| |
Shop
| |  |
|
Best Sellers | | Home Uncensored Sales Strategies: A Radical New Approach to Selling Your Customers What They Really Want - No Matter What Business You're In | |
|  | |  | | | Uncensored Sales Strategies: A Radical New Approach to Selling Your Customers What They Really Want - No Matter What Business You're In | | | | | SKU:
GARD4743686 | | In Stock | | Availability:
Usually ships in 1-2 business days | | | | | | Sex Sells… With a gift for sales, Sydney Biddle Barrows, once known infamously as the Mayflower Madam, found wealth in selling her customers exactly what they wanted - and shockingly, it wasn't sex! Yes, ultimately a sure thing was involved, but if that was really her clients' main objective, they could have gone elsewhere for a lot less. The business she was really in? Selling a fantasies. Fantasies inspire, excite and motivate - they make us feel good about ourselves. We all buy fantasies everyday - from a car dealership, a spa, a realtor. The salesman that masters the art of selling fantasies can write his own check. Now the Mayflower Madam shows you how - in a way you've never dreamed of. This one-of-a-kind sales guide works for any business and any salesperson. Through racy examples and entertaining anecdotes, discover how to: - Unearth your prospects' unspoken expectations so you can create a sales design that delivers the goods
- Figure out what business your customers want you to be in - and how to reverse engineer it so your customer actually receives that experience
- Be selective and attract affluent customers where price is not a barrier
- Reverse the sales process, creating a sales choreography to take control of your prospect
- Quickly establish your clients' trust - lessons from a business where trust is hard to come by
Plus get Sydney's 25 XXX-Rated Sales Secrets! Provocative and clever, Biddle Barrows brilliantly addresses hidden, overlooked and neglected aspects of selling. Through her own experiences, she takes you where no other sales expert has ever taken you and equips you to fine-tune your own sales process providing the ultimate payoff! [REVIEW:] The fast-talking, closing-obsessed salesperson of the past is dead and doesn’t know it. Potential customers hate being bullied; though they may cave in the face of such old-style aggression, they won’t be back and they won’t send referrals. Barrows and Kennedy make an irrefutable case that people are more beguiled by an approach centered on providing an experience consistent with inner desires than a pressure-sell. Barrows urges listening first, then selling clients what they yearn for. “What problem are they trying to solve, what pain are they seeking to alleviate or avoid? What pleasure or gain are they hoping to experience? What do they see as the ideal outcome and how will that make them feel?” This approach meets less sales resistance than trying to convince people to want what is already on hand. The author and co-author are an absolutely unique duo in the sphere of marketing. Sydney Biddle Barrows first came to the public’s notice when labeled by the press as the “Mayflower Madam,”—mistress of a highly lucrative out-call service, called Cachet. She is now a highly in demand public speaker, business mentor, and management consultant. Dan Kennedy is a consulting guru whose daily fee (which folks line up to pay) is about the same as the average annual per capita income in the U.S. His eleven previous books include The No B.S. series of specialized sales guides. According to Barrows and Kennedy, the smart seller should shift focus from products and pricing, to the minds of customers, and put their energy into building honest relationships. Those who aren’t sure exactly what business they’re really in (answer: whatever legal business the clients want you to be in) will soon be out of business. Niche businesses are lucrative, but sub-niches serving a very particularized segment are even more suc-cessful because the seller can tailor their approach to more closely match expectations. One proviso: the techniques detailed here apply without modifica-tion only to those serving clients with plenty of disposable cash. Individuals on limited budgets might like to be catered to, but they still check the price tag. Several additional sales specialists contribute short sections that reinforce Barrows’ and Kennedy’s priorities through examples of their own successes and learning experiences. The general approach is concerned with ending overt coercion in the sales process; it’s about deeply understanding the movies playing in clients’ heads. That’s the direction of the future for the entire occupation. Don’t discount the advice of the madam and the madman; they might know more about your business than you do.
(January) Review by: Todd Mercer, Foreword magazine, January/February 2009 | | | |
List Price:
| $19.95 | |
Our Price:
| $15.45 | |
You Save:
| $4.50 (23%)
|
| | |
|
| | Product Details | | Author: | Sydney Biddle Barrows | | Paperback: | 288 pages | | Publisher: | Entrepreneur Press | | Publication Date: | January 01, 2009 | | Language: | English | | ISBN: | 1599181932 | | Product Width: | 176.0 centimeters | | Product Height: | 224.0 centimeters | | Product Weight: | 1.22 pounds | | Package Length: | 9.4 inches | | Package Width: | 7.4 inches | | Package Height: | 0.9 inches | | Package Weight: | 1.2 pounds | | Average Customer Rating: |  based on 19 reviews |
| |
| | Customer Reviews | Average Customer Review: ( 19 customer reviews )
Write an online review and share your thoughts with other customers.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
22 of 24 found the following review helpful:
 Good news & bad news Jan 27, 2009
By claude whitacre
"Claude Whitacre - Author"
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.
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
 Great Idea - Poor execution. Jan 02, 2011
By K. Houghton
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!
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
It's a great read and profitable education to boot! Aug 10, 2010
By Maria Gudelis
"Virtual Venture Capital Maven"
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
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
Excellent marketing resource for business owners and empowered managers, not suitable for commission-oriented salespeople Aug 02, 2010
By Loren Woirhaye
"Direct Response copywriting and internet consultant"
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.
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
Book of the year for sales May 15, 2010
By Russ Emrick
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.
See all 19 customer reviews on Amazon.com
| |
| |
| |  | |  |
|
Recently Viewed | You may also like ... |
