The average executive spends less than 5 percent of their time engaged in the buying of products and services. This means that in this post-recession business environment, sales professionals who focus solely on the moment of the sale have made a fatal miscalculation. Featuring instructional case studies from companies including Hilton Worldwide, Merck, and Siemens, this evidence-based book provides readers with a proven methodology for driving success before, during, and after every sale. Embracing the entire customer life cycle, "Beyond the Sales Process" reveals 12 essential strategies, including: Research your customer - Build a vision with them for their own success - Understand your customers' drivers, objectives, and challenges - Effectively position and differentiate - Create and realize value together - Leverage your results to forge lasting--and mutually beneficial--relationships Reinforced by research from Aberdeen Group, SAMA, ITSMA, and other experts, this book will help you to grow with your customers--and take your sales performance to a whole new level.