Next Level Selling

by Tom Fedro

  In closing, I’d like to reiterate that PAM is not only an irreplaceable teammate in closing big deals; PAM determines how you win or lose the business. PAM makes the ultimate decision on every deal — because if she’s not in the building, you shouldn’t be there either. PAM can be elusive, but find her, become familiar with her, and you’ll win more business than ever before.

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  My Creator

  Thank You, God, for Your Son Jesus Christ and for the amazing opportunities You have so abundantly provided!

  My wife and family

  Next to God, I have to start by thanking Kerry, my beautiful, unselfish, thoughtful and awesome wife. From her advice to pursue this project in the first place to giving her blessing on the cover and keeping me motivated to get it done, I am truly blessed. Thank you so much. You make me want to be a better man every day.

  To my boys, Jake, Matt, Mark and Jack — thanks for inspiring me to be the best I can be as a father, friend and sparring partner. You young men are simply unsurpassed winners and I am so excited to see where you decide to spend your time and immeasurable talents in this world!

  My team

  Without the experience and support from my team over the past 25 years, this book would not exist. Thank you for letting me serve alongside you and for showing up every day, and helping our customers take care of their businesses with our software and services. I am honored to have worked with such talent. A very heartfelt appreciation to that special group that has been with me over the last decade and more: Cisco, Jim, Grace and Ross. What a ride together so far — and the best is yet to come!

  A special thanks to those amazing salespeople that taught me so much and validated the concepts in this book on the street. Your creativity, street smarts, strong relationship skills and closing capabilities are world-class and well worth writing a book about. A sincere shout-out to David Zinke, the first Maverick sales star I had the pleasure to work with; he helped frame the PAM principles more than two decades ago.

  My publishing team

  Having an idea for a book is one thing; turning it into something you can hold in your hand and actually read is something entirely different! The experience has been exciting, challenging, frustrating and rewarding all at the same time. Huge thanks to my publishing team, Alinka and Deborah, for keeping us on track and moving forward through all kinds of edits and graphic designs — and special thanks to Marlayna who kept me fully engaged and excited to keep pressing onward, even when discouraged and doubting the process. I also had some great help from many friends, in particular those familiar with the publishing procedure, as they provided excellent insights and advice — a big thank you to Jayson Yardley and Ted Larkins; your input was fantastic and appreciated.

  My coaches and mentors

  The world is a better place thanks to people who want to develop and lead others. Special thanks to those that helped me so much to grow as an athlete and competitor in my high school and college days: coaches Tom Baack and the late Floyd Theard. My thanks to all those who took me under their wing and taught me how business really works — Dennis Andrews, Jack Finnell, Jess Hartman, Rich Lull, the crew at Vistage, and so many others.

  My high-value customers

  Thanks to those special customers that taught me what it takes to win high-dollar deals at the highest levels, including Acer, AirTouch, Amazon, American Airlines, ASUS, Belkin, Bell South, Carbonite, Cisco, Comcast, Dell, Ericsson, GoPro, Halliburton, HP, Iusacell (AT&T Mexico), Lenovo, Malaysia Telecom, Netgear, Nextel, Nvidia, Orange UK, PacBell, Seagate, Sprint, Toshiba, WD and so many others. I thank you!

  RECOMMENDED READING

  Allen, James. As a Man Thinketh.

  Alessandra, Tony. Non-Manipulative Selling.

  Bettger, Frank. How I Raised Myself from Failure to Success in Selling.

  The Bible (especially Proverbs).

  Brande, Dorothea. Wake Up and Live!: A Formula for Success that Works.

  Christensen, Clayton M. The Innovator’s Dilemma: When New Technologies Cause Great Firms to Fail.

  Dixon, Matthew, and Brent Adamson. The Challenger Sale: Taking Control of the Customer Conversation.

  Dooley, Mike. Infinite Possibilities: The Art of Living Your Dreams.

  Elrod, Hal. The Miracle Equation: The Two Decisions That Move Your Biggest Goals from Possible, to Probable, to Inevitable.

  Finnell, Jack. Do You Want to Be a Leader or a Manager?: If You Can Do One, You Can Do Both.

  Frankl, Viktor E. Man’s Search for Meaning.

  Gilbert, Elizabeth. Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear.

  Hanan, Mack. Consultative Selling: The Hanan Formula for High-Margin Sales at High Levels.

  Hanan, Mack, and Peter Karp. Competing on Value.

  Hardy, Benjamin P. Willpower Doesn’t Work: Discover the Hidden Keys to Success

  Hill, Napoleon. Think and Grow Rich: The Original, an Official Publication of The Napoleon Hill Foundation.

  Jeffers, Susan. Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway.

  Larkins, Ted. Get To Be Happy: Stories and Secrets to Loving the Sh*t Out Of Life.

  McKeown, Greg. Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less.

  Miller, Robert B., et al. The New Strategic Selling: The Unique Sales System Proven Successful by the World’s Best Companies.

  Rackham, Neil. SPIN Selling.

  Ross, Aaron, and Marylou Tyler. Predictable Revenue: Turn Your Business Into a Sales Machine with the $100 Million Best Practices of Salesforce.com.

  Schwartz, David J. The Magic of Thinking Big.

  Tolle, Eckhart. The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment.

  Waitzkin, Josh. The Art of Learning: An Inner Journey to Optimal Performance.

  Weinberg, Gabriel, and Justin Mares. Traction: How Any Startup Can Achieve Explosive Customer Growth.

  Wooden, John. Wooden: A Lifetime of Observations and Reflections On and Off the Court.

  FREE SUPPLEMENT!

  Are you searching for the key to staying healthy and setting yourself up for success?

  You need to take your MEDS! I created my own personal system that helps me achieve peak performance on a daily basis and I want to share it with you.

  Go to www.tomfedro.com and download your free copy of Take Your MEDS to see how you can apply and benefit from some of the same ideas that have worked so well for me.