Review of "Secrets of Closing the Sale" by Zig Ziglar

Link to this review on Amazon.com

Link to "Secrets of Closing the Sale" on Amazon.com

Putting myself in the place of a customer, I felt strong resistance to Ziglar's closing techniques. His closing techniques seemed offensive to me, especially when ending his closing questions with "wouldn't you?" My feeling was almost always, "Well, maybe I would or I wouldn't, but I have to reflect on it. Truth isn't always so black and white. Stop treating me like I'm a checker on a checkerboard, as if you know the big picture, and I don't. You don't know what I think or feel."

When he gives examples of trying to sell cookware, I was thinking, "I could buy cookware at Goodwill that will work just fine for a few bucks, and you know it, and you aren't saying it. Why don't you take your closing technique of figuring out how much your cookware costs per day, and apply it to buying good second-hand cookware?"

Also, there was no mention of the role of the internet in selling. That is a hugely important thing to discuss that wasn't brought up in his 25th anniversary edition book.

For example, when he recounts buying a new Cadillac from a seasoned Cadillac salesperson, I recoiled! I thought, "Get real. I wouldn't consider stepping on that sales lot until I knew how much that Cadillac cost the sales lot to buy, and without finding customer's opinions of the salesperson," etc. And I am not a car guy or a salesperson -- this is just common sense in the age of the internet.

I also was turned off at the transparent BS of the salesperson who sold Ziglar the Cadillac. I thought, "This Cadillac salesguy can't be serious. He can't actually think I think it's 'Good news' that my offer of $7,000 was rejected and that only $7,200 was acceptable. He's just lying. He knows it's not good news. What a manipulator. I'm out of here." (This was a saleperson that Ziglar was presenting as being recommended for his great integrity.)

On the upside, I commend Ziglar for his extreme emphasis on the need to believe in what you sell. This is what integrity is all about. He points out that if you really believe in what you sell, you might do quite well even with knowing few closing techniques.

Also good is how Ziglar educates the reader about the indispensability of the the salesperson to a strong society. Without salespeople, how are citizens to know what's available? How are companies going to get their products to the hands of those in need? Salespeople are crucial for moving goods, just like the heart is crucial for circulating blood in the body.

There are many other good practices that Ziglar promotes, such as exercising daily, and so forth.

Ziglar would earn a much higher integrity rating from me if he had put in bold letters on the front of his book: "Buy this used from Amazon and save HUGE." But, he did not. He would prefer that you pay full freight, even though I all-but-guarantee you, he doesn't need the money. He says he cares about the customer, number one. If he really cared about the customer and in the extreme importance of his information to society, he would follow philanthropists' leads and disseminate the info at very low cost.
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