The Art of Woo: Using Strategic Persuasion to Sell Your Ideas

by G. Richard Shell, Mario Moussa

Overview

G. Richard Shell and Mario Moussa know what it takes to drive new ideas through complex organizations. They have advised thousands of executives from companies such as Google, Microsoft, and General Electric to organizations like the World Bank and even the FBI's hostage rescue training program. In The Art of Woo, they present their systematic, four- step process for winning over even the toughest bosses and most skeptical colleagues. Beginning with two powerful self-assessments to help readers find their "Woo IQ,"they show how relationship-based persuasion works to open hearts and minds.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780143114048
Publisher:	Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date:	12/30/2008
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	320
Sales rank:	154,874
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.30(h) x 0.80(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

An internationally recognized expert in law, dispute resolution, and negotiations, G. Richard Shell is the author of several books, including the award-winning Bargaining for Advantage: Negotiation Strategies for Reasonable People.

Alan Sklar is the winner of several AudioFile Earphones Awards and a multiple finalist for the APA's prestigious Audie Award. Named a Best Voice of 2009 by AudioFile magazine, his work has twice earned him a Booklist Editors' Choice Award, a Publishers Weekly Listen-Up Award, and Audiobook of the Year by ForeWord magazine.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Woo? 1

Chapter 1 Selling Ideas: How Woo Works 9

Chapter 2 Start with You: Persuasion Styles 27

Chapter 3 Connect Your Ideas to People: Stepping-stones 59

Chapter 4 Build Relationships and Credibility: Trust 85

Chapter 5 Respect Their Beliefs: A Common Language 111

Chapter 6 Give Them Incentives to Say Yes: Interests and Needs 137

Chapter 7 State Your Case: The Proposal 159

Chapter 8 Make It Memorable: The Personal Touch 185

Chapter 9 Close the Sale: Commitments and Politics 207

Chapter 10 Woo with Integrity: Character 235

Appendix A Six Channels Survey 249

Appendix B Persuasion Styles Assessment 259

Appendix C The Woo Worksheet 265

Acknowledgments 269

Notes 271

Topical Bibliography 293

Index 303

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"An elegant listening experience." —-AudioFile

Editorial Reviews

Shell and Moussa, both on the Wharton School faculty, aim to help readers get attention and sell their ideas through strategic relationship-based persuasion, or "woo"-or "winning others over." The authors consider wooing to be one of the most important skills in a manager's repertoire; while the concept may seem simple, mastering it is an art. The challenge is in striking a balance between what the authors identify as the "self-oriented" perspective-where focus is on the persuader's credibility and point of view-and the "other-oriented" perspective, which focuses on the audience's needs, perceptions and feelings. Drawing on their experience in teaching executives to negotiate, the authors examine the most important moments of influence and provide a four-step process to achieving goals: survey your situation, confront the five barriers, make your pitch and secure your commitments. They offer a practical guide to improving one's wooing skills, highlighting successes and failures from history and the present day. An entertaining and useful guide to acquiring the power of woo, this book will help readers beyond the professional realm. (Oct.)

Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information

Publishers Weekly

Shell and Moussa (codirectors, Strategic Persuasion Workshop, Wharton Sch., Univ. of Pennsylvania) collaborate here to teach the art of persuading people in a way that is mutually beneficial, accomplished with the use of rhetoric and an understanding of the other person's problems. WOO is an acronym for "Winning Others Over." The title is a reference to (and play on) Sun Tzu's The Art of War, which takes a very different position: people are adversaries and a position of superiority is required to negotiate a favorable outcome. The Art of WOOis one of many books written to aid businesspeople in being more persuasive. Dale Carnegie's classic How To Win Friends & Influence Peopleremains a standard for salespeople to this day. Alan Kelly's recent The Elements of Influencelikewise has the tone of a war strategist who understands modern media as an aid in selling ideas. This book is gentler and more cerebral, and of course relevant in ways that Carnegie's 70-year-old book cannot be. Students of rhetoric, language arts, and marketing would all benefit from this book, so libraries of all sizes should consider purchasing.
—Stephen Turner

Library Journal

"An elegant listening experience." —-AudioFile

From the Publisher