CIOs spend more than $1.2 trillion on software and hardware each year. Partnering with the CIO looks at IT sales from the CIO’s perspective, revealing what needs to be changed and expressing their fears, concerns, warnings, and advice. Based on in-depth interviews with CIOs at major international firms and organizations such as Citigroup, First Data Corp., Priceline.com, Pitney Bowes, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Time Inc., World Wildlife Fund, Accenture, and the CIO Executive Council, among many others, Partnering with the CIO is a practical and much-needed guide to the current state of IT sales and leadership.

Amazon.com® Reader Reviews (Ranked by Helpfulness)

Average Amazon.com® Rating:  Based on 16 Ratings

The Hard Close is Dead - 2008-06-10
Reviewer Rating:
This book is confirmation that the "Hard Close" is dead for selling anything but vacuum cleaners. This is a great tool for anyone who wants to learn about consultative selling. This is not so much about tricks and techniques as about building a business case. CIO's don't want features and functions just results, and this book shares the secrets, in detail, that successful IT salespeople already know. That to win the big deals you have to act like a consultant and understand the customers business.

Excellent Synopsis - 2008-06-06
Reviewer Rating:
This book is right on the target with what CIO's think based on my years of working in technology consulting. It advises sales people in exactly the same way as we do when we coach vendors in working with our clients, responding to proposals and keeping ongoing relationships.
It is a good read for anyone selling to or being sold to in this area!

Very informative and in plain English - 2008-05-23
Reviewer Rating:
This book provides great insight into the type of information the modern CIO is looking for from IT vendors, and how he or she wants that information communicated. Perhaps just as importantly the book details what the CIO is not interested in hearing. The book's examples on this latter point may well come as a surprise to many. One topic the book illuminates extremely well is the importance of building and maintaining long-term productive relationships. In my experience most sales reps, while acknowledging their importance, don't truly understand why relationships are about more than just the sale. This book explains very clearly the 'why' from the CIO's perspective. If you're selling IT solutions at the CIO level (or any level come to that) I would recommend this book.

Cliches for Novice Salespeople - 2008-04-08
Reviewer Rating:
I must preface my review by stating that I did not get through this entire book. I figured if I have worked 10 years in IT sales & had learned NOTHING new by 2/3 of the way through this book, it is not worth completing. If the author waited to make any significant contribution until the last 1/3 of the book, then it is wisdom that I let slip. Fortunately, since the book is written at a third-grade level & has type the size of most newspaper headlines, someone can look for that wisdom by reading the last 1/3 of the book in about 15 minutes.

As for the first 2/3 of the book, the author uses cliche-ridden scare tactics & empty rhetoric from a handful of barely intelligible IT executives to recycle generic views about modern-day IT spending. Furthermore, the writing style is so novice as to be almost insulting to anyone with a vocabulary behind that of an ESL student.

Although I have been in IT sales for more than ten years, I LOVE augmenting my knowledge through well-written books about strategic selling, the changing IT landscape, and the key success of high-ranking IT executives. This book is no such read.

The truth exists in this book - 2008-03-30
Reviewer Rating:
Selling has always been about understanding your audience and the environment in which they operate. What this book brings out is a verbalization of a very significant change in the role of the CIO.

I think most of us experienced in professional sales would recognise the core tennets of the approaches indicated in this book - understand the business value of what you bring and execute a plan to demonstrate how it is continually achieved.

What we might have missed as we go about our daily sales life, is quite how significantly the role of the CIO has actually changed and its huge impact on narrowing down the number of vendors participating at a significant level - possibly by a factor of 10.

The book seems deceptively simple and lightly written (it is a very easy read - it took me 2 hours on a plane) - but persist and there are revelations which resonate in a thought provoking way. I am still finding myself mentally reviewing the content a week later and contemplating changing the way I have set my business plan based on it.

If you are in professional sales and IT is a target for you, then I would actually take the time to read and possibly re-read this. It contains the truth and that is worth reflecting on.

Thanks guys.