Smooth Selling: A quick course in building relationships

Elinor Stutz
Smooth Sale Publishing (2005)
ISBN 0976294206
Reviewed by Cynthia Baute for Reader Views (4/06)

As someone who has worked in sales related jobs for my entire professional career, I’ve read several books dealing with sales. Hence, I opened this new book, “Smooth Selling: A quick course in building relationships,” with a mindset already skeptical that it could impart anything new. Sales is a long standing profession, and sales-related books and information sources abound.

“Smooth Selling,” written by Elinor Stutz, has succeeded in bringing to light both sales-related revelations and reminders that enable the reader to focus in and become successful. Through a technique that combines personal stories followed by directly related and insightful morals of the story, the book succeeds in imparting over three hundred key points.

In one of my favorite examples, Stutz describes going to visit an irate customer that has refused to do any further business with her company, only to find that the machines that have been causing problems were provided by her competitor.

The only issue I can take with the book is the overly positive spin on the outcomes of every story. I’m forced to think that in real life, sometimes even the very best salesperson can’t turn a bad situation around, and I didn’t find a lot of information on the lessons that can be taken from these situations. But then, it is a book about sales, not overcoming failures. Kudos to Stutz for finding a new and engaging take on an old topic.

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