800-CEO-READ Blog

Selling #2 - How To Sell To An Idiot

I know I originally said I would have all of these sales books reviewed in a week. I am changing my thinking to reviewing one sales book every week. Last week was Selling Is Dead by Marc Miller.

This week we are going to look at a more tactical title. John Hoover and Bill Sparkman have written a book called How To Sell To An Idiot: 12 Steps to Selling Anything to Anyone.

This is a "man on the street" kind of book. If you are knocking on doors and making the calls, this one is for you. I think you will find similar stuff to what you have heard before. Take a look at the Table of Contents:

• Step One: Be Prepared Or Be The Idiot
• Step Two: Connect With the Clueless
• Step Three: Confuse To Clarify
• Step Four: Play The Match Game
• Step Five: Showtime
• Step Six: Ask For The Business
• Step Seven: Circle Around and Make Another Pass
• Step Eight: Annoy Them A Little and Ask For the Business Again
• Step Nine: Appreciate
• Step Ten: Get A Referral
• Step Eleven: Follow-up
• Step Twelve: Practice

One of the things I have notice that is a little different is each chapter helps you deal with a variety of personality types. They spend most of the time on the difficult ones and give you tips for dealing with them at each step in the sales process. For example, how do you get referrals from Machiavellians? The answer is show them how it is going to move them up the pyramid a little faster.

So, check out How To Sell To An Idiot if you are looking for a book on sales basics. For those already doing it, you might find a tip or two.