Responsive image

The Ultimate Reference Guide to Solve Your Toughest Sales Challenges!

Sales Strategy Playbook is a based on first-of-a-kind sales cycle research and win-loss analysis with thousands of top salespeople, vice presidents of sales, and B2B buyers who ultimately decide which salesperson will win the deal.

Amazon Button (via NiftyButtons.com)

The Owner’s Manual for Your Sales Career

Sales Strategy Playbook provides state of the art sales strategies and advanced real-world tactics for salespeople who want to learn how convince skeptical customers to buy, winover evaluation committees, and the secrets of becoming a top performer. It is a comprehensive reference guide for winning highly competitive accounts and the perennial resource to solve your toughest sales challenges. Inside, you’ll find expert advice on:

  • How to create the winning sales strategy by controlling the sale cycle
  • How to conduct persuasive sales calls and use value to differentiate yourself
  • How to influence buyers and C-level executives by truly becoming a trusted advisor
  • How to penetrate new accounts using proven Account Based Marketing strategies
  • Higher, wider, and deeper client account expansion and cross-selling strategies
  • How to establish situational dominance using Sales Linguistics, the study of how the customer’s mind uses language

This sales reference guide includes 175+ illustrations, 50+ exercises, and a convenient toughest sales challenges table of contents. Consult Sales Strategy Playbook before you start working on a key deal, when you are in a difficult situation and need a thought-provoking breakthrough, or whenever you need a dose of sales adrenaline.

The Most Comprehensive Sales Book


Sales Strategy Playbook is a based on first-of-a-kind sales research and win-loss analysis interviews with thousands of top salespeople, vice presidents of sales, and B2B Buyers who ultimately decide which salesperson will win the deal. Research topics include:

  • - Key moments sales cycles are lost or won
  • - The Influence of evaluation committee politics
  • - How different buyer personas select salespeople
  • - Which buyers select the market leader or underdog
  • - RFP responses and no decision buying tendencies
  • - The differences between selling to men and women
  • - The impact of price and negotiation research
  • - Top salesperson personality and behavior
  • - Characteristics of the best inside salespeople
  • - The key mistakes salespeople make
  • - Qualities of high performing sales managers
  • - High performing sales organization attributes
  • - Sales forecasting and compensation research
  • - The attributes of top field salespeople

Toughest Sales Challenges Solved

Sales Strategy Playbook provides the answer to your toughest sales challenges

  • Do the odds of closing a deal increase with more demonstrations?
  • How do buyers evaluate vendors and make decisions?
  • How do I become a top salesperson?
  • How do I become a trusted advisor?
  • How do I become a better negotiator?
  • How do I become more confident in my forecast?
  • How do I become more persuasive?
  • How do I bounce back after a tough loss?
  • How do I call higher in an account?
  • How do I conduct client quarterly or annual business reviews?
  • How do I conduct meaningful discovery when meeting with prospects?
  • How do I control the sales cycle?
  • How do I create a sales strategy?
  • How do I cross-sell products?
  • How do I describe my sales strategy to my sales manager?
  • How do I determine if I am working for the right company?
  • How do I determine if no decision will be made?
  • How do I determine which decision-maker has the most power?
  • How do I determine which department has the most power?
  • How do I develop a coach or internal champion?
  • How do I differentiate myself and get customers to bond with me?
  • How do I establish trust?
  • How do I expand my presence across the account?
  • How do I find out if am winning or losing?
  • How do I find out if the customer is lying?
  • How do I help my coaches sell my solution to their organization?
  • How do I know if I will win or lose the deal?
  • How do I know the purchase is budgeted and approved?
  • How do I make sure the customer will meet with me again?
  • How do I meet with and win over C-level executives?
  • How do I overcome my nervousness?
  • How do I prepare for an account review with my sales manager?
  • How do I present the value of my company my product and myself?
  • How do I protect my pricing?
  • How do I really know where the competition stands in my deal?
  • How do I really understand my client’s business?
  • How do I secure a meeting with a C-level executive?
  • How do I structure a meeting with a C-level executive?
  • How do I qualify the customer and the deal?
  • How do I win over a politically complex evaluation committee?
  • How does meeting with senior executives improve my chance of winning?
  • How does the underdog beat goliath?
  • How influential is our website and what do buyers look at?
  • If my deal is stalled, what should I do?
  • Should I Introduce my senior executive team members to the client?
  • Should I focus on sophisticated or less sophisticated buyers?
  • Should I go after the business or respond to the RFP?
  • Should I answer “blind” RFPs?
  • What are the best team selling practices?
  • What are the best questions to ask a prospect and what should I be prepared for?
  • What are the biggest mistakes I should avoid?
  • What are the different sales strategies for enterprise platform and point specific sales cycles?
  • What do top salespeople do that I don’t?
  • What selling style should I use?
  • What should I do after I lose an important deal?
  • What should I do during the buyer’s journey?
  • What should I do if I’m losing the deal?
  • What should I say when I meet with C-level executive?
  • What should I do when I’m stuck with only a single lower level contact?
  • What’s the best day of the week to contact prospects?
  • What’s the best closing strategy?
  • What’s the best email to send to prospects?
  • What’s the best negotiation strategy?
  • What’s the best way to penetrate new accounts?
  • When does the customer actually make their decision? -
  • Where do the best leads come from?
  • What’s the best strategy for approaching procurement sourcing and supply chain?
  • What’s the best way to make a presentation?
  • What’s the best way to present customer success stories?
  • What’s the best way to sell to the opposite sex?
  • What’s the best way to structure sales calls?
  • Why does my sales manager dislike me and what should I do?
  • Why is the evaluation committee against me?

Other Steve W. Martin Books


Sales Strategy Playbook is a based on first-of-a-kind sales research and win-loss analysis interviews with thousands of top salespeople, vice presidents of sales, and B2B Buyers who ultimately decide which salesperson will win the deal. Research topics include:


Responsive image

Heavy Hitter I.T. Sales Strategy: Competitive Insights from Interviews with 1,000+ Key I.T. Decision Makers and Top Technology Salespeople

Heavy Hitter Sales Linguistics: 101 Advanced Sales Call Strategies for Senior Salespeople

Heavy Hitter Sales Psychology: How to Penetrate the C-Level Suite and Persuade Company Leaders to Buy

Heavy Hitter Sales Wisdom: Proven Sales Warfare Strategies, Secrets of Persuasion, and Common-Sense Tips for Success

Heavy Hitter Selling: How Successful Salespeople Use Language and Intuition to Persuade Customers to Buy.

The Real Story of Informix Software and Phil White: Lessons in Business and Leadership for the Executive Team