Sun Tzu Strategies for Selling: How to Use The Art of War to Build Lifelong Customer Relationships

by Gerald A. Michaelson, Steven W. Michaelson

Winning sales tactics from the greatest strategist of all time Through his bestselling books and popular seminars, Gerald Michaelson has established himself as the world's leading interpreter of Sun Tzu's timeless strategies for the modern business audience. In Sun Tzu Strategies for Selling , the author of the bestselling Sun The Art of War for Managers interprets the theorist's classic battle strategies specifically to help salespeople win on the increasingly competitive sales battlefield. Packed with brilliant insights that will help anyone who sells prevail over any competitor, this new translation of The Art of War includes special notations underscoring the relevance of Sun Tzu's writings to sales strategy. It also transforms Sun Tzu's wisdom into contemporary sales advice, object lessons, and real-life "how-tos," such

Genres: Business, Management

230 pages, Paperback

First published October 20, 2003

About the author

Gerald A. Michaelson was the author of many business books including the classic The Art of War for Managers, and others in the Sun Tzu series including Strategies for Success, Sun Tzu for Sales, and Sun Tzu for Marketing.
Gerald Michaelson spent over 25 years growing sales for Magnavox/Phillips, in sales, marketing, and ultimately as a Corporate Vice President, using the strategic concepts set forth in this book.
As a writer and consultant he was internationally recognized. As a featured speaker at an international symposium on Sun Tzu's the Art of War in Beijing, China, he also returned to conduct management seminars for the Chinese government utilizing Sun Tzu's strategic concepts. His articles appeared in leading periodicals of his time including Success Magazine, World Executive's Digest and Traveler in Asia, Executive Edge, and Sales and Marketing Management. He also wrote a weekly column for newspapers in the Scripps Howard network. He was a member of the Board of Directors of the American Marketing Association, and of fast growing companies. He appeared on every continent speaking on his insights from Sun Tzu.
Michaelson's diverse experiences as a Korean War Veteran, a Fortune 500 executive, a consultant, writer and author gave him the broad background that culminated in the classic Sun Tzu The Art of War for Managers. His business writings were praised by leaders from corporate CEO's, to military historians, to leading consultants. He passed away in 2005.
In 2010, his son, writing partner, and experienced CEO Steven W. Michaelson updated the timeless classic Sun Tzu The Art of War for Managers in a second edition. Staying true to the principles and thoughts in the first edition, Steve updated the business examples, and added new Managers Examples to continue to help readers understand Sun Tzu's applicability to daily business challenges.

Reviews

[Ben Donahower · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was really impressed with this book though the title is a little deceptive. While there are references to Sun Tzu woven into the book, it's not as heavily used as you would expect.

What this book does do is present an overview of selling while offering specific tactics when appropriate. Some of my favorite are:

1. Win or lose, ask the prospect why. This can elicit some useful information for future sales prospects.
2. Occupy a position of for-ness. Acknowledge objections, agree with prospect or client ideas, and build upon them.
3. In general, have a plan of action and have a bias towards taking action.

[Erin Natali · Rating 4 out of 5]

Molto utile x chi tratta di vendita alcuni prinicipi sono un po' troppo adattati

[Christine Tran · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is worth it to give some hours to finish this book after directly reading The Art of War not too long ago. I think the interpretation for marketing is fantastic, but as a beginning who seeks for knowledge and information, I find that it'll be greater with more examples set into this with each interpretation. Gets a tad bit hard to understanding without having an example for little details that the author points out.