Success Book Reviews - Gitomer on Persuasion Part 2

This is Part two of my review of Jeffrey Gitomer’s Little Green Book of Getting Your Way: How to Speak, Write, Present, Persuade, Influence, and Sell Your Point of View to Others Part 1 is here. The next portion of the book continues with its exploration of the success factors of persuading others. Over and over again, Gitomer proves to us that we are human beings first, and sales prospects second. In effect, we are selling ourselves first. Gitomer cites three key elements in your presentation skills inventory that , to me, seem unrelated to selling anything except ones self: Sincerity, Believability, and Storytelling Skills. These key skills certainly relate to selling, but they are the selling of one’s own character. These skills contradict the smarmy, hyper-aggressive image of the “super salesman” in favor of someone you’d really like to get to know.

Later in the book he adds that humor, and “looking good” are part of the arsenal of presentation skills. It seems to come down to this: the sales presenter has to be someone you would like to listen to even if they weren’t selling you anything.

On another topic, Gitomer is relentless: you need to practice. And practice some more. He repeatedly states that people with stage fright are often those who do not know thei material “cold”. And this makes a lot of sense. He strongly recommends recording your presentation: audio and video. He suggests you practice in front of people who are willing to evaluate you, and he reminds us: when you tape yourself, make sure you watch the tape multiple times!.

This is all crucial knowledge from a man who gives hundreds of talks per year.

More in Part 3 .

Back to Part 1

Techtags: Gitomer Sales success Selling power Success factors