22 Keys to Sales Success: How to Make It Big in Financial Services Hardcover – April 28, 2004

This headline was taken straight from the book itself. Currently, I am about 3/4 done with the book and I want to express my satisfaction with this book. The concepts it has taught me such as OMP and EYQ's have been an eye-opener for me. I've already typed my one page believe sheet and doing dry runs on my sales tactics. The book provides valuable insight into everyone in the financial industry. I am pleased with my purchase. The value of this book has far exceeded the cost of it.

Good

Selling is not about pushing products any more. Pitches or sales gimmicks do not persuade the contemporary cynical, savvy consumer. In today's world, successful financial services and product sales professionals must build mutually beneficial relationships with their clients based on trust and respect. Authors James M. Benson and Paul Karasik use their experience and accomplishments in finance and insurance to identify 22 key sales strategies that anyone can use, including sales professionals in other industries. Much of the advice, for good or ill, is not specific to the area of financial services. Each chapter explains a tried-and-true, applicable sales strategy in an easy-to-understand format. You've heard some of these strategies before, but others will provide new fuel to energize your approach to sales. Each strategy makes sense and we recommend this book to everyone who sells financial products, whether you are a weathered sales veteran or a novice who is still finding your way.

Review Summary: 22 Keys to Sales Success has some very fine material in it. The book would have been much improved if it had focused on one type of sales professional in one type of organization looking for one type of client (a new life insurance salesperson in a small agency dealing with owners of small businesses, for example). That would have allowed the material to have been more focused and customized for immediate use. At the same time, some of the material just doesn't fit certain classes of sales professionals. If you are wise enough to ignore what doesn't fit, this book can greatly improve your success.Review: The authors are clearly well read and have had a lot of experience going to seminars. The many references to the works of others are appropriate and add depth to this otherwise simple book. From that authority, they provide many helpful suggestions that will be essential to newcomers to financial sales and valuable to experienced people who aren't using the advice.I thought that the advice to Create Your Compelling Vision, Position with Mission, Energize Your Success, Open the Johari Window, Market Yourself as the Expert, Focus on Clients (Not Compensation), Demand Objections, and Be Your Own Sales Manager were superb. I was skeptical about the strong emphasis on continuing efforts to close, scripts and the suggested ways to get referrals. The material in the book seemed inauthentic to me in these areas as a professional, and I graded the book down accordingly.It seemed like the book was aimed more at those selling insurance products for life and retirement than anything else. So if that's what you sell, this book is probably good for you. If you are a financial planner who looks at all dimensions of planning, this book is probably too sales-oriented to meet your professional standards. If you are an attorney, you will probably find much of what the book says to be appalling in its commercial focus.One of the ironies of this book is that the authors suggest that you focus in as narrow a niche of services and customers as possible. I wonder why they didn't follow their own advice in writing this book.

Books that give genuinely new ideas -- or utterly practical tips -- on sales are worth their weight in gold. This one does both. The instructions on how to create your own One-Minute Positioning statement alone are worth 10 times the price of the book -- it is absolutely the best technique around for explaining to people in a brief statement what you do and why they should be interested.

I have been a financial planner for a little over three years and I was reading this book to get some new ideas on growing my practice. Many of the ideas in this book I have read elsewhere. They just reinforced them in me, which is always good. I liked the Johari window idea in which you let everyone and remind everyone you meet what you do. I know sometimes I forgot exactly what some of my friends do. In the financial planning industry, I feel it is important to let everyone know all the things you can do and perhaps ask them to let their friends know about your services. Of course, don't push it - just give them a gentle reminder by weaving into the conversation every now and then.This book would have been better if they had included more real life experiences from the people they have mentored. Hearing directly from them in their own words how they used each of these 22 keys would have made them more powerful.In summary, this book is for someone who wants to reinforce the principles of sales success in the financial and insurance industry. For others who want new ideas they want to utilize in their practice, I would suggest looking elsewhere.