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Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management

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Book and Website Reviews

a b c
Shelley R. Tapp Associate Editor , Shelley R. Tapp & Shelley R. Tapp
a
Wayland Baptist University
b
Wayland Baptist University
c
Wayland Baptist University
Published online: 24 Oct 2013.

To cite this article: Shelley R. Tapp Associate Editor, Shelley R. Tapp & Shelley R. Tapp (2000) Book and Website Reviews, Journal of
Personal Selling & Sales Management, 20:1, 63-63

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 Winter2000
Book and Website Reviews
Shelley R. Tapp, Wayland Baptist University, Associate Editor
Tough Calls: Selling Strategies to
Win Over Your Most Difficult Cus-
tomers
By Josh Gordon, Amacom, 1997, 214
pages.
Josh Gordon is president of Josh Gor-
don & Associates, an independent
agency selling magazine advertising
space. In this volume, he has collected
advice on selling to the difficult cus-
Downloaded by [The University of Manchester Library] at 13:50 28 October 2014
tomer. He categorizes difficult custom-
ers into twenty types based on responses
to a national survey of sales represen-
tatives. He then provides specific sell-
ing strategies, pitfalls to avoid, and
strategies for closing each type of cus-
tomer. Since his survey revealed that
one in every six customers could be
called difficult, any sales representative
should welcome this compendium of
advice.
For example, the author tackles the
problem customers in order of their fre-
quency of occurrence as revealed by his
survey. Not surprisingly, the most fre-
quently encountered problem customer
is the customer who grinds on price.
The pitfalls to be avoided with this cus-
tomer are not unexpected: focusing on
price and forgetting to sell the product,
discussing price first, and taking what
the price grinder says about competitor's
prices as true, among others. But Mr.
Gordon offers examples of how to get
past the pitfalls. These examples can
be very illuminating for a sales repre-
sentative. For instance, if the represen-
tative suspects that the buyer will only
buy if offered the lowest price, Mr. Gor-
don suggests that the sales representa-
tive gain authorization to make a mod-
erate, but significant, price concession.
If the customer does not accept the deal,
then Mr. Gordon advises that he or she
is not a serious prospect and the sales
representative should invest his or her
time in customers who offer better pros-
pects for sales.
The author also offers thirteen sell-
ing strategies and three closing strate-
gies for dealing with this customer. For
example, he suggests never negotiating
with this type of customer over the
phone. He explains why he makes this
suggestion based on the pace of phone
negotiations and the information lost
when buyer and seller cannot see each
other. He also reminds the representa-
tive faced with this type of customer to
sell value.
While, all the examples and sugges-
tions offered by the author are interest-
ing and useful to sales representatives
and sales managers, many readers may
find the results of the author's survey
which are presented at the end of the
book equally interesting. For example,
his survey confirms that intangibles are
hardest to sell since sales representa-
tives responding from the service and
financial industries report the highest
occurrences of problem customers. His
survey also suggests that selling style
may influence the frequency of problem
customers. The author's point is well
taken that a look through the results of
his survey will convince any sales rep-
resentative that he or she is not the
only sales person experiencing problem
customers. Indeed, Mr. Crl>rdon correctly
asserts that difficult customers are de-
fined as much by how the sales repre-
sentative feels after dealing with them
as by their actions. This book provides
insights that can help the sales repre-
sentative understand these customers
and improve effectiveness in dealing
with them. I highly recommend it to
sales representatives, sales managers,
and those who teach selling.
Shelley R. Tapp
Wayland Baptist University
Motivating & Rewarding Employ-
ees: New and Better Ways to In-
spire Your People
By Alexander Hiam, Adams Media
Corporation, 1999, 319 pages
Alexander Hiam is a trainer and con-
sultant who numbers Kellogg's, Coca-
Cola, and General Motors among his
63
recent clients. His insights into motiva-
tion begin with the premise that the
traditional command and control para-
digm of motivation has reached the lim-
its of its ability to increase worker pro-
ductivity. He also accepts the psycho-
logical theory that most individuals
crave mastery in their environments.
In other words, most people are not truly
happy unless they feel that they are
operating effectively in the situations
which they encounter daily. However,
he also reports that most managers feel
that their employees could be produc·
ing at much higher levels, while most
employees report that their hard work
is not being adequately recognized or
rewarded.
This frustration on the part of work-
ers and management results from the
traditional command and control em-
phasis on the downside of employee
management. The author cites the max-
ims of this management style as (1) get
them here on time, (2) keep them fo-
cused on their work, (3) keep them from
making mistakes, and (4) keep them
from slipping off before the whistle
blows. In short, the author suggests that
this approach to management is the
equivalent of attempting to push em-
ployees up hills, when it would obvi-
ously take less effort to help them find
hills they really want to climb.
The author asserts that any organi-
zation can improve the motivation of its
employees without attempting to trans-
form the organization into some mysti-
cal corporate Happy Valley. He also in-
sists that the techniques expounded in
this book will work for small organiza-
tions, Fortune 500 companies, and not-
for-profits. He includes many examples
drawn from corporate America and pro-
vides several inventories and
worksheets to assist a manager to imple-
ment his suggestions. Sales managers
and professors of sales management will
find this a valuable examination of mo-
tivation for today's workforce.
Shelley R. Tapp
Wayland Baptist University