Selling With Noble Purpose

Don't let anyone tell you that you have to choose between making money and making a difference.

Selling With Noble Purpose: How to Drive Revenue and Do Work That Makes You Proud, 2nd Edition is an update of the acclaimed book that changed the game in sales. Using real-world data, compelling stories and psychological research, Selling With Noble Purpose explains why salespeople who genuinely understand how they can make a difference to customers outsell those who only focus on internal targets and quotas.

Sales leadership experts McLeod and Lotardo reveal how a Noble Sales Purpose (NSP) can drive a team to outstanding sales numbers. Whether you're an executive, manager or aspiring sales leader, you'll discover how to find your own Noble Sales Purpose and create a sales force of True Believers. This new edition covers:

• How firms overcome ferocious competition and how you can do the same
• Why sales organizations with a clear NSP outperform traditional sales teams
• How to avoid the trap of behaving like a transactional salesperson
• Why well-intended leaders often unknowingly erode purpose and differentiation
• How to use your NSP to increase customer engagement
• Why an NSP gives you clarity during times of uncertainty

In an era where organizations often believe that money is the primary way to motivate salespeople, Selling with Noble Purpose offers and exciting and sustainable alternative.

Introduction xv

Part 1 Sales: A Noble Profession? 1

Chapter 1 The Great Sales Disconnect 3

Chapter 2 How a Noble Sales Purpose (NSP) Changes Your Brain 17

Chapter 3 Why Profit 5s Not a Purpose 41

Chapter 4 Where Passion Falls Short 51

Chapter 5 The Leadership Question That Changes Everything 59

Part 2 Naming and Claiming Your Noble Sales Purpose 73

Chapter 6 Crafting Your Noble Sales Purpose 75

Chapter 7 Why Specificity is Sexy 83

Chapter 8 The Stories That Make Your NSP Stick 93

Chapter 9 Why Seemingly Sane People Resist Noble Purpose 107

Part 3 Activating Your Purpose With Customers 119

Chapter 10 Making Your NSP More Than a Tagline 121

Chapter 11 The Customer Intelligence You Didn’t Know You Needed 135

Chapter 12 Three Places Where Differentiation Goes to Die 149

Chapter 13 The Dirty Little Secret About Sales Training 161

Chapter 14 Using Technology to Humanize Customers 173

Chapter 15 How Fear Flatlines a Sales Team 179

Part 4 Creating a Tribe of True Believers 193

Chapter 16 Sustaining the “High” of the Close 195

Chapter 17 Sales Meetings That Inspire Action (from Everyone) 201

Chapter 18 Noble Purpose Sales Coaching 209

Chapter 19 Training Your Frontline to Be Noble Purpose Sellers 215

Chapter 20 Incentivizing Purpose 225

Chapter 21 Winning Top Talent 237

Chapter 22 How to Keep Your NSP from Dying in Accounting 245

Chapter 23 Build a Noble Purpose Culture (and Have More Fun at Work) 255

Conclusion: Life on Purpose 263

Appendix A Techniques and Tools 269

Appendix B Glossary 277

Appendix C Frequently Asked Questions 281

Acknowledgments 285

About the Authors 287

Index 289

Lisa Earle McLeod is an advisor, consultant, and speaker, who works with senior executives and sales teams around the world. Her clients include Salesforce, LinkedIn, Roche, Dave & Busters, and Peterbilt.
An expert in sales, leadership, and emotional engagement, Lisa is the author of five bestselling books. Her work has been featured in Forbes, Fortune, and The New York Times.

Elizabeth Lotardo is a consultant and researcher who helps organizations drive revenue and engagement through noble purpose.??She is a popular LinkedIn Learning author, and her work has been featured in The Wall Street Journal and on NPR.

Do you have a purpose? Or do you just sell stuff?

A new expanded edition of the bestseller that changed the game in sales

"The words selling and noble are rarely seen together. Most people believe that money is the primary motivator for top salespeople and that doing good by the world runs a distant second. That belief is wrong."

When author Lisa McLeod wrote those words in 2013, she launched a movement that upended long held beliefs about sales. McLeod's research reveals that sales teams with a Noble Purpose—whose primary driver is to improve customers' lives—outsell traditional sales teams focused on internal targets and quotas.

In this Second Edition of Selling with Noble Purpose—which includes 50% new material—you'll learn firsthand how over two dozen firms used a Noble Sales Purpose (NSP) to increase revenue, drive engagement and differentiate in times of uncertainty.

Selling with Noble Purpose is both a philosophy and a system for moving beyond transactional sales. From strategic decision making to customer interactions, McLeod provides easy-to-use frameworks for elevating every sales conversation.

Don't let anyone tell you that you have to choose between making money and making a difference. Purpose and profit are connected. You can have both. You deserve both. We all do.

What people are saying about the power of Selling with Noble Purpose

"If you sell based on a deep mission and purpose, revenue will follow. As Lisa Earle McLeod explains in this remarkable book, you have to start with how to change another life. . . then work back from that purpose."
—Tom Rath, bestselling author, StrengthsFinder 2.0

"Lisa McLeod is the master at helping organizations reframe their sales narrative around purpose, which boosts sales numbers and sales morale alike."
—Dan Pink, bestselling author, Drive and To Sell Is Human

"McLeod combines a wealth of field experience with unique insights to drive revenue."
—Dr. Marshall Goldsmith, #1 Leadership Thinker in the World (Thinkers50), Dartmouth Tuck Professor of Management Practice

"Creating differentiation is the single biggest challenge for any sales team.??Selling with Noble Purpose??unpacks how to gain a competitive edge, win the market, and create a tribe of true believers. I loved it."
—Nancy Duarte, CEO and bestselling author