Five Minutes with VITO: Making the Most of Your Selling Time with the Very Important Top Officer by David Mattson, Anthony Parinello

Introduction: Should You Read this Book?
Sales Paradise
Sales Graveyard
Your destiny
Personal accountability
A promise
Ready...     1
Meet VITO, the Very Important Top Officer...and Everyone Else     7
The Network of Influence and Authority
Who's who in the network?
The four languages of sales
Functions, features, advantages and benefits
Self-assessment
Why Sell to VITO?     15
Signature levels
What VITOs "don't buy"
Protection against the competition
Nineteen really good reasons to sell to VITO
Why Five Minutes?     23
Your first eight seconds in "VITO-land"
VITO's ten leadership traits
VITO's ten operating values
Being the best you can be
What do you have in common with VITO?
Attitudes and Latitudes     29
VITO's "would-I-spend-any-of-my-time-with-you" scale
Equal business title vs. Equal Business Stature
VITO's attitudes, techniques, and behaviors
VITO's Headset     34
Adopting VITO's mindset
The art of introducing new thoughts
Direct questions
Becoming a trusted advisor
Changing VITO's thought process
VITO's Selling (and Buying!) Process: Bonding and Rapport     41
The Sandler Process: an overview
Bonding and Building Rapport
VITO's Selling (and Buying!) Process: Up-Front Contracts     45
Maintaining control
Creating a balanced relationship
Creating an Up-Front Contract with VITO
VITO's up-front communication style
Unshakable confidence
VITO's Selling (andBuying!) Process: Pain     47
Progress, growth, over-accomplishment and over-achievement
How to uncover VITO's pain
Problem
Reason
Impact
Expectations vs. reality
VITO's Selling (and Buying!) Process: Budget     49
VITO's definition of "budget"
What VITO wants, VITO gets
Time, resources and process investments
Accelerating the VITO sales process
VITO's Selling (and Buying!) Process: Decision     51
Understanding VITO's business criteria
VITO's decision making process
Access to other players
VITO's comfort factor
VITO's Selling (and Buying!) Process: Fulfillment     53
Winning VITO's commitment
Understanding VITO's big picture
De-cluttering the decision-making process
Presentations to VITO
VITO's Selling (and Buying!) Process: Post-Sell     55
Buyer-seller to customer-provider transitions
Decision making comfort
Revisiting
Second thoughts
On-hold/cancel
Winning VITO's unshakable loyalty
Set...     57
Your Real Job Description     58
Title-to-title?
VITO buys as VITO sells
Your commonalities with VITO
Thinking like VITO thinks
Selling like VITO sells
Some Definitions, Some Answers     61
Gaining access to: suspects, prospects, customers, existing customers and VIP customers
Pre-disposed sales opportunities
Referrals
Testimonials
High-margin, add-on business
Establishing the Consequences of Not Taking Action     68
Liability in growth, revenue, cost, and compliance
Quantifying "no" for products, services and solutions
Changing the priorities
The biggest sin in VITO's world
The Balanced Gain Equation     76
Winning VITO's business
VITO's up-side and down-side thinking pattern
The balanced gain equation
VITO messaging for writing, telephone, in-person and voice mail messages
Close-up on the Big Idea     82
Understanding VITO's goals, plans and objectives
The Big Idea that connects to your product, services or solutions
Creating a Big Idea for VITO
The VITO Awards     88
The best ways to package and internalize the Big Idea
Seven Big Idea strategies
Words, phrases and structure that spark interest with VITO
The VITOpedia
Taking ownership of your Big Idea
Go!     99
The Five Waves     100
New VITO prospect approaches
First-class snail mail, post-cards, faxes, email, e-presentations and telephone methods with VITO
The VITO Challenge
Two basic ingredients of all Waves
Getting what you need from the Gatekeeper
Four wonderful outcomes
All Down in Black and White     109
VITO correspondence
The initial letter
Five critical elements
Headlines
Tie-in paragraph
Benefit bullets
Ending paragraph
Action P.S.
Five Primary Goals
VITO readership
Sample letters
Using VITO Wave Tools     123
Letters, post-cards, e-mail, e-presentations, faxes
VITO-to-VITO mindset and methods
Samples of each Wave tool
Five Outcomes, Eight Seconds      130
Making a great first impression with VITO
Communicating with unshakable confidence
What's on VITO's mind?
Five big outcomes
Proven or suspected value
VITO's industry and pain
Establishing up-front contracts
Stretching beyond your comfort zone
We Have Liftoff!     136
Getting VITO on the telephone
Three critical questions
The 20/40/40 rule
Two important goals
VITO's name
Pleasantry
Your Big Idea
Your Name
Ending Questions
VITO's Private Assistant
Getting connected to VITO's Voice Mail
The road map
Riding the Tiger     144
The real goal of your telephone opening statement
Two tiger-riding rules
The art of VITO telephone conversations
VITO words and phrases to use
Words and phrases to avoid
VITO questions
VITO 'What-ifs'
What happens next?
Who's Afraid of the Gatekeeper?     152
The difference between a Gatekeeper Receptionist and VITO's Private Assistant
Mindsets and methods
Breaking old habits
Five indisputable rules of Gatekeeper Receptionist interactions
Five indisputable rules of VITO private assistant interactions
Words and phrases that will help you turn gatekeepers into allies
Voice Mail     162
Five non-negotiable principles of voice mail messages to VITO
Maintaining a sense of purpose
Creating powerful, compelling voice mail messages
Scripts for voice mail messages
Return calls from VITO
Shunt Alert!     171
Controlled shunts
Uncontrolled shunts
Two serious situations
Linoleumville
Asking the right questions
Three possible results
Thank-you notes
Changing the course of the sales cycle
Equal business stature
Putting It All Together     182
Sandler principles expressed through VITO's world
Leadership traits, values and insights
Bonding and rapport-building
Up-front contracts
Pain
Budget
Fulfillment
Post-sell
VITO-to-VITO sales calls
Taking full responsibility
Epilogue: The Journey     200
On-Line Broadcast Center Resources     201
Index     202