Customer Reviews

Uncensored Sales Strategies: A Radical New Approach to Selling Your Customers What They Really Want - No Matter What Business You're In

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

There is good news & bad news. First, the bad news; The title may attract a readership that is expecting something far more explicit than you get. And if you're itching to criticise the content because it talks about Ms. Barrow's former business...there is little to support such a point of view. The fact that she ran an escort service becomes incidental pretty quickly. There is more bad news. The book is slightly hard to read in that you sometimes don't know whether you are reading Sydney Barrows or Dan Kennedy. Either their writing styles are very similar, or Mr. Kennedy has actually written the book from speeches, interviews, and notes from Ms. Barrows. The book tells you who wrote the chapters, but they all read in a very similar style. Also, about half the book is written by Ms. Barrows & the other half is from Dan Kennedy and assorted contributors.

So why in the world would I give the book five stars?
Because the content is Phenomenal.
Ms. Barrows explains how she used proven marketing principles to build an extremely lucrative professional services business. Her explanation on how she charged a premium price for standard services by creating "perceived extra value" is worth the prices of the book alone.
The extra contributed articles (by different authors) I first thought was just "padding" to fill the book....but they actually contribute and have valuable marketing lessons on their own. For example, this is the first place I've seen the entire method of selling Encyclopedias (and why the sales method is practically foolproof) spelled out, by a contributing author. Again, worth the price alone.

As a business author myself, I constantly hear "This won't work in my business". Well? If Ms. Barrows can take time tested marketing principles (the type taught by Mr. Kennedy) and profitably apply them in HER former business...you can apply them to YOURS.
I also own a retail store. Every strategy in the book can be easily translated into a usable profitable idea, that I can use in my business, and so can you. Ms. Barrows' insight on creating a "buying experience" was eye opening and completely spot on.

Her essay on how to create higher value (in the customer's eyes) even when you DON'T have what they want, made me laugh out loud. Not because it was funny, but because the idea was so simple and effective, I couldn't believe I never heard of it before. (or thought of it myself)

This book is promotional, in that it has a couple of offers in the back of the book. And here you'll see the "Kennedy Method" of selling...give sooo much value up front (in the book), that you just WANT to buy what he has next. Ms. Barrows seems to have learned that lesson too. Plus...this IS a book about selling, isn't it? If you weren't offered a chance to spend more money...what kind of salesmanship would that BE?

Suck it up, pay the $14, and use a highlighter. You'll need one. After you get through the "Sex sells" and the "Oh Gosh, I can't believe she was in THAT business" nonsense...you can uncover the real Gems. There are plenty.

Added 3/03/09 I read a review that said that other authors just say positive things...and are misleading. I have to agree. It happens all the time. But you can usually tell who really read the book being reviewed.

I loved the sound of this book and I am a fan of a few of Dan Kennedy's books but I found nothing new, insightful or useful in this book.

Dan Kennedy is a great self promotor and the success of a few of his books must have led him to publish a flood of follow-up books that fatten his bank account but do little to advance the "no B.S." cause.

Stick to Kennedy's book on Sales Letters and Sales Success and skip the rest!

I had to pick this one up merely because of the TITLE! LOL

What I liked about it is the detailing of the CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE. Companies forget this is the most important aspect of acquiring a customer, keeping the customer and selling more to the same person!

All one has to do is look at how Jiffy Lube took over an entire industry 'out of the blue' with changing the customer experience.

You will get little golden nuggets from this book. If you have read other Dan Kennedy or Bill Glazer books, some of the material you might already know...however, not everything. You will uncover some great tips in this book that you can implement in your company today.

Happy reading! Maria Gudelis

Uncensored Sales Strategies is not really about how to be a better salesperson. It is not exactly a manual for improving one's individual performance in selling. You might be confused by the title in that regard.

It really is a strategy book for selling more. Managers with the clout to alter and refine a sales process at all levels will find it useful, as will business owners who employ staff.

You may read it and say "well, it's common sense," about much of what is taught here. For example, the authors emphasize that one rude or insensitive employee can ruin the whole experience for a customer... and while that customer may pay her bill, she may not be back and she probably won't tell anybody about how great your business is.

The core message is that if you want powerful word-of-mouth buzz you really have to train your entire staff to not only treat the customers with respect and a helpful attitude at the very least. Ideally every employee who deals with customers in any manner would learn a script concerning what to do and say in the common situations that come up in dealing with customers.

The real money in business is made from repeat customers and upsells, yet most businesses drop the ball in one pathetic way or another.

The truth is that even marginally affluent customers can and will pay premium prices for an exceptional experience. This book shows you how to woo those customers, treat them right, and get them coming back and recommending your business to their friends.

At page 189 the authors bow out and for the next 100 pages a range of "guest experts" (who I am positive paid to be included, perhaps even bankrolling the whole project) give their best in a series of brief chapters. I was underwhelmed by guest chapters.

The core of the book is excellent and thought provoking. If you are a consultant persuading your clients to commit to and follow-through with these charges may be a bit like training mules, because this stuff is extremely customer-experience oriented... and while most entrepreneurs if asked a leading question would put the customer's experience at the absolute top of their lists of important things in business, in practice the majority of managers are not adequately training and empowering staff to do it right.

Businesses to study which do customer experience well are (cardboard food notwithstanding) McDonald's and Starbucks. You might want to read the somewhat suck-upish
"The Starbucks Experience: 5 Principles for Turning Ordinary Into Extraordinary," which is mostly a gushily enthusiastic promo for Starbucks but does go into some detail about how the company has mananged extraordinary growth by both training employees well and empowering them to correct problems to create exceptional customer experiences.

I'm sincerely glad to have read this book. It goes into lacking detail about how to create orchestrated sales processes that result in ecstatic customers and evangelists. And aside from the guest chapters there's not much soft pseudo-marketing fluff.

This is an unconventional book on sales. It is all about sales but has nothing to do with sales? Confusing huh, I'll explain.

Barrows is all about congruency between what your are selling, the proposition and delivery of the product, whatever that product is. While they are all related many don't fall within the salespersons job and only impact your commissions when repeat business fails to happen.

Barrows is all about process. For example, a guy builds a very high end spa. People love it. Sales look good. Turns out the nit whit (I say lovingly) doesn't build lockers big enough to put in the rich people's expense coats. They looked nice, were in paneled rooms made of polished woods - but they were small. Guess what: people stopped coming and buying their spa services. Who wants to drape their $3,000 coat on a bench or crunch it into a shoe box?

All kinds of simple things kills deals and Barrows walks through the entire value chain (except prospecting): from selling to delivery. Really some brilliant stuff here because so few business people or sales people bother thinking through their entire business or sales process. Few people worry about the small stuff that has huge impact.

An illustration of this is from Barrow's former profession. She taught her escorts to knock/ring on the hotel door and then step back from the door so that when the client looked through the fish eye they saw the whole woman not just her face. Why? Cause beauty is subjective. The man might not really like her face but when looking at the whole person feel differently. This dramatically improved the acceptance rate of the escort. See? A simple thing and yet profound on the sale, preventing buyer's remorse, etc.

I could go on for pages. Barrows tells so many interesting stories and makes each principle real and executable. If you are a business or sales person this is a great read, if you're a entrepreneur this is a must read.

This book stinks. It doesn't offer anything for a salesperson as far as mechanics and execution. The book is full of anecdotes and stories which will certainly amuse and entertain, but if your in sales, you need a real roadmap not fun and folly advice.

It's getting real old reading "biased" reviews that make the book sound like the rosetta stone of selling (Look at alot of the reviews and you will notice that everfyone is trying to promote themselves). How hard is it to write a book and get your "peers" to write a glowing review no matter how much the books sucks.

SAVE YOUR MONEY AND MORE IMPORTANTLY YOUR TIME

A unique and original approach to marketing. I've read hundreds of business, sales and marketing books - it's rare to find something so original and well written. The chapters on Sales Choregraphy are mind-blowing.

This book is not for people that want a 1,2,3 approach to selling. It a book geared to small businesses based on customer service, customer loyalty and business uniqeness and customer experience. The book tries to convey a different way of selling. Basically, it is about what all selling is about Market, Message and Media. What message are you sending? What media are you using and what market are you sending it to. It also goes into keeping a customer and building a relationship. So many sales people are looking for the next 'mark' to sale to. They are not trying to build a relationship, not trying to earn trust just move on to the next victim, get as much money as they can get out of them and keep it moving. That means you have to have a huge number of people all of the time coming in day to day which means you probably are not going to last thru the long haul, simply because all you provided them is the 'thing' nothing to remember, nothing unique, nothing different just the 'thing' they want. This book talks about building a customer based on image and an a 'unique' customer experience which is lacking in so many businesses today because quite simply all they try to do is sell you the 'thing' not give you an experience that you would come back for or would recommend.
An example is when the author talks about how she set up her escort business placing a discrete ad in a business publication geared to young professionals. She used the correct Media aimed at the right Market using the correct Message. This established the fact that she was running an upscale establishment...not a low end brothel. Also by giving the customer a unique experience, customers were willing to pay more and have repeat business. That's the key folks REPEAT business. I say all that to say this....if you are looking for a different way to close or that sure fire 5 step process to sell a million dollar worth of business in 3 months... then pass on this book... (I doubt if one even exist but many people keep trying to find it) but if you are looking for a book that will teach you to look at your business differently or you are trying to determine the unique selling propositon and a way to give the client good customer service and a great customer experience then this may be the right book for you.

I read this book and could not put it down for a few reasons
1. It was written simply
2. It was written by a woman
3. It gave plenty of examples not just from Sidney's life but from other business people.

If you are a salesperson looking for some magic bullets or some silly special close tactic those "tools" are not in this book. What I picked up was far more important as a man looking at how a woman makes a purchasing decision or what "fantasy" is to be fulfilled by the buyer.
Many salesmen do not realize that in most instances the women is the buyer with the power not the super macho man, no matter how much he thinks that he does.

If you have read a bunch of technical sales books then look to pick up a few nuggets and craft them for your sales strategy

This book is also good for someone who is looking to start their own business and needs help with positioning, marketing along with a sales strategy. This book alone will not make a company run by itself.

First of all, I want to say that the other reviews talk about how "similar" Sydney's writing sounds to Dan Kennedy's. Well, that's because Sydney is a "natural". She is a no-nonsense business woman with a unique perspective. And it is no accident that she met Dan. They are of like mind.

But more than that . . . . . it is eye opening from a business perspective. Her new book, "Uncensored Sales Strategies" goes deeper into how you must create an `experience' for your customers/clients if you want to set your business apart from the rest. I was amazed at the level of detail that she focused on in her escort business. For example, she figured out early on what business she was "really in". And it wasn't selling sex. Her business provided a "fantasy experience" - not unlike Disneyland does for kids. She also thought about the operational aspects of her business. She wrote scripts for her employees to follow. She created Plan A as well as Plan B for nearly every situation that arose. That is the true genius. That is something that Kennedy saw.....and admired. Because Kennedy is not only a student of business but he is a genius marketer that has helped thousands of business owners become better at what they do. I highly recommend this book for business owners who are seeking to improve their business. I also highly recommend all of Dan's No B.S. series books available right here at Amazon.