Go For No! Book Review

📅  8th July 2020 | 2020/21 Sales Book ReviewsMindset

“One out of sixty isn’t a very good closing ratio”

What an unusual little book this is. It’s centred around an imaginary discussion between a salesman and his future self. Quite bizarre.

But it’s under a hundred pages in length so it was a very quick and enjoyable read – with a powerful message. Written by US-based professional speakers and authors Andrea Waltz and Richard Fenton. It ought to be in your library of ‘mindset‘ sales books because it’s a great sugar-rush of motivation.

 

 

The Good

Most sales books with twenty-five plus chapters will have a tonne of content. In many cases, much is a regurgitation from what was ‘in’ ten or a dozen years ago.

GFN is quite different. The short punchy chapters takes the reader on a wonderful compelling journey which culminates in an epiphany for the ‘unfortunate’ younger Mr Bratton.

Penned in a non-corporate style, the book illustrates how looking at numbers (sales calls, demonstrations) from the other way around creates more sales success. Counting your failures or your “no’s” seems counter-intuitive and yet according to Waltz & Fenton it really does work!

The Bad

In the 2020’s selling is more complex than it was when the book was published in 2007. I feel that the sound science behind getting many weekly “no’s” many only apply in certain market-places. And that is my main criticism. The author’s aren’t specific where their formula will be most successful. Is it low-ticket items, real estate or perhaps retail? An insurance agent in the 1960’s America would appreciate the story. I’m uncertain about it’s effectiveness in the post COVID-19 era.

The Ugly

I would have loved to have seen a UK version of the book. Some of the Americanisms and geographic locations can confuse! But one does get the gist.

 

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Tags: goals