Sales Book of the Month: The Perfect SaleForce

Every month here at Treeline we read a book about Selling.  This month we read, The Perfect SalesForce by Derek Gatehouse. 

Although Gatehouse could of thought of a more suiting name, because clearly he knows that there is no "perfect" sales force, his book didn't do what I hate so much about other books.  It did not suggest some sort of complex selling formula that is going to completely change my sales results after 30 days of practice.  In fact, Gatehouse argues the opposite that you can't actually teach salespeople to sell much more than they currently do."  He argues that sales are about the people, not the exact process they use to sell, but their personalities and the subtitles in their styles. 

Gatehouse interviewed more than two thousand executives and tested thousands of sales professionals, managers, and experts.  He also took time to test almost every personality assessment tool, sales process, management system and training system.  In the end, he said they are all a waste. 

Instead, Gatehouse feels the best sales teams share six simple practices. They all:

• Hire for talent exclusively, not experience or specific skill sets
• Divide the different stages of the sale and have the right salesperson handling the stage(s) they are best at
• When hiring, understand the exact talents required for their specific type of sale
• Train, but not on specific processes, rather on just overall successful selling practices.
• Measure results not micromanaging processes.
• Blend positive and negative motivators. 

I liked this book a lot…  Sales are about people:  people connecting and building relationships.  I go back to the title: The Perfect Salesforce, because even the super-stars on your team – think of them….they are far from perfect.  But they have the RIGHT TALENTS for that specific sale.  This book is genius and I can't believe I haven't read something like it before.  It is genius in its simplicity.  A great read…..