Jam-packed with interesting ideas and appealing stories, Aijo’s book is a highly useful reference for new salespeople and...
Sales veteran Aijo explains how intelligence—“both in information and smarts”—is a crucial tool for salespeople at all levels.
Intelligence, Aijo writes, has two major meanings: the ability to learn and adapt (the most commonly used definition) and a collection of information, usually of the sensitive sort (the definition that relates to spying). Aijo makes it clear that both kinds of intelligence are necessary to succeed in sales. In Part 1, Aijo focuses on information salespeople need to function well at a basic level, such as training, product information, and company performance. Part 2 discusses sales calls and how to behave before, during, and after to maximize success. Part 3 explores quoting and setting prices at length, including tips for structuring a quote to best effect, and Part 4 delves into time-management strategies and how to focus on activities that yield maximum results. The next section offers an overview of customer management—how to read cues, work with complex buying teams, and follow up after the sale—before Part 6, which is mainly for sales managers, focuses on compensation and setting key performance indicators as well as analyzing customer contracts and ethical behavior for salespeople. Aijo’s conversational style and amusing anecdotes bring his subjects to life and keep things interesting. Instead of turning out another book on, for instance, how to cold-call, he focuses on subjects that are generally glossed over in sales how-to books, and the result is a collection of strategies and tactics that can be especially useful for inexperienced salespeople. His advice on reading and interpreting customer behavior is particularly helpful, giving salespeople a chance to determine their odds of closing a sale and respond appropriately.
Jam-packed with interesting ideas and appealing stories, Aijo’s book is a highly useful reference for new salespeople and sales managers.Pub Date: Sept. 7, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-9965765-0-5
Page Count: 212
Publisher: Big Brown House Publishing Company
Review Posted Online: Sept. 4, 2015
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.
Pub Date: Feb. 23, 1955
ISBN: 0670717797
Page Count: -
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1955
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