CHAPTER 5

The Ratio of Planning to Action

Sales is a profession for people who like to think. If you want a job that requires you to do the same thing day after day, then you should find another line of work. Like working on an assembly line.

Even though selling is a process, I’ve often witnessed managers who take the sales-is-just-an-assembly-line school of thought a few steps too far. They believe that if you plug any individual into a well-conceived process, that person can achieve a basic level of sales success. While I’m a great believer in the power of a process in selling and will discuss the importance of the sales process in later chapters, the addition of even a modicum of creative thinking or creative initiative in any sales situation ...

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