P3 Selling

You know the product. You can answer all the questions. So why is your close rate still so low?

You send a proposal, answer the follow-ups, and ask for the order. Then the deal stalls, ends in “no decision,” or goes to a competitor you were sure you could beat. And because every deal seems to play out a little differently, it’s hard to know which ones will close.

Here’s why: most B2B salespeople sell the way they buy as consumers. They focus on their product, give information, then ask for the order. If that doesn’t work, they give more information and ask again. In P3 Selling, we call this approach Clerking. It works for a simple, one-person purchase. But it often fails when a B2B decision involves multiple people and a multi-step buying process.

P3 Selling replaces Clerking with a three-step consultative method: Understand, Influence, Message. First, Understand the buyer’s side of the sale: the Problems they need to solve, the People involved in the decision, and the buying Process. Next, ask insightful questions that Influence how they perceive each one, so they see which problems matter most and are positioned to make the best possible decision. Then deliver your Message, whether it’s a demo, presentation, or proposal.

The result is a prescriptive framework that tells you what to do and why, without the jargon and complexity of other sales methodologies. Practical and focused, it gives every seller on the team the same playbook for winning complex deals.

With P3 Selling, you’ll:

• Identify which buyer problems are worth pursuing by weighing their impact and urgency
• Shape how buyers see their problems, who should be involved, and how best to make their buying decision
• Pinpoint where your buyer is in their decision process, and what to do next, with two simple tables
• Follow best practices for prospecting and for managing calls, opportunities, and your pipeline
• Put it to work right away with activities at the end of every chapter
• Win more deals, earn more referrals, and move toward senior sales or management roles
• Give both sellers and sales leaders a consistent way to review deals, spot risks, and forecast based on what the prospect is doing, not what the sales rep has done

The author, Greg Nutter, has spent more than 30 years as a salesperson, sales leader, trainer, consultant, and coach, including executive roles at Miller Heiman and Xerox Canada. He has worked with over a thousand sales professionals, at start-ups to industry leaders like SAP, Hewlett-Packard, Motorola, Microsoft, NCR, Discover Card, and Michelin. P3 Selling is built on the best practices that produced the biggest gains for those sellers.

For new sales professionals, it’s a practical way of selling that you can use right away. For experienced reps, it’s a refresher on the most important factors that drive results. And for sales leaders, it’s a consistent methodology for building and managing a successful sales team.

Named one of the best B2B books of all time by BookAuthority.

Stop leaving wins to chance. Start closing with a consultative approach that makes every deal more manageable and predictable.