Overturning Objections - Keith Rosen 'Sales Leadership' Chapters 7, 8 & 9

We're on Chapters 7, 8 & 9 this week!

The first few chapters we thought were solid 10/10s. I think these 3 chapters are probably 9/10. BUT they're still good and very worth reading.

Chapter 7: 'Creating Unity, Trust and the Art of Enrolment'

I think the reason I didn't enjoy these chapters as much is because i only like to be told things once and he repeats things - but this works for some people! But do I think Keith is correct in what he says? He's 100% right.

He goes into greater detail in these chapters on what he began to discuss in the earlier chapters. We definitely would buy training from Keith but we could also pick up the book and use it as a manual rather than a surface level text that's aimed at getting you to buy training.

Keith reminds sales leaders that they must always think about what's in it for their team. He always points out that good salespeople don't necessarily make good sales leaders.

I think there is a noticeable cultural difference between Rosen who is American and our view of Sales leaders and salespeople. Maybe this needs a rewrite for a UK audience, I felt like some of the language needed localising. I thought 'you'll not get away with that language in the UK' - It's like software that needs localising - it needs updating. As a methodology, it's fantastic and it works, it just needs altering slightly to be more compatible to the UK mindset.

Rosen gives some cracking advice on how to overcome difficult conversations and reveals how a lot of the difficulty you're facing as a salesperson or a sales leader is in your mind and he shows you how to navigate away from this.

Keith Rosen's structure centres around being quite nice and I'm not sure how this will work in the real world - sometimes you've got to be explicitly clear that you are the boss. You need to deliver a message with absolute clarity.

We really enjoyed Keith's framework.

Chapter 8: 'Seven Essential Enrolment Conversations that Create Company Wide Alignment'

I think the easiest way to persuade your sales team that a coaching course or a new method of coaching is going to work for them is to TTT - Tell the truth! Say 'hey guys, I've been on this coaching course, I learned a lot and I want to try it, I think it might work, I think we might all sell a bit more and grow as sales people - anybody up for it? '
We had a disagreement on how effective Keith's incentive system was and we took longer than normal reviewing these chapters which is obviously a good sign!

If we went out tomorrow and hired a new business salesperson - I'd use this as a guide and even though we're experienced, I would still use this myself.

We have hired salespeople that are really grateful for being taught, being trained and being developed.

Understanding the identity of the salesperson is something that i think gets missed a lot of the time. What are your top priorities and values? What's important to you is one of my favourite questions.

Our advice: don't interview a candidate based on what they've sold and who they sold it to- interview them on their identity and how it matches with the company's culture

Chapter 9: 'Coach Tracks: turn difficult situations into coaching wins'

This was a really good section!

If a manager incorporated these ideas and this advice, he or she would enrol the team straight off the bat!

We think that one of the issues that Keith and ourselves don't seem to be seeing eye to eye to is appearing weak - we're starting to question whether we should or shouldn't. Have we got too much machismo that it's not helping - we've never wanted to appear weak but maybe we should appear more humble and if eating some humble pie would make us more successful then we'll have some!

Maybe we should read 'Coaching Salespeople into Champions' - his content makes me want to read more!

These chapters were a 9/10 - we just think that Keith should include more detailed structures!