Summary: Swim with the Sharks Without Being Eaten Alive

Review and Analysis of Mackay's Book

BusinessNews Publishing

• Publisher: Must Read Summaries
• Year: 2016
• eBook ISBN: 9782511018309
• Topic: Personal Development
• Subtopic: Personal Success

The must-read summary of Harvey Mackay's book `Swim with the Sharks without Being Eaten Alive: Outsell, Outmanage, Outmotivate and Outnegotiate Your Competition'.

This complete summary of the ideas from Harvey Mackay's book `Swim with the Sharks Without Being Eaten Alive` is based on a simple, but convincing, formula: Determination + Goal-Setting + Concentration = Success. In his book, the author acknowledges that the execution of this formula is more difficult, and requires perseverance, but shows that your chances of success are higher if you follow some logical strategies. This summary provides a crash course on the most vital business elements, such as management, negotiation and salesmanship and shows the reader how to set up value for a product, how to inject your own personality into business and how to deal with the tough prospect.

Added-value of this summary:
• Save time
• Understand key concepts
• Expand your knowledge

To learn more, read `Swim with the Sharks Without Being Eaten Alive` and find out how to always come out on top.

Summary of Swim With The Sharks Without Being Eaten Alive (Harvey Mackay)

Part 1
Harvey Mackay’s Short Course In Salesmanship

1. It’s Not How Much It’s Worth, It’s How Much People Think It’s Worth

Main Idea

Our sense of what anything is worth derives not from any intrinsic value of the object itself but from the demand that has been created for that object. Therefore, if we are selling something, we hold the key to setting the value ourselves.

Supporting Ideas

Anyone can get an order once if they stretch the truth far enough. The real mark of a pro is getting the reorders.

Marketing is not the art of selling, not the simple business of convincing someone to buy. It is the art of creating the conditions in which the buyer convinces himself to buy. And nothing is more convincing than hard evidence that others want the same thing.

2. There Are Objections To Every Proposition, No Matter How Attractive; Good Sales people Set Up Situations Where The Customer Sells Himself

Main Idea

You need to create an atmosphere in which the customer must qualify to get the product. That’s the only way to sell products with limited intrinsic value but great snob value.

Supporting Ideas

The Japanese describe the typical American marketing plan as: READY? FIRE! AIM.

What value can be placed on ego or uniqueness? These are qualities that everyone sets themselves. There are no definitive guidelines to work from. Therefore, the salesman’s challenge is to add value to his product through the use of these qualities.

3. Knowing Something About Your Customer Is Just As Important As Knowing Everything About Your Product

Main Idea

When you know about your customer’s special interests and characteristics, you always have a basis on which you can contact and talk to them.

Supporting Ideas

Look at politicians. If you want one to do something for you, instead of asking them directly, you should either create the public climate to make supporting that position popular or do whatever is necessary so that the politician feels they have to return a favor to you.

Knowing your customer means knowing what your customer really wants. It might be more than your product - it could be recognition, respect, a feeling of self-importance or any of a number of other things.

4. The 66-Question Customer Profile

Main Idea

Anyone armed with the right knowledge can break down a potential customer’s natural suspicions. The Mackay 66 is designed to make information gathering systematic and effective.

Supporting Ideas

If selling was simply a matter of determining who has the lowest bid, then the world wouldn’t need sales people. However, your job as a salesperson is to make sure that your product at least gets a fair hearing. How do you do that? By appealing to all the areas of interest for any specific prospect.

Collecting the information is easier than you might think. Customers are remarkably candid about things that truly interest them outside the usual work environment. You will also read relevant information in newspapers or trade magazines. The Mackay 66 paperwork is developed simply to help organize all this information into a usable format.

Note that the forms belong to the company, not the sales people. That way, a new salesman can pick up where the old salesperson leaves off. You should also make sure the forms are never photocopied and get stored in a secure location.

One final point. The information has to be updated continuously, as circumstances change quickly.

5. The Mackay 66 Continued: War Stories

Main Idea

By knowing enough about a customer to fill in the Mackay 66, you have everything needed to be in touch frequently.

Supporting Ideas

How do you use the information?

Question 5 - Date of birth and place. On their birthday, take them out to lunch. Whenever you read something about their home town, clip it out and send it to them.

Questions 7-12 - Education. Its amazing what common friends this can turn up.

Questions 13-19 - Family. You’ll have their complete attention when you talk about their family interests.

Question 22 - Business background. The most important reading you can do is to read the office walls where you call. Offers great insights into where their heart lies.

6. Once You Attach Your Personality To A Propositi...

Table of contents

• Title page
• Book Presentation
• Summary of Swim With The Sharks Without Being Eaten Alive (Harvey Mackay)
• About the Summary Publisher
• Copyright