Book Review of Follow Up and Close the Sales by Jeff Shore

Creating new sales opportunities is incredibly challenging today, which is why it is tragic that so many sales are lost, not because the solution wasn’t a fit, but because of poor follow-up.

Follow Up and Close the Sale by Jeff Shore

That’s why I was so excited when I saw Jeff Shore’s new book Follow Up and Close the Sale: Make Easy (and Effective) Follow-Up Your Winning Habit.  This book takes the Achilles’ heel of sales and addresses head on in the most amazing and authentic way possible.  You will fall in love with following-up after reading this book.  I did.

What’s Inside

Follow Up and Close the Sale is broken down into 4 parts.

1. Mindset
2. Strategy
3. Execution
4. How to take your game to the highest level

Mindset

This section is appropriately about mindset because mindset is the root of all action.  Sales is a much-maligned profession where the perception is that sales professionals are motivated solely by greed.  The truth, however, is that the top performers across all industries are motivated by service and an authentic desire to make a difference for clients and this section speaks directly to how sales professionals can adopt this mindset of the top 1%.

There is valuable detail here including the astonishing statistics about the current state of follow-up, an introduction to The Buying Formula and how to fall in love with following-up.  In management we often say that culture eats strategy and tactics for breakfast, and I would say that analogy holds here. While Strategy and Execution are important, it is in the mind where the greatest leverage is.

Strategy

Having said that, the beauty of the book is that Jeff Shore give you the whole package – mindset, strategy, and execution.  In the strategy section Jeff outlines how to stage your follow-up efforts right into your current meetings and by extension, how to make that both personal and effective.  This section also includes some eye-opening details around the importance of timing as well as some psychology and behavioral economics that explain exactly WHY this approach is so effective.

Execution

The execution section is approximately 50% of the book.  So those coming to Jeff for the particulars on exactly how to execute the follow-up in the easiest, most effective way will be very pleased.  This book is extremely pragmatic and practical.  It is also a virtual workbook because each chapter includes self-study questions as well as action-items.  Here you will discover the best practice for following up via phone, email, text messaging, video and more.  There are follow-up scripts for you that tell you to “say this” and “don’t say that”.  There’s even a discussion on when to know that it’s time to let go.

Get Into The Top 1%

Jeff Shore Author of Follow Up and Close the Sale

Our final section is both practical and aspirational.  Napoleon Hill recounts a story where R. U. Darby abandoned and sold his gold mine when it later turned out (by the new owner) that he was in-fact, just 3 feet from gold.  Jeff calls this “the knee of the curve” to 1% (you’ll have to see the chart in the book).  The message, however, is the same – don’t abandon your gold mine 3 feet from gold.  Make persistence and follow-up a habit.  The 1% club is a nice place to be, and here you have #1 skill to master in order to get there.

I’ve worked with thousands of sales professionals over the years and I can just hear some of them now saying that the importance of following-up is “common knowledge”.  Perhaps.  But is it common practice?  The true data shows that this is far from the case.  I can’t think of a single professional in any industry that wouldn’t benefit from improving their follow-up.  Which is why I think this book should be read and re-read until it is mastered.  It is perfectly balanced in mindset, strategy and execution and an area we can all continually improve upon.  Mastering follow-up is, in fact, one of the master-skills of success and here you have the “how-to” all laid out for you.  If you master its contents, I can’t think of title that will bring you greater success.

You can find Jeff Shore’s Follow Up and Close the Sale at AMAZON.

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Until next time!

James

Get the #1 Book on closing sales now at Amazon.