The JOLT Effect cover art

The JOLT Effect

How High Performers Overcome Customer Indecision

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The JOLT Effect

By: Matthew Dixon, Ted McKenna
Narrated by: Matthew Dixon, Ted McKenna
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About this listen

From the bestselling co-author of The Challenger Sale, a paradigm-shattering approach to overcoming customer indecision and closing more sales

In sales, the worst thing you can hear from a customer isn’t “no.” It’s “I need to think about it.” When this happens, deeply entrenched business advice says to double down on your efforts to sell a buyer on all the ways they might win by choosing you and your business. But this approach backfires dramatically. Why? Because it completely gets wrong the primary driver behind purchasing decision-making: once purchase intent is established, customers no longer care about succeeding. What they really care about is not failing.

For years, sales expert Matthew Dixon has been busting longstanding business myths. Now in The JOLT Effect, he and co-author Ted McKenna turn their trademark analysis and latest research to the vital and growing problem of customer indecision—and offer a shocking new approach that turns conventional wisdom on its head. Drawing on a brand-new, first-of-its-kind study of more than two and a half million sales conversations from across industry, they reveal the surprising truth that high-performing sales reps grasp and their average-performing peers don’t: only by addressing the customer’s fear of failure can you get indecisive buyers to go from verbally committing to actually pulling the trigger.

Packed with robust data, counterintuitive insights, and practical guidance, The JOLT Effect is the playbook for any salesperson or sales leader who wants to close the gap between customer intent and action—and close more sales.


* This audiobookincludes a downloadable PDF that contains charts, graphs and illustrations from the book.
Consumer Behavior & Market Research Customer Service Marketing & Sales Sales & Selling Marketing Business

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Critic reviews

“Dixon and McKenna have mined a massive trove of data to extract piles upon piles of golden nuggets of sales insight. They show how we’ve misunderstood what really holds back buyers. And with a deft combination of analytic rigor and practical guidance, they chart a path to doing better.” — Daniel H. Pink, #1 New York Times bestselling author of To Sell Is Human and The Power of Regret

“Every last person in sales should rush to buy this book. Fresh, interesting, evidence-based, and above all practical, this book will spark a transformation in the way we sell.” — Dan Heath, New York Times bestselling coauthor of Switch, Made to Stick, The Power of Moments, and Upstream

“Matt Dixon and Ted McKenna use their pivotal research to break down everything sellers need to know to overcome customer indecision. ” — Constantine Alexandrakis, CEO, Russell Reynolds Associates

The JOLT Effect debunks long-held sales beliefs. The psychology behind buying decisions is a valuable perspective that is missing from traditional selling methods.” — Melissa Murray Bailey, chief revenue officer, Hootsuite

The JOLT Effect is an absolute game changer—bringing the most fascinating current psychology insights together with the practical applications needed to succeed in B2B selling.”
—Jean Martin, senior partner and global head of product, Mercer

“For years, we’ve been told that the status quo is our biggest competitor in sales. But, using a powerful combination of modern machine learning and troves of research into human psychology and behavioral economics, The JOLT Effect turns that conventional thinking on its head.” — Jim Nystrom, executive vice president of global sales, Dialpad

“This is the most important advance in sales thinking since The Challenger Sale. The JOLT Effect shines a bright spotlight on the biggest and, for years, largely unspoken challenge facing sales teams: no decision. This should be required reading for any sales professional looking to overachieve. ” — Connor Marsden, executive vice president, North America Service Cloud, Salesforce
All stars
Most relevant
The ideas are interesting and fairly novel, but there isn’t really enough to fill a book.

Repetitive

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Essential reading for any high performing sales professional (or those who aspire to be high performing). You will close more business after reading this book, whether you're already an experienced JOLT seller (without calling it that) or not.

A future classic

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So obvious when you hear it played back with striking evidence. I ‘get’ challenger, but am uncomfortable with some of it’s approach - this addition makes absolute sense.

Insight into Sales!!

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This is so on the money! Indecision is holding back so many sales. If you are a sales person or sales leader this is 100% going to inspire you. Like the challenger sale it’s totally researched logical and a learned behaviour as well as being present already in your top performers. When you see it it’s so obvious and will help you make more sales by dealing with indecision. Enjoy!

This is a must read for any ambitious sales person or leader !!!

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Take something obvious and wrap it in jargon and give it a slick title. This seems to be the reason for writing this book

Waste of time

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