Listen to the Dinosaur

“Learning from the school of hard knocks can be very informing, but often the tuition is too high! We should learn from other people’s experiences.” The purpose of this column is to share great business wisdom from the experiences of authors like Jim Collins, Michael Gerber, Frank McNair, Michael LeBoeuf, Ron Willingham, Randy Pennington and others. Because when you combine great business education with your own business experiences the outcome you’ll receive is far greater than the sum of its parts.

The wisdom of David M. Fellman’s book; Listen to the Dinosaur – The Fundamentals of Selling Haven’t Changed! has been chosen to share with you this week. Dave Fellman has presented hundreds of seminars and keynotes throughout the United States. He has trained and coached more than a thousand salespeople, sales managers and business owners. Fellman begins his book with a story about an attendee at a recent seminar he was conducting. The attendee said; “I came here looking to find some new ideas. You didn’t teach me anything about selling comprehensive solutions at the CLevel in the digital age and arena, just the same old ‘prospect-and-follow-up-and-ask-good-questions’ crap I’ve been hearing from my boss. Dinosaurs are extinct, man, and you’re not helping me any by telling me to sell like one.”

It’s worth mentioning that this particular salesperson was sent to Fellman’s seminar because he’s an underachiever, plodding along at about 60% of his employer’s expectations after a year and a half on the job. But that’s not what Fellman wants to talk to us about.

He thinks “a lot of salespeople are looking for a new way to sell, because their perception is that the old way isn’t working anymore. This isn’t a new phenomenon; it’s probably been happening as long as there have been salespeople. Times change, products and services change, technology changes – so the fundamentals of selling must change too, right?”

Fellman thinks wrong. He also thinks “that the more people look for a new way to sell, the farther they get from the fundamentals. And that’s why their method of selling isn’t working.” He believes in fundamentals. He also believes in creativity. And that’s what his book is about. The fundamentals come first, and if that makes him a dinosaur, well then maybe we should listen to the dinosaur!

There are a lot of books on selling out in the marketplace. Most of them are filled with what you need to do and why you need to do it. And then you’re left with figuring out how to get it done on your own. Fellman goes that extra step and shows you how (stepby-step) you can be successful in sales. His book is full of examples, stories and templates you can customize for your own situation. 

“Listen to the Dinosaur is a very modern presentation of the fundamentals of effective selling.” Here are just a few examples of the Dinosaur Wisdom you’ll find inside:

? You won’t gain new customers from prospecting; you will gain new customers from follow-up.

? The more complex the product or service, the more likely it requires a consultative sale!

? Every current customer provides you with three distinct levels of value: the value of what they’re buying from you now; the value of what they could be buying from you; and the value of influence.

? Showing that you’re different is a very good first step toward showing that you’re better.

? The decision to buy from you is way too important to be left up to them!

Whether you’re a salesperson, sales manager, senior executive or business owner this is the book for you if you really want to understand the fundamentals and dynamics of selling. Fellman leaves readers with this final thought: “I’ve been paid for writing this book. The question now is whether you’ll reap a payoff for reading it.” He truly hopes so!

To learn more about Listen to the Dinosaur – The Fundamentals of Selling Haven’t Changed and/or to purchase a copy go to www.dinosaurwisdom.com. This is an incredible book, filled with wisdom, proven methods and countless templates that you can customize and start using right away in your own sales practice. It should be on every salesperson’s “must-read-list.”

Copyright Gary E. Tomlinson