Twinsburg-based Sogistics Corp.’s founder and CEO Marc Miller recently talked to Smart Business about his controversial book, “Selling is Dead,” co-written with Jason Sinkovitz.
Why is it time for selling to die?
There are about 20 million salespeople in the U.S., and in our estimate, seven years from now, there might be 14 million. There are a lot of commodities in the market, and buyers are learning they don’t need salespeople anymore. (For example,) they can buy through the Internet.
The old ways of selling are quickly going by the wayside. There’s a huge upside for salespeople who choose to be businesspeople who sell. They’re going to make more money because they’re going to be adding more value to their company and the organizations on which they call.
What can CEOs learn from your book?
Effective opportunity management is critical. Organizations often lack a common discipline about how they’re going to manage opportunities. They need to become more disciplined and structured because otherwise, everything’s loose and fragmented, and they have a bunch of cowboys out there doing their own thing.
In early September, your book was only two spots behind the newest ‘Harry Potter’ book in local bookstore hardcover sales. How did that make you feel?
Oh, just terrible (laughs). The first week, we were actually tied for No. 7 with ‘Confessions of a Video Vixen;’ that kind of made me feel interesting.
The book’s only been out six weeks, and we’re happy with the traction it’s getting on a regional basis. There is an important message in there, and we’re pretty passionate about that. It probably will feel a lot better when it gets more national traction, like the Wall Street Journal bestseller list, but certainly we’re very pleased.
Any plans for more books?
We’re working on the next one. We’ve got a few interesting questions we’re working on and trying to formulate. We love talking to successful local companies who do large sales, especially ones that have to go out and sell new applications, and we’re looking for case studies.
For more information, visit www.sellingisdead.com.
