Casey Hibbard - Stories That Sell

Interview Questions for The Virtual Book Review Network

What excites you most about your book’s topic? Why did you choose it?

I truly believe this is a topic whose time has come. Today’s buyers need proof that solutions work as promised. Using your customer success stories to sell products, services and ideas is exponentially more credible and effective than what the vendor says about its products and services – and organizations simply don’t do this enough. There are powerful customer stories that they just aren’t sharing with their audiences. The book assembles a decade of experience to help companies use their customer success stories for competitive advantage.

How long did the book take you from start to finish?

20 months from the start of writing to the release date.

What aspect of writing the book did you find particularly challenging?

All day, I sit in front of a computer and write for client projects. Throughout the book process, I continued to work pretty long hours for my day job. When the end of the regular workday hit or the weekend came around, I had to really dig deep to find the discipline to stay in front of that computer to write the book when I really wanted to get outside or do something active.
 
What surprised you the most about the book writing process?

I featured more than a dozen organizations in my book, and had each one review, edit and approve the parts written about them. I expected it to be more difficult to get big-name companies to talk about their internal practices publicly in this way. Toyota, Amdocs, SAP, Kronos, Sage Software and more all stepped up and agreed.