Customer Reviews

Buying Trances: A New Psychology of Sales and Marketing

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

This book is another of the thousands of inspirational self-help books that may seem deeply wise upon first reading, but then fade so quickly from memory, a week later you can barely remember anything the author has "discovered." Sales and Marketing is a big subject: it has to do with product positioning, advertising, sales force management, dealer networks, product fulfillment, market research, CRM, internet selling and much more. Although subheaded as being about sales and marketing, this book covers none of these subjects. Instead, the author focuses on devious copy writing tricks aimed primarily at the sub-culture of the self-help industry, vitamin supplements hawkers, spiritual guidance gurus, life extension quacks, etc.

The major point the author makes, over and over again, is for you to ingratiate yourself with a prospect by "genuinely" agreeing with anything he says (no matter what) and thereby gain his trust and make that all-important emotional connection. "In order to lead people into the [buying] trance you want them to go in [sic], you need to agree with them--no matter where they are when they come to you." Lovely.

A second tactic the author finds so powerful is to headline an eye-catching promise he has no intention of keeping. "How to get people to buy virtually anything." "How to create a magical on-the-spot buying trance." "what is the all-time best trance inducer?" Etc., etc. These are the names of his book chapters. Of course none of these promises are kept. "The best all-time trance inducer" can only be obtained by buying another of the author's book. "You probably won't be able to sleep at night," he brags, "until you get my new book. Heh heh heh." Great.

In the first 100 pages, I counted 28 references to his own websites and his own books, and 46 references to books, websites and seminars of other new age snake oil salesmen. This circle of self-referral gives the impression of great erudition but it is nothing more than a bunch of small-time sooth-sayers propping each other up for moral support. I'll bet money most of the 5-star Amazon reviews were written by his best friends and self-help colleagues.

In short, the author leads the reader hip-deep into a dismal swamp of overheated hype. He advocates deliberately lying to attract attention, and making promises he has no intention of keeping. This is called a "new psychology of sales and marketing." You can have it.

This book is a slapped together hodge podge of warm over ideas from other books. It lacks focus. The best thing in it is at the end, where wrtier Blair Warren gives Vitale the green light to re-publish one of his more interesting articles., dealing with persuasion through encouraging the dreams of others and allaying their fears.Vitale has a few good notions on the use of negative words in writing, such as "don't do xyz" because it is more memorable, and a handful of decent suggestions on persuading by offering choices. But otherwise, the book is filler. Lots of better choices on the art of persuading others. There is nothing "new" about this book.

This is the second Vitale book I've read...the first being "The Attractor Factor"...and I've got to be honest with you, I just don't get it.

You can look back to James Allen's quote "As a man thinketh in his heart so is he." There's also George Bernard Shaw's quote "The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and if they can't find them, make them." Finally there's Earl Nightingale's famous "We become what we think about." And if you really want a solid, honest dose of what life is all about, skip "Buying Trances" and buy a collection of Ralph Waldo Emerson's writings.

So where does Joe Vitale fit into all of this? He's one of those authors who devotes no small portion of his books to self-promotion. That's to be expected...every author, especially those who specialize in non-fiction, engages in self-promotion. But there comes a point where you cross the line from "reasonable amount of self-promotion" to "I just paid for an infomercial." Joe Vitale has a virtual truckload of "product" that he'd like to sell you. What percentage of the book is stacked toward getting you what you want in life versus creating a "buying trance" in which you will respond with "Must...buy...MORE...Joe...Vitale...books?"

Second, the whole "believe it and you will achieve and/or receive it" and "draw upon the universe" schools of motivational thought are flawed because they appeal to people who'd like to receive wealth, fame, success as the result of their thoughts rather than their actions. The "universe" (or God, for those who aren't afraid to say it) rewards ACTION, not some kind of slothful rubbing of the magic lamp and invoking three wishes from the genie inside.

Vitale writes "lamp rubbing" books. He wants you to pay him in return for his showing you how to rub the lamp. And he presents his case in a very "trance-inducing" way so that the people who are inclined to do so click the "add to cart" button on Amazon. He'll tell you a story about how he crafted a compelling, teasing "sell the sizzle and you can sell the steak" email or promotion, then he'll wallow in self-congratulatory praise when he describes the number of rubes who lined up to mail him checks.

Ever think you might be one of those rubes?

Example, from page 160: "With Psychic Demand, you can indeed will the universe to give you what you want."

OK, I'm going to test that theory right now. "Universe, I would like a check for $27.11 to appear in my mailbox (the purchase price I paid for "Buying Trances," plus sales tax) no later than Saturday, June 9th, 2007...exactly one week from today.

I'm waiting...If I receive the check on or before June 9th I'll return here and update my review.

This is nothing but a rehash of "Hypnotic Writing", plus more sales pitches for Joe Vitale's other books and website.

Joe an intelligent person, and I loved him in the Secret.
I got the audio book of this from the library and listened to it 4 times,
and thought is this it? So I bought the book hoping.... that there would be more, and guess what. There isn't.

Joe needlessly tells stories about his girlfriend and everyone else but when it comes down to it, wheres the beef? I mean I want to have a step by step approach and instead he just rambles on and I still haven't gotten the keys to buying trances. Maybe he will tell in his next book, which he can call
more of the same. Sorry Joe.......

This book is truly a pillar in my library. I picked it up in the book store yesterday. I saw Joe's name on it, I had to! ;) I opened it up to a random page and started reading. Right there in the middle of the book store, on page 173, I read the sentence. My entire outlook changed. After 3 years of studying book after book, and ebooks alike, a total mess of learning from many sources came together in just 27 words. Poof! I've got a whole new frame of reference for connecting with my customers.

Right then, I flipped to the front of the book and started reading, I've hardly stopped to eat. I am studying every idea.

To be fair, that one sentence was not Joe's. But don't get me wrong, every part of the book before it prepares you with the tools necessary to take over the world one customer at a time. That sentence is a totally a surprise gift.

A few years ago I heard an interview where Joe was talking about cyber-writing. Since then I have seized every opportunity to pick up Joe's products. Many of them were much more expensive than this one. But This one is my favorite.

Buy this book and transform everything you ever thought you knew about connecting with people.

I know to some people this might seem like a positive, if you think like Joe's way of thinking then you probably do. As a person with some sense of integrity and ethics, I can say that this book made my stomach turn. Let's just quote some gems here:

"What I am suggesting is that people are - let's be blunt - machines. They are not awake. Yes, their eyes are open..." pg. 21;

Now there is one section where he talks about certain needs people have that you use to manipulate them into your product, Joe doesn't use the word manipulate, he frames this as a tool to "connect" to the buyer. And he uses Hitler's example twice here:

"...they are immediately useful, and they can be almost frightingly powerful. Adolph Hitler used them and nearly took over the world. Cult leaders Jim Jones, David Koresh, and Marshall Applewhite used them to command such loyalty...etc" pg. 174

He makes another reference of how effective these techniques are with yet a second reference to Hitler on pg 176, this is when he is talking about a principle of confirming people's suspicions as a way of winning them over

"Hitler "confirmed" the suspicions of many Germans about the cause of their troubles and drew them further into his power by doing so. Cults often confirm the suspicions of members by telling them that their families are out to sabotage them."

Now, I in no way am insinuating that Joe thinks that Hitler or Cult leaders did to other people were good or admirable, but he is certainly praising the METHODS and even using these examples as support for the effectiveness of the METHODS.

All I have to say in regards to this is that, yes, in sales you need to sell, but the means do-not justify the ends. This book is just slime of manipulating people, how to try and hypnotize people with your language, how to confuse people to then make them buy - disgusting. I honestly think that if you apply these predatory techniques on other people, you will lose any sense of personal decency...and as a final note, his writing style is hypnotic, and he basically tries to hypnotize the reader throughout the book. Remember, he thinks you are a machine...

I love this book and keep it on my desk to remind me to consider the teachings each time I write any type of marketing copy. This book helped me grow my e-newsletter sign up in one month by A. offering something for Free and B. by getting people to take action immediately. Thank you Dr. Vitale! I adore you and thank you for always trying to help your fans by providing helpful and Free information on your blog. You are a blessing!

This is it!!! For years now i have been trying to explain to my staff, clients and customers exactly what Joe has described.

I didn't have the words or the ideas that Joe has superbly come up with. This is my 3rd instalment of Joe's work and i really do think this is by far the best he has put out.

I only wish i had the ability that Joe has is describing, understanding and doing what i think we have all experience but couldn't explain.

Superb!

Gary May
Author: SELLING: Powerful New Strategies for Sales Success
www.garymay.co.uk

Buying Trances: A New Psychology of Sales and Marketing by Joe Vitale was even better than I expected. To me it goes beyond Hypnotic Writing and Hypnotic Writing is one of my favorite books, I even travel with it.
The wild thing about Buying Trances is the stories Joe uses to get his point across and he does this in a very classy, sophisticated way. Not only does he know what a nested loop is, he uses them frequently and he takes it a high art form. I like that Joe does persuasion without manipulating the reader, in fact he even lets you know how to spot when you're being manipulated by shifty salespeople who use NLP and Hypnosis to take advantage of people when that was not the purpose of NLP and hypnosis to begin with, those tools were created to help people.
It is very clear Joe is here to help others, so what if he plugs his websites and books, I'm glad he does frankly and the reason is because in his book The Attractor Factor he mentions these special monks he contacted to help his friend who was dying in the hospital, long story short, the girl was healed over night. Because of this story I hired the monks myself to help with a dicey situation and that situation shifted completely in my favor within 3 days of me contacting them.
What I'm trying to say is this, Vitale gives vital information, he teaches you , he shows you how to do it yourself. How to get those sales and he does it in a spiritual way to boot! I was taught, Feed a man a fish you feed him for a day, show a man how to fish and you feed him for life. Joes teaches you the how to of having a better life and business.
His books are consistently relevant and packed with little known tid bits of information that have helped me tremdously which is why I'm a loyal customer.Love MagicWrite to IgniteThe Power of Net MagicKelly Karate Encounters The Moon Princess