Product Description

"Holden′s book is rich with wisdom and sage advice and should be required reading for any salesperson who wants to understand how to merge a sales strategy and a political strategy to win the hearts of their customers′ Power Base."–Rodney D. Cotton, Vice President, Sales–United States, Baxter Healthcare, Renal Division.

"Jim Holden′s book is for serious salespeople and executives who are focused on winning. It provides insights, techniques, and everyday tools to reach the highest possible level of success. The book is most insightful and is a required reading and work tool for enterprise salespeople and executives."–Grant Evans, Vice President, Sales and Marketing Identicator Technology.

"The Holden Power Base Selling techniques have provided our sales teams with a common language from which to develop and plan strategies and tactics."– Colin Latham, President and CEO, MT&T (Canada).

"Power Base Selling is essential. . . . The book is rich with lessons such as how to avoid being defeated by desperate ′end–games,′ and how to ′snatch various victories from the jaws of defeat.′ The conclusion is a revealing ′self–test.′. . . [Holden′s] principles are more applicable today than ever."– Glenn W. Coleman, President, South Africa Branch, Lockheed Martin Overseas Services Corporation.

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #664797 in Books
• Published on: 1990-04-18
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 240 pages

From the Inside Flap
The company you represent was first in the field and their product line is still the best. You’ve got a number of solid, long–standing accounts with whom you have terrific rapport, and your hot new customer is wild about your discount plan. You’ve done your job, and now you can just sit back and reap the rewards…right? Wrong! Because right now there’s an ambitious upstart out there with designs on your territory. Someone who’ll use every trick in the book to take what you’ve worked so hard to secure—a hardnosed streetfighter who’s made it his or her job to cut you out of any future accounts you may be considering. A savvy sharpshooter for whom sales is definitely not the gentle art of persuasion. Destined to become the bible of the next generation salesforce, Power Base Selling shows you why, in today’s ever–more competitive marketplace, persuading a customer to buy your product is only one part of the sales equation. It offers you revolutionary strategies guaranteed to help you outthink, outmaneuver, outclass, and outsell all competitors. Packed with cases, tactics and no–nonsense guidelines, Power Base Selling grooms you to take control of events, set the pace within accounts, and generally make life as hard as possible for the competition.

• Getting past the bureaucrats and straight to the "foxes," with whom the real power resides—meeting, forging, and cementing relationships with them
• Strategies for defeating the competition by taking advantage of their weaknesses and turning their strengths against them
• Anticipating your competitors’ best moves and neutralizing their efforts
• Becoming the ultimate sales soldier of fortune, sharp, aggressive, sassy, classy

Power Base Selling is not another book on the art of persuasion—it is a sales workout that sharpens your eye, quickens your reflexes and prepares you to be a prize winner in today’s street–smart sales arena.

From the Back Cover
"Holden′s book is rich with wisdom and sage advice and should be required reading for any salesperson who wants to understand how to merge a sales strategy and a political strategy to win the hearts of their customers′ Power Base."—Rodney D. Cotton, Vice President, Sales–United States, Baxter Healthcare, Renal Division.

"Jim Holden′s book is for serious salespeople and executives who are focused on winning. It provides insights, techniques, and everyday tools to reach the highest possible level of success. The book is most insightful and is a required reading and work tool for enterprise salespeople and executives."—Grant Evans, Vice President, Sales and Marketing Identicator Technology.

"The Holden Power Base Selling techniques have provided our sales teams with a common language from which to develop and plan strategies and tactics."— Colin Latham, President and CEO, MT&T (Canada).

"Power Base Selling is essential. . . . The book is rich with lessons such as how to avoid being defeated by desperate ′end–games,′ and how to ′snatch various victories from the jaws of defeat.′ The conclusion is a revealing ′self–test.′. . . [Holden′s] principles are more applicable today than ever."— Glenn W. Coleman, President, South Africa Branch, Lockheed Martin Overseas Services Corporation.

About the Author
JIM HOLDEN is the founder and CEO of Holden Corporation, an internationally recognized leader in sales and marketing effectiveness. The company has pioneered the first proven methodology to align sales and marketing in today′s marketplace, working with major industries worldwide, including an impressive array of Fortune 1000 companies. Holden is the author of World Class Selling: The Crossroads of Customer, Sales, Marketing and Technology, also published by Wiley.

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Customer Reviews

I recommend this book as a must read for sales professionals
I've been selling computer services for 9 years and applied many techniques in selling solutions and commodity type products to customers. From all of the techniques out there, Power Base Selling tops them all especially on how to engage and defeat the competition. This book is the most incredible selling book on the market!

Too many stories, too few principles
Based on the reviews, I thought this would be a great book. But the author crafts too many exacting stories and not enough principles. If you're ever in exactly the same situations the author describes, you're OK. Normally, my hiliters work hard when I read books. Not this time. I'd suggest reading Strategic Selling and Spin Selling instead.

A"How-To" that separates professionals from practitioners.
The recipes for success remind the entire salesforce that "high tech" still needs "high touch." Lessons learned will be relearned if the instructions are not followed. I turn to it for insight even after 25 years of experience.