Book SummaryLittle Red Book of Selling, by Jeffrey Gitomer

1-Page Summary1-Page Book Summary of Little Red Book of Selling

In the Little Red Book of Selling, Jeffrey Gitomer presents 13 principles of selling and numerous practical tips and techniques. But before you can learn to sell, he argues that you must first understand why people buy.

It’s a fact of human nature that everyone likes to buy, but no one likes being sold. Rather than selling (pushing the customer to buy what you have), your job as a salesperson is capitalizing on the desire to buy—that is, making the customer want to buy your product.

The top reasons people buy are:

• They like the salesperson. They trust, believe in, have confidence in, and feel comfortable with them.
• They view the salesperson and company as different from competitors.
• They see value in the product or service they’re buying; they believe it will increase their productivity and profit.
• The product or service fits their needs.
• They view the price as fair in exchange for the value, although it may not be the lowest available.

The 13 principles in this book will help you build on customers’ buying reasons to create an atmosphere conducive to buying—for example, by building a strong relationship and addressing customers’ needs for profit and productivity. The principles fall into three categories: practicing success habits, preparing for success, and selling effectively.

Principles 1-3: Practice Success Habits

The first three principles of selling involve adopting a mindset and habits that set you up for success.

Principle #1: Motivate Yourself

You can’t sell if you don’t constantly push yourself—no one will do this for you because no one else is as invested as you are in whether you succeed. Here are some signs you lack motivation and need to push yourself:

• You’re in a sales slump and feel that you can’t do anything to get out of it—so you don’t act.
• People aren’t calling you back; blaming them for your lack of sales is an excuse to do nothing.
• You complain that your company isn’t providing you with training, so you can’t improve.

In each case, you feel helpless and unmotivated to change your circumstances.

These are all common complaints and behaviors among salespeople—but you (not your circumstances) are the key to your success:

• Instead of complaining that prospects won’t return your calls, learn to leave effective voicemail messages that prompt return calls.
• Instead of using the excuse that you’re in a “sales slump,” work harder and smarter, make a new plan, get a mentor’s or colleague’s assessment of your approach, listen to positive tapes and use positive self-talk, and focus on sales fundamentals.
• Instead of bemoaning a lack of company training, train yourself: Spend your spare time reading books on selling, presentation skills, positivity, and creativity.

Principle #2: Mind Your Own Business

The second selling principle, minding your own business, is essential to successfully implementing the other selling principles.

It’s easy to get caught up in others’ drama at work, whether it involves bosses, colleagues, customers, or vendors. But besides wasting your finite time, by getting involved, you risk:

• Perpetuating a pity party or negative attitudes
• Giving bad advice
• Making others angry at you by taking sides or saying the wrong thing

Worse, when you engage in drama, you rob time from creating your own success. Convert the time you spend on others’ problems to focusing on self-development and your career.

Principle #3: Be Alert to Opportunities

Avoiding other people’s dramas and focusing on self-development doesn’t mean being oblivious to everything going on around you. The third selling principle—being alert to sales opportunities—requires paying attention to your surroundings and to potential customers and networking contacts around you.

People often focus inwardly—for example, on how they look, what others are thinking about them, something they’re worried about, or something they need to do later. But when you’re focused inwardly, the world and its opportunities are out of focus to you.

Instead of focusing inwardly, imagine yourself wearing antennas that constantly scan your surroundings for opportunity. In every situation, activate your antennas—useful new contacts or sales leads can pop up while you’re waiting in line at airports, restaurants, lobbies, and elevators, or while you're attending a child’s school event.

Principles 4-7: Prepare for Success

The next four selling principles involve preparing for sales success by branding and networking and by learning to use humor and creativity in the sales process.

Principle #4: Develop Your Brand

Branding is increasing people’s awareness of you and your strengths. It encompasses putting your name on everything you do, with the goals of establishing yourself as an expert and leader and creating demand indirectly for your product or service.

In selling, who knows you is as important as who you know. When you have a strong brand, customers are loyal to you, prospects call you, you get appointments with higher-ups more easily, and you get more “yeses” to meetings and sales than your competitors do. You attract sales success.

The author built his brand as a sales expert and resource in part through networking activities such as:

• Offering himself as a frequent speaker to business, trade, and civic groups
• Joining community boards and organizations in leadership positions
• Building his network by identifying those who could help him, then offering them something of value (for example, tips, expert advice, or introductions to useful contacts) before seeking their support. The next section goes into networking in more detail.

Besides networking, the author’s branding efforts included:

• Registering his name, gitomer.com, online.
• Writing a regular newspaper column of sales advice, which expanded to 90 markets
• Creating a brief verbal...

Little Red Book of Selling Summary Introduction

In the Little Red Book of Selling, Jeffrey Gitomer presents 13 principles of selling and numerous practical tips and techniques from his sales experience. The principles incorporate several themes of Gitomer’s philosophy:

• The first thing you must sell is yourself.
• Give value before selling.
• Make the customer want to buy.

Gitomer, a sales trainer and the author of numerous best-selling books on sales, argues that to become a successful salesperson, first, love what you do and put your heart into it. Then, take a long-term view of sales rather than focusing on making quick sales to meet your end-of-month goals. Build your sales process on relationships and referrals based on giving customers ongoing value, so you can keep selling over the long term, not just make one sale.

Why People Buy

Salespeople are always looking for the “secret” to selling. Companies spend countless dollars and hours training their sales teams in how to sell. But while Gitomer offers key selling principles, he argues that before you can sell, you need to understand why people buy. It’s a fact of human nature that everyone likes to buy, but no one likes being sold....

Little Red Book of Selling Summary Part 1: Practice Success Habits | Principles 1-3

The first three principles of selling involve adopting habits that create success: Motivate yourself, mind your own business, and be alert to opportunities.

Principle #1: Motivate Yourself

You can’t sell if you don’t constantly push yourself—no one will do this for you because no one else is as invested as you are in whether you succeed. Here are some signs you lack motivation and need to push yourself:

• You’re in a sales slump and feel that you can’t do anything to get out of it—so you don’t act.
• People aren’t calling you back; blaming them for your lack of sales is an excuse to do nothing.
• You complain that your company isn’t providing you with training, so you can’t improve.

In each case, you feel helpless and unmotivated to change your circumstances.

These are all common complaints and behaviors among salespeople—but you (not your circumstances) are the key to your success:

• Instead of complaining that prospects won’t return your calls, learn to leave effective voicemail messages that prompt return calls.
• Instead of using the excuse that you’re in a “sales slump,” work harder, make a new sales plan, get a mentor’s or colleague’s...

Shortform Exercise: Practice Success Habits

The first three principles of selling involve developing success habits. They are: Motivate yourself, mind your own business (don’t get caught up in others’ drama), and be alert to potential sales and networking opportunities everywhere.

Of the first three principles of selling, which one do you struggle with or neglect the most, and why? For instance, do you have a tendency to complain about customers not returning your calls, or do you often feel you’re in a slump (indications you lack motivation)?

Little Red Book of Selling Summary Part 2: Prepare for Success | Principles 4-5

The next four selling principles involve preparing for sales success. Principles 4 and 5, branding and networking, are closely related in that they overlap and complement each other.

Principle #4: Develop Your Brand

Potential customers “buy” the salesperson first, then buy what you’re selling. They buy your knowledge and expertise, the value you provide, your character, integrity, trustworthiness, and so on. To establish your knowledge and value and make them widely known, you need to develop a strong personal brand.

When you have a strong brand, customers are loyal to you, prospects call you, you get appointments with higher-ups more easily, and you get more “yeses” to meetings and sales than your competitors do. You attract sales success.

Personal branding isn’t difficult, although training classes often make it seem that way—it just takes hard work. Branding is increasing people’s awareness of you and your strengths. It encompasses putting your name on everything you do, with the goals of:

• Establishing yourself as an expert, resource, and innovator in your field
• Earning a positive reputation in the business community that accrues to your company...

Shortform Exercise: Prepare for Success, Part 1

The fourth and fifth selling principles, branding and networking, are closely related—both involve making yourself known, which opens doors to future sales opportunities.

Branding is increasing people’s awareness of you and your strengths. How would you describe your brand? (For example, what are you an expert in?) How well-known are you?

Little Red Book of Selling Summary Principles 6-7

The sixth and seventh selling principles—use humor and creativity—are differentiating, that is, they set you apart from your competition. Some people are naturally better than others at using them, but both humor and creativity are learnable, so you can use them successfully with study and practice.

Principle #6: Humor: Make Them Smile

Making people laugh relaxes them and creates an atmosphere conducive to buying. Laughing together is a form of agreement or approval, and agreement is a step toward selling. Put another way, get people to laugh and you can get them to buy—all things being equal, customers will choose to buy from you over a humorless competitor. Besides helping you make the sale, humor also builds customer relationships by facilitating friendship and respect.

To improve your humor, study humor, especially if you aren’t naturally funny. Here are some ways to learn to be funnier:

• Pay attention to what happens to you so you can reference funny events in jokes.
• Visit comedy clubs or watch comedians on TV. Study delivery and audience reaction.
• Read joke books.
• Listen to children, who are naturally funny.
• Practice jokes with...

Shortform Exercise: Prepare for Success, Part 2

The sixth and seventh selling principles—use humor and creativity—set you apart from your competition. Some people are funnier or more creative than others, but with study and practice you can use both successfully.

Think about a recent sales call. Did you use humor? If so, how did it affect the conversation? If not, how could you have used humor?

Little Red Book of Selling Summary Part 3: Sell Effectively—Get the Customer’s Attention | Principles 8-10

The rest of the principles in this book focus on selling techniques that create an atmosphere conducive to buying and thus seal the deal: Prepare to sell, meet with the top decision-maker, and give value.

Principle #8: Prepare to Sell

Too many salespeople walk into sales calls without having done any research on the prospect’s business. Then they ask the prospect, “Tell me about your business,” which irritates her and wastes her time. They follow up with, “Let me tell you about my business,” which the client couldn’t care less about. Then, when they fail to sell their product or service, they complain about the challenges of selling.

Instead of complaining that sales is hard, work harder to prepare. Start your workday the night before by planning what you’ll focus on, then get to work early each day so you can start selling immediately rather than spending half your day getting ready to sell.

As part of your planning, do your homework on the prospect’s business by:

• Searching the internet and business databases for news and information about the company
• Studying the company’s website and literature, such as annual reports and marketing materials
• ...

Shortform Exercise: How Can You Give More Value?

Salespeople must focus on giving value in two ways: 1) By giving value personally (for example, by sharing connections or expertise), and 2) by articulating how their product delivers what the customer values most.

What are some ways that you personally give, or could give, value to people in your network?

Little Red Book of Selling Summary Part 4: Sell Effectively—Clinch the Deal | Principles 11-13

The remaining three selling principles address techniques and responses that will help you close the deal: Help the buyer convince herself to buy, eliminate the buyer’s risk, and use customer testimonials.

Principle #11: Help the Buyer Convince Herself to Buy

The 11th selling principle—helping the buyer convince herself to buy—requires a key sales skill: asking the right questions.

Most salespeople ask the wrong questions and therefore don’t get the answer they want (a “yes” to the sale). Usually, they’re questions aimed at getting the buyer to switch from a current supplier to your company. They often fail because they’re price-driven. For example:

• Who’s your current supplier?
• Are you satisfied with your service?
• How much are you currently paying for delivery? If I could save you some money, would you switch…?
• What would it take for me to win your business?

In contrast, the right questions help the buyer think about your product or service in terms of how it solves her problems or achieves her goals. They’re specific questions that uncover her frustrations, concerns, and needs so you can show how your product will make her life easier—and...

Shortform Exercise: Create a Buying Atmosphere

Helping the buyer convince herself to buy requires asking specific questions that uncover her frustrations, concerns, and needs so you can show how your product will make her life easier—and she’ll conclude that she needs it.

What are some of the typical questions you ask a potential buyer? Write them down.

Shortform Exercise: Eliminate Your Buyer’s Risk

A risk is anything that makes a customer hesitate to buy. Common risks are: Am I making a mistake and not getting my money’s worth? Will I look bad or get into trouble for making a poor decision? Can I get it cheaper elsewhere, or get something better? Will it work? What if it doesn’t?

Think about an upcoming sales call. What are the customer’s top three potential risks?