It’s part novel, part ‘how-to’, and it’s everything you need to know about selling to big business.
The Wentworth Prospect takes a deep dive into the high-stakes world of strategic business-to-business selling. The story follows the fortunes of Sue Novak, a fledgling sales consultant, as she struggles to land the deal of her career. Her path to success is strewn with adversaries, corporate intrigue, power-plays and hidden agendas.
Sue feels out of her depth. But she has an edge: a mysterious journal written by her dead mentor. The journal reveals a radical new sales framework named EDVANCE. Can Sue apply its wisdom in a real-life scenario? Can it guide her to success with The Wentworth Prospect?
The Wentworth Prospect is far more than just a good story.
It’s everything you need to know about landing the big deal.
It's more than a good story
The novel comes with free access to an online companion that explains and explores the process and methods featured in the story. It’s an invaluable reference for the modern salesperson, offering practical solutions for many real-world issues and challenges.
It includes:
- An insight into Authentic Selling
- A detailed look at the EDVANCE process
- A free card-based system to help analyse and understand each individual customer stakeholder.
- A guide to mapping these Stakeholders, identifying their motivations and understanding their genuine levels of influence
These will enable you to:
- Guide Stakeholders towards consensus
- Gain early involvement in the Buyer’s Journey
- Build your personal brand
- Guide your customer to the solution they genuinely need, not the solution they think they want
- Harness the power of storytelling
- Influence the customer to ‘sell themselves’ on your offering
What readers are saying about The Wentworth Prospect
B2B sales mastery delivered in an ingenious, engaging and hugely entertaining way. Sales experts with decades of experience between them show you how to navigate the complexities of the modern B2B sales experience in a way which will keep you engaged from the first page to the last. A brilliant read!
Owen Ashby. CEO, Cognisco
Milton Keynes, England, UK
This book is unique. With a very Australian tone, the key player - a female sales professional, takes you on a journey of how a strong, yet empathetic and collaborative, customer-centric sales approach can not only turn a negative opportunity around, but create a strong business relationship moving forward.
Bernadette McClelland. CEO, 3 Red Folders
International Keynote Speaker, Author of ‘The Art of Commercial Conversations’,
International Keynote Speaker, Author of ‘The Art of Commercial Conversations’,
B2B Sales Consultant
Melbourne, Australia
Melbourne, Australia
The Wentworth Prospect is a delightful narrative that frames a serious and thoughtful methodology for large, complex sales, from the point of view of a smaller company sales team trying to land a major deal with a very large company. It’s original and entertaining as a novel; deep and powerful as a sales process. Perfect for sales leaders and reps to read and discuss in a book club setting!
Barbara Weaver Smith, Ph.D. Founder and CEO, The Whale Hunters
Arizona, USA
Humans tell and consume stories to experience multiple alternative realities, and so make sense of a complex world. That's a hyper-scaled way to learn! Learning from the deep experiences of the authors without needing to commit to their combined 50-year experience in sales. I heartily recommend The Wentworth Project to anyone in sales and anyone that loves a good story.
Mike Adams, author Seven Stories Every Salesperson Must Tell
Melbourne, Australia
The market for sales books is a pretty cluttered one, but every so often a book comes along that breaks the mould. The Wentworth Prospect is that book. Chock full of business lessons and sales insights, it succeeds because of the compelling story it tells and the calibre of business insights crammed into its pages. If you think you’ve read every sales book worth reading, think again!
Cian Mcloughlin. CEO, Trinity Perspectives
International Keynote Speaker, Best-selling author of ‘Rebirth of the Salesman’
International Keynote Speaker, Best-selling author of ‘Rebirth of the Salesman’
Sydney, Australia
Imagine a story about very complex sales with all the elements of a mystery novel.
There were protagonists, a "villain," separate storylines coming together at the end. And of course, there is the central character that meets all the challenges put in front of her, ending victorious.
I never imagined complex B2B sales could be so engrossing! While The Wentworth Prospect is a fun read, the authors manage to keep their focus on helping us better understand how to manage complex buying processes, supporting customers in moving through the buying cycle.
In hindsight, I found the approach really intriguing. There were so many similarities with my own experience in complex B2B sales. Wayne, John, Jeff managed to entertain me and educate me simultaneously. I think every sales professional will both enjoy and learn from reading the Wentworth Project.
There were protagonists, a "villain," separate storylines coming together at the end. And of course, there is the central character that meets all the challenges put in front of her, ending victorious.
I never imagined complex B2B sales could be so engrossing! While The Wentworth Prospect is a fun read, the authors manage to keep their focus on helping us better understand how to manage complex buying processes, supporting customers in moving through the buying cycle.
In hindsight, I found the approach really intriguing. There were so many similarities with my own experience in complex B2B sales. Wayne, John, Jeff managed to entertain me and educate me simultaneously. I think every sales professional will both enjoy and learn from reading the Wentworth Project.
David Brock. CEO, Partners In EXCELLENCE
Author of ‘Sales Manager Survival Guide’
Author of ‘Sales Manager Survival Guide’
California, USA
The Wentworth Prospect is the antithesis of most B2B sales books. Instead of the typical dry, boring “this is how you do it” instructional manual, The Wentworth Prospect is a wonderful fascinating story of real people, against great odds, going after the sale and succeeding. It’s the B2B sales world told in a memorable novel. It shows the reader how to sell, instead of just telling him/her how to sell. The story will stay with you long after the material from most sales books fades from memory. It’s a must read, if you want to know how great B2B selling is actually performed. This fabulous story will truly show you how it’s done; don’t miss it!
Robert Terson. CEO, Selling Fearlessly
Illinois, USA
‘The Wentworth Prospect’ is a compelling vision for B2B sales. It’s a bright future, and if you're a seasoned professional, this book will remind you what the right path to a sale looks like. If you’re a newcomer it’s a comprehensive, easy-to-digest lesson in best-practise selling. As a story, it will have you hooked and make you smile.
The Wentworth Prospect is a brilliant book that will stand the test of time. Buy it as a gift and share it with all those you care about in the arena of professional sales.
The Wentworth Prospect is a brilliant book that will stand the test of time. Buy it as a gift and share it with all those you care about in the arena of professional sales.
Tony Hughes, Best-selling author, Co-founder, Sales IQ Global
Sydney, Australia
An interesting take on a sales education book using a fictitious story to illustrate powerful principles to win more business! As an ex B2B software sales professional turned Sales Advisor/Trainer who’s worked with 70+ tech companies and coached 100’s of founders/sales professionals I personally resonated with the story, finding it both entertaining & educational - would recommend!
Alex McNaughten. Chief Revenue Officer, Sales Leaders
Auckland, New Zealand
The Wentworth Prospect was a wonderful read that taught me the secrets of making a sale. The story is so engaging that I didn’t even realise how much I learnt from it until the end! I would recommend it to anyone who works in or aspires to work in sales.
Aleyna Camlica. Account Business Manager, DXC Technology
Melbourne, Australia
I applaud wrapping a dry theoretical learning exercise with an entertaining novel storyline. It conveys the concept while entertaining in a captivating manner.
Derrick Baan. Retired Sales Leader & successful novelist
Brisbane, Australia
If you struggle reading business books but want to get better at complex selling, then this novel is for you. Written like a true-life account of the messy world that is life and business, you’ll discover how a real person navigates office politics internally and at the customer while coming to terms with her personal demons, doubts and insecurities to win big at sales. While the story is fun, the sales companion guide the protagonist uses to help her close a large deal, is the true hero in this compelling drama.
Edith Crnkovich. Founder, Relatable.IT
B2B Communications Coach, Trainer and Workshop Facilitator
B2B Communications Coach, Trainer and Workshop Facilitator
Sydney, Australia
This book will resonate with anyone that either has, or is keen to gain experience, in complex sales. Whilst it is a novel, the situations that the dogged protagonist Sue finds herself confronting on a daily basis are the stuff of reality. From the confusion of influencer personalities and agendas to the politics of both Seller and Buyer organisations, Sue navigates it all thanks to the North Star of the EDVANCE sales process.
Patrick Boucousis. MD, The Sales Natural
B2B Sales Coach & Trainer
B2B Sales Coach & Trainer
Brisbane, Australia
Breathing life and with it reading enjoyment in this story, whilst demonstrating the execution of sales strategies through the personal encounters, is brilliant.
The Wentworth Prospect should be a must-read for any sales programme or tutorial.
Whilst reading Wentworth’s story I constantly reflected on my own earlier experience at ANZ.
The Wentworth Prospect should be a must-read for any sales programme or tutorial.
Whilst reading Wentworth’s story I constantly reflected on my own earlier experience at ANZ.
Peter Meers. Retired Senior Banker & Mining Company Executive
Sydney, Australia
The Wentworth Prospect is a great tale of personal growth, overcoming adversity and following a defined strategy despite challenges in order to achieve a goal. There are plenty of lessons and takeaways to be applied by the reader, explained through the lens of a fictional pursuit that has uncanny pain points, both internally and externally, to real-life B2B selling.
Shaun Edsall. Business Development Manager, DXC Technology
Adelaide, Australia
I’ve read a lot of sales books and the ones that have taught me the most were those that were not only packed with great ideas but that were also a good read. This book is both. I read it first as a novel and enjoyed it a lot - now I’m going back through it and learning a lot from the EDVANCE framework. There’s heaps in there that even an old fuddy duddy silver haired Tony clone like me can use. Very strongly recommended.
Steve Hall. MD, Executive Sales Coaching Aust
"C" Level Sales Authority
"C" Level Sales Authority
Sydney, Australia
When John Smibert told me that he and his co-authors were writing a B2B sales guide in the form of a novel I thought it was an extremely ambitious project and one that would be hard to pull off. But they have produced a masterpiece here. It’s fast-paced, it’s dramatic, it has characters you can relate to and it’s page-turning. And all through the book best practices around complex enterprise sales are demonstrated exceptionally well. I found the meetings and side conversations between the salespeople and the customer to be very realistic and obviously created from the author’s deep real-world experience. And there is so much value-added material in the form of bonus online sales tools and background explanations of the sales principles being followed. I couldn’t recommend The Wentworth Prospect enough, I will be buying it for my clients and recommending it to anyone involved in enterprise sales.
Steven Norman. Founder, Growth Acumen
B2B Sales Consultant, Author of ‘Future Proof Sales Strategy’, Keynote Speaker
B2B Sales Consultant, Author of ‘Future Proof Sales Strategy’, Keynote Speaker
Sydney, Australia
...easy reading and a useful way to convey important sales messages. It was literally a very “novel” approach and I really enjoyed it.
Mark Blum. CEO and Co-founder, Cognian Technologies
Sydney, Australia
The Wentworth Prospect is an outstanding business book and a great novel. I enjoyed learning and being entertained at the same time particularly about sales and business development. Very on topic for 2021!”
Geoff Olds. MD, Technology 360 Group & Technology FX
Award Winning Entrepreneur & Author of ‘Death of an Entrepreneur’.
Award Winning Entrepreneur & Author of ‘Death of an Entrepreneur’.
Sydney, Australia
One of the difficulties salespeople have with their sales training, is translating the classroom into the real world.
We learn by stories, by doing – not lectures – which is why I recommend The Wentworth prospect. In drawing the readers into a realistic and engaging story about an opportunity – we ‘experience’ the frustrations of the old-way. And, become drawn into the logic, and practicality, of a new-way of thinking about and driving forward complex B2B sales.
Shared amongst sales teams, sales leaders could use this terrific tale as training aid, as a discussion guide. I believe this is an all too rare resource for encouraging individual and team sales process improvement. Recommended!
We learn by stories, by doing – not lectures – which is why I recommend The Wentworth prospect. In drawing the readers into a realistic and engaging story about an opportunity – we ‘experience’ the frustrations of the old-way. And, become drawn into the logic, and practicality, of a new-way of thinking about and driving forward complex B2B sales.
Shared amongst sales teams, sales leaders could use this terrific tale as training aid, as a discussion guide. I believe this is an all too rare resource for encouraging individual and team sales process improvement. Recommended!
Jeremy Pollard. Senior Consultant and Director, Shipley Asia Pacific
Sydney, Australia
I really enjoyed the read. Found it relatable, relevant & a refreshing way to help train the inexperienced through to those more seasoned campaigners. As a sales leader, now in my 37th year managing teams, I continually use real-life examples, anecdotes and case studies to help illustrate points. I find most folk learn better from such an approach, and this book does just that. Does this book work to help salespeople better understand how to develop B2B sales opportunities? Is it a tool sales managers could use to help coach and develop individual salespeople? Will it help turn average into good & good into great….F#@* yeah! I am now looking forward to the sequel….
Brett Johnson. Director of Sales, IVE Group - Integrated Marketing & Print Communications
Coach, Mentor, Trainer
Sydney, Australia
Sydney, Australia
The authors have broken the mould with this book. In the past sales books were theoretical and dull and while they may have sold, they sat on the pile of books by the side of your bed that you never read. With The Wentworth Prospect, Smibert, Moloney, Clulow have taken a dry subject and coloured it in. A sales methodology in the form of a novel. If you are just getting into B2B enterprise sales or it’s time to update your skills, this book brings sales to life.
Timothy Hughes. CEO & C0-Founder, DLA Ignite
London, England
This is a ripping yarn. It works as a great story AND as a real insight into the latest approaches to complex B2B selling at the highest level. Anyone in sales will enjoy this. A few will appreciate it but the real prize is to implement the lessons it incorporates in the story.
Ian Meharg. Head Of Business Development, Consectus Ltd
Aberfeldy, Scotland, UK
