Tundraco's Daily Living Guide to Book Reviews

The Skinny on Direct Sales Your First 100 Days By Jim Randel Illustration/Design by Linda Nass and Rebecca Kunzmann Rand Publishing (2010), 172 panels ISBN 10: 0982439091 ISBN 13: 978-0982439098

Reviewed by Israel Drazin - April 27, 2010

This book teaches how to endure the first one hundred days of venturing into a business to sell directly to people. Since about 85 percent of people involved in direct sales are women, the book focuses on the fictitious stick figure Beth, who had been working part time, but is looking to start her own business and is afraid to do so. Randel offers many ideas, such as:

• Sellers must be proactive, not reactive.
• Set goals with measurable timetables.
• Make sure to believe in your product or people will see that you are insincere.
• Be prepared for difficulties and disappointments, such as the expected "no's."
• Build rapport with prospects.

Randel tells how sellers can find prospects, how to gage success even before making money, about referrals, how to think as a buyer, and how to listen.

The book is smaller than other books in the series and has many repetitions, but it is filled with useful information that even non-sellers can use in their daily lives.

Dr. Israel Drazin is the author of fifteen books, including a series of five volumes on the Aramaic translation of the Hebrew Bible, which he co-authors with Rabbi Dr. Stanley M. Wagner, and a series of four books on the twelfth century philosopher Moses Maimonides, the latest being Maimonides: Reason Above All, published by Gefen Publishing House, www.gefenpublishing.com. The Orthodox Union (OU) publishes daily samples of the Targum books on www.ouradio.org

The Skinny on the Housing Crisis, by Jim Randel.
The Skinny takes the reader through Billy and Beth's experiences dealing with real estate agents, house inspectors, appraisers, mortgage brokers, lenders and attorneys. Each of these encounters is a lesson for any person considering the purchase or sale of a home, investing in real estate or, just taking out a mortgage.

The Skinny on The Art of Persuasion, by Jim Randel.
This book is about developing the skills to move minds. In this graphic, one-hour read you'll learn how to influence the thinking of others.