The Sales Contrarian

Opening the Minds of Salespeople and Sales Leaders for the Greater Good

By: Steve Heroux

Narrated by: Steve Heroux

Napoleon wasn’t short, George Washington never had wooden teeth, bats can see, and Columbus didn’t “discover” America. Just because something is repeated, documented, or widely accepted doesn’t make it true. Similarly, outdated sales training and ineffective leadership have tainted the sales profession, fostering global mistrust and widespread resentment. I’m on a mission to expose these issues and help people realize there’s a more effective way to approach sales today. Blaming salespeople for poor performance is easy, but the problem lies in how they’ve been set up to fail.

Salespeople are often held responsible for underperformance when, in reality, the system around them is broken. How can they excel when onboarding is rushed, sales processes are nonexistent, role-playing is rare, training is stuck in the past, leadership is lacking, and expectations are detached from reality? The real issue? Companies are still force-feeding salespeople with one-size-fits-all sales techniques and tactics that are no longer relevant. Some of the sales methodologies still being taught today were created before we landed on the moon!

This book aims to bridge the gap between sales managers and their salespeople, and it provides a fresh perspective on how sales managers and salespeople think, act, and interact. My goal is to provide actionable advice, and practical insights for both groups, empowering them to collaborate more effectively in today’s fast-changing sales landscape—leaving behind the outdated practices of the past.

©2025 Steve Heroux (P)2025 Steve Heroux

A must read

Ideas are brilliant yet so simple. Will be referring back to this book often as I develop my sales career. Thank you for sharing your insight and wisdom with us.

Wow! Life Changing & Confirming.

If you (like me) are sick of icky sales tactics and want to stand up, stand out and HELP others the right way, get this book!

Love everything. It’s the right amount of data and story and compelling reasons to think differently about your sales team.

I am starting my business and getting the SalesCollective.com to help me do it right! I want to be known for Helping and Supporting. This is a 4-5 time listen type of book.

The pragmatic approach

I loved the baseball analogy. KPI’s are not what you can control. The focus of daily performance indicators over the traditional key performance indicators was very powerful for me and my team and I imagine as just this small piece of the vast wisdom in this book it could change so much for so many sales reps and their managers.