"Become The Only Choice" Book Reviews

An "Outstanding" Rating by Lynne Cunningham of the Studer Group

I just read a great book that I think should be added to your Leadership Library.

Book	Become the Only Choice – a customer focused approach to selling the way people buy
Author	Mike Jacoutot
Pillar of Excellence	Growth
Publisher’s Book Description	Selling is a blend of art and science, but the ultimate goal is to position yourself to become the only choice for customers. In his first published book, Become the Only Choice, sales guru Mike Jacoutot distills twenty-four years of practical sales experience into an easy to understand consultative sales process guaranteed to deliver top notch results. Woven into an engaging story line, Become the Only Choice clearly and concisely explains Jacoutot’s unique approach to consultative selling through the failures and successes of two former collegiate athletes Frank and Al, along with the unparalleled wisdom of the greatest salesperson they have ever known, a man simply referred to as The Wizard. Using a perfect combination of relationship building skills and process management, The Wizard introduces Frank to the three cornerstones of success and the foundational skills necessary to realize his potential. Will Al and Frank make it to the President s Roundtable? Will Frank overcome the seemingly insurmountable obstacles encountered in his third year of selling? What can you glean from the teachings of The Wizard? This book is a must read for anyone looking to hone sales skills, improve sales performance and position themselves to Become the Only Choice!
LC Review	I have been looking for several years for a really good book on consultative sales. This is it. The tools, techniques and recommendations have been drawn from several authors but Mike has tested the concepts and used them to build a successful business. The process can be used if you are doing business development formally or if you just want to “sell” you boss on a new idea. The book will be a great investment in your future.
Page	Lynne suggests that you pay special attention to some of these features in the book.
2+	Summary of key points the reader will learn – and you do!!
17+	The Three Cornerstones for Successful Sales Attitude is the Beginning of Everything. Some people see thunderstorms – others look for rainbows. Some people see the glass as half empty – some see it as half full. Some people see icy streets – others put on ice skates. Don’t give up until you find the ice skates in life! Accept Personal Accountability. People fail in direct proportion to their willingness to accept socially accepted excuses for failure. (See The Language of a Loser on page 34). Perseverance. Progressive improvement – is better than postponed perfection. Being “good” is a stupid idea. The only thing that counts is whether you are getting better at a more rapid rate than your principal competitors. It’s very simple. If you are not able to get more, better, faster than they are able to get more, better, faster, then you are getting less better or more worse!
61+	Lesson #1: Good Habits. The difference between the successful sales person and the unsuccessful sales person is this: the successful sales person is in the habit of doing things the unsuccessful sales person doesn’t do. Lesson #2: Seek to understand before asking to be understood. Lesson #3: Prescription before diagnosis equals malpractice. Find the pain! Lesson #4: A trusted advisor is always in the customer’s operating reality. Lesson #5: An objection is merely a request for more information.
96+	Steps in the Sales Process Prospecting Qualifying Customer Meeting Proposals Close
100	Steps in the Buying Process as it looks through the customer’s Operating Reality Recognition of needs Situation Insight GAP Needs/Solution Evaluation of options Resolution of concerns Purchase Implement/use
146	LAER Listen Acknowledge Explore Respond
158	Make a commitment of 18 touches – that is, one and half years of trying to stay top of mind before removing a qualified prospect from your database.
160+	The customer relationship can be likened to a pyramid broken into three distinct sections. At the bottom third of the pyramid is what I call the competitive relationship. Here the customer and the supplier are most polarized. In this scenario, the customer typically wins and the supplier typically loses. Next is the cooperative relationship which is categorized by give and take. The relationship is a win-win. The top sales people typically have about 80% of their customer relationships in this category. Collaborative relationships are the top third. That’s where you are so aligned that you almost can’t tell the buyer from the seller. You are viewed as a strategic thought partner, one with access to knowledge and resources designed to help your customer improve business performance.
187	Excellent glossary of consultative sales terms.
Overall rating	Outstanding
Publisher and Year Published	BookMobile	2006
Price	$21.50	Available at www.amazon.com
Recommended by	Missy Blankenship, a Supplemental Healthcare colleague, friend and successful marketer

About Lynne Cunningham...

With 30 years of health care experience, including 20 years as a strategic planning and marketing consultant, Lynne is uniquely qualified for her role as both coach and business development link. She has worked with hospitals, health systems, and medical groups all over the country to define, measure, and evaluate the perception of quality among patients, employees, physicians, and the community. Lynne brings a broad base of experience and views to her clients.

Lynne works with health systems to create the roadmap and design the Studer Group coaching model, which will be successful as each partner organization works with Studer Group to continue its service and operational excellence journey from good to great. A skilled facilitator with keen insight into group dynamics, Lynne is able to work individually with organizations to help them determine the best way to apply and integrate Studer Group processes as they create their own "fingerprint" for their cultural change journey.

Lynne is the author of several books and many journal articles on topics including: the impact of patient satisfaction on malpractice exposure, physician involvement in marketing, and marketing best practices in a variety of service lines. Prior to joining Studer Group, she was a staff administrator at Kaiser Permanente in Northern California and at Sutter Health.