Recently, I had a chance to read about selling , especially relationship based selling. (Please do not assume that I am becoming a sales guy, I am still IT guy…:)). One particular book that is very interesting in this regard is “Smarter Selling” by David Lambert and Keith Dugdale. This covers very basic and practical ideas, applicable especially in IT consulting where each company has few clients and managing relationships with existing clients is very important. Here is brief listing of what is covered in this book:

• How clients perceive you based on your behavior
• What are different types of business relationships, especially between B2B
• Assessing these relationships and how to move these relationships to partner level
•  Understanding different individuals and their role (decision maker, influencer, gate keeper)
• How conversations take place and what should be discussed there
• How to build and cement rapport, trust and credibility
• A questioning model (SHAPE) for uncovering needs
• How to conduct presentations

I would recommend this book to anyone who is directly involved in facing clients and is interested in contributing towards better client relationships. There are only 200 pages…:)