THE TECH SALES WARRIOR

A guide offers advice on cracking the code for becoming an exceptional tech salesperson.

Early on in his book, Prangley confesses that it pains him to see tech sales reps trying to improve their game and feeling lost. Drawing on his own long, personal experience, he hopes to present these forlorn colleagues with sales methods that he’s developed over the years, techniques that he’s absolutely confident will help them exceed their quotas. He first addresses what he refers to as persistent myths: that sales are all about the money, that sales are about tricking people, that superb sales figures are mostly a matter of luck. He then proceeds to lay out the basics of his method, foremost of which is “Finding Your Why”—really focusing on the essential reasons why readers are in sales in the first place. (His precepts are specifically tailored to business to business, but he insists they can be more widely applied.) Each of his chapters addresses a core idea of sales, from researching prospective customers to strengthening the teamwork instinct. Each one ends with a series of useful “action steps” that readers can implement. For example: “Actively work at building a great relationship with your manager. In particular, commit to making sure your manager never needs to chase you for accurate and timely data.” At all points in his book, Prangley very convincingly adopts the tone of a friendly older mentor, and he manages to do this without any condescension. His concentration on the personal element of sales is familiar to this type of manual but nevertheless is refreshingly human. And he organizes his material expertly; the guide is generously supplied with lists, acronyms, and bullet points to streamline the reading experience. No matter what stage of their careers, readers involved in sales will likely find plenty of value in these pages.

A useful, engagingly written, and uplifting method for improving sales performance.