Knock Your Socks Off Selling: Book Review

                                                Knock Your Socks Off Selling : A Book Review

            Gitomer and Zemke provide their readers with key techniques to follow in order to become a successful salesperson in Knock Your Socks Off Selling.  The book’s main focus is on consultative selling.  The authors define the consultative salesperson as someone who assists customers in solving their problems instead of selling them products.  They review the correct questions to ask, explain how to build customer relationships, make available a course to use when closing a sell, and provide means for overcoming any objections the buyer may have.  This book is intended to be used by people who have never worked in sales or people who are considering a career in sales.  For an experienced salesperson, the book seems a bit juvenile and predictable: Many of the strategies presented in the text are merely common sense. The authors  do go into exceptional detail when explaining relevant sales definitions. For this reason, the book would provide great material for the beginner. 

            The preface tells very little about the authors’ experience in sales. We know that Jeffrey Gitomer’s success as a  salesperson has lead him to write a weekly sales and customer service column. Sales associates, responding to Gitomer’s column, have provided him with the feedback that he uses as material for his publications.

            Knock Your Socks Off Selling begins with a test for the self-evaluation of sales skills. Based on the skills you identify in the self-evaluation, the authors direct you to choose a position as either consultative seller or sales rep. The  authors preference leans towards the consultative sales approach. At this point in the text, the author lists the benefits of consultative selling. These benefits are all the reasons why a consultative selling position is better than being a sales rep. The authors communicate the significance of recognizing the needs of the customer, having faith in yourself and the product, and helping the customer to solve their problems. Gitomer and Zemke teach you how to question prospects so that you can uncover their problems and present them with solutions. They also present procedures for closing the sale and overcoming any objections that may arise.

            There are great similarities between the classroom text and Knock Your Socks Off Selling. The book does not present any new or groundbreaking strategies related to sales. Both texts place great emphasis on the relationship between salespeople and their customers. One topic that was not introduced in the textbook is Gitomer’s power questions. Power questions allow a salesperson to distinguish himself from the competition. Even the author’s closing and overcoming objectives chapters are textbook.

            Knock Your Socks Off Selling would be great for anyone beginning in the sales field, because it provides them with step-by-step instructions for engaging in the sales process with their prospects. The book is simple and easy to understand, but at the same time gives thought to important subjects that every salesperson must know. The book can also function as a reminder for salespeople who need to get back to the basics of selling. While the book provides good background material into the sales process, it does not offer any new or innovative methods that would appeal to progressive salespeople.  The seasoned salesperson might find the cartoons a bit out of place and some of the presentation methods outdated. While Gitomer is very opinionated, Zemke never takes control of the topics.  Gitomer speaks on his ideas in the abstract and never allows his  own personal experiences into the book.  This is one of the shortcomings of Knock Your Socks Off Selling.  Overall, I felt the book communicated its ideas in a well-organized manner, but was lengthy on explanations.