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| The Ultimate Sales Machine: Turbocharge Your Business with Relentless Focus on 12 Key Strategies | 
 enlarge | Author: Chet Holmes
Creators: Michael Gerber, Jay Conrad Levinson
Publisher: Portfolio Trade
Category: Book
List Price: $15.00
Buy New: $8.70
You Save: $6.30 (42%)
New (32) Used (7) from $8.70
Avg. Customer Rating:  66 reviews
Sales Rank: 1948
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 272
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 8.3 x 5.3 x 0.6
ISBN: 1591842158
Dewey Decimal Number: 381
EAN: 9781591842156
ASIN: 1591842158
Publication Date: May 27, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Chet Holmes helps his clients blow away both the competition and their own expectations. And his advice starts with one simple concept: focus! Instead of trying to master four thousand strategies to improve your business, zero in on the few essential skill areas that make the big difference.
The Ultimate Sales Machine shows you how to tune up and soup up virtually every part of your business by spending just an hour per week on each impact area you want to improvesales, marketing, management, and more.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 61 more reviews...
 Sales = Pestering? April 6, 2008
36 out of 36 found this review helpful
I am another one who does not understand why this book has gotten so many 5-star reviews. Essentially, I have just finished reading "How to Sell without being a Jerk!" by John Klymshyn and these two books seem to pull at the same topic from two completely different angles.
Chet Holmes take on Sales is, I feel, to wear the client down with repeated calls and sales pitch till they give in. He advocates that someone with High Influence (that is, an ability to empathize with others) and a High Ego (High drive and determination - never say die attitude) is absolutely necessary to be a Superstar Salesperson. At the end of the day, this never say die attitude requires you to push your product (because you feel that it is good for your client, regardless of what he thinks) relentlessly until he gives in and buys from you.
All these is good as long as the product which your client buys works out for him at the end. Alas, I'm into Structured Products Sales in a Private Bank and sometimes we all know that some products do not work out well if the markets are not cooperative! The failure of a product is never covered in any of Chet's materials. All his stories have happy endings - the executive who after 6 months gave in and bought advertisement space (through his relentless selling) and again bought more advertisement space after some more months when the first series of advertisements did not make any impact FINALLY saw the truth in Chet's words when his sales jumped etc etc - Never has Chet's advice been wrong or the products he sold not worked out (or these have been pleasantly omitted).
I think the book has some useful gems to take away and it has helped me address some of the weaknesses in my own selling. However, this 'Take No prisoners' approach may not be for everybody all of the time.
Also, I do not agree with his material on Presentation. He mentioned that it is necessary to have a very dramatic and visual approach to your slides to have your clients at the edge of their seats. In addition, humor is often an effective and useful content to have in your presentation. NOTHING WRONG HERE. However, this presentation style may not be for everyone. I've been trained in presentations and have learnt that doing a presentation with NO SLIDES is also a very effective way to conduct a presentation because then the audience would have to pay attention to you instead of staring at the slides. I'm not saying that one is right and the other wrong - I feel that at the end of the day, YOU would have to decide what is most comfortable ane effective for you and your audience when giving a presentation.
Chet's way is definitely one way to succeed in Sales - he is a living example. But to call his way the Ultimate Sales Machine is just over the top.
 Even if you think you already know this material, Holmes presents it in a fresh and compelling way June 27, 2007
31 out of 36 found this review helpful
Chet Holmes knows his material very well and has the ability to not only say it concisely, but he can also present it in clear and memorable ways. He packs a whole lot of information into 245 pages and I am certain you can find more than enough useful information here to justify the price of the book.
The title refers to the book's emphasis on fashioning your entire organization to support your sales and marketing efforts rather than just having a sales department. This makes a great deal of sense to me. Holmes starts with making sure that you, the reader and leader of your organization, are managing your own time most efficiently. The principles he lays down here also have resonance with the principles he will present later.
Holmes also demonstrates the values and benefits of deep and ongoing training of all your employees. Some companies consider it a luxury and cut back on it the moment any trouble occurs. This is a mistake, according to the author. Training gets everyone on the same page, helps them be more efficient, and, when handled properly, motivates them to higher performance.
Meetings consume way too much time. We all know that. Holmes shows you how to use them to greater effect in less time. He also talks about how you need to become a brilliant strategist and a great tactician. This is more easily said than done, but with what he provides you here, improvements are possible.
Holmes then talks about hiring superstars rather than just staffing your departments, how to get the best buyers (not just customers), the seven musts of marketing - how to turbocharge your efforts, using compelling visuals to close more sales, and the nitty-gritty day-to-day work of going after those best buyers he talked about earlier.
He then talks about deep selling, client bonding, and how to put it all together.
Each chapter not only has its topic, it usually has a list of steps or a checklist, and a concluding section to summarize the points made and guides for implementation.
It is a good read, a great reminder for those who are already experienced in this area, and will be a revelation for those who are coming to running their own companies or sales efforts for the first time.
Excellent material, some new and unique ideas July 26, 2007
31 out of 33 found this review helpful
No matter what business you are in, no matter what product or service you provide, you can benefit from the wisdom of the "Ultimate Sales Machine".
The book starts off where most of the work is needed ... with top management. Everyone today complains of too much to do and too little time. Chet describes how he cut his work days from 16 hours to a normal work day and got more done in the process. The first step is to become proactive rather than reactive. Adopt the mantra, "If you touch it, take action." We let our desks pile up with material that we read, examine and think about but never get around to taking any action on. Develop the habit of touching a letter, memo or report once. Take action and get it off you desk.
We also let the small interruptions rule our day. Eliminate these pesky interruptions by scheduling "got a minute" sessions. Also hold regular staff meetings where general questions can be answered for the benefit of everyone.
Most of us are good at making "to do" lists. Chet's offers some excellent advice. Never have more than six items on your list. Make sure those are the most important things for you to get done. Leave the minor tasks off your list and only work on those things on your list.
The book is divided into twelve chapters or steps which if you implement all the steps will totally transform your organization. Chet stresses the importance of strategic thinking as opposed to the reactive style of most managers.
He has a very interesting and unique approach to hiring superstars. Age and background are not relevant. Results are the only thing that counts. While his approach is a little bold and many people will be reluctant to try it, it is very difficult to argue with success.
The book is well written and contains plenty of exercises. There are some original ideas and you will certainly benefit if you choose to implement some of his ideas.
He gives lots of good ideas about how to create your ultimate sales machine. In the final analysis, his best advice is "pigheaded determination", Whatever you are doing, if you give up when you meet a little resistance, you will never achieve the level of success you are capable of achieving.
The book is filled with good ideas that can really make a difference in your business - but only if you follow them with pigheaded determination.
Straight forward, Practical And Reasonable To Implement Strategies To Fire Up Your Sales June 25, 2007
29 out of 43 found this review helpful
I've read and reviewed a lot of books on sales. I have my favorites. This book blows most of them out of the water.
The 12 competencies that Chet Explores in this book should be required mastery for everyone who sells anything. Chet is able to clearly focus the reader on each competency and walk them through the process of implementation. Something missing in many books of this type.
This book isn't just for salespeople though, it is for CEOs and Entrepreneurs as well. You'll find that this is a play book for supercharging every area of your business when you apply the strategies.
Chet's writing style is a little "salesy" at times but I believe that is intentional to demonstrate his points and to give you something you can effectively model.
This book is well written, the ideas are sound but most importantly, they are strategies that any salesperson or business ownwer can implement right away. This is currently one of my top 5 business books, I'll be sending it to my sales team as well as that of my top clients.
Dave Lakhani
Author of Persuasion: The Art of Getting What You Want
Power of An Hour: Business and Life Mastery in One Hour A Week
 Solid book on sales and sales management October 31, 2007
20 out of 23 found this review helpful
I nearly passed on this book because of all the ridiculous reviews by people obviously trying to game the system and promote themselves. Authors who resort to this type of "marketing" come off as misleading and they reek of desperation, certainly not the type of person from whom I want to learn sales and marketing. However, the book was recommended to me by a friend so I bought it, and I'm glad I did. It was full of useful information on how to build a sales organization that I can actually implement in my everyday work.
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