19. The Dartmouth Group, Ltd., ten-year field observations of top performers, 1990-2000.

20. Conversations between the author and Neil Rackham in August

2000.

21. Ibid.

22. Ibid.

23. Ibid.

24. Neil Rackhams talk to the M426 Sales Management Class at Indiana University, April 12, 2000.

25. Private conversations between the author and Neil Rackham during Rackhams visits to the Institute for Global Sales Studies at the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University, and Neil Rackhams study of 35,000 sales calls in 23 countries over a period of 12 years, cited in Rackham, Major Account Sales Strategy, 116.

26. The Dartmouth Group, Ltd., field studies of top performers include observations of sales calls across many industries, such as telecommunications, office products, office furniture, computer software, publishing, health care, financial services, and banking from 1990 through 2000. Our field behavioral studies have included industry leaders like Xerox, Westinghouse, Eli Lilly, McGraw-Hill, and Herman-Miller distributor reps. Our observations of top performers indicate that they offer solutions later in the sales call than average or subpar performers.

27. Rolf B. White, ed., The Great Business Quotations (New York, Dell, 1986), 131.

28. The Dartmouth Group, Ltd. observations during a behavioral analysis study with Union Federal Bank, conducted by Mike Navel and Tracey Welch in 1998-1999 with Union Federal Bank small business lenders.

29. Linda Richardson, Stop Telling, Start Selling: How to Use Customer-Focused Dialogue to Close Sales (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1997), and Stephen E. Heiman and Diane Sanchez with Tad Tuleja, The New Conceptual Selling (New York: Warner Books, 1999), 182: Good questions can motivate and sustain your customers interest, stimulate her thinking and modify her attitudes.

30. Conversations with Neil Rackham suggest that salespeople are more likely to ask lots of questions when they believe the purpose is to understand rather than persuade. Neil Rackhams study of 35,000 sales calls in 23 countries over a period of 12 years, cited in Neil Rackham, The SPIN® Selling Field Workbook (New York:

McGraw-Hill, 1999), 169.

31. Thomas N. Ingram with Raymond W. Laforge and Charles H. Schwepker, Jr., Sales Management: Analysis and Decision Making, 3d ed., The Dryden Press Series in Marketing, (Orlando, FL: HBJ, 1997).

32. Wilson Learning and IKON Office Solutions, 1995, 9.

33. Selling at the Speed of Change (as Business Changes, Salespeople Must Change) Sales & Marketing Management, 151, no. 11 (1999): S22.

34. John F. Monoky, 7 Attributes of Successful Sellers, Industrial Distribution 83, no. 3 (1994): 58.

NOTES FOR CHAPTER 5

1. Sales-skill-based programs usually contain probing models and techniques for uncovering and developing client needs. In some cases, negotiation behaviors are taught in a companys basic sales training program, but normally these skill behaviors are covered later, in the advanced training modules.

2. The Dartmouth Group, Ltd., ten-year study included a multinational office products company, 1990-2000. Many of its managers

were not sufficiently familiar with their companys basic sales skill program to effectively coach and reinforce it.

3. Neil Rackhams study at Xerox, cited in Neil Rackham and Richard Ruff, Managing Major Sales, (New York: Harperbusiness, 1991), 129-130.

4. Learning International, Sales Coaching: The Key to Leading a High-Performance Team (Stamford, Conn.: Learning International, 1994), 10. This covers research conducted among leading sales organizations worldwide between 1992 and 1994.

5. This notion was documented in Rackham and Ruff, Managing Major Sales.

6. Neil Rackhams study of 35,000 sales calls in 23 countries over a period of 12 years, cited in Rackham and Ruff, Managing Major Sales, 13-14.

7. For further details on this finding, refer to Neil Rackham, SPIN® Selling (McGraw-Hill, 1988).

8. The Dartmouth Group, Ltd., ten-year field studies of top performers (1990-2000). Also confirmed by the Institute for Global Sales Studies, Indiana University, Role Play Effectiveness in M430 Professional Selling Classes; 1995-2000; Persuasion Exercises Between Sellers & Buyers. See also Stephen E. Heiman and Diane Sanchez with Tad Tuleja, The New Conceptual Selling (New York:

Warner Books, 1999), 33.

9. The Dartmouth Group, Ltd., ten-year field studies of top performers. Also confirmed by the Institute for Global Sales Studies, Kelley School of Business, Indiana University, Role Play Effectiveness in M430 Professional Selling Classes; 1995-2000; Persuasion Exercises Between Sellers & Buyers.

10. The Dartmouth Group, Ltd., ten-year field studies of top performers (1990-2000). Also confirmed by the Institute for Global