Customer Reviews

Soft Sell, 4E: The New Art of Selling (Soft Sell: Use the New Art of Selling to Create Opportunities & Close More Sales)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

In his opening paragraphs Tim says that only 5 percent of his readers will attempt do anything permanent with the material covered, and that these 5 percent already know who they are. He goes on that the book is written for the other 95%, and that his goal is to get under my skin, be a thorn in my side, and make me uncomfortable with myself and my progress. If change is to take place it must come from within me, not from books, family, my work environment or some other outside force.

And it worked for me! I felt somewhat depressed and apathetic about my situation going in, but now have a clearer perspective on my issues and an action plan for moving forwards.

I've got about 20 sales books in my business bookshelf; some (Socratic Selling, SPIN Selling) address listening and questioning skills, others (How to make friends and influence people) address attitude, others (Strategic Selling) address organization, tactics and closing. This is far and away the best!

Soft Sell contains adequate coverage of all the topics in my other books, extracting the perls of wisdom of these other books, explaining them clearly and concisely and telling you where to go for more detail. Reading Soft Sell was like taking inventory of my sales skills to determine what is working best and what might need improvement. It also contains the tools necessary to pursue improvements. And it was also (for me) a positive attitude adjustment.

There is so much compressed and valuable content in the 248 pages of this book that I am sure I will return to it many times.

This is a book full of contradictions. The few gems inside are hardly worth the price. Just to give a few-- on one hand he says spend most of your time with your bigger clients. Then talks about how great service he gives "all" his clients. Then says, some large clients don't want a lot of your time. I have been in sales all my life, moving into training and coaching. I never had a B client develop into an A, without time and effort. He goes on about being a "professional visitor", if you aren't in the office with the desire to close something. You call this soft selling? And how a sale should be 3 calls and 3 calls alone, meeting, proposal and close. Or you are doing something wrong. The bigger and more complex the sale the longer the sales cycle may be. Consultative selling takes as long as required to find the right solution. Most sales people quit after the 3rd attempt and if they're following this advice I can see why. Please let me know which salespeople are following this advice so I can go behind them and sweep up those commissions.

Straight forward advise. No gimmicks. Just very sound how to information on how the sales process works, and how to navigate within it. Very useful for all sales positions. Whether it be telemarketing or corporate sales or network marketing, this book will increase your ease of selling through mastery of the sales process.

Also, very interesting take on buying motives. The author is an advocate of the "we buy from want not need" consumer mindset. This of course flies in the face of the "uncover the hidden need (pain) sales philosophy and focuses squarely on want as the true emotional basis for buying. It just shows this fellow has experience and knows exactly what he's talking about. Buy this book. You'll be very glad you did.

PS. The recommended reading list suggested by the author is worth the price of the book by itself. No joke. I'm trying to help you here---buy the book!

This is the best resource book on sales I have ever come across. When I started sales, I knew absolutely nothing... and I struggled for years.

I read other sales books, but I never quite got it.

Until I read this book. This book gives you the psychology, the tactics -- and what works now.

You won't find cliched 70's style sales techniques. And you won't find hard-sell techniques. In my market, which is home businesses and Network Marketing, specifically Emerald Passport, the hard sell does not work anymore.

This does -- and if you read this book -- and apply it -- I'm sure you will have the same success I am having. And let me tell you that as soon as you realize you need to learn how to sell and actually begin to learn, you will feel relief as your self-confidence goes up.

But perhaps more importantly, once you learn how to sell, you will not fear for your family because you will know that no matter what happnes, you will be able to provide for your family.

This business classic is now in its twentieth printing and third revised edition for good reason: It helps salespeople sell. This precise guide covers every aspect of sales, from the nuts-and-bolts of prospecting and closing to the inspiration and motivation that keeps you fired up and excited about your work and goals. We [...] recommend this book to all sales professionals, including managers. But we also encourage all non-sales professionals to spend some time with this book, since whether you like it or not, selling is an important skill in your career and your daily life.

The first half of the book is more about motivation than traditional sales literature. Most of which is solid knowledge on goal setting and motivation.

The sales portion is oriented towards the novice but a good read even for an experienced sales consultant as it's always good to focus on the fundamentals.

This was my second read in several years and it's a book I would recommend for the general non sales public and anyone new to sales.

Title is a bit misleading.

John Halloran
Certified Gold Exchange, Inc
On facebook /certifiedgoldexchange
On Twitter /cgeinc

I bought this book after carefully shopping for something that might benefit me in a new found career in sales. This book does not try to push a specific mindset, which is good. It forces you to focus on your own attitude in the first few chapters before it gets into sales tactics. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to further their development from newbie to expert. Worth the money spent.

SOFT SELL is an exceptional sales resource for both the new and experienced selling professional. Each easy to follow chapter reminds me of things I know, but don't always do, while encouraging me to get back on track. Tim has done an excellent job providing a step-by-step approach for sales people at all levels.

Wonderful format for what this audio book wishes to accomplish. Helps modify your thinking to help understand how we think and how we can better motivate ourselves to achieve any goal NOT JUST SALES!

What a waste of time. I usually find at least one "nugget" of useful information in even a bad or formulaic book but this book is poorly written, unorganized, and is either outdated in it's ideas or just flat out wrong.

Do yourself a favor and skip this.