsibility

Many sales leaders learn these principles through trial and error. This book helps you avoid the trial and error part and skip straight to the success part. Why learn the hard way when you can read this book, learn these principles, and start—today—selling more, faster, and at a higher profit? If you sell things for a living or manage people who sell, you face a stark choice that you had better get right—to Lead, Sell, or Get Out of the Way. Choose wisely and sales success will be yours.

Praise for LEAD, SELL, OR GET OUT OF THE WAY

"As CEO and Chairman of the Board of three publicly traded companies, I felt that Karr's strategies in Lead, Sell, or Get Out of the Way absolutely provided the powerful results he predicted. In one case, we completely eliminated a competitor who posed a strategic threat. I guess you can say they 'got out of the way.' Karr will show you what is required and how to be a top producer in your market. This book is a must-read."
—JAMES T. TREACE, President and Managing Member, J&A Group, LLC, former chairman of the board, Wright Medical, Inc., and Kyphon, Inc.

"Karr captures a lifetime of winning strategies and experiences and puts them in a practical context for sales leaders and sellers. This book challenges many of the older paradigms of selling and emphasizes the importance of keeping the focus on the customers and providing positive outcomes. In today's challenging market conditions, where the primary focus is on market share, this is a must-read."
—BARRY S. GOLDSTEIN, Senior Vice President, Global Sales Strategy & Operations, Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc.

"Karr's book clearly identifies what it takes to be a highly effective sales leader. The principles in Karr's book are concise and illuminating. Follow his system and your sales organization will succeed in any market. An absolute must-read."
—MIKE BEAUDRY, Division President, United Natural Foods, Inc. (UNFI)

"Karr does it again! Lead, Sell, or Get Out of the Way gives you the ultimate approach to giving added value to customers and creating value for yourself … The seven traits are what's needed in today's world, and this book is an outstanding guide to becoming proficient in all of them."
—DAVID PRENG, Preng & Associates, The Global Energy Search Leader