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

by G. Richard Shell, Alan Sklar (Narrated by), Mario Moussa

Overview

Your projects, programs, and career turn on the difference between "no" and "yes." Yet selling ideas---especially the kinds of ideas that make organizations work---is a skill shrouded in mystery. Part emotional intelligence, part politics, part rhetoric, and part psychology, selling ideas is not like tricking someone out of his money. It's about helping others to see things your way---engaging their minds and imaginations.

Charles Lindbergh, for example, needed woo to assemble backers for his famous flight. Nelson Mandela also used it to lead a revolution in South Africa. In any context, woo is two parts art and one part science.

In The Art of Woo, Professors G. Richard Shell and Mario Moussa offer a self-assessment to determine which persuasion role fits you best and how to make the most of your natural strengths. They also share vivid stories from their experiences advising thousands of leaders and stories about famous people like John D. Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie, Andy Grove, and Bono.

Whether you're introverted or extroverted, competitive or collaborative, intellectual or practical, The Art of Woo will strengthen your persuasion skill in every aspect of your life.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781400175307
Publisher:	Tantor Media, Inc.
Publication date:	08/19/2008
Edition description:	Unabridged

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

"Ranging across history, from Charles Lindbergh to Sam Walton, the authors examine how savvy negotiators use persuasion-not confrontation-to achieve goals."
-U.S. News & World Report

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