Introvert Sales Survival Manual looks like a great
guide. Can you tell us a little about
it?
Short story, it is to help introverted salespeople sell
better with less burnout.
First, we really need to understand introversion itself. All people have a limited battery. Introverts recharge by being alone, and extroverts’ recharge with others. Introverts can have sales skills the same way we can learn to play a team sport like basketball. It is a skill that can be developed. Sure, it may not be the most comfortable for us as people who recharge alone, but it is sales, socializing, and networking are all skills we can and often have learned.
When salespeople are drained and exhausted, customers know something is off. Sometimes they realize it is just exhaustion, but other times they infer something else. They think we are lying or disinterested in what they are saying. This leads to additional wasted effort, which increases burnout.
What this book is here to do is help introverted salespeople
make the most of the social battery that they do have. It is about increasing
efficiency in our sales process so we can make more sales with less
conversations. Likewise, it is about how to use an introvert’s natural
strengths like authentic curiosity, problem solving, and research to our
advantage in a sales environment.
Any plans to turn it into a series?
I have more books planned, but they aren’t really part of a series.
I am also thinking of creating a fiction book about a sales consultant helping a troubling organization. People familiar with Patrick Lencioni or The Wentworth Prospect will likely understand what I am thinking.
I also want to write a book about creating an emotionally intelligent workplace as a whole. Something for managers to use to understand what they can do better. Think of a leadership book with more tactile feet-on-the-ground advice.
I also have a longer book planned that is pretty much already written. It is called Broken Salespeople and it is all about breaking apart and rebuilding the sales strategies we have been using for decades. It takes a lot of the commonly held beliefs apart and reconstructs them.
So I don’t think it will be a series, but I will be creating
a lot more books in the near future.
What inspired the idea for your book?
My own struggles.
About 7 or 8 years ago I hit a wall. I was selling a product I did not really care about. The sales process they gave us was trash, but I did not know it at the time. It led to me breaking. Tears, snot, the whole works. From there I knew there had to be a better way and I started reading everything I could get my hands on.
It was not until I read a book called SPIN Selling that I realized a lot of the processes I have learned were wrong. I found out a lot of the strategies we have been taught were no good. They were simply the best guesses of highly charismatic people.
I wrote this book to help introverted salespeople realize
there is a better way. There are so many sales books written that give advice
that is nearly poisonous to introverts. We cannot simply make more calls or be
more enthusiastic. We cannot fake-it-until-we-make-it. I wanted something that
takes our weaknesses and strengths into account, and since I didn’t see
anything like that in the market I made it myself.
What will readers get out of your book?
I wanted to make sure this book was quick and easy to read
but gave a lot of good information. The average salesperson only spends 4% of
their work time doing training, and much of that is front-loaded when it is a
new job. That is about 90 minutes per week. I wanted a book that they can read
in that period and improve their career. By the end they will have a path to
get more sales with less effort and less battery drain. It is about introverts
getting better results while focusing on what our real strengths are.
What stands out most about the Introvert Sales Survival Manual?
I do a lot of reading. I average over a book per week. My Audible has over 250 books in it and my total listening time is close to 15 months. I say that is one of the most distilled sales books I have read come across. There is not a ton of fluff. There are no stories to satisfy my own ego. It is about giving salespeople helpful content as quick as possible.
I wanted each chapter to have a simple problem-implication-solution framework.
-
Here is the problem
-
It can become this implication
- Here is how you avoid it.
It was designed to be an easy read for people who do not
have a ton of free time to read a 50K word book.
What do you like to do when not writing?
I am the founder of a company called Broken Salespeople LLC> It is all about rebuilding sales in a way that is emotionally intelligent for salespeople, customers, and even companies. I do a lot of consulting, coaching, speaking, and podcast appearances.
I also have a 2-year old daughter who is a total chaos
weasel. I play video games, mostly single player RPGs) work on cars, and do
woodworking.
Where can readers find out more about your work?
The platform I am on the most is LinkedIn, but I also have a
YouTube channel I plan on doing more with in 2023. You can also learn a lot
more at BrokenSalespeople.com
https://www.linkedin.com/in/red-stafstrom-%F0%9F%A6%81-161b0921