How I met Mike (Solution Selling)
Mike's current program is called Story Seekers (read below). I first met him back in ´96 when I was fortunate enough to attend his famous Solution Selling training. You probably have heard of Solution Selling; maybe you were not aware that Mike Bosworth is the creator.
I value Mike as one of the best Sales Trainer there is, and like and respect him as a person. You should see a player on top with a few interviews of Mike.
While Mike moved on to his current program, Story Seekers, the Solution Selling book is still available. Read more HERE.
Mike Bosworth is a keynote speaker, author and offers public workshops as well as workshops for cooperations.
His customer list includes companies like IBM, SAS Institute, Salesforce, and many others. The typical student profile includes Board Members, CEO's, Key Account Manager, Sales Manager.
That is historical, though. The program helps anyone to sell better. And are we not all always selling?
Mike was never aiming to be exclusive to the Top Management Levels. It just happened. Anyone can benefit from this program at any stage of life. The principles apply to better communication in fights with your partner or influencing your teenage kid to head of a top Fortune 500 company.
Please see my pledge to make his wisdom available to everyone at the end of this post!
About Mike Bosworth (Michael T Bosworth)
In 1972 started off as a support person in the computer services for Xerox. In 1975, he was their top salesperson, and in 1979, he managed the “Branch of the Year”. Subsequently, he was promoted to nationwide field manager. He became the top field manager.
While having great success at Xerox, he learned that 20% of the Sales People accounted for 80% of the Sales. He developed a methodology to enable Sales People to sell complex solutions to corporations. One of his first clients was IBM, who had trouble with their Sales People as they used to be very technical and feature driven.
He then became the Sales trainer of Xerox. Very rarely, you find successful Sales Managers who are good mentors and trainer.
He founded and trademarked Solution Selling in 1983. The mission at that time was to assist the bottom 80% to create buyers.
This company soon became the most widely used method within the information technology industry. Particularly around complex solutions like BI, Data Mining, etc.
Michael Bosworth is recognized as a leader in the field of sales for the last few decades. In additions to being an author, he is a trainer, entrepreneur, and speaker. His best-selling books include;
- Solution Selling: Creating Buyers In Difficult Selling Markets
- Co-author in Customer-Centric Selling
- Co-author of What Great Salespeople Do: The Science of Selling Through Emotional Connection and The Power of Story
What is Story Seekers?
What he realized in 2008, was that there still existed a ‘missing link’ about understanding why a small amount of Sales People was generating a large percentage of revenue.
After research into the methods of these top sales people, he gained new insights into the best way to connect, influence and inspire others.
He founded Mike Bosworth Leadership in 2013.
The program is designed to train leaders and salespeople in using Story Tending and Story Telling to gain trust and connection with subordinates and buyers.
Let Mike explain it to you: Have a look at his latest appearance at a TEDx event on June 16th, 2015. Expertise can be your enemy:
The reason Mike sounded rather short of breath and energy is a sad one. He has a rare blood clotting disorder that he manages without any trouble 99% of the time.
This past summer, he made three long-distance trips in a row. Prague, Poland, Singapore. Something went wrong with the blood thinner shots. He did the TED Talk 2 days after returning from Singapore.
Unaware that at the time of the talk, blood clots had migrated into his lungs. He was emergency airlifted off Orcas Islands and barely survived.
I bet you are as lucky as I am that he did. And that he is here to teach you how to become a Sales Superstar. Just like he helped so many others.
The next public workshop happens in Seattle in July. If you own a corporation or work for one, Mike does company workshops too.
His teachings should be available to anyone. Check him out yourself – You should see an audio player on top.
Related Article
The Power of Story Telling
