What if I told you that many of the popular recommendations you heard on selling are not true? To get their voices heard in a crowded, loud world, authors started doing something suspicious: exaggerations. They tell what impresses you and what you want to hear. Not what is based on hard evidence.

In this book, I have done something simple. I read hundreds of sales books, articles, or reports, and extrapolated their most popular recommendations for you. Then, I verified whether they were supported by research or not. Surprisingly, in many cases, what popular recommendations claim is very different from what cumulative research shows. Books build myths, rooted in embellished versions of reality that sound alluringly inspiring but have one flaw: they just aren’t real.

In this book, you will find plenty of surprises. You will discover that most prospecting tactics only work for particular types of buyers; that there are two ways to influence buyers, and most people follow the worst one; that extrovert behaviors do not help, except for one type; that only one personality trait matters to sales, and it’s the least known; that one form of empathy is good, and one is bad; that a customer orientation can potentially be deleterious; that inspirational appeals only work in two situations; that ingratiating tactics can be dangerous unless done in a specific way; that popular listening tactics don’t teach you how to listen; that there is one best process to sell, and you should never use it; that most sellers misinterpret buyers’ needs; that there are two ways to solve a client’s problem, and everyone follows the least effective; that most sellers have been misunderstanding value selling; that many widespread closing and objection handling tactics are futile, while only a few simple ones matter. And many, many more provocative ideas.

This book is different. It does not tell you what all other sales books say. You won’t hear the voice of one popular guru but the combined voices of thousands of sales professionals whose actions have been meticulously studied. Perhaps you will disagree. And it’s OK. I don’t want you to agree. I just want to stimulate your thinking and make you reflect. Discover which popular sales tactics are completely unfounded, and find a set of actionable and practical recommendations grounded in reliable evidence that can improve your sales performance.