divorce.” Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/15/business/15divorce.html.9 9 Bryant, Adam. 2017. “How to be a C.E.O., from a decade’s worth of them.” Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/27/business/how‐to‐be‐a‐ceo.html.
10 10 Ibid.
11 11 Loechner, Jack. 2017. “Information industry outlook, 2018.” Retrieved from https://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/309126/information‐industry‐outlook‐2018.html.
12 12 Bennak, Frank . 2019. Leave Something on the Table: And Other Surprising Lessons for Success in Business and Life . New York: Simon & Schuster.
13 13 Davis, Keith , Frederick, William C. , and Blostrom, Robert L. 1980. Business and Society: Concepts and Policy Issue . New York: McGraw‐Hill.
14 14 Gardner, Howard , Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly , and Damron, William . 2001. Good Work: When Excellence and Ethics Meet . New York: Basic Books.
15 15 Jensen, Michael. 2001. “Corporate budgeting is broken – Let's fix it.” Harvard Business Review.
16 16 Blanchard, Kenneth and Peale, Norman V. 1988. The Power of Ethical Management . New York: William Morrow.
17 17 “Media transparency initiative: K2 report.” Retrieved from https://www.ana.net/content/show/id/industry‐initiative‐media‐transparency‐report.
18 18 Ibid.
19 19 “4A’s statement on media transparency and the recent K2 report.” Retrieved from https://www.aaaa.org/4as‐statement‐media‐transparency‐recent‐k2‐report.
4 The AESKOPP Approach, Attitude, and Goal Setting
Charles Warner
Key Elements and Core Competencies of the AESKOPP Approach
Goal‐Setting Theory and Objective‐Setting Practice
Take Full Responsibility for Your “Cycle of Success”
The AESKOPP approach was mentioned in Chapter 2 as one of the approaches to selling in the digital era. The AESKOPP approach is a generalization, a simplification of some underlying, universal sales principles and provides a framework for coaching, planning, executing, and evaluating sales performance. It posits that successful selling requires Attitude (A), Emotional Intelligence (E), Skills (S), Knowledge (K), Opportunities (O), Preparation (P), and Persistence (P):
Notice that each element in the above formula is multiplied by the others. Just as in a mathematical formula, if any one of the elements is not present, then the result is zero success, because any element multiplied by zero is zero. Thus, all of the elements must be present for a successful result – getting customers and keeping them.
The AESKOPP Approach
Definitions
The following are definitions of each of the seven AESKOPP elements.
Attitude
Attitude is having the desire and motivation to be a salesperson and having the proper mind‐set to do it. If you have the skills, the knowledge, and the opportunities to sell but have no desire or motivation to do so, you will not be successful. Later in this chapter are more details on attitudes and how to control and improve them.
Emotional intelligence
Emotional intelligence is the ability to understand yourself and others so you can develop empathy and rapport with people and manage relationships successfully. Chapter 5 presents more details on how to increase your emotional intelligence.
Skills
Skills are the ability, improved through preparation and deliberate practice, to use your knowledge of sales techniques, methods, and tools. For salespeople, it is understanding the techniques of prospecting and qualifying, researching insights and solutions, educating, proposing, negotiating and, closing, and customer success (account management). Chapters 9 through 14 will have in‐depth details about these skills and how to improve them.
Knowledge
Knowledge means knowing the product you are selling in depth – knowing more about it than your customers do so you can educate them. For salespeople, it means having information not only about their own product and its underlying technology, but also about measurement and data analysis, about marketing and advertising, about a customer’s business, and about competitive media. Chapters 15 through 24 will cover these knowledge areas.
Opportunities
Opportunities are the circumstances in which you can use your tools – attitude, skills, and knowledge. Even if you have the tools and know how to use them, you cannot accomplish anything unless you have opportunities to put them to use. Salespeople may have a positive attitude, the skills to solve problems, and a storehouse full of product, marketplace, and competitive
