Good in a Room: How to Sell Yourself (and Your Ideas) and Win Over Any Audience

by Stephanie Palmer

Book Overview

"Stephanie Palmer delivers clear, useful advice on how to successfully move the good idea in your head into the other heads in the room. It is hard to think of a more valuable skill." --Peter Kaufman,... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0385520433
• ISBN13: 9780385520430
• Release Date: March 2008
• Publisher: Broadway Business
• Length: 271 Pages
• Weight: 1.12 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.4" x 9.5"

Customer Reviews

Specific and practical advice you can start using right away.

This book is a strategy guide for people selling a project, product or even themselves. It gives suggestions for getting into a room (landing a meeting with a buyer or employer), staying there (keeping them interested in you or your project) and getting out (following up without being annoying). Where this book really shines for me is in its specific and real-world suggestions. I liked that the author wasn't heavy on theory but instead focused on her years of experience at the other end of the table. In thousands of meetings, she was the buyer listening to people pitch their screenplays, projects or resumes. From that experience she distills the essence of what works and why, including some of the disastrous (and funny) ways you can self-destruct and how to avoid them. Here are just a few specific areas that I thought were really practical: 1. The chapter on networking is unique in its suggestion that you STOP networking. Or at least, stop networking the way 95% of your competition does it. The author's suggestions make networking sound fun and productive and were refreshing for those of us who just aren't very good at self-promotion. 2. The section on "purposely non-specific phrases" alone is worth the cover price. This section helps you design phrases that describe you or your product in such a way that both retain the right amount of mystery and lead to a dialogue with the buyer that allows you to reel him or her in. Most of us assume more detail is better when describing the thing we're trying to sell. The author suggests going the opposite direction to great effect. 3. What's your name? What do you do? Two very simple questions we've all answered a million times. Believe it or not, the author has some great suggestions on how to respond to these simple questions in ways that start the process of getting people interested in you from the first moment you speak. Rather than waiting for the "perfect" moment to make your pitch, you're actually starting your sales effort from the moment you're introduced. 4. Specific examples are scattered throughout the book. For most topics (like using non-specific phrasing), there is an example of how they can be applied in a conversation, over the phone or in an email. If you're looking for a practical guide, grounded in the real world, on how to land the perfect job, sale, contract, etc, this quick read will give you effective suggestions you can implement immediately. Highly recommended.

An Invaluable Resource

Each of us has sat through an important meeting wanting a specific outcome but feeling unable to steer the meeting in the desired direction. Those kinds of meetings keep us up at night, replaying over and over in our minds what we might have done differently. Stephanie Palmer's Good in a Room takes the guesswork (and hopework!) out of these meetings. Without resorting to recycled corporate clichés, jargon or false `pump-you-up' tactics, Ms. Palmer uses down-to-earth language ("What's the world's most dangerous meeting question?"), insightful exercises ("Square One") and practical techniques ("How to ask great questions"). By walking me through example case studies, important and effective (and straightforward!) exercises and by debunking several commonly held myths, Good in a Room provided me with a pragmatic framework on which I am already positively developing my own unique approach, refining how I interact with potential business partners before, during and after meetings. By the end of the book, anyone who truly wants a higher percentage of success in meetings, negotiations, sales or network building will have an arsenal of techniques at their disposal. Whatever industry in which you work, novice or advanced, if success ultimately hinges on your ability to "sell" your ideas (and yourself!), then Good in a Room is an invaluable resource.

Not just for hollywood - sales too!

While I live in an area loaded with people that are obsessed with show business - I don't work in the business. While I'm sure this book helps in that context I found it full of useful tips that will help me change the way I approach sales. This is not a book full of the same boring platitudes (e.g., send out an agenda before a meeting to make it more effective, go to networking events and give everyone your business card) but actual insight as to the dynamics of meetings (and of selling). If you want to get more of what you want from the people you meet with - read this book!

Just in time!

I have been interviewing for a couple months and I thought I was doing okay (it was usually down to me and someone else), but I never seemed to get the job. I bought Good in a Room because I get nervous sometimes and I know that I'm supposed to talk about myself but I'm not a super outgoing person. I have the experience, but I think my competition just must be better at selling themselves. I loved this because I finally understand what the interviewer is looking for. I get it now and I wish I had read this years ago! I had an interview this afternoon (for a job I REEALLY want) and I practiced the techniques of Ch. 24: 100 Percent Outward Focus and Ch. 25: How To Ask Great Questions. The interview was so different. She was so interested in what I had to say and it felt so natural. I knew what to expect and what to say and I didn't feel nervous at all. The best thing is, she already asked me to come in for a second meeting with her boss!

Must read.

Don't mess around. Buy this book. If you're in the entertainment industry (or any industry where you have to "sell" and idea), this book is an essential part of your arsenal. It is a useful resource for both novice and advanced creative people who want to learn how to master meetings because it is concise and accessible. I'm sure that my copy will become dog-eared, marked-up and coffee-stained.