Its a review about this product
I was a small business owner for years and followed that as a corporate drone, but still heavily involved in sales. With my credentials vaguely established, let me now assert that Cold Calling for Cowards is the "BEST BOOK ON SALES EVER!!!!"
Let's wait for a moment for the echo of that momentous statement to die down...ahhh, there we go. I know the above statement seems grandious and over the top, but I sincerely believe. In my experience, the field of sales self-help, guide, or instructional books is a vast wasteland of crap. Almost every book on sales out there suffers from the desire to sell you "The Secret to Sales Success!" Unfortunately, like in so many other fields (diet, finance, video games), there isn't one solitary secret. Sales is just hard work. There's no short cut.
Most books on selling try and avoid this problem with the trick of saying very little, but promising you that in the NEXT chapter they will reveal the secret. This goes on and on with little to nothing of real value being laid out until the end of the book appears and the author either reveals that they have some tired aphorism as their "secret," or, more likely, that there is another product that they are selling where you will get the REAL secret. This may be another book, or a program, or a course you can take. While these types of book do a good job of selling, they don't really help you learn to be a better salesperson (except by doing a meta-analysis of the work itself.)
Cold Calling for Cowards is different (finally you bother to mention the book you are reviewing. Way to bury the lead!) I was given this book a number of years ago by an outside vendor sales rep who was trying to help my company improve our sales force. I was sceptical, to say the least. However, when I started reading I was astounded to find that this was actually a really good book with solid lessons to be learned.
The focus of Cold Calling for Cowards is that sales IS hard work. There's no magical secret other than working at selling every day. Having eliminated the need to reveal a secret, the author sets to work providing you solid lessons in every chapter. The book, in spite of its' title, doesn't just focus on cold-calling. It really covers selling in a pretty comprehensive way. The author doesn't hesitate to tell lots of stories from his experience selling, but he succeeds at telling them well and, more importantly, relating them clearly to sales lessons.
The biggest concern for many people who pick up this work is the relevance to our changing digital world. I will grant, that many of the stories told come from a different era of sales. Social media didn't exist when this book was written. However, there's no doubt in my mind that the most cutting edge sales person in the world has a lot to learn still from the author. The techniques and skills discussed still apply in the digital world.
If you are serious about sales, then I highly recommend you read this book. If you aren't serious about sales, read this book and then get serious or find a different job. If you aren't in sales, then why are you reading this review at all? (HINT: Everyone is in sales. They just may be unaware that it's part of their job.)
