A fun, quick, informative read for both sellers and buyers.
A successful, 20-year veteran of the automobile industry offers advice on how to manage the perfect deal.
Appealing to members of the profession and to readers looking for insight into how to influence others, this sharp, engaging manual of effective salesmanship outlines a process that begins with the proper greeting of potential clients and ends by following up on deals and seeking new customers. Mixing facts, statistics and clever scenarios, Knott suggests that success on the dealership floor requires an enlivened attitude, an effective read of those who look to buy and an objective stance during negotiations. With clear, simple prose and a generous sampling of relevant quotes from Thomas Jefferson to Oscar Wilde, the author reveals the often-intimidating strategies used to hook interested buyers, information crucial to not only the sales team but also non-professionals nervous about buying a vehicle. Useful suggestions here include the importance of judging how much personal space a prospective patron needs, the benefits of pausing after the objections of a customer and the necessity of earning, through the use of empathy, the right to ask for a commitment. The impact of words can be dangerous to a sale; negative questions (“Why won’t you buy?”) should be transformed to positive requests (“Can I do anything to make you more comfortable to buy?”). Knott tells readers that the average person comes in contact with nearly 25 people a day; therefore, to pump up positive results, that person must increase face time with others. In deal-making, identifying the type of negotiator that sits across the table may just be the most crucial step of the process: Is he a bully? A softy? Or someone likely to say, “Take it or leave it”? Because of the non-technical style of the book, the recommendations can be applied to any interaction, whether professional or personal.
A fun, quick, informative read for both sellers and buyers.Pub Date: Aug. 7, 2007
ISBN: 978-1-58348-019-9
Page Count: 224
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Striking research showing the immense complexity of ordinary thought and revealing the identities of the gatekeepers in our...
A psychologist and Nobel Prize winner summarizes and synthesizes the recent decades of research on intuition and systematic thinking.
The author of several scholarly texts, Kahneman (Emeritus Psychology and Public Affairs/Princeton Univ.) now offers general readers not just the findings of psychological research but also a better understanding of how research questions arise and how scholars systematically frame and answer them. He begins with the distinction between System 1 and System 2 mental operations, the former referring to quick, automatic thought, the latter to more effortful, overt thinking. We rely heavily, writes, on System 1, resorting to the higher-energy System 2 only when we need or want to. Kahneman continually refers to System 2 as “lazy”: We don’t want to think rigorously about something. The author then explores the nuances of our two-system minds, showing how they perform in various situations. Psychological experiments have repeatedly revealed that our intuitions are generally wrong, that our assessments are based on biases and that our System 1 hates doubt and despises ambiguity. Kahneman largely avoids jargon; when he does use some (“heuristics,” for example), he argues that such terms really ought to join our everyday vocabulary. He reviews many fundamental concepts in psychology and statistics (regression to the mean, the narrative fallacy, the optimistic bias), showing how they relate to his overall concerns about how we think and why we make the decisions that we do. Some of the later chapters (dealing with risk-taking and statistics and probabilities) are denser than others (some readers may resent such demands on System 2!), but the passages that deal with the economic and political implications of the research are gripping.
Striking research showing the immense complexity of ordinary thought and revealing the identities of the gatekeepers in our minds.Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-374-27563-1
Page Count: 512
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: Sept. 3, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2011
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These are not hard and fast rules, but Meyer delivers important reading for those engaged in international business.
A helpful guide to working effectively with people from other cultures.
“The sad truth is that the vast majority of managers who conduct business internationally have little understanding about how culture is impacting their work,” writes Meyer, a professor at INSEAD, an international business school. Yet they face a wider array of work styles than ever before in dealing with clients, suppliers and colleagues from around the world. When is it best to speak or stay quiet? What is the role of the leader in the room? When working with foreign business people, failing to take cultural differences into account can lead to frustration, misunderstanding or worse. Based on research and her experiences teaching cross-cultural behaviors to executive students, the author examines a handful of key areas. Among others, they include communicating (Anglo-Saxons are explicit; Asians communicate implicitly, requiring listeners to read between the lines), developing a sense of trust (Brazilians do it over long lunches), and decision-making (Germans rely on consensus, Americans on one decider). In each area, the author provides a “culture map scale” that positions behaviors in more than 20 countries along a continuum, allowing readers to anticipate the preferences of individuals from a particular country: Do they like direct or indirect negative feedback? Are they rigid or flexible regarding deadlines? Do they favor verbal or written commitments? And so on. Meyer discusses managers who have faced perplexing situations, such as knowledgeable team members who fail to speak up in meetings or Indians who offer a puzzling half-shake, half-nod of the head. Cultural differences—not personality quirks—are the motivating factors behind many behavioral styles. Depending on our cultures, we understand the world in a particular way, find certain arguments persuasive or lacking merit, and consider some ways of making decisions or measuring time natural and others quite strange.
These are not hard and fast rules, but Meyer delivers important reading for those engaged in international business.Pub Date: May 27, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-61039-250-1
Page Count: 288
Publisher: PublicAffairs
Review Posted Online: April 15, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2014
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