Book Review: Above Quota Performance: Tips and Techniques to Becoming a Master Sales Pro

Above Quota Performance: Tips and Techniques to Becoming a Master Sales Pro. Steve Weinberg, Armin Lear Press, Paperback and eBook, 346 pages.

Reviewed by David Steven Rappoport.

Business books—and the models they’re based on—are often catchy and clever but reductive. They are strong on concept but weak on practical advice. Steve Weinberg’s Above Quota Performance avoids these flaws. Weinberg, a senior sales professional with decades of experience, provides digestible advice for the intensely competitive, high-technology business world. Although the primary focus of the book is on selling to large corporations, most of the wisdom is also applicable to smaller companies, public institutions, and non-profits.

Although the book is comprehensive and analyzes traditional sales strategies, Weinberg states that his intention was not to create a sales textbook. “This book will teach you to generate and qualify leads, identify buyer roles and why they buy, understand the buying process, utilize value propositions, use LinkedIn for business development, master your sales presentation, and close enterprise deals.” Yet he also says that “the book is not intended to be a sales primer on basic sales skills…it is for sales pros who are either struggling to achieve their sales goals, or who are meeting them but still wish to improve their performance.”

Weinberg’s book is thorough. Divided into 24 chapters, it tackles topics from “Why Sales Trainers are Often Wrong” to “The Mathematics of the Sales Funnel.” In every chapter, Weinberg has identified useful “Takeaways” such as “your presentation should excite or disturb” and “never pitch to a prospect in your first meeting.” The book also includes worksheets, such as “Buyer’s Personas,” used to summarize relevant details about a prospect, as well as checklists for sales discovery and lead qualification. 

Steve Weinberg has over three decades of leadership experience in sales, including stints as Vice President at Dun & Bradstreet Software, AC Nielsen, Solcorp (then part of EDS, now HP), McCormack & Dodge, and Deloitte and Touche. Most recently, he was Director of Sales at Accuity (now Lexis Nexis Risk Solutions). Steve was also the President of Cyborg Systems. Steve earned a BA in Economics / Business Administration from North Park University, and an MBA from Loyola University of Chicago. He is also a CPA.

Above Quota Performance is well above the average of “how to” business books. It may lead to a shelf of awards for superior sales performance.