The Sales Professional’s Handbook: A View from the Trenches - Softcover

Whelan, Alan

9781786052193: The Sales Professional’s Handbook: A View from the Trenches

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1786052199 ISBN 13: 9781786052193

Publisher: Orpen Press, 2025

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Alan Whelan has been working on the frontline of business-to-business sales for over 30 years. He has worked with multinationals, both within Ireland and internationally, in a variety of roles, building up an extensive knowledge of all aspects of the sales function. He now runs his own company, Sales Advisory Services, where he provides tactical, operational and strategic support to companies. He is also the author of the popular LinkedIn Lightbulb Series of articles, in which he explores typical B2B sales challenges facing both salespeople and sales managers. The Sales Professional’s Handbook: A View from the Trenches brings Alan’s extensive experience to the reader. As the title implies, it is not an academic textbook. Rather, it is an informative guide through the realities of a career in sales, written in a down-to-earth, accessible and relatable style. It uses case studies and professional research to explore themes such as: • Sales management • Strategic planning • Sales operations • Governance • Value propositions • The sales lifecycle • Finance • Compliance The Sales Professional’s Handbook is essential reading for anyone working in sales, considering a career in sales or just curious about how a key element of the world of business functions. It can be referenced when faced with a particular sales challenge, or read cover to cover as a general guide to the world of sales.

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About the Author

Alan Whelan is a sales consultant who runs his own business, Sales Advisory Services, based out of Dublin, Ireland. He is also author of the Lightbulb Series on LinkedIn, a collection of articles on optimising sales functions. Before starting his own business, Alan spent 30+ years working in enterprise B2B sales for multinationals both within Ireland and internationally. During that time Alan has built up extensive knowledge of all aspects of the sales function. His previous roles include Global Account Director at Diebold Nixdorf, HP Channel Services Sales Manager and Sales Manager for Synstar International. Whether it be building and managing sales teams or bringing new services to market, Alan specialises in optimising sales outcomes for organisations and has an extensive track record of successful delivery. His alma mater is Trinity College Dublin, where he was awarded a Bachelor of Business Studies, honours degree. While away from work, Alan enjoys fishing, sea swimming, walking the dogs and an occasional round of golf. Further information on Alan’s professional background, including published LinkedIn articles, is available at: www.linkedin. com/in/alan-whelan-36401028.

Excerpt. � Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

When I set up my sales consulting business, Sales Advisory Services, I wanted to develop a shop window for my thinking on sales challenges that people face on a day-to-day basis. I thought a series of short articles on LinkedIn would be an easy way to reach people and to build a network that might avail of my services. The original intention was ten articles but once I got started, I could think of more and more topics I wanted to cover. Most of them arose from conversations with clients and questions they would ask. The nature of social media, which LinkedIn has become, lends itself to short punchy articles that skim the surface but hopefully give the reader some nuggets of knowledge to take away. This format has its time and place. However, as the breadth of the topics grew, I thought bringing some order and logic to the discussion had merit. Thankfully, Gerry Kelly at Orpen Press was thinking the same and he reached out (on LinkedIn) to suggest there might be a book in it. Once I realised he was serious, and with some words of encouragement from friends and family, I warmed to the idea and the outcome is The Sales Professional’s Handbook: A View from the Trenches. Another sales book? Just what the world needs. So why is this one different? Over the 30+ years I’ve been involved in sales, I’ve attended numerous training courses and read lots of books about sales. The one thing that consistently frustrated me was the time it took to get to the nuggets of knowledge. There invariably were some, you just had to wade through a lot of superfluous material to get to them. In this book, I will get to the essence of the issues quickly. The book covers a wide range of topics including: • What makes a good salesperson? • Managing underperforming salespeople • What is sales operations? • The art of bid management • Recruiting salespeople • How to run effective sales meetings Many of these subjects have entire books dedicated to them but I wanted to focus on the essential elements of as many topics as possible. That’s what makes this book different. As the title implies, it is not an academic book. Rather, it is intended as an informative guide through the realities of a career in sales, written in a down-to-earth, accessible and relatable style. The book is really for anyone working in sales, considering a career in sales or just curious about how a key element of the world of business functions. It is intended as a handbook that can be referenced when faced with a particular sales challenge as well as providing a general guide. My area of expertise has almost exclusively been in the area of business to business (B2B) sales so that’s what I focus on and reference in the book. The key message to remember is that the same guiding principles apply, and warrant consideration, regardless of whether you are a sole trader, a small company or a multinational. The only difference being the scale and the resources applied. Scattered throughout the book are anecdotes from real-life situations in sales. They are a combination of both what to do and what not to do. There are no names mentioned, of either the individuals or the companies involved, to protect both the innocent and the guilty! A select few of you may even recognise some of the situations which will hopefully give you cause for a wry smile. You will quickly gather that the writing style is somewhat irreverent and occasionally comedic (hopefully) and while that is in my DNA, I have found throughout my career that people remember quirky analogies and humorous interpretations and respond well to them. It’s an effective way of communicating important messages. So thank you for buying the book. I hope you find it informative and insightful but most of all I hope you find it enjoyable.

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