The first meeting is where everything begins—or ends. Get it right, and you build unstoppable deal momentum. Get it wrong, and the deal is in big trouble.

Lee B. Salz, bestselling author, world-renowned sales management strategist and CEO of Sales Architects^®, will release his highly anticipated next book, The First Meeting Differentiator: Transforming Sales-Focused Discovery into Client-Centric Consultations, with HarperCollins Leadership on September 30, 2025.

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Courtesy of HarperCollins Leadership, an imprint of HarperCollins Focus.

Traditional discovery meetings must die! Today's buyer demands it. They no longer tolerate one-sided sales interrogations that serve the seller but provide no value to them. If they agree to a meeting with you, they expect something more—a consultation experience that makes them wiser as a result of time spent with you. That's the transformation The First Meeting Differentiator guides you to make.

In this breakthrough book, Lee B. Salz reveals the strategy and the step-by-step framework for transforming your first meetings into high-impact, client-centric consultations that differentiate you and lay the foundation to win more deals at the prices you want.^®

This shift changes the entire buyer/seller experience. First meetings become energized, trust-building, impactful conversations that ignite interest and set the stage for closing deals.

Following the success of Salz's bestsellers Sales Differentiation and Sell Different!, The First Meeting Differentiator adds a powerful new component to your sales strategy. Packed with real-world stories, actionable insights, and hands-on workshops, this is the ultimate guide to modernizing your sales approach and outselling the competition.

While many sales books touch upon this critical step of the sales process, The First Meeting Differentiator is entirely dedicated to mastering it.

In today's market, if your first meeting doesn't stand out—neither will you.

Inside, you'll learn how to:

• Design a first-meeting strategy that excites prospects and earns their trust.
• Use techniques that differentiate the meeting experience, not just your product.
• Shift from one-sided discovery to dynamic consultations that deliver value for both sides.
• Engage emotions in ways that motivate them to take action by leveraging Empathetic Expertise™.
• Master qualifying to separate real deals from mirages.
• Create intriguing questions that qualify deals, differentiate you, and make consultations magical.
• Stop talking about features and benefits, and develop stories that captivate, differentiate, and lead them to want to buy from you.
• Use Consultation Cliffhangers™ to ensure prospects can't wait for the next step.
• Navigate common deal obstacles that derail first meetings and keep your deals moving forward.

The First Meeting Differentiator will be available in hardcover, ebook, and audiobook with Lee narrating. You can pre-order today at: www.FirstMeetingBook.com

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Lee Salz is a leading sales management strategist and the award-winning, bestselling author of six business books. His bestsellers Sales Differentiation and Sell Different! have been called “the one-two punch” every salesperson needs to differentiate what and how they sell to win more deals at the prices you want^®. He has a new book coming out in September titled: The First Meeting Differentiator: Transforming Sales-Focused Discovery into Client-Centric Consultations, which will change the way salespeople approach first meetings with prospects.

Lee’s firm, Sales Architects, specializes in building salespeople into world-class salesforces, offering sales consulting, coaching, custom playbooks, and dynamic keynote presentations and workshops.

Lee has been quoted and featured in The Wall Street Journal, CNN, The New York Times, MSNBC, ABC News, The Business Journals, and numerous other outlets. In 2022, the Institute for Sales Excellence named Lee Speaker of the Year, and he was recently named by Global Gurus to their Top 30 Sales Thought Leaders for 2025, ranking him #6 in the world.

A graduate of Binghamton University and originally from New York City and New Jersey, Lee now resides with his family in Minneapolis. When he isn't helping his clients build world-class salesforces, you will find him training for his next powerlifting meet. He’s a champion powerlifter in the bench press.

ABOUT HARPERCOLLINS LEADERSHIP:

HarperCollins Leadership publishes content from leaders who redefine or expand what a reader previously thought possible. Authors provide unique inspiration and experiences to those who seek to learn, make a difference, and find their own version of success.

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