Customer Centered Selling

Robert L. Jolles draws on the Xerox sales training program to argue for reversing the usual sequence of selling. Instead of hunting for needs, pitching a product and taking orders, the seller studies the customer's Decision Cycle and the Decision Points within it, aiming to plant an idea so the customer believes it was theirs first. Jolles presents this as a systematic, repeatable process that can be measured and therefore fixed, and adapted to any situation that calls for persuasion. Case studies, exercises, interactive activities and job aids support the lessons. The revised edition adds illustrations, coaching techniques, teaching aids and implementation strategies, and one description names users such as Toyota, NASA, Disney and General Electric.

Former Morgan Stanley CFO Phil Duff endorsed it as a sales primer for thoughtful salespeople, one that involves the seller in how the customer buys rather than leaning on slogans and gimmicks.