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List Price: $24.95 | | Publisher: Wiley
Salesrank: 462196
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| Our Price: $11.48 |
| Used Price: $4.90 |
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| Media: Hardcover |
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Editorial Review:
Praise for Heavy Hitter Sales Wisdom
"Steve Martin takes a much-needed look at how successful executives read verbal and nonverbal messages, which allows them to quickly understand the subtext of their customers' minds. The best part is that the author shares effective strategies that put more fun into selling and more money into salespeople's pockets."
—Gerhard Gschwandtner Founder and Publisher, Selling Power magazine
"Steve Martin's interesting examination of great leaders in history and the parallels he draws between waging a war and waging a sales campaign should be required reading for enterprise salespeople."
—Jay Fulcher, Chief Executive Officer, Agile Software
"This powerful book provides real-world strategies you can use to increase sales immediately!"
—Brian Tracy, President, Brian Tracy International, author, Getting Rich Your Own Way
"Heavy Hitter Sales Wisdom goes beyond the traditional description of sales cycles to the heart of selling. It's about the emotional connection with the customer, but also the attack and destruction of the competition."
—Olivier Helleboid, Vice President, Software Operations, Hewlett-Packard
"Heavy Hitter Sales Wisdom provides field sales generals and sales soldiers with tons of strategy, persuasion techniques, and common-sense approaches to winning the hearts and minds of prospects. This book will add new weapons to your arsenal."
—Tim Kelliher, Senior Vice President, Sales, DHL Global Mail
Heavy Hitter Sales Wisdom: Proven Sales Warfare Strategies, Secrets of Persuasion, and Common-Sense Tips for Success Reviews:
I only paid $2.99 and that was too much! 
2009-04-17 - As far as selling advice, it might as well be a cook book.
The book has not much to offer, unless you like war history.
If you have to battle with your customers, get out of sales, it will wear you out.
In short.........disappointing.
Heavy Hitter Indeed! 
2008-05-12 - Many 'sales books' are sales 101. This one is not. If you have been at it for a while and would like to hear from a guy who has done the same -- this is the book. From a guy who really does not like to read -- I thouroughly enjoyed this book.
Steve does a nice job comparing war strategies to sales -- and it works. Steve also brings in some great communicators and likens their starategies to selling. Again -- it works great for the business we are in -- selling, communicating, having conversations with people.
Not a heavy read -- he makes his point and keeps moving along. You can tell as you turn the pages that this guy carried a bag. He has been there.
Chapter by Chapter Review of Heavy Hitter Sales Wisdom
2008-03-13 - Chapter 1 - The Grand Strategy of War
The first chapter introduces the "indirect strategy" of warfare. The indirect strategy is based upon intelligence, finesse, and the element of surprise, rather than frontal assault. This time-tested strategy is involves understanding one's own abilities and concentrating resources on the enemy's weaknesses. Above all, the strategy truly appreciates the importance of time, momentum, and the role human nature plays in determining the winner. The chapter uses examples of strategy from some of the most important military leaders of all time (Sun Tzu, Napoleon Bonaparte, and George Patton).
Chapter 2 - Battlefield Tactics
This chapter reviews the components of the grand strategy: battles and battlefield maneuvers. In order to win the war, salespeople must maneuver into fighting position and execute different battlefield tactics to gain the advantage and neutralize enemies. Examples from important military battles from Roman Times to the first Gulf War are used to illustrate tactics.
Chapter 3 - The Five Steps to Victory
This chapter introduces the five steps it takes to develop a winning indirect strategy: understanding how the objective is organized, going after leaders, focusing on human nature, enlisting spies, and setting the tempo.
Chapter 4 - Real Persuasion
After salespeople have formulated their strategy, they use the second element of sales wisdom, persuasion, to turn skeptics into believers. This chapter focuses on mastering soft skills--understanding how to build rapport with skeptics, presenting arguments in a nonthreatening way, and dovetailing ideas with the customer's personal desires.
Chapter 5 - Meeting of the Minds
This chapter is based upon the premise that the language we use is not truly universal. The source of all language is the mind, and since everyone's mind is so distinct, people actually talk in their own dialects. Therefore, in order to communicate persuasively and make a lasting impression, salespeople need to use neurolinguistics to speak the customers' different dialects. Examples from politicians including Presidents Reagan, Clinton, and Bush are used to highlight persuasiveness.
Chapter 6 - Common-Sense Selling
This chapter is based upon metaphors-- stories that are told to convey a point. The metaphors cover common-sense subjects salespeople need to know, such as handling price objections, forecasting, and avoiding the seven deadly sins of salespeople.
Chapter 7 - The Life of a Salesperson
The stories and advice in this chapter cover a broad range of sales-related topics. These stories are grouped into lessons for a successful sales career and important lessons about the life of a salesperson.
Not for Toaster Salespeople...
2008-01-13 - If you sell toasters at a department store this book is not for you... Because you don't have to know how to penetrate large accounts, navigate to c-level decision makers, and persuade them to buy in life-or-death presentations that make or break your deal. However, if you sell high technology or other complex intangible solutions like I do, I would highly recommend Heavy Hitter Sales Wisdom. The first section on sales warfare strategies is extremely interesting reading on sales strategy through the study of military history and man kind's worst battles. I found this to be a very novel and entertaining way of discussing complex account strategy.
One very misinformed chapter sinks an otherwise solid book 
2007-12-21 - I'll just cut to the chase: Author Steve Martin devoted a chapter of this book to a case study of something he doesn't fully understand, the 2004 Presidential Election. The issues surrounding that time were complex and interwoven and Martin's analysis is simplistic, naive, and just plain wrong. I read the entire chapter and thought "If he's wrong about this, why am I going to believe him when it comes to anything else?"
My pick for an excellent book that integrates Sun Tzu, warfare, and the art of sales...WITHOUT discussing the 2004 Presidential Election...is Sun Tzu's The Art of War Plus The Art of Sales: Strategy for Salespeople (Sun Tzus the Art of War Plus).
Martin also tackles NLP, but this is not a subject that can be covered with any great impact in a chapter.
If you're the kind of person who feels comfortable cherry-picking strong chapters from a mixed bag, this is the book for you. Otherwise, caveat emptor.
