There could not be a better time for a sales force to soak in all that Sales GURU Jim Cathcart has to say. Relationships are built in tough economic periods. This book details the basic steps each sales person should follow, and offers sound (not soft) motivation for reaching the top. Every sales rep n our firm has a copy.

The Eight Competencies of Relationship Selling is one of the best sales books I have had the opportunity to read. Jim Cathcart's 30 years of sales experience really shows through in this book. His solid ideas have really assisted me in fine-tuning my own sales strategies. This is a great read, filled with powerful ideas and short exercises that really allow you to enhance your sales career.

Of course, I'd give myself five stars but here's why: this book is the result of 17 years of experience with my earlier book: Relationship Selling, How to get and keep customers (now in print in English, Japanese, Chinese and Finnish.) I've applied these principles and refined the process over 25 years with 2,000+ clients around the world.
The format of the book is HTML, you can jump directly to the idea you need rather than reading in linear fashion. Take the Sales Readiness Assessment on page 15 then go directly to what you feel you need most right now.
I've filled the book with cartoons, graphs, exhibits, case studies and checklists to make it fun to learn and easy to retain. Enjoy your read and let me know if you need more.

A shame this book is out of stock... The book puts at your hand all the (more technical) mean to perform efficiently in your sales job. The book contains lots of tabels and worksheets which are perfect for the start. Of course - if you don't want to have any system in your work behavior then avoid this book! ;-) The book does not contain anything much about psychology, closing, arguing etc. For this I refer everybody to the topic of NLP (neuro-linguistic programming). There are even some books who make it explicitly clear what are pros of NLP to the sales person....

IT IS DEEP ROOTED IN THE SUBJECT AND I GAINED IMMENCE KNOWLEDGE FROM THIS

I found the book to be very helpfull. I have used the "intelligence" of the collaborative sales approach and found it very effective. A totally different concept than the traditional sales approach that most people think of when they think of sales people and more fun too. You will find everything you need in this book to be sucessfull in business-to-business sales if your willing to put in the time to make it work.

If you believe that getting along with others is the universal key to success,then this book is important reading. If, on the other hand, you don't believe that getting along with others is important, then it's even more important to read this book. While working for a major information services company, our management team believed so strongly in Tony Alessandra's message we not only gave copies of this book to more than 200 of our sales representatives, but also brought Tony to one of our sales meetings to reinforce the message face-to-face. If you have any questions about Tony Alessandra, feel free to email me at adamleft@webspan.net

I am presently rewiting corporate policy for a Information Technology (IT) firm and find this guide an excellent tool in learning (designing) the "sales" process. It is very well written and I especially appreciate the fact that I don't have to wade through reams of narrative to get at the "meat". The tables are priceless. I'm sending copies to our VP of Sales and COO as part of our restructuring. You can't do any better than this for executive "brevity".

I purchased this book because in my job I encounter various personalities every day. Some of these personalities are something else and make work difficult for everyone. I wanted some ideas on what to do and how to help everyone involved with these difficult people. This book has offered some good ideas that I am willing to put into practice...who know where it could lead.

Finally! A book that puts managing in perspective. Cudos to Dr. Phillip Hunsaker and Dr. Anthony Alessandra. This book is well written and easy to absorb all the principles and theories. It covers all the bases and is up to date.

I've read at least 7 other books on managing others: the motivating team leader, how to supervise people, the 10 steps to empowerment, team building is not a one-minute ..., but this book is unique in that it doesn't only provide some checklists for how to proceed, but it also covers behavioral, personality, and decision making styles. It helped me identify my styles and preferences, and told me what to watch out for when interacting with others. I spent weeks reading other guides, but this I highly recommend.

Please feel free to email me if you'd like more insight into this book.

"As Chairman of the Bethel Institute, I recommend The Platinum Rule by Dr. Tony Alessandra, my clients all find it to be most useful. However, there is another dimension I'd like to suggest. I have six adult children and each is married. I have given the book to each one as a guide to a happier marriage. Tony has given us a tool to build relationships, understand ourselves, our partners and our children. Our most important and endearing relationships are at home. It seems appropriate to have a book of this magnitude to guide us in our efforts to achieve a happier personal life." Sheila Murrary Bethel, Chairman, Bethel Institute, Author: Making A Difference, 12 Qualities That Make You A Leader

The Platinum rule presents an easy to learn and apply system of personality typing based on an individual's social style and interpersonal interaction. This differs from many other systems of personality typing in that it is based primarily on a person's observable behavior and style, rather than on their deeper inner motivations, functions, attitudes, etc. It's a great tool to use in any relationship, business or personal. I use it often and train my staff in the system. It really works and is extremely effective!

Tony Alessandra's work is a more updated, refined, expanded and user friendly version of the work on social styles by David Merrill. A good companion book with more analytical and theoretical information on this work (for all you Thinker types) is Merrill and Reid's "Personal Styles and Effective Performance".

Over the years there have been many books written to explore human personality, some by academics and some by laymen. This work stands out among them as a superior learning tool written by two academically trained experts who are also actual practitioners of their messages. It is solid material and a downright good read. Dr.s Tony Alessandra and Michael O¹Connor are the leading authorities alive today on the subject of Behavioral Styles. Alessandra is a professional speaker and trainer who has specialized in the application of behavioral science in the business world. As a former college professor he taught sales and marketing for several years. As an individual he has practiced what he preached. Alessandra spent several successful years in sales and sales management positions and now counts among his closest acquaintances the top thought leaders in the worldwide business community. His experience as a professional speaker to over two thousand audiences shows up in the book, it is very entertaining and motivational.Dr. O¹Connor is the brains behind many works on behavioral style, most notably the Performax materials published by Carlson Learning. His scientific mind and technical training make this a well structured and highly accessible work.The book offers readers immediate insight into their own relationships and their personal behavior patterns. Real world examples are peppered throughout and do a great job of keeping the reader engaged. Examples are well balanced among various life situations and industries. Business people will especially enjoy the practical and entertaining nature of the book.The Platinum Rule addresses a basic human truth: the fact that we are all alike in many ways and we are all different in other ways. If we will take the brief time necessary to notice our differences then we will instantly see how to better connect with each other. The book shows how to easily observe the four most common ³styles² of behavior. It goes on to show you exactly how to deal with each style. Readers will instantly know from their own experiences that the suggestions will work. Once you have read this book, solutions become obvious and tension between people disappears. This is one of the most practical and enjoyable books ever written on this topic.Respectfully submitted by:Jim Cathcart, author of The Acorn Principle, Know Yourself-Grow Yourself, and Relationship Selling. President of the Cathcart Institute, La Jolla, CA. Past president of the National Speakers Association.

This book was very informative on ways to work on portraying oneself as being a outgoing, energetic, and charismatic person. I have read many books on Charisma and this is a very good book to start with. It looks at each aspect of Charisma separately, gives you a quiz to take to rate yourself on that aspect, and then goes about explaining how to become more magnetic in each of those aspects. If you're looking for ways to become more outgoing and charismatic then this would be a good book to start with.

The book's approach to this illusive phenomenon is built around what the author sees as the seven main components of charisma: body language, ability to speak well, active listening, persuasiveness, use of space and time, understanding and relating to others, and vision or ideas. Succinct guidelines, quizzes and lively writing make this a highly energizing and useful book.

Over the years, I have read countless books and articles, listened to tapes, and watched videos to learn the secrets to success. I've sat through seminars, workshops, speeches, and classes hoping to pick up one more little gem of an idea to improve my effectiveness.

In Charisma, Tony Alessandra has pulled all of that knowledge together in one place. After many years in business, and a whole lot of learning about how to be successful in sales, management, and life, I recognized quite a bit of the contents of this volume. I really enjoyed the refresher and reinforcement . . . and I picked up some new advice that I'd missed along the way.

The book starts, appropriately with an introduction to Charisma: "the ability to positively influence others by connecting with them physically, emotionally, and intellectually." From the introductory chapters, Alessandra takes us on a journey through seven fully-loaded chapters spilling over with the secrets of how to fashion and hone that influencing ability.

To enable you to see the framework of this tool kit, I'll list the chapters. Sending Out Your Best Silent Message, Speaking with Authority, Listening Attentively, Becoming More Persuasive, Using Space and Time to Your Advantage, Maximizing Your Adaptability, and Expanding Your Vision and Ideas. As a reader, you'll find yourself asking your author-mentor how he learned all this stuff! Wow! Your respect and admiration will grow, followed by appreciation as you put the many principles to work and start seeing results.

This book should be required reading for every salesperson, every high school senior, every young person starting out on a career. People who have been around for a while, but who have not yet achieved the success they desire, will also benefit greatly from this guidebook. The continual flow of advice and wisdom is interrupted by a self-test in every chapter. You'll be able to see yourself grow page by page.

Hint to make this a better world: Parents, buy this book for your kids.

PS: Alessandra is also author of The Platinum Rule. Read that one next!

Not very enlightning; tired old leadership topics stringed together (active listening, dress-for-success, goals setting, morals, situational leadership, etc). I was hoping for more but it did not deliver. The CD's summary is: have goals, dress and play nice.