Customer Reviews

The Unfair Advantage: Sell with NLP!

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I immediately liked the book when I read the Preface, which is about being able to sell exactly as the customer needs it. I couldn't agree more, even if I have been running intro trouble with 50% of the salespeople I met when trying to convince them of that kind of thinking.

Let me first tell you what this is NOT. - if you want a book that applies my favorite aspect of NLP, cognitive styles (metaprograms), to Sales, I'd recommend "Selling the way your customer buys" by Marvin Sadovsky & Jon Caswell.

- Or if you want a book discussing (theoretical) how to apply ALL NLP models to sales, I'd rather recommend other books, such as Genie Laborde's classic "Influencing with Integrity", etc. However all these books tend to suffer from the same problem: it's hard to translate their message into practice, because they lack exercises.

But if the two previous things aren't what you're looking for, this might be the book for you.

How does it compare to other NLP books? If the book doesn't cover ALL of NLP, it has the advantage that it is much more practical. You really can use it as a workbook (as the author promises). I guess that a trainer could do a 2 or 3-day workshop to teach salespeople to *really* master this material. Let me tell you what it includes: It will help you understand how to recognize and use different representation systems (Visual-Auditory-Kinesthetic), buying strategies and non verbal mirroring. As for the NLP language skills, it concentrates action language and action commands.

If the author wants to improve his book, I would recommend adding other NLP models (such as meta-program's and the meta-model). But to remain as practical, that would boil down to writing a second volume or make this one double the size.

As for the price: yes it's expensive. So is following a workshop. If you don't use any NLP yet, I agree that the book will pay back for itself if you apply these principles."...

It's tough to find selling stuff that works but doesn't sound like some cornball, canned routine out of a used car showroom. That's because talking in a natural-sounding way is rarely effective in high-powered selling.

Yet when you start to deal with the big players and big deals, sounding genuine and authentic is the *only* thing that works. All top sales professionals and wheeler-dealers know this.

Duane Lakin has come up with the first training and language system I have seen that will improve your effectiveness selling to anyone. I know because I've used his techniques with large-dollar sales and seen my results improve. I've also reviewed all the other sales trainers who use NLP as part of their method. Some are very good, but no one comes close to Duane in terms of a transparent, deceptively simple set of methods you can quickly learn and use.

One thing that's great about his book is he also shows you how to apply NLP to telemarketing and writing sales copy. I don't know of anyone else who's done that.

A lot of people interested in sales and NLP think something has to be flashy, complex and technically overwhelming to be any good. As someone who makes his living because of the results he gets, I can tell you that just the opposite is true. Fortunately, this book contains what you need to get better results and still come across like a human being. That's rare and extraordinarily valuable.

I have read the Unfair Advantage from cover to cover several times. More importantly, I have experienced results, based on the lessons you will learn in this book, that have been amazing. If you want great literature, don't buy the Unfair Advantage, consider War and Peace. If you want great results in your interpersonal skills and feel that a higher closing ratio sounds like something you want to read about, get the Unfair Advantage.

This is my first review to Amazon.com. I have read several books that flirt with making NLP a concrete and usable sales tool. This is the first book that I have found worthy enough for me to share an opinion on.

An information scientist, Richard Bandler, and a linguistic professor, John Grinder, developed Neurolinguistic programming techniques called NLP in the early 70's. From a study of successful people, they created a way to evaluate and transfer humanity's highest achievements and excellence into a powerful psychology that has practical applications.

Let's assume your mind is made up of different parts like the roles each of us enact during the day: a woman can at the same time be a wife, mother, daughter, sister, coworker, secretary, cook and so on. Can you see where I am going? For each of these roles, we allow certain facets of our personality to come forward and suppress the others. For example, a cook does not necessarily have to know where the Xerox machine is. Therefore, in the mind, folks talk to themselves in different voices or attitudes depending on which role or part is conscious. This is normal and healthy.

In addition, you have parts with which you are pleased and other parts you would like to enhance. The goal of NLP is to teach you how to improve your internal talk to get all your parts synchronized and working together.

NLP has branched into many fields from success mastery in overcoming negative patterns to the practical applications for sales and marketing. Today's customer has massive control with access to more information than can possibly be processed. The message you send to make a distinction for your product or to make you stand out as a special person must be personal, adaptable, appealing and intended for the one rather than the many. As Paul Lakin declares: "The 'Unfair Advantage' is the ability to sell YOU."

Being familiar with NLP, I bought a copy to help me with my work in a non-profit fundraising organization. Like others who must deal with folks on the telephone, you must capture the prospect's attention within the first few seconds. You must be able to say something that will put the prospect off guard just long enough for you to begin your case.

Remember, that the voice must do everything. You cannot see body signs or a bored look. What to do? Listen to the verbs. The object of Lakin's book is to teach you how to recognize the language preference revealed by the action words (verbs) you tend to choose at any given time. These relate to our five senses: visual (sight), auditory (hearing), kinesthetic (feeling), olfactory (smell), and gustatory (taste). The following examples are from the book:
Visual? "I see your point."
Auditory: "I hear the problem and would like to say something about it."
Kinesthetic: "I don't have a good feel for that yet."
Olfactory: "Something smells here."
Gustatory: "That is sweet."

Since Western speakers seldom use the last two categories, the lessons hone in on the visual, auditory, and kinesthetic.

Without making this too lengthy, if you are in contact with the person you are selling, you can identify their sensory inclination by watching their eyes and the direction they look.
This volume is a priceless treasure and I rate it five stars for the ease in which they have taught me to be a success.

This is a very basic book. As i read it I kept wishing there was more depth to the information. It is superficial and left this reader frustrated that she had once again paid for a guru's packaging and not content. In typical gufu fashion, the book is oversized and has LOTS of white space. If he is such as expert, why could he not share a little more knowledge with the reader, or is the rest of it in his several-thousand-dollar workshop package?

I'm not in a sales role as such, and yet I still love this book. Why? Because I have to convince people every day that certain actions need to be taken; I have to delegate work to my team and ensure they follow through and complete it without me looking over their shoulder; I have to negotiate with other companies and departments to get projects up and running.

The book is one of the best I've read on the communication aspects of NLP. It doesn't go into the personal development/

therapeutic aspects of the field, but that's not it's objective.

It contains plenty of examples and exercises to help you learn the skills, and presents them in an easy-to-read style, unlike too many other NLP books, so you don't have to be an NLP dictionary to read it!

As well as covering face-to-face selling, it also includes chapters on presenting to groups, selling by direct mail, and through telemarketing. On a personal level, I've got alot of experience in call centres (indeed I'm based in one now, even though I work in ecommerce), so I found the section on NLP and telemarketing of particular interest. As far as I know, no-one else in NLP has written about this aspect of the sales process at all.

On top of the behavioural aspects of the sales communication process (language patterns, matching and mirroring, etc), Duane also writes about the psychological aspects - learning how your customer will give you clues about their thinking that makes it

easier to ensure that you present your idea to them in a way that makes sense to them. This makes it easier to close the sale.

Other sales books present a process for selling - do this, get this, offer this, get the signature. This book (and NLP in general, I think) go beyond that by saying that no matter what step-by-step process you use, there are certain underlying skills that will make you much more effective. By increasing these skills, not only does it make your sales procedure more effective, it also makes you more flexible in trying other approaches. This can only increase your ability as a salesperson.

All in all, this is an excellent book - easy on the brain (not too much jargon), easy on the eye (good quality presentation and layout), and easy to put into use.

Don't buy this book just to improve your sales skills. When you want to, use Lakin's system to gain an "Unfair Advantage" anytime you need an edge. I have used the techniques in this book and have seen great results. My presentations sound better, my prospects feel better about my message. How do I know? Not just by closing more sales, but by closing better sales.

The Unfair Advantage not only helped me close our company's largest sale, but we use the skills to improve our performance for our clients. Our business is accounts receivable management and the same skills that improve the sales process are also effective tools when collecting from our clients' past-due customers. We have seen superior recoveries while maintaining the relationship between our clients and their customers.

If you read Lakin's book, I am sure you will find it to be as profitable as I have. Great read! Better tool.

All too often, saying that a book is 'self-published' is the start of a list of faults and errors. BUT NOT THIS TIME. On the contrary, this is the most professional example of self-publishing I have ever come across. Apart from the spiral binding it is the equal of any product of a regular publishing house. And believe me, that is quite an achievement in itself.

Moreover, the contents are at least the equally of the quality of the presentation. The book gives clear, succinct explanations and regular, top quality exercises with detailed solutions. It is, in my opinion, a book written by someone who REALLY understands his intended audience, and I'd rate it "highly recommended" for sales people, especially those with a sketchy or non-existent knowledge of NLP.

Although the author also runs "Unfair Advantage" as a live course, I was satisfied that I was getting a 100 per cent explanation of the material being covered. Indeed, the more I read, the more impressed I was by Duane's ability to deliver a training resource through the medium of the printed word.

Of course you've probably noticed the fairly hefty price tag - or is it really so much to pay for a book that is easily the equal of the content of many two or three day training course - which would cost you a whole lot more!

In other words, I REALLY DO like this book - and if YOU want to know how to apply NLP in the sales situation, I'd suggest that you make this book, along with Sharon Drew Morgan's "Selling with Integrity", your very FIRST purchases. It's as simple as that.

After reading a couple of 'text' books on NLP, I found myself swimming in the information I read. There was so much information that I did not even have a place to begin. This book, however, was very simple to follow and, more importantly, implement. After reading this book and using only a few of the ideas that it contains, I probably have gotten as many call-backs in the last 2 weeks as I have in the previous 2 years of my selling career. Many of these call-backs were from voicemail messages that I left, and the people were much more pleasant to deal with than I have ever seen.

Anyway, I am very impressed with the book and my eyes are now open to NLP. I can actually start to use this stuff now! I'd recommend it to everyone, but I don't want too much competition!

As an executive coach and sales trainer I found this book quite interesting. I am into NLP and my coaching practice was built on using those techniques, as does part of my sales seminars.

As I was reading through the book I found it lacking in NLP aspects, it utilizes only a smallaspect of what could be used. It almost seemed like the "workbook" or the introduction to the seminars that he offers (in the back of the book seemed like there was more to it. Overall this book is informative and for those that are not familiar with some of the aspects that NLP offers then this is a good read. Even though it deals primarily with interaction and presumes that you have the ability to talk to or meet with your client, there are some aspects that can be used while writing sales letters.

I do belive that with a combination of other books about NLP this is a very good purchase. I personally read the Pshycology of persuasion, by Kevin Hogan (not an NLP book), immidiatly after reading this book. The combination between the two books made for some interesting thoughts to be triggered.

If you are looking to learn about NLP in depth this isn't the right book for you. If you are looking to understand a small aspect of NLP and how you can utilize it to increase your business, then go for it and enjoy the read. There are very good pointers in this book that you will benefit from.