It's commonly believed that relationships are critical to success, especially in business. What's not taught in any explicit way is how to build effective relationships. In How To WHO: Selling Personified the authors explore the how's and why's of building effective business relationships. The foundation of How To WHO is that success is driven by relationships, which are at the core of every business transaction. The authors believe the old adage that people do business with people they know, like and trust. The fact is many people don't know how to build this type of relationship. When sales aren't working companies look for things to fix, changing products, services, activities, pricing, etc. How To WHO asks, "Have you ever considered focusing on your relationships first? If you wanted to, would you know exactly how to go about enhancing these relationships?" How To WHO addresses these questions by explaining how to do relationships rather than what to do in relationships; straightforward information readers can put into practice right away. The book discusses the dynamics at work in all relationships, e.g., trust, transparency, and empathy; the concepts of discount-revenge and intent-effect; the hidden operators in every person's mind and how they influence interactions; and how to enhance specific interaction skills: questions, listening, and paraphrasing. In selling there is one differentiator that no one can copy - the relationship with the customer. The book offers a 10-step process to build a relationship-based sales plan. The process leads the reader to explore the relationships that can help their business, how they interconnect, why they are important, and how to connect. A particular focus is on referrals and how to develop them proactively. How To WHO discusses how to: Understand the dynamics of effective relationships and the elements at work Enhance interaction skills to build trusting relationships and enable them to flourish Understand interaction tools that promote openness, authenticity, and clarity in communications Focus on the relationships that lead to sales results.
About the Author: Candis Stevenson Cook Candis had 13 years experience at Synecticsworld, Inc. in strategy, group creativity facilitation, consumer insight research, new product invention, business process innovation, and developing custom workshops. She developed the Synectics Leadership Coaching Program. Her clients included IBM, Nabisco, Burger King, CNN, and Bank of America. Before Synecticsworld, Candis held a broad range of sales and marketing positions during 19 years in the information technology industry - sales, sales management, channel strategy, PC product management, corporate positioning and strategy, and technology planning. Candis has guest-lectured at the Harvard Business School on the group creative process. She was a member of a Harvard Business School research team studying factors that influence team effectiveness and creativity. [August 2002 Harvard Business Review, "Creativity under the Gun" and The Progress Principle, by Amabile & Kramer, 2011] Candis graduated from Cabrini College (Radnor, PA) Summa Cum Laude, with the Psychology Department Award for Excellence. Kenneth J. Cook Prior to founding Peer to Peer Advisors (the largest independent peer advisory board services company in New England), Ken spent 25 years consulting with high growth and middle market companies, focusing on marketing, sales and growth strategies. During his private consultancy, he was one of four consultants that Inc. Magazine contracted nationally to work with the Inc. 500. en's writing includes The Wisdom of Our Peers; The AMA Complete Guide to Small Business Marketing; The AMA Guide to Strategic Planning for Small Business; and monthly columns for multiple city business journals Ken has spoken at Inc. Magazine Conferences, National Innovation Workshops for The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and for Fortune 500 companies, including IBM, AT&T, NCR and Verizon. He worked with The Department of Defense as a Senior Consultant in their Mentor/Protégé Program, and was a former adjunct faculty member at Boston University and Wright State University's Management Education Centers.