Listen to Sell

How Your Mindset, Skillset, and Human Connections Unlock Sales Performance

Mike Esterday and Derek Roberts

Sales success begins with yourself.

You can’t sell without listening to your customers—and yourself. In Listen to Sell, sales coaches Mike Esterday and Derek Roberts draw on their decades of industry experience to reveal the conversations, mindset, and skillset needed to amplify your sales confidence and bring purpose back to your customer relationships.

As executives at the Nashville-based Integrity Solutions, Esterday and Roberts have crafted a proprietary sales coaching program that has helped clients in 130 countries and multiple industries, from financial services to manufacturing to healthcare. Their unique sales philosophy is rooted in a values-based, customer-centered approach, where authentic business relationships matter above all else.

With self-analysis exercises and customized strategies, you’ll learn how your mindset—which encompasses your attitude, what you believe about yourself, and the confidence you have to succeed—is the foundation of top sales performance. You’ll then learn how to hone your skillset—the daily tools and tactics that make or break sales—by creating a personal sales plan and taking action in your immediate environment and beyond. In addition to real-world success stories demonstrating the concepts’ practical application, each chapter ends with a Coaching Corner segment that supports your growth.

If you’re a sales executive, manager, or rep who has hit a plateau or who just doesn’t think they’re cut out for sales, this book is your breakthrough.

Reviews

“At last, a refreshingly different book about selling that elevates the role of sales to the level it deserves. We applaud the authors’ emphasis on the process of building trust via genuine listening. Listen to Sell identifies solid research and then makes it practical and applicable. It is the new bible for those aspiring to succeed at this noble profession.”

JOHN ZENGER & JOSEPH FOLKMAN co-authors of The New Extraordinary Leader

“Listening is the secret sauce of successful sales—and this book unveils the recipe for mastering it. Listen to Sell is a must-read for anyone looking to create loyal customers.”

KEN BLANCHARD co-author of The One Minute Manager and Raving Fans

“Mike Esterday and Derek Roberts know more about sales than anyone I know. Listen to Sell has all the tools you need to make yourself a better salesperson.”

DR. TRAVIS BRADBERRY bestselling author of Emotional Intelligence Habits

“The best salespeople are dedicated to making a difference and improving the lives of customers. Mike Esterday and Derek Roberts spell out clearly why selling, at its heart, is about establishing your true purpose and unlocking your internal drivers. Listen to Sell helps you have the right conversations with yourself, and then teaches you how to carry that sense of purpose into your conversations with your customers.”

LISA EARLE MCLEOD bestselling author of Selling with Noble Purpose

“In sales, there’s a time to talk and there’s a time to listen. Get that right, and you get the sale. Get it wrong, and you get frustration. This practical book shows you how to get it right.”

MICHAEL BUNGAY STANIER author of The Coaching Habit and How to Work with (Almost) Anyone

“Listen to Sell is a timely reminder that selling doesn’t happen until we listen first to our customers. My father, Stephen R. Covey, put it this way: ‘Seek first to understand, then to be understood.’ Asking great questions is important but useless if we haven’t learned to listen. Mike Esterday and Derek Roberts show us why being an emotionally intelligent salesperson, one who diagnoses (listens) before prescribing (offering our solution), is essential for enduring success as sales professionals.”

DAVID M.R. COVEY CEO of SMCOVEY and bestselling co-author of Trap Tales

LESS

Mike Esterday first discovered his talent for sales when he ranked number one out of 6,000 sales professionals in his first sales role, and then recruited and managed hundreds of salespeople. Forty years later, Esterday is a sought-after coach, speaker, and leader in sales management and training. Esterday established multiple successful companies and is a founding partner and CEO of Integrity Solutions. A past board member of the global Association of Learning Providers, he is a contributing member of the Forbes Business Council.

Derek Roberts has built, trained, and coached sales teams and sales leaders for nearly thirty years. Although he is an executive coach, consultant, and professional speaker, he is quick to identify himself first and foremost as a sales professional. An executive partner with Integrity Solutions since 1999, Roberts also owns the consulting and training firm Roberts Business Group, which sells and distributes Integrity Solutions’ products. He is co-author of Be a Mindsetter: The Essential Guide to Inspire, Influence and Impact Others.

ISBN 978-1-77458-376-0
$24.95 CAD • $19.95 USD
Published February 6, 2024

5.5 × 8.5 • 248 Pages
Paperback, ebook, audiobook