The Jelly Effect Book Review – Part Two

📅 19th November 2020 | 2020/21 Sales Book Reviews Selling

‘What do I want my audience to do after hearing me speak?’

Part Two of my review of Andy Bound’s The Jelly Effect is a bit more fulsome than last week’s post. One of the first things that strikes you when you open the first few pages is the number of quality testimonials. These are not from other sales gurus or sales book authors – they are just regular business people who appreciate Andy’s style and knowledge.

What’s New

One has to look at this TJE and pretend one is back in the noughties. There are two stand out items as far as I’m concerned. One appears in the section called ‘How To Sell More’. There’s a passage entitled Why I hate the word ‘sales’. Andy’s reason for stating this is (in his words) because it’s solely to do with us, and not the customer. The same thing I’ve been saying for a long time to inexperienced clients, some of whom are not replete with sales knowledge of any kind. Choosing your words and phrases correctly can mean the difference between success and failure. Business people have become inured to phraseology like USP or Unique Selling Point – there’s almost something infantile about it. So my advice is to stop saying or suggesting it! One is better off saying something along the lines of ‘unique value’ or as Bounds states unique buying points. That was way ahead of its time in 2010.

Towards the end of the section on ‘Presentations’, Andy mentions some biases (in the context of how we memorise stuff) or cognitive biases are they tend to be called nowadays – and there are over one hundred and fifty of them. Understanding how humans tick ‘upstairs’ is key to understanding their motivation to buy, or not to buy something. It also helps the seller to construct presentations which hits the clients ‘sweet spot’.

What’s Old

The entire section on Networking could be a best seller in its own right. It’s rammed full of excellent tips and tricks (over sixty-pages worth) for the day when we are able to return to face-to-face business networking meetings. As any dab hand at networking will know, there are two basic golden rules which Andy Bounds highlights. One is to prepare for what you’re going to say, the other is to figure out how you will follow up and by what means. There’s also guidance on how one can cope with the dreaded “Closed Five“.

I don’t entirely agree with “The Golden Rule Of Selling” as illustrated at the end on the section ‘How To Sell More’. The author writes The critical thing to remember when selling is the only thing you want to hear from the customer is ‘yes’. Unfortunately, a seller may get the wrong type of ‘yes’. There are often three types with only one being a ‘commitment’ yes! Far better to hear a ‘no’ from a customer and move on from there. Besides, ‘getting to yes’ smacks of the hard selling style of the 1980’s.

What’s Better

At the beginning of each section Andy Bounds explains what the AFTERS are for that section. e.g. the AFTERS for Referrals are ‘sales meetings with your target market’. This helps to focus ones mind on what each activity means. AFTERS are all about the desired outcome your client wants and there are two-types of AFTERS. One business-orientated, the other, emotion-related. For the seller, this means understanding your clients industry sector, pain points, issues and procurement methods.

I was amused by seeing ‘How To Avoid Jellying Your Audience’ at the beginning of the section on Presentation Skills. Andy explains in great detail what it takes to create an deliver presentations that really resonate with clients. He advocates using a three-step method called RAP Results – Audience – Preparation. As ever, it’s always in the preparation.

What’s Worse

TJE isn’t the first publication I’ve criticised for having too much self-referential stuff and I don’t suppose it’ll be the last. I would prefer not to read about who the author has sold to by name. Why not write “I assisted a firm in the automotive trade with their export sales to the Far East” or similar?

Throughout the book there are many illustrations, tables and diagrams. Most are easy to decipher and understand. However, there are a few which are not and I worry how they will come out in the Kindle version of this publication.

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The Jelly Effect is branded as a communications book. It isn’t. It’s a well constructed, thoughtful book on how to sell effectively.

Tags: networking, sales