One Secret Question
Have you ever wondered why you sometimes feel as though you're not getting anywhere with a prospect because you don't know what to say next to make the person want to buy from you? If you're like most people talking comes very easily for you and when somebody asks your opinion, via directly or indirectly, you immediately go off into sales mode and then somewhere down the road you catch the prospect looking at his watchand telling you that he needs to "think it over."

If so, then a book written by Thomas Freese entitled, "Secrets of Question Based Selling: How the Most Powerful Tool Can Double Your Sales Results" might very well provide you with the ammunition you need to separate yourself from the competition and give you the tools to get the job done. I'm going to offer you something fun...something exciting...something you've never heard before. Are you ready? Sales professionals talk too much!

Yes, it's true; part of the reason why some people have disdain for people like sales professionals is because we won't shut up. Rather than learning more about a prospect and his needs, fears, hopes and dreams, we regurgitate the same canned sales pitch that we used on the last 10 people that had the same effect. Rejection without accomplishment!

This books does a very good job at illustrating a basic paradigm, a foundation shall we say, about what is needed to win...that is, to get a sale and help the client feel proud and secure.

Have you ever wondered why people some seem to flock to the gas stations every summer when gas prices go up $.05 like flies to honey? How about the beanie baby rave or the dot.com crash?

Thomas uses his sales experience to illuminate a basic social psychology principle entailing what motivates people in a group. The sad fact is that most people would jump off a bridge if everybody else did! But you're not like everybody else right?

Everything we do when were prospecting, selling, etc. can be stripped down to its core. Namely, we need tools that will enable us to increase the probability of succeeding. Thomas does a good job at illustrating ways to build credibility through asking questions, avoiding mismatching, using a social psychology theory (herding) to generate interest and using rewards and risk aversion to sell a product.

Surrounding prospects with the perception that "everyone else" is already moving in a certain direction is a very powerful QBS technique.

Let that sink in for a moment. He explicates that in order for a sale to be made; credibility must be built; questions must be asked and addressed; interest must be peaked; while building value in a presentation so a the proper solution can be offered that will help a prospect find a reward and avoid risk.

Thomas uses 259 pages to illustrate exactly what I said in the preceding paragraph. He even throws in a chapter about cold calling that is a must read for anybody serious about taking some stress out of cold calls. He says that the success rate for contacting prospects is between 2-5 person!

That means that out of every 100 hundred sales calls, the average performer can expect to generate only a small amount handful of opportunities. The other 95 to 98 percent of these calls end in rejection. Some food for thought.

In conclusion, I give this book 4 stars. The only reason why it's not a 5 is because he needed more examples of his questions that didn't rely on his computer background. I spent about a week reading this book, making notes and making some changes to my presentation and cold calling techniques. I had a hard time correlating some of his computer questions to my field (insurance).

I stopped watching Star Trek about 10 years ago (movies excluded), so I'm not up to speed on quantum-flux capacitors and how they relate to insurance. This is a book that I'm proud to add to my library though despite not being perfect.

An excellent book with an extremely slow delivery
A good book with a lot of good ideas. But for some reason he takes a long way home with his points. The only thing I do not like about this book is the fact that it is extremely slow. I had gave up on it but a good friend asked to give it another chance and go thru the first 50 pages before you give up which I am glad that I did.

Very similar to other books and still teaching traditional selling methodologies.
As a sales trainer for 14 years, I've read a lot of books on selling. Tom's books, especially Question-Based Selling, have a few ideas the reader may find helpful because of the way Tom states them. The ideas are not new compared to others out there however, he is attempting to take the methodology of question-based selling (something that has been around for many years) and put a new spin on it to help those who have not quite been able to grasp it yet.

My issue with Tom's book is that he still teaches some of the more traditional sales methodologies that no longer work simply because prospects have been aware of them for years. For example, Tom still teaches "the impending event close." The problem with Tom's material is that it's not different enough to truly help you set yourself apart from others in a world where we're all attempting to find ways to differentiate ourselves from our competition.

There are proven systems out there that also help you set yourself apart from your competition and have an impressive track record for success. I haven't found that to be true with Tom's material.

In most books, you will find a nugget that will be helpful to you. Tom's book may do that for you. And that nugget may certainly worth the money and time spent to find it. I didn't find that to be true for me personally.

Powerful Sales People Ask Questions
An excellent resource for anyone looking to connect with the needs of prospects, customers... and just people in general. I think the following is from this book (I have it posted to my wall): "You've probably heard that they best sales people are those who listen most. And that is a lie. The most effective persuaders are those who ask powerful questions that draw people out and get them to keep talking and revealing more about themselves."

Great book for novice
I read the book and found it very informative. The system works but is not really for the beginner. I felt the book could have helped more on developing the questions as well as implementation. The book was great that is why I still gave it 5 stars