Dirty Little Secrets by Sharon Drew Morgen - Book review

Dirty Little Secrets

Why buyers can't buy and sellers can't sell and what you can do about it

By: Sharon Drew Morgen

Published: October 15, 2009
Format: Paperback: 272 pages
ISBN-10: 0964355396
ISBN-13: 978-0964355392
Publisher: Morgen Publishing






"At the end of the day, no matter how much our buyers have a need and we have the best solution, if they don't know how to decide to make a new choice, it doesn't matter what we've got", writes sales visionary and thought leader Sharon Drew Morgen in her sales transformational book Dirty Little Secrets: Why buyers can't buy and sellers can't sell and what you can do about it. The author uncovers the real reasons why buyers don't make the expected buying decisions, and how sales people can help potential buyers make good buying decisions.

Sharon Drew Morgen understands that sales people are very often frustrated by low sales success rates. Instead of blaming the sales technique, the author delves into the often hidden circumstances that drive the buyer to make decisions that may appear irrational on the surface, but are logical within the context of their own company buying system. A failure on the part of sales people to understand the buyer's perspective, as related to their company politics, rules, and regulations, causes a failure to close the sale. Sharon Drew Morgen calls these norms on the buyer's side a "system", and as such is very powerful in maintaining the status quo, regardless of the validity of the resulting buying decisions. Unless there is change in how the system influences the buyer, there is little chance of success for closing any sale.



Sharon Drew Morgen (photo left) recognizes that the forces to maintain the system status quo are very powerful, and require skill and cooperation on the part of both the buyer and seller to create change. The author considers the only way for a system to change is for the buyer to generate the change within that system. Sharon Drew Morgen presents the Buying Facilitation (R) model, that uses what she calls Facilitative Questions, that helps buyers understand their own buying environment so as to create the necessary change to result in better buying decisions. To assist the seller in guiding the buyer through the process of systemic change, the book describes ten steps that are common to all buying decisions. When these steps are understood and internalized, a buyer can facilitate the internal changes necessary to overcome the status quo.

For me, the power of the book is how Sharon Drew Morgen provides a fresh, groundbreaking approach to understanding why buyers make decisions based on factors rarely considered by sellers. The concept of drilling down into the systemic constraints placed on buyers, so as to create change within that process, turns the entire world of traditional selling techniques upside down. Instead of focusing the sales effort on standard selling practices, the author proposes a collaborative method where seller and buyer work together to facilitate a transformation of the buying system for the benefit of all stakeholders. As Sharen Drew Morgen makes clear, the book is not a sales book, but a study on change management. Without the cooperative challenge to the system, the buyer is simply unable to make the best buying decision. This book helps guide both the sales representative and the buyer to the fastest and most efficient path to making the right decision.

I highly recommend the insightful and revolutionary book Dirty Little Secrets: Why buyers can't buy and sellers can't sell and what you can do about it by Sharon Drew Morgen, to anyone seeking a more in depth analysis, into the real reasons for why buyers make their decisions, than is usually presented in traditional sales books. The author shares a new approach that helps both seller and buyer arrive at a solution through collaboration and change management of existing systems. The end result is an easier way for buyers and sellers to complete the sales process, while achieving satisfactory results that meet the buyer's real needs.

Read the essential and pioneering book Dirty Little Secrets: Why buyers can't buy and sellers can't sell and what you can do about it by Sharon Drew Morgen, and move beyond the often shallow and superficial concepts taught in most courses about sales. The author encourages sellers and buyers to turn the process upside down, and examine the system from the inside out, resulting in enriched understanding of the real system and constraints placed on buyers. By thinking in a change management and facilitation model, rather than with a conventional sales mindset, the entire sales process is streamlined and expedited. A more rewarding experience, for all stakeholders in reaching the final buying decision, is the positive win-win outcome.

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