Barry Farber has written a clear, concise book with new ideas that he helps you to execute. I found myself in many chapters and was happy to see easy solutions to the problems I am experiencing. This book is refreshing and helpful and even though I read a library copy, I am ordering my own so I can keep referring to it!

Barry Farber helps you focus on what is crucial to selling and gives practical guidance on how to achieve and succeed!

Too many Amazon reader reviews do little more than gush ('LOVED it! ' 'It was GREAT! ') or grouse ('the author is truly ignorent' -- embarrasing how often 'ignorant' is misspelled). Not too helpful. I want to give you something you can use. If you're interested in 'How to Learn Any Language,' you'd probably like to know the rubber-meets-the-road stuff. How does the author address the 'How' of his title? Mr. Farber outlines a 'multiple track attack' that has you pursuing your target language on several fronts. Here are the tools he wants you to get: a basic grammar text, a dictionary, a phrase book (such as those for tourists), a magazine or paper or simple book written in the target language, language tapes, blank tapes, and flash cards, including homemade ones. First step: Study patiently and well the first five chapters of your grammar. Mark anything you don't quite get; take your question to a native speaker if you can. Second step: You're ready to bring on the other tools. Continue with the grammar text, but now pick up the newspaper (or magazine or book) and read the first paragraph. Highlight the words you don't know, look them up, and make flash cards. You'll review the cards when you're on hold, waiting in line, etc. (Read the English side of the card first and think your way into the target language before you flip it over to confirm your answer.) A couple of days later, perhaps, move to paragraph two. You should now begin cherry-picking your way through the little phrase book and listening to your tapes. (Tip: The highly interactive Pimsleur sets are pricey but excellent; do an Amazon title search for 'Pimsleur' and your target language.) The phrase book will supply you with things that the grammar book won't. Don't just memorize these basic phrases and expressions. Plot a conversation and practice your responses. The tapes, if they're good, allow you to hear and imitate native speakers. By now you should be on chapter seven or eight of the grammar. And you should be looking for people to speak with. One chapter deals with clever mnemonic devices for memorizing new words. Example: I've remembered that 'kar lo' means 'he is cold' in Hebrew by imagining my friend Carlo shivering. The more far-fetched, the better, probably. All this seems to make good sense. Why limit yourself to one approach when you can more nearly approximate the total immersion method by drawing on a wealth of resources at hand?

The Good - Farber gives a step-by-step process for learning any language. He provides a list of tools you will need such as grammar books, phrase books, tapes, flashcards and newspapers. You begin by studying the first five chapters of the grammar text, and then move on to studying materials used by native speakers such as magazines and newspapers. You read a paragraph and then underline and memorize all the words you don't know. You also learn phrases from your phrase book and practice pronunciation with tapes. He explains an excellent method to learn long lists of vocabulary words in a short amount of time. He also gives tips on how to fit language learning into your busy life.

The Bad - The book has not been updated recently, so there is no information on integrating software into your learning process. He does not present any methods for learning scripts. He does not present any information on how to learn syntax, so I had to come up with my own method of learning sentence structure. I also don't agree that newspapers and magazines are good learning materials for beginners. When I tried it I was learning words like parliament, political party and leadership when I still didn't know words like rain, sad and river. I found that children's books with a reading level of 7-11 were much more useful. He should have provided tables with lists of common nouns, verbs and adjectives. Considering that 60-70% of everyday language consists of 400-500 words, it would have been a good idea to include common word lists.

Having said this I wish I had bought this book before I started learning Bengali. I wasted a lot of time trying to learn without any method or plan. You can get a lot of ideas from Farber and then use his suggestions or modify them to suit yourself.

I bought this book when I first began to think I MIGHT want to learn another language. Just reading this book was enough to convince me. I would recommend this book not only to someone who wants to learn a language and wants to learn an easy, fast, fun, way to do it; but to any language lover. Mr. Farber's love of language comes out loud and clear in this book, illustrated by his fun, witty stories about his first forays into the world of foreign languages. This book kept me in stitches, while also teaching me the fundamentals of a GREAT system for learning ANY language. In the few years since I first read it, I have read and reread it, for pleasure and for reference, and I am now proficient in three languages-- and can converse at least brokenly in at least three others. And I haven't spent as much time as I would LIKE to spend on it! Read this book, you won't regret it.

The reality is that 95% of sales people don't read any supplemental information about the sales process and how to improve themselves. Of those that do (or are forced to go to seminars) 90% of people don't apply what they are taught or read so the failure rate of these books/seminars is around 99% because people don't have the internal drive to seek and learn new tools and THEN IMPLEMENT THEM to move their sales career forward.

I found this book enjoyable but not as good/entertaining as other books I have read about sales/customer relationship. How to be a Rainmaker, by Jeffrey Fox and the Little Book on successful selling by Brian Tracy are two sales-related books that I got more out of and thought were easier to read.

This book does have its good points though.

1) I thought Chapter 3 on customer feedback was very well done as most sales people and their companies don't focus enough on this element.

2) Chapter 4 was about customers telling people how to sell and

3) Chapter 5 was some good questions to ask yourself as far as customer service goes.

They key to getting long-term value out of a book like this is to practice what you read essentially. The book is only 120 pages long and is very easy to read. Whether you are in sales or not you are selling everyday. You sell yourself to your family, friends, co-workers, etc. You are creating an image in that person's mind of what they associate you with (pain or pleasure).