No.1 Bestseller Bond Author Provides 3 Bid Pillars

Wonderful screenwriter and author Anthony Horowitz sees his second James Bond novel top the bestsellers charts.

Prequel to the original Ian Fleming Casino Royale, Forever And A Day (as his first Bond outing Trigger Mortis before it) takes recently found notes and writing from the character’s creator himself for part inspiration.

Like the multitude of (brilliant) ideas for (Marvel-style) expansion of the Bond cinematic universe, this latest book for the Fleming Estate is unlikely to ever see life on-screen. As they’re totally separate from the film franchise, Eon (Everything or Nothing).

Still, if a novel is elevated by a great opening line, then this will do nicely;

”007 is dead.”

Or it would have done, had it been able to perhaps do without the modern-day scourge of “so” at the very start as it actually appears, hey… (see foot).

I caught the author discuss this latest project.

He explained that for him, there are three essential elements to a Bond book;

The title, villain & main lady (specifically not framed as a Bond girl).

I instantly plugged in to my inner international secret agent and thought how this might relate to a Sales bid.

Our winning deals could share three essential elements too;

The title, the villain & main lady supporter?

I always love it when a buying project gets a special name. Something different to dry, procurement department sanctioned purchase order line text. A personality, and life, all of its own. And if you get to help frame this title, then you are already ahead.

There tends to be a truism. Solution selling requires a problem needing to be solved. The more urgent this difficulty, the better. If you can intimately understand the problem, then you build from very firm footing.

As for the ‘main lady’, in our case, perhaps this maps onto our much needed person-on-the-inside. Back in the 90s the term champion came to label such a stalwart. Someone buyer-side who champions our cause. Typically because they see both a (significant) personal and professional win coming their way through it.

There are naturally other ‘elements’ you could throw into the mix. For instance, a consideration that how we resolve their issue is in some distinctively attractive way, unique.

There’s also a general pitch version of these. One where the ‘main lady’ becomes swapped for that very touch of uniqueness you provide.

But for now, this Bond trio make for a useful way to quickly double (‘o’ seven) check your forecast.

Subscribe to Salespodder

Don’t miss out on the latest issues. Sign up now to get access to the library of members-only issues.
jamie@example.com
Subscribe