Interview: Tim Riesterer, Author of Conversations that Win the Complex Sale

Book Title:
Conversations that Win the Complex Sale

Website URL:
www.conversationsthatwin.com

What is your book about?
It’s not what you sell, but how you sell that matters.  When customers perceive competitors to be the same, it’s your conversations with them that will convince them to do something different than their status quo, and to choose you from among your competitors.  So, if your selling conversations are your last bastion of competitive differentiation, you better make sure they count.  The book provides a set of techniques to make sure your conversations are creating more opportunities, communicating value and winning more deals.

What inspired you to write your book?
The book documents a proven conversations skills training course that world-class companies have been applying with success for the last 10+ years.  This was an opportunity to capture that high-impact course and put it in a book for the masses.  Some of the world’s best companies like Oracle, Dell, GE, SAP, ADP, and hundreds of others are using the Power Messaging techniques contained in the book with real results. Too many sales books tell salespeople about how to run a sales cycle, this one is different because it tells you what to say in front of a customer.  And, this is where you win or lose.

How did you come to do what you’re doing today?
After getting my journalism major, I went to the “dark side” (corporate world) and spent many years riding along with sales people writing customer stories, case studies and newsletters. What I discovered is that most companies and their marketing departments, as well as product managers and their training, are completely missing the mark.  Companies want to force customers to live in the company’s story… when in reality, the customer lives in their own story, and they want you to help make their story better.  This profoundly impacts the way you create and deliver messages in a sales cycle — if you really want to win.

Can you describe a typical day in your life?
A typical day is spent living the concepts in these books by helping our clients or our own company.  Activities can range from actually consulting and training on the concepts contained in the book to helping to build new “products” and services related to the concepts that we can provide to companies looking for more ways to leverage these ideas across their organizations.  And, in between, I’m in charge of the Marketing for our company, which requires running a close-loop demand generation program that integrates everything with Sales people — from thought leadership marketing, events and speaking to database-driven campaigns and nurturing, to enabling our sales team with their own messages and sales tools to help build our company.

What do you most enjoy about what you do?
Providing “fits of clarity” out of confusion.  Companies suffer from the curse of knowledge and struggle to get out of their own way (and their own story).  Helping to clarify a company’s message and see how excited they get about delivering that to prospects and customers is always still a thrill.  Perhaps even more enjoyable is passing those ideas along and helping people to do them for themselves… this job is more like a professional mission field than a job.

Are there any people and/or books that have inspired you along your journey?
My co-author Erik Peterson is a veracious reader… perhaps 100 books a year.  And, he’s always seeing new ways to expand our intellectual property. So, he inspires me that way.  Originally, I was inspired by guys like Neil Rackham, Mike Bosworth, Seth Godin, Sergio Zyman, Stephen Covey — all irascible characters with a powerful point of view.  I like anyone who can make order out of chaos and help others do the same… and do it with style.

Can you share some business tips for our readers?
Sure:

1. Have a distinct point-of-view.  Find something you can be a thought leader around and own it.  Do the work, be diligent, craft your story and then tell it to anyone who will listen until it catches on.  It’s so much better than playing catch-up.

2. Be willing to give it away.  As Stephen Covey says, “have an abundance mentality.”  The more you try to hold your story and intellectual property close to the vest, the better the chance that you’ll be down the road whining about how a competitor stole your idea.  Be willing to make everyone smarter. Give it away, it will come back many times.

3. Seek out smart people.  Don’t be afraid that your light will dim because you are in the context of other bright bulbs.  These are the opinion leaders, these are the people who can add value to your concepts, these are the people who will sharpen your story, as you in turn help sharpen theirs.

Can you share something that people might be surprised to learn about you?
On weekends I sing the tenor part in a Southern Gospel Quartet.  And, I enjoy performing in Community Theater musicals with my children.  It’s a way to get my yah yahs out with acting, and be a participative, supportive father at the same time!

Is there anything else you would like to add?
Salespeople with their lips moving are the number one branding and positioning agents in any company.  Companies need to make sure they are putting an integrated Customer Conversation System in place (messages, tools and training) that ensure you are being different, where it counts.