Now, for the first time ever, the time-tested, proven techniques perfected by the world-famous Dale Carnegie® sales training program are available in book form. The two crucial questions most often asked by salespeople are: "How can I close more sales?" and "What can I do to reduce objections?" The answer to both questions is the same: You learn to sell from a buyer's point of view. Global markets, increased technology, information overload, corporate mergers, and complex products and services have combined to make the buying/selling process more complicated than ever. Salespeople must understand and balance these factors to survive amid a broad spectrum of competition. Moreover, a lot of what the typical old-time salesperson did as recently as ten years ago is now done by e-commerce. The new sales professional has to capture and maintain customers by taking a consultative approach and learning to unearth the four pieces of information critical to buyers, none of which e-commerce alone can yield. The Sales Advantage will enable any salesperson to develop long-term customer relationships and help make those customers more successful -- a key competitive advantage. The book includes specific advice for each stage of the eleven-stage selling process, such as: How to find prospects from both existing and new accounts The importance of doing research before approaching potential customers How to determine customers' needs, such as their primary interest (what they want), buying criteria (requirements of the sale), and dominant buying motive (why they want it) How to reach the decision makers How to sell beyond questions of price The cutting-edge sales techniques in this book are based on interviews accumulated from the sales experiences of professionals in North America, Europe, Latin America, and Asia. This book, containing more than one hundred examples from successful salespeople representing a wide variety of products and services from around the world, provides practical advice in each chapter to turn real-world challenges into new opportunities. The Sales Advantage is a proven, logical, step-by-step guide from the most recognized name in sales training. It will create mutually beneficial results for salespeople and customers alike. Dale Carnegie and Associates, Inc, has produced three giant international bestsellers -- How to Win Friends and Influence People, How to Stop Worrying and Start Living, and How to Enjoy Your Life and Your Job -- with more than thirty million copies sold to date. Their most recent bestseller is The Leader in You. More than twenty-five hundred people around the world enroll in Dale Carnegie courses each week, adding to the five million people who have graduated from the world-famous self-improvement and training programs. Salespeople are always looking for ways to overcome objections and close more deals, but all good salespeople know there is no magic formula to achieve this. The authors tell us that, like playing an instrument, selling is hard and unpleasant at first, but with practice it can become easy and even enjoyable. This highly readable guide for creating better long-term relationships with customers comes from the same group that produced the best-seller The Leader in You: How to Win Friends, Influence People, and Succeed in a Changing World (1993). They take you through the process step-by-step, from prospecting to preparing for initial contact, getting through the "gatekeepers" to reach the decision makers, using proper etiquette for phone and in-person presentations, to selling beyond questions of price. Tips include avoiding cliche "danger words," such as best, largest, or highest quality, unless you can back them up with facts and evidence. There are sections covering different styles and showmanship, interpreting and using body language to your advantage, knowing when it's time to walk away from a sale, and overcoming objections by validating your customer's concerns. David Siegfried Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved John W. Thiel Managing Director, Merrill Lynch While knowledge is fundamental, what highlights the professional salesperson is the skill and attitude he displays. The Sales Advantage creates a playbook to develop these skills and attitudes and to perfect the sales process from the critical perspective -- namely the client's. The Dale Carnegie Human Relations Principles, along with years of field experience, inspired this must-read for the sales professional. Gerhard Gschwandtner Founder and Publisher, Selling Power Magazine: Solutions for Sales Management The Sales Advantage follows the blueprint for writing books that made Dale Carnegie a worldwide bestselling author. There isn't a single idea in the book that hasn't been field-tested with a real customer and classroom-tested by a Dale Carnegie instructor. The result is a book packed with brilliant sales gems destined to enri