The Art of the Sale - Learning from the Masters About the Business of Life (Philip Delves Broughton, 2012)

I have a pretty firm rule against reading business books.  I broke it for this book.  The rule is reinstated.

I don't know exactly why business books are so useless; I do think this author had some useful insights about  it.

I was willing to give this one a chance because it's about sales - crucial to everyone in business, not to mention life-in-general.  But the author just went around interviewing a variety of superstar salespersons.  That's not helpful.

There were some funny passages about Apple's approach - how they deliberately set out to make customers into evangelists.  And clearly they have figured out how to do this - lots of unpaid Apple promoters out there.  "Once part of Apple's tribe, devotees tend to exhibit the zeal of converts, displaying a sense of superiority and a willingness to sing Apple's praises to the heathen.  The tribe aren't just using a different smartphone or tablet, they are living a better life."  "Its selling methods successfully erode its customers' will to do the very thing that as a company it claims to do best:  think different."

Not recommended.