How is your sales pipeline delivering in this post-lockdown Covid-19 world? If you are suddenly examining your sales pipeline, wondering where all the sales have gone and how to get them back – this book has the insights you need. With thousands of businesses suddenly thinking about their sales pipelines – perhaps for the first time – Tactical Pipeline Growth just became your essential reading.
What’s special about this month’s book?
- Hot off the Press! Freshly published on 10 June 2020
- Covering one of the hottest sales topics right now – How to fill your sales pipeline to deliver more sales conversations with your ideal clients
Book Details for ‘Tactical Pipeline Growth’
Book Title – Tactical Pipeline Growth: Winning the Outbound Battle for New Business
Author – Mark McInnes
Publication Date –10 June 2020
Publisher – Redmark Consulting
Who is Mark McInnes?
Mark McInnes is a B2B Sales Coach and Trainer who helps businesses to find and engage with new customers, with a strong focus on the top of the sales funnel. The multi-channel, multi-touch approach Mark demonstrates combines online and traditional sales channels to help forge new client connections.
Mark’s total focus on the power of preparation, rehearsal, training and having a plan is a legacy from the three and a half years he spent in the Australian Army as an assault trooper with the Second Cavalry Regiment.
Since then, Mark has enjoyed success with sales on the corporate battlefield. From his base in Sydney, Australia, Mark provides Outbound Sales Training for B2B Businesses that need more sales, plus Sales Consulting to B2B companies. Clients include Coca-Cola, NewsCorp, Datto Inc, Dimension Data, IMB Bank, Sydney Swans, Sola-Guard, George Weston Foods, and many more.
Covid-19 has hit sales and business targets hard. Mark’s outbound sales skills are now needed more than ever to help salespeople navigate the new normal.
What is the book’s premise?
That whether you’re an old sales rep or new to sales, you can learn a system to help you win the outbound battle for new business, by combining the best of traditional sales skills and new social selling.
And, that good sales preparation and training delivers sales results. Every time.
Does the book deliver on its premise?
Yes. In fact, this book over delivers. If you’re looking for a sales manual to get your business sales up during Covid-19, this is an excellent book to read.
Not only does Mark McInnes explain the multi-channel, multi-touch approach – he breaks it down into weekly steps for your ‘sales cadence’ so that you know exactly what to do and when. The phone scripts and templates at the back of the book are just sales gold. And you can visit Mark’s website to send a pic of yourself with ‘Tactical Pipeline Growth’ to gain access to additional resources.
‘What you’ll find here is straightforward advice. I’m going to tell you what to do and how to do it.’ – pg 2
No guessing.
No wondering.
Just a solid plan, explained simply, that you can follow in a disciplined fashion to power your new business development.
What is the author’s voice like?
Confident. Insightful. Experienced. Happy to share his sales knowledge so you can be successful.
Mark is a professional sales trainer. It’s highly likely that further work engagements will come out of the generous sharing of his knowledge.
With ‘Tactical Pipeline Growth’, Mark’s thinking of the sales reps that he supports. ‘Tactical Pipeline Growth’ is ‘a toolkit for reps who need to find and engage with new prospects and want to do so in ways that are ethical, repeatable and personally scalable – all without putting their carefully curated personal brand at risk.’ – pg 2.
Always pragmatic, Mark wants you to read this book much like your favourite cookbook (including food and coffee spills?)– using it so much that you ‘write in it, highlight sections and stick Post-it Notes in it.’ – Pg 3
‘I want you to take meaningful action (the only thing that can truly impact your results).’ Mark McInnes – pg 3
This is a book to read, to write in, to spill your morning coffee on, to turn the pages over and crease your favourite chapters, to keep beside on your desk (or your dining table if you’re still working from home!) as you pick out the knowledge gems that are going to give your sales the edge.
Any memorable quotes?
Magnify Memorable Quotes would have to be these two:
‘Through preparation, I help reps clear away the fog of war, allowing them to emerge from their everyday sales battles victorious.’ – pg 5
AND
‘As they say, wait until you can see the whites of their eyes before you fire your best shot’. – pg 81
DON’T BE DESPERATE
‘Don’t be a desperate seller. Nothing smells worse than commission breath.’ – pg 83
KEEP MEASURING AND STAY FLEXIBLE
‘Remain flexible. What works today might not work tomorrow. What works tomorrow might not work in six months. Stay on your toes. Don’t let the shifting market catch you flat-footed.’ – page 115
What are some insights I can get from reading this book?
PREPARATION IS THE FOUNDATION FOR HIGH PERFORMANCE
It’s easy to do your job well when everything is going well. Only those who are prepared can continue to perform even when conditions deteriorate. This is the definition of high performance. – pg 5
GET A DECISION AND MOVE ON – DON’T WASTE TIME
‘Get the NO.
Other than a quick YES, a quick NO is the best answer you can get.
A slow MAYBE is your worst enemy.’ – pg 37
TALK ABOUT RESULTS, NOT FEATURES/BENEFITS
Let’s say you sell drills … focus on how nice the living room will look once the picture is hung.
The homeowner doesn’t want the drill;
they don’t want the hole in the wall;
they don’t want the hook in the hole;
it’s not even the painting on the wall they want.
They want the feeling that looking at the picture on the wall will give them.
Ask yourself, what result are you really selling to your clients? – pg 46
‘By reaching out to prospects across various channels, we dramatically increase the chances that we move out of their peripheral vision and into that space where we are awarded their full and undivided attention.’ – pg 49
How relevant is this book right now?
Extremely relevant. The post-Covid business landscape is littered with seriously wounded businesses, bleeding out revenue. If you’re responsible for sales in your business, this book will show you what to do and when to win at new business development.
Did the book live up to expectations?
Most definitely. Like our August book ‘Selling in Tough Times’, there are actionable tips that you can use right now to help get your sales back on track. With or without an expansive tech stack.
Who would you recommend this book to?
Everyone who wants to improve your outbound sales and business development skills. And get sales results.
Who should buy this book?
Remarkably – the same categories as our last two sales books ‘Selling in a Recession’ and also ‘Selling in Tough Times’ https://magnifyconsulting.co.nz/selling-in-a-recession/ :
- Salespeople should buy it to sharpen their skills in a highly competitive market.
- Sales and business leaders should buy it to lead their salespeople into brave new business development.
- Business builders should buy it to develop effective, outbound sales skills.
Where can I buy this book?
Order from Mighty Ape here.
Recommended snacks to accompany reading this book?
No worries mate if you’re scared of new business development. You’ll be stoked you read this fair dinkum sales instruction manual written by an Australian sales consultant and sales trainer. So get yourself energised to take decisive sales action.
Best read this book with some good Aussie tucker – a bowl of macadamia nuts, morsels of fire-roasted barramundi and damper. Wash it all down with a couple of cold cans of the iconic Victoria Bitter beer which has been brewed since the 1800s. If you’re truly ready to embrace new sales techniques – swap the Victoria Bitter for Stone & Wood Pacific Ale.
Head over to the Magnify Sales Book Club to enter this month’s Sales Book of the Month draw.
‘Like’ our Magnify Consulting Facebook page for an extra entry.