I’d recommend starting with his other book (Pitch Anything).
This is a great book for people that have to sell ideas. Great for entrepreneurs, business owners, executives, and sales professionals.
Great stories as well as specific insights.
Flow: 5/5
Actionability: 4/5
Mindset: 4/5
Some of My Highlights:
“The moment we heel pressured to buy, we pull away.”
“In other words, the buyer feels it’s his or her idea to work with you and makes the deal happen. You don’t apply pressure, try to overcome objections, or give chase.”
“…a Flash Roll – a sixty-second display of pure technical mastery designed to alleviate any doubts about your authority on a subject.”
“But today, everyone can find, research, and buy anything online – so high-pressure sales scripts are not just unwelcome, they are hated.”
“We don’t just find it satisfying when our brain comes up with ideas on its own, we also value those ideas more highly.”
“…your birth is your fate unless you master the tools that will allow you to change your position in the social layer cake.”
“As tribes got bigger and the social layer cake expanded, we had to start responding to external cues of power such as uniforms, tattoos, clothing, family crests, and titles. It soon became second nature for us to recognize and act on these indicators of position and power.”
“When you learn to recognize and control these words and symbols, you can change your position in the social layer cake at will.”
“But it’s critical to keep in mind that shallow similarities and shared interests do not deliver the powerful kind of status alignment you need to create influence, persuasion, and inception.”
“You cannot get the full attention of a decision maker to listen to your idea if they think you’re on a different level of the dominance hierarchy that they are.”
“Influence, and particularly Inception, is most effective when the person you are speaking to feels like he or she is on the same level of the hierarchy as you.”
“It works perfectly every time when you follow a specific pattern using a three-sentence phrase called a Status Tip-Off.”
“The best way to find a Status Tip-Off is to interview three people who are on the same level as the person you are trying to influence.”
“When a buyer says, ‘I need to think about it,’ at the end of a presentation (a common response), it means they don’t have enough certainty and confidence to move forward.”
“To instill certainty, on the other hand, you need to prove that you are a complete, absolute, undisputed authority in your field.”
“A good Flash Roll must locate a problem; it should take a point of view and it should arrive at a deductive conclusion about how to solve a problem.”
“To write your Flash Roll, describe the problem being faced, your assessment of it, your proposed solution, and the economics (how long it would take and what the results would be, or were the last time you did it).”
“Yes, it was a business presentation, but I suggested she treat it more like a theatrical performance – after all, it was just for 60 seconds.”