Book Review
In Buyer First: Grow Your Business with Collaborative Selling, author Carole Mahoney, who once struggled to pay bills and is now a top sales coach and influencer, says the reason so many of us are bad at selling is, well, we think selling is bad. She believes that winning new customers is the number one challenge 80 percent of entrepreneurs face, and a big reason half of small businesses fail within five years. Carole says it’s time to forget everything you think you know about selling.
In Buyer First: Grow Your Business with Collaborative Selling, the “book my clients have been asking me for,” author Carole Mahoney shares her revolutionary sales-success formula that draws on data from 2.2 million professional sellers, plus solid research on the psychology of decision-making and behavior change, to show you that sales isn’t something we do to others, it’s something we do with them. With her approachable, honest writing style, Carole is like your personal sales coach, guiding you to tailor your current sales strategy in a way that’s consistent with your values and strengths, so you can align how you sell with how customers buy.
Complete with worksheets and exercises like exploring your own Sales Origin story, Buyer First teaches you the tactics of a collaborative selling framework. Each point is backed up with real-life stories from Carole’s colleagues and students as well as her own experiences. Not only does Buyer First promise to transform your sales approach, help you change your behaviors, and get consistent results, it’ll make you feel fantastic about every transaction.
Author Quotes
When we make selling about others’ wants and needs, when we actively adopt a buyer first mindset, then sales becomes something we do with them.
Not only will you see better sales and business results when you adopt a buyer first mindset, you will become a better human too.
When you focus your intentions to be not about you, you can free yourself from the fear of rejection and the need for others’ approval and become more present in the here and now.
About the author
Carole Mahoney has been called the “Sales Therapist” by a Harvard Business School professor where she coaches for the Entrepreneurial MBA program. The president of the AA-ISP Boston Chapter, Mahoney has been named a top sales influencer by LinkedIn. As the founder of Unbound Growth, Mahoney collects data from 2.2 million sales professionals to coach others on what makes a great seller. Mahoney holds a BA in Marketing and Business Management from Franklin Pierce University and lives in Maine.
Why LoA loves it…
One of the things we hear most from women entrepreneurs in our Lionesses of Africa community is that not everyone is a natural born salesperson, and for many selling can be hard, stressful, and a constant source of anxiety. But it doesn’t have to be that way, and Carole Mahoney’s new book is a gem of a resource to help even the most sales anxious entrepreneur become a great seller. If you read one business book this year, make it one that can really help drive your business bottom line, and Buyer First can help you to get those much needed sales revenues onto your balance sheet. A must-read. — Melanie Hawken, founder & ceo, Lionesses of Africa