Product Description

The new book from the bestselling authors of THE BEERMAT ENTREPRENEUR and THE BOARDROOM ENTREPRENEUR Many companies fail because they get their sales wrong - probably more than for any other reason, including finance. Companies with excellent products, able people and good-looking marketing plans: none of these matter if real live customers are not persuaded to write out real live cheques. Sales on a Beermat by the team that bought you The Boardroom Entrepreneur is the antidote to this. It dispels the myths that prevent people from doing sales excellently - that sales is somehow flashy and dishonest. It replaces these myths with the truth, that in the modern business, everybody sells. It explains how, outlining the sales roles for the whole team, from technical people to the 'sales cornerstone' at the heart of the operation. Sales on a Beermat is for everybody who knows they have to sell, but is afraid of the process, and for anybody who does sell, and is determined to make sales more than just an extra but a key part of their business' strategy.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #272836 in Books
• Published on: 2005-08-25
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 150 pages

Esquire, 1 September 2008
'aimed at dilligent small business start-ups ... full of useful maxims'

From the Publisher
The new book from the bestselling authors of THE BEERMAT ENTREPRENEUR and THE BOARDROOM ENTREPRENEUR

From the Inside Flap
‘Highly entertaining, original, and full of practical and concise tips’
Iain Henderson, Partner, Accenture

‘Mike is the Father Ted of sales: irreverent, endearing and wonderfully effective. Generating more sales isn’t a mystery anymore – Mike has the wonderful ability to make the complex clear. Wake up the sales person within you with Mike’s obscenely simple concepts’
Matt Drought, Director, naturaltraining

‘A truly sizzling read, guaranteed to improve your technique for seduction and sales alike – I couldn’t put it down’
Gavin Johnson, Director of Strategy and Interaction, Schmakk

‘In professional partnerships we like to think we don’t have to sell. This is a dangerous illusion – luckily this book is here to show us how, and why it needn’t be hell. Inspiring and motivational’
John Beevor, BPE Solicitors

‘Mike and Chris’ books are acquiring a reputation for readability and entertainment, but also for having a lot to say. Sales on a Beermat carries on a fast-growing tradition’
Lucy Armstrong. Chief Executive, The Alchemists

‘We have just been engaged by an international bank to implement a new software system which could mean upwards of £500k of revenue – all from one technique in this book!’ Nigel Winship, Founder, First Thought Consulting

‘The day of the stand-alone salesman is over. This book enables everyone to understand how they can assist in revenue generation’
Graeme Finch, Chief Executive, Business Link, Milton Keynes, Oxon & Bucks

‘Mike and Chris demystify the sales process and prove that professional sales and negotiation skills can be taught and learned’
Seán Derrig, National Franchise Manager, Snap-on Tools

‘Sales on a Beermat does exactly what it claims – it helped double our sales in three months’
Stefan Foster, Managing Director, The National Computing Centre

Customer Reviews

Simple..simple...simple. The best concepts always are.
I used this book as I've had to adopt a more business development roll in my business. This is not something I naturally recognise as a key skill in me so how do I go about it? There are lots of information sources out there and lots of models to choose from but none of them framed the sales process as concisely as 'Sales on a Beermat'. Its concepts are straight forward and annoyingly 'Ohhh yeahhh!' obvious when you think about it.

It also provides a good description of the types (Psychologically) of sales people there are and which are suited to different types of business. So when I'm in a position to recruit for the position I'll be able to draw up a profile for the type of sales manager I want.

Being pocket size it's easy to have on my desk and is great as a flick through book. Stop at any page and you'll find something you can use straight away. I particularly liked the sections on the ways to structure e-mail communication as a way of introducing my company instead of cold calling, Priceless.

Sales for the non-salespwrson...
If, like me, the thought of sales brings you out in a cold sweat, this is the book for you. Humorously written, it is a step-by-step guide to selling the "Beermat way" and is unlike most business books that I have ever read in that (a) I wasn't bored and (b) I have actually passed it on to other people to read.
There are so many valuable lessons contained within the book that I actually started using sticky index tabs to remind me of the bits that were most relevant to me and which I will refer to again and again - I have just counted and there are 37 tabs jutting from the side of this book. If someone can point me in the direction of another title that offers that many valuable reference points, I'd like to hear from them.

Compulsory reading for every new business
One of the few books I have ever read cover to cover in one sitting - and the others have only ever been fiction. There is a complete lack of management garble and it is clear that the author is writing from experience. The ideas are so straightforward that it is actually possible to see how to put them into action and make them work, rather than complex theories that have never got beyond a classroom. Sales on a Beermat should be made compulsory reading for every new business - and for ALL the staff.