Smart Selling

Skeptical Marketing: How to Write and Sell a Smart Sale" by Liz Wolfe is a quick read for those who need to learn the ins and outs of marketing. It covers areas like market segmentation, demographics, packaging, price, and copywriting. It also has a few chapters on getting into the business, managing finances, and setting goals. I enjoyed this text a lot because it is very good at describing what every business owner needs to know in order to be successful. However, there are a couple of things that could use improvement.

One of the strengths of the book is that it is very clear that Liz Wolfe knows marketing, and she presents information based on her experiences as a sales person for clients like Wal-Mart, Nike, and Neiman Marcus. But she makes it very clear that selling is about much more than just numbers. As a former buyer myself, I appreciated that she included some examples of real buying behavior from clients. This book helps you see the smarter way to sell-by developing trust, creating effective consulting relationships, and selling with emotional intelligence.

Another strength of this text is that it does not try to teach you how to be a better salesperson or marketer. It does, however, present some useful case studies that illustrate why some techniques work better than others. This includes an excellent chapter on what kinds of emotions make people buy. I especially liked the part on the power of selling with emotional intelligence. Although some of the psychological concepts presented here might seem a bit dated now, they still could certainly be useful to new sales people who want to go the smarter, less effort-focused route.

In addition, while the case study chapters give an idea of what specific tactics work, the main focus of the book is to show you how to set up more successful, emotionally intelligent sales teams. The practical lessons in the book are based on real life experiences. What I like about this is that the authors provide many examples of real, practical situations. This book really brings home the importance of being prepared and aware of your environment.

The book has four case studies that are related to the topic of selling. The first case study focuses on a real estate agent who was hired to sell a foreclosed house. The second examines the reactions of the buyer (the client) when the agent brings a buyer's lawyer along to the transaction.

The third book case studies a real estate agent who was known for always selling houses at a "good price." The fourth book looks at a "smart selling" service professional who was fired because he would not take chances with his customers. Although more recent, the case study in the book of the last person who sold his own home using an "emotional intelligence" technique. The author rightly claims that selling by using these techniques is smarter selling.

In a sense, selling by using emotions has been proven to be smarter than other techniques used in the past. The most important thing to remember is that the purpose of marketing is to make money. Emotions come into play if you allow them and know they will influence people's buying decisions. Selling by emotion takes skill, just as selling by using logic or a sales letter should. Once you master this skill, it will make selling easier, especially with your new buyers.

The" smarter selling" book by Phil Cooke is excellent, but it also brings home another important lesson-buyer's psychology: people buy from people that they like and trust. As an experienced realtor, I agree that this is one of the keys to selling homes. If you have great client relationships and strong referrals, you will likely have better success selling homes.