Whiteboard Selling - Book Summary (2024)
Corey Sommers, David Jenkins
Whiteboard Selling is a guidebook that teaches sales professionals how to use visual selling techniques, specifically through the use of whiteboards, to engage prospects, communicate value propositions, and close deals more effectively. It provides a structured approach to creating compelling visual narratives, with the aim of transforming sales processes and improving sales results.
Key Ideas
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Slide presentations have evolved into the primary method of communication within organizations and between buyers and sellers. However, this prevalent use comes with significant drawbacks. The journey from overhead projectors to today's sophisticated slideware was supposed to boost productivity. Instead, it has led to a phenomenon known as "death by PowerPoint."
The issue arises when marketers and sellers cram their presentations with excessive details, focusing more on products than the value they offer. This approach prolongs sales cycles, necessitates technical resources at an earlier stage, and increases the risk of competitors gaining access to the materials. Additionally, last-minute edits before meetings and technical glitches further complicate the process.
When it comes to sales training, relying heavily on slide-based sessions can result in information overload and poor retention. Training agendas often consist of consecutive slide presentations that lack interactivity and fail to provide actionable insights. These issues persist even in online training formats.
Therefore, it's crucial to evaluate your dependence on slides, whether you're in sales or marketing. The less you rely on them, the more effective your communication can be. A recommended alternative is to adopt more interactive communication methods that emphasize value, such as whiteboarding. This approach can help avoid the pitfalls associated with over-reliance on slide presentations.
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"Whiteboard Selling: Empowering Sales through Visuals" by Corey Sommers and David Jenkins is a comprehensive guide to using visuals in sales presentations. The book argues that traditional slide presentations can be ineffective and suggests using whiteboards as a more engaging and flexible alternative. The authors provide a detailed methodology for creating and delivering whiteboard presentations, including various types of whiteboards for different stages of the sales process. They also offer advice on how to train salespeople to use whiteboards effectively.
Here are 10 specific actions to implement the learnings from the book:
- Assess your current reliance on slide presentations and consider whether they are truly effective in engaging your audience.
- Experiment with using a whiteboard in your next sales presentation to see if it improves engagement and understanding.
- Learn about the science behind whiteboard selling, including how it can help to keep attention and deliver information in bite-size chunks.
- Practice drawing out your sales pitch on a whiteboard, focusing on mastering the visuals and the flow of the story.
- Develop different types of whiteboards for different stages of the sales process, such as qualification and discovery whiteboards, solution whiteboards, and closing whiteboards.
- Use whiteboards to demonstrate that you are listening to your customers by incorporating their feedback and questions into your presentation.
- Train your sales team in whiteboard selling, ensuring they are comfortable with the content and flow of the story.
- Use whiteboards to present complex ideas in a simple and visual way, helping your customers to understand your value proposition.
- Measure the success of your whiteboard selling efforts, looking at metrics such as sales cycle length and customer engagement.
- Continually refine and improve your whiteboard presentations based on feedback and results.
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