Each quarter we are at Meeting to Win lead our subscribers through a book in the segment called Sales Performance Book Club. In Q1 we did Ram Charan’s book What the Customer Wants You to Know. Participants applied the concepts and shared so many great success stories. Below is a discussion guide if you would like to have your own Sales Performance Book Club.
Sales Performance Book Club – What the Customer Wants You to Know by Ram Charan
Chapter 1
- Hear from the most experienced sales people on your team how selling has changed during their career.
- What does “Value Creation Selling” (VCS) mean to you today?
- Based on the definition and characteristics of VCS outlined in Chapter 1, where do you believe your team excels? Where could you stand some improvement?
Chapter 2
- From pages 18-22, which, if any, of those things are true in your organization? (The next chapters will address ideas for moving forward.
Chapter 3
- With which customers do you have a high level of trust? What evidence exists to suggest you have this level of trust?
- With which customers do you NOT have a high level of trust? What are the reasons?
- On page 40, Ram lists 5 things you need to understand about your customers to become a trusted partner.
- What are some ideas to gain this understanding where you don’t already have it?
Chapter 4
- Each participant should share one thing you took away from Chapter 4. Will you do anything differently moving forward?
- Page 58: At the bottom of pg 58, the 3 elements of a “VAP” are described. Each participant should take a current deal in the pipeline and describe the 3 elements for that deal.
- Page 66: What is the “TVO” for that same deal? If you don’t know, how can you find out?
Chapter 5
- Based on Chapter 5, what shift, if any, needs to occur on your own team to make the transition to VCS?
- Is there anything from this chapter you, as a team, can control to begin to make this shift?
Chapter 6
- Compare your current final presentations to the description of presenting the value creation proposition as outlined in Chapter 6.
- Is there anything about your current approach you believe should change after reading this chapter?
- How can you adapt this style over the phone or in less formal “final presentations”?
Chapter 7
- Each participant should share their thoughts on Chapter 7.
- As a team, answer the question on page 130: “Are we helping our customers prosper and are we sharing in their prosperity?
Chapter 8 & The End of the Story
- Each participant should share their thoughts on Chapter 8 and “The End of the Story”. (Next agenda will cover the Appendix.)
- As a team, determine specifically how you can become your company’s “pace-setters” like Jack called Charlie in his letter.
Appendix, How Far Are You with Value Creation Selling?
- Please review and, as a group, discuss the questions in the Appendix.
- What action items can your team take away from this discussion?
Wrapping Up
- Start/Stop/Continue
Congratulations, you’ve completed the book What the Customer Wants You to Know by Ram Charan. Now please answer the following questions: - What is one thing you will START doing? Why?
- What is one thing you will STOP doing? Why?
- What is one thing you will CONTINUE doing? Why?
We hope you’ve enjoyed your Sales Performance Book Club discussion. We are currently in our Q2 book, The Exceptional Presenter by Timothy Koegel. To join us, simply subscribe to the Meeting to Win weekly sales team meetings and join the Sales Performance Book Club currently in action.
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