Soft Sell: The New Art of Selling, Self-Empowerment, and Persuasion (Audio Discovery) [Abridged, Audiobook] [Audio CD]

Tim Connor (Author)

Book Description

Series: Audio Discovery | Publication Date: November 2003

Improve your sales success by listening to Tim Connor, one of America's best known speakers on sales dynamics. Includes three audio CDs in sturdy plastic case. Approximate running time: 180 minutes.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Tim Connor, CSP is the president of the Connor Resource Group Inc. He has been a full-time speaker, trainer and consultant since 1974. He has given over 3,000 presentations worldwide on Sales, Management, Motivation, Customer Service, Managing Change, Team Building and Building Positive Relationships.
He has also facilitated strategic planning retreats and executive management meetings for many of his clients and is a "results oriented" consultant and coach to many business owners, managers and executives.

He is the author of four books including the international bestseller, Soft Sell, now in its 20th printing and a new inspirational classic. He is the author of The Voyage, a Journey of Self-discovery, and numerous custom audio and video learning systems as well as the popular newsletter, Life Balance.

Tim has been a member of the National Speakers Association since 1978, and received his CSP (certified speaking professional) designation from the NSA in 1990. Only 300 members of this international organization of 4,000 members have earned this exceptional designation since 1974.
--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

from the Introduction

Whether you've been selling for two days, two months, two years or a lifetime, or are thinking about entering the sales profession, you've had your ups and downs many times over. Commitment in every activity, especially professional selling, is one of the most important ingredients necessary if you are to succeed and be content in your success. The following may seem trite or corny to you but it is a necessary starting point. Take it at face value. What selling means to you and me may not be the same. But now, more than ever, we must face up, speak up and tell the world our story if free enterprise and the competitive marketplace are to survive the rest of this century.

Selling is an opportunity. How did you happen to choose sales? Few people, I'm sure, ever played "salespeople games" as a child. At best, over the years the profession has been tarnished. And by and large, it is not due to a few bad apples, but by almost all of us and our "Let the rest of the profession take care of themselves" attitude. Are you proud of your position and role in the free marketplace? Did you know that the average professional salesperson keeps more than 30 people employed? This is a true opportunity to serve mankind.

Why is professional selling the third highest income group in our country? Certainly not because you failed at everything else and decided to "try sales" as a last resort, and certainly not because it's easy. It's a profession with the potential for high personal income and rewards in which you don't even need a high school diploma. That's opportunity! The success stories in selling come in all shades, sizes, ages and colors. All you need to begin is a recognition of your opportunity to determine your own destiny, a commitment to yourself to succeed, and an almost inhuman capacity for work and failure. Don't expect everyone to either buy from or like you.

Selling is an obligation. If you've made your pledge to success in selling, then you must recognize your obligation to yourself, to your family, your customer, your company and most of all, to your prospect.

You owe it to your prospect to improve his life or business if your product or sevice can provide the means. If it can't you'd better change companies or redefine your prospects. To take your obligation seriously, you must believe in what you have to offer, then exchange it for your prospect's time and dollars. You have then, and only then, fulfilled your obligation to your prospect. He has the right to expect no less from a professional.

You owe it to yourself, for the health of your own self-image, to achieve success with your prospect. Tell me, do you feel as good at the end of five "nos" as you do at the end of five "yeses"? A positive self-image is vital to your success. Achievement provides a positive stimulus.

And you owe it to your company, because without it you don't have a product or service to sell.
--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Audio CD
• Publisher: Penton Overseas; Abridged edition (November 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1591253926
• ISBN-13: 978-1591253921
• Product Dimensions: 7.4 x 5.4 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,140,480 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #78 in Books > Books on CD > Business > Sales

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Far and away the best sales book I've ever bought, March 11, 2006

By 

California Dreamin "sr538" (San Francisco, CA United States) - See all my reviews

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

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.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Lots here to learn from, September 29, 2003

By 

Michael Bird (Yorba Linda, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Soft Sell: The New Art of Selling, Self-Empowerment and Persuasion (Paperback)

There is probably more here than most people need or can handle all at once. I'd going to guess I'll probably get more out of this book in a second reading some time in the future. However, that being said, I give a strong recommendation to this book to any in a selling career.

There is common selling advice here, but there is also items with a twist from the authors point of view. Every bit helps. There is something here that would make it worth reading for almost any sales professional or manager.

Another great thing in this book is a long list of recommended reading. These types of lists, when complied by someone trustworthy, are often worth there weight in gold. I plan on checking out some of his recommendations myself.

There is a lot here on setting goals and planning out the future. I am not big on "filling out the forms", however I recognize the importance of what it is that he is trying to get across here. Perhaps in my future I'll be more disciplined in this area.

The handling objections portion of the book is worth the price of owning it. Remember that it only takes one tip or bit of advice for a book like this to pay off in a big way. I give it a strong recommendation.

14 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Skip It, August 13, 2006

By 

Longmontlady "Carol Blaha" (Warner Robins GA) - See all my reviews

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

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.