The Only Sales Guide You'll Ever Need

As someone who has edited and published a few books for different authors and also as someone who has read dozens and dozens of books on the topic of sales, I have to say, this book was a HUGE surprise! I've been a periodic reader of Anthony’s blog and watched a few of the interviews he did with Selling Power magazine and as such, I thought I had him pegged. I thought I knew what I was in for with his book. But I was wrong. Holy crap! Anthony’s book is freakin incredible! I'm truly blown away at how beautifully and brilliantly it's structured. I went into it thinking there wasn't really much new to be said about sales and was frankly expecting more of a creative repackaging of familiar concepts and strategies. Wrong again. I was delightfully surprised at how many times I was surprised—caught off guard by a truly fresh and inspired perspective or nugget of wisdom.But what I think I was least prepared for was the absolute mastery he conveys in terms of his framework and vocabulary. Each step, each word, is so clearly used with such deliberate intent. It's abundantly clear that he has spent a ridiculous amount of time fine-tuning these components, or elements as they’re referred to in the book, over the years! He knows exactly how each one builds off of and depends on the another. He conveys the sequence of development with unwavering confidence and they never feel forced or fluffed. He doesn’t just make clever connections. He makes bold, authoritative declarations of how things absolutely do work—not theories or philosophies of what might be true. And I’m telling you, it’s 100% credible and believable.Anthony’s style of writing in this book is so clean, tidy, stripped down, and packed with power. I know what an almost unimaginable amount of work, editing, and rewriting it takes to get a manuscript to this level. So HUGE congrats to Anthony for having the humility and patience to be open to and accept what was no doubt an insane amount of feedback and critiquing.So...I'm going out on a limb here. I’m going to say that due to the level of truly expert craftsmanship, fresh insight, and succinct power contained in this book, I’m giving it the label of...THE best sales book I've ever read. I thought long and hard before making such a declaration. But it’s one I full-heartedly stand by. I really do believe it's just that good.Anthony, I’m SO glad you've written this book and truckloads of kudos to you for doing such a fabulous job of pulling it all together!Now as a little bonus at the end of my review, I mentioned how clearly and concisely Anthony writes, right? Well to help illustrate that, I’m going to share with you my Top 40 favorite quotes from the book. And each one is concise enough to fit in a tweet--140 characters or less and should give you a quick, yet comprehensive sense of the lessons contained in this book. Here they are, starting at number 40 and counting down to my favorite:40 - Your contacts may not remember anything from your slide deck, but they will remember your stories.39 - To succeed in sales, you must develop the necessary relationships before you need them.38 - Self-discipline is essential to sales success. Your good intentions are worthless unless they are coupled with disciplined action.37 - In sales, nurturing can be defined as “creating value before you claim any.”36 - Great negotiating is not about winning; it’s about creating agreement despite conflicting needs.35 - What concerned your parents should now concern you because the people you spend time with can build you up or pull you down.34 - Put prospecting first. You can’t cram prospecting. It must be a daily discipline. Block out time every day for this activity.33 - Prospecting is a campaign, not an event. It’s a series of “touches” that lead to a conversation and an opportunity to meet.32 - Respect your competitors and believe they are every bit as good as you are.31 - The antidote to complacency is initiative. Initiative is irrefutable evidence that you care about your customers.30 - There is no way to rush relationships, and there is no way to rush trust.29 - Stories are compelling. They move ideas out of the realm of the theoretical and into the real world.28 - If you call to ask your prospective client “if anything has changed,” you will immediately identify yourself as a time waster.27 - In sales, you must continually open new relationships. Remember, no opportunity is ever closed that hasn’t first been opened.26 - If you don’t tackle problems quickly and directly, you’ll be replaced as surely as you replaced the salesperson before you.25 - Your job is to create and sell a compelling case for change and then manage and lead that change.24 - Self-discipline is the fundamental attribute of all successful people. It allows them to take action even when they don’t want to.23 - Failure is simply an event. It doesn’t define you or your future.22 - If you want to ruin your career in sales, just start saying, “It can’t be done.”21 - When you hold yourself to a higher standard than anyone else can imagine, you always soar above the mark that others have set for you.20 - Choose to be a leader. Take responsibility for producing results, for helping your clients create the outcomes you sold them.19 - If you can’t devise a win-win agreement, you must walk away. This is the price of being a professional, of being a trusted adviser.18 - Eliminate distractions. When it’s time for you to do your prospecting, turn off your e-mail, the Internet, and your smartphone. Focus.17 - It is 100 percent your responsibility to grow, to develop yourself both personally and professionally.16 - A “no” is not failure. It’s information.15 - Being grateful is one of the most empowering choices you can make.14 - Sales is all about gaining commitments from your prospects. But the most important commitments are those you make to yourself.13 - Don’t wait. Initiate. Set yourself in motion and seize the initiative. Be productive, engaged, and innovate.12 - When you know you are doing the right thing, the outcome of the sale matters less.11 - Most people don’t fail because they can’t do something. They fail because they aren’t willing to do what it takes to succeed.10 - Reframe setbacks and obstacles as feedback that helps you make adjustments. Then try again.9 - In basketball, the game is over when the buzzer sounds. There is no buzzer in sales… because the game never ends.8 - The hard-sell closing techniques of the past may be dead, but the need to ask for commitments from the client is not.7 - The ability to think on your feet is no excuse for being unprepared.6 - The more desperate you are to fill your pipeline with opportunities, the more difficult it is to do so.5 - Your clients are not looking for a vendor. They want a partner who will charge into battle and tip the balance in their favor.4 - Small salespeople ask weak questions.3 - Negativity is the only cancer that spreads by contact.2 - It’s a simple truth: the more you care about your customer’s results, the better your own results will be.1 - Finish this sentence: “I sell ____.” If you answered with anything other than “outcomes,” you are wrong.And that’s it. The title to Anthony’s book is about as bold as they come. But it may in fact, be just that. I wholeheartedly recommend picking up your own copy and seeing for yourself whether or not this is indeed, “The Only Sales Guide You’ll Ever Need.”

Short Version - Buy this book NOW if you are experiencing any of the following:- A sense of having no control over your sales activity- Losing clients that you thought were "in the bag" because you and your firm were "doing good work"- Frustration that "prospects" on your list are calling other firms for bids, but not yours- An unpredictable and empty pipeline that leaves you feeling desperate and panicked.There are no easy fixes here, but there are simple, concrete, and absolutely spot-on strategies that *will* increase the success of your sales efforts.Long Version:I have owned several businesses over the last 20 years. During that time, the push-me/pull-you of selling vs. producing work for clients has been a constant source of frustration, learning, and challenge. While there are many terrific books on mindset, selling techniques, and strategies, "The Only Sales Guide You'll Ever Need" has the combination of no-nonsense "tough love" and immediately doable action steps that should set up any business owner/chief relationship builder for success.The first part of the book deals mostly with issues of mindset and, dare I say it, character. Other reviewers have done an excellent job of outlining the content of the book, so I won't repeat that here. Perhaps the most important takeaway though is that selling is about building *real* relationships with your clients. We give lip service to "networking" and "relationship selling", but it is very rare to find sales professionals who truly build on and value their relationships with clients and prospects in a way that is genuine and service focused.Iannarino points out rightly that the very foundation of being able to build relationships is being able to keep commitments to yourself and to others. From there, he outlines a wealth of useful attitudes and practices to put in place that have already paid dividends in our own sales efforts. We have re-engaged several existing clients and made confident and valuable pitches to companies that had been "out of our reach" before getting deeper into the discipline of research and value creation he outlines.The second part of the book is a primer on the down and dirty tactics of successful selling - from Cold Calling (which is not "dead" no matter what the "gurus" say) to helping clients initiate and manage change, Iannarino covers each step of the sales life cycle with a series of clear and easy to implement steps.True confession: Cold calling has been the great bane of my ownership existence for every reason that Iannarino describes. My one disappointment with the book was that I felt that I needed A LOT more input and guidance on the cold calling process -- then lo and behold, it turns out his second book is focused on just that topic. So, no argument there.In short, I've found this book together with Blount's "Fanatical Prospecting" to be fantastic resources in jumpstarting our sales efforts over the past year. I can't recommend this book highly enough.

My team uses it wth our coaching program. Excellent topics, structure and advice.I did not Iike the audio. Was too momtone for me, did not keep my attention. That's why I didn't give a 5 star.I usually listen to all my books on audible, but not this time.

Having been in sales for three decades now I tend to favor books that specialize in a specific area. However, every now and then a broad scope book comes along that really hits the bull’s eye over a broad scope – Anthony Iannarino’s The Only Sales Guide You’ll Ever Need is just such a book.One of the things that makes Anthony’s book noteworthy is an acknowledgment that our mind-set is foundational for success in selling. When we master our beliefs and behaviors we free ourselves to achieve the level of success we desire. The Only Sales Guide acknowledges this by devoting the first half of the book to this subject.It would have been easy to generically address the area of mind-set by offering up something in area of attitudes and desire but Anthony’s book goes beyond that by breaking down mind-set into ten components that are crucial for sales professionals. Each of these is given serious treatment and this whole section is like a personal achievement book unto itself.Here are the mind-set areas Anthony addresses in the book:- Self-Discipline- Optimism- Caring- Competitiveness- Resourcefulness- Initiative- Persistence- Communication- Accountability- InfluenceIn the final area (influence) Anthony sums up using all of the elements to maximize influence. It is the mastery of all these areas combined that creates true influence. Lifelong attentions to these areas will make you truly great and a powerful influence for good among others.The second half of the book is devoted to the specific skills sales professionals must be proficient at in order to succeed. The importance of being skilled in our craft reminds me of the saying by Thomas Fuller that “It is skill, not strength, that governs a ship.” So appropriately here we turn our focus on honing our craft.This section begins with a reminder that sales is service. “Selling isn’t something you do to someone. It’s something you do for and with someone.” What follows is an excellent discussion of ten commitments each salesperson needs in order to serve their customers. I hope Anthony won’t mind if I summarize here:- The Commitment of Time- The Commitment to Explore- The Commitment to Change- The Commitment to Collaborate- The Commitment to Build Consensus- The Commitment to Invest- The Commitment to Review Your Proposed Solution- The Commitment to Resolve Concerns- The Commitment to Decide- The Commitment to ExecuteThis wholesome philosophy frames-up and paves the way for all the skills to come.The section on skills contains solid and practical advice on eight skill areas – three of which are very special and unique to this book. The skill areas addressed are:- Closing- Prospecting- Storytelling- Diagnosing- Negotiating- Business Acumen- Change Management- LeadershipAnthony offers very insightful advice on the importance of these skills as well as their execution.In the last three skills, (Business Acumen, Change Management & Leadership) Anthony covers new ground that to my knowledge, has not been covered in a sales work before. These are higher-level skills that are more challenging to master but are essential for sales professionals that seek to insure their clients and customers realize the full benefits of the solutions they offer. This is absolutely refreshing and raises the bar on where our minds should be when interacting with customers.I was confident that I would enjoy this book because I very much enjoy Anthony Iannarino’s style of writing on The Sales Blog. What I didn’t expect is how timeless the material in this work is. Anthony has managed to encapsulate all of the core facets of professional selling in a surprisingly short number of pages. The Only Sales Guide You’ll Ever Need is personal achievement meets professional selling. It’s both practical and inspiring. 5 Stars.

I've been reading Anthony's blog posts for six years, and I've written publicly before that he's my #1 Go-To Sales Guru. He’s the first person I turn to for sales help, and he is the only one I turned to when my most sophisticated client needed perspective and assistance on a very complex sales issue.Like many of you in the sales community, I have known about this book for a long time and been anxiously awaiting its release.I provided the foreword for The Only Sales Guide You'll Ever Need so I've read it several times. It's not an exaggeration to declare that this is the most comprehensive sales book written this decade. Here are just a few excerpts from the foreword:"You won’t find many books like this or authors willing to share the hard truth. Instead of telling you what you want to hear and offering yet another “get rich quick” or “lose weight while doubling your carbohydrate intake without exercise” scheme, Anthony pulls back the covers to expose deeper truths about who wins big in sales, why they win, and how they do it...""In The Only Sales Guide You’ll Ever Need, Anthony tackles a crucial, central question. And honestly, this really is the only relevant question:Why do a few highly successful salespeople consistently outperform their peers?"“This book is built on a critical premise: Contrary to what most underperformers claim, sales success is not situational. No, it’s not about the market, the product, the company, or the competition. It is all about the seller – the individual.""Anthony doesn’t hold back the good stuff. The first chapter of The Only Sales Guide You’ll Ever Need jumps right into the deep end to look at the importance of self-​discipline and what he calls “me management.” Do not skip ahead or blow through this chapter.""Once you’ve read through Anthony’s master class on mind-​set in part 1, you’ll tackle skills development in part 2, which is as powerful as it is practical. While the attributes, attitudes, and behaviors taught in part 1 position you to win in sales, the skills revealed in part 2 show you not only how to effectively execute the sales attack but also to win decisively. Anthony leaves no stone unturned, looking at all the essential elements, ranging from prospecting (opening relationships) to closing (gaining commitments) and everything in between.""Anthony makes the strong case that to succeed today, we need to be more than just great salespeople. We must become great businesspeople. He shares valuable tips to increase your business acumen and set you apart in your clients’ eyes. He also ensures that you understand the importance of building consensus and how to navigate your dream client’s organization - connecting with various stakeholders so you can masterfully quarterback and advance your best opportunities down the field to score.If you're a sales professional who wants to up your game, this book is for you. And if you badly want to become a true sales professional who wins big and wins for the long-term, this is The Guide you need.Mike Weinberg | Consultant | Speaker | Author of two Amazon #1 Bestsellers

This book is from a sales practitioner that has honed his craft through the school of hard knocks. He writes with clarity, experience and a professional style that is combined with real life stories. Anthony devotes the first half of his book to creating the right mindset to be successful in an ultra-competitive and constantly changing market place. This focus is refreshing and a topic that most other authors have ignored or covered inadequately.The second half of the book focuses on the specific skills sales professionals must possess to succeed. Anthony does a stellar job of explaining the value of story-telling, asking good questions and describing the importance of business acumen. He reminds us to always keep our focus on the client and to build meaningful relationships.I particularly enjoyed the actions that he challenges the reader to take at the end of each chapter and his recommended reading list. In summary, this is a great book for new or seasoned sales reps. I have been in sales my entire life and I wore out a yellow high-lighter. Buy this book; you will read it more than once.

I have been in sales most of my life! When I first started many years ago, I hated "THE CLOSE", I simply wanted to make friends and build relationships and if they bought what I was selling, they bought what I was selling. Not really an overly successful strategy but I still made money.Now I have come to a point in my life where I need to ramp it up a notch so I did some research, found and started following Anthony Iannarino. It was only a matter of a week or so..... I felt not only comfortable with his message, I felt like I could relate to Anthony as a person, a nice guy worth listening to with a genuine message.So I bought the book and it was everything and more than I expected. Anthony Humanises the Sales Mindset. I did not put the book down The Only Sales Guide You'll Ever Need until I read it cover to cover. Now I study it one page at a time.This book is a Study of the Human Mind and is based on Genuine Principles of creating relationships, sound wisdom and profound sales strategies and tactics.The best money I have ever spent - BUY IT NOW - it will take you where you want to go - Paul

A great general sales book. Right now I'm in door-to-door sales so a good chunk of this book doesn't really apply. I'll admit I got bored reading a couple chapters. But if I ever go into B2B sales then I'll be glad I read this book. I did find a few ideas that I will be trying out. I've read 9 books in the sales/motivation/self-improvement genre over the last 2 months. Anthony does a nice job bringing it all together. I liked how included books he recommends reading at the end of each chapter for further study.

Beautiful book... Worth every penny. The introduction itself is priceless, have to now see what the content has to offer. Very promising.

This author states that sales has changed from an immediate close. He outlines the new mindsets and skills required to sell in a b2b environment. Recommended.

especially for newbies in sales very helpful, and for me with 25+ years in sales a good explanation, what I've done right in the past and where there are areas to improve.

I’ve read many sales books over the years that I’ve found useful, both as a sales person and now as a director of sales – from Mark Hunter’s High Profit Selling to Jeb Blount’s Fanatical Prospecting. Anthony Iannarino’s The Only Sales Guide You’ll Ever Need takes sales to another level. It’s an absolute must-read for anyone who wants to achieve success and improve value to their customers.Anthony’s excellence advice ranges from storytelling, optimism, dealing with rejection, belief, studying your wins and losses and working on your strategy. He also recommends more reading at the end of each chapter from different authors. Every successful sales person I’ve met invests in sales books. The Only Sales Guide You’ll Ever Need will make a difference to your career.

I enjoy the author's sensitivity and humanity and his very practical, easy to understand advices.