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Stop Selling and Start Leading
Book

Stop Selling and Start Leading

How to Make Extraordinary Sales Happen

James M. Kouzes, Barry Z. Posner and Deb Calvert
Wiley, 2018

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Editorial Rating

8

Qualities

  • Applicable
  • Well Structured
  • Concrete Examples

Recommendation

Business-to-business (B2B) selling can be an uphill fight. Many buyers automatically assume that all salespeople will fulfill a negative stereotype of being high-pressure, manipulative know-it-alls. Buyers are wary of hucksters. The solution? B2B salespeople must stop acting like sellers and start acting like leaders. Moreover, they must actually become leaders. Authors and sales experts James Kouzes, Barry Posner and Deb Calvert base their guidance on research they conducted with B2B buyers. The primary finding is that these decision makers prefer to buy from salespeople who exhibit leadership characteristics and behaviors. Salespeople confirm they do best when they perform as leaders. Kouzes, Posner and Calvert’s instructive, original and well-documented manual shows all B2B salespeople – with any level of experience – how to make that crucial, career-transforming transition.

Take-Aways

  • The best way to increase B2B sales is to replace “stereotypical sales behaviors” with the “leadership behaviors buyers desire.” 
  • To do so, you must become a genuine leader.
  • This takes time and effort, but anyone can do it.

About the Authors

James Kouzes is the Dean’s Executive Fellow of Leadership for the Leavey School of Business at Santa Clara University, where leadership professor Barry Posner holds the Accolti Chair. Deb Calvert is the president and founder of People First Productivity Solutions.

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