Book Review: "Unselling" by Scott Stratten and Alison Kramer

I've been a fan of Scott Stratten since I first heard him speak on social media at Pubcon South 2010. I've read and enjoyed all his books:

• Unmarketing
• The Book of Business Awesome/The Book of Business UnAwesome
• QR Codes Kill Kittens.

I'm also a fan of the weekly "Unpodcast" show and the semi-regular "Vegas 30" podcast he does, both of which are done in collaboration with his co-host Alison Kramer.

The thing I enjoy about listening to Scott and reading his work is that he is funny, irreverent and he makes me think. There really aren't too many people I can say that about.

His latest venture with Alison, Unselling - The New Customer Experience, is a collection of anecdotes and stories all aimed to help the reader understand that "selling" is not really "selling." "Selling" in this era of the modern internet can really be broken down into several things:

• Have the most awesome product or service you can create
• Build relationships through authentic interaction with customers and non-customers alike
• Follow the "Golden Rule"
• When things go wrong, do your best to make things right.

"Oh, wait" you might be thinking to yourself, "those things aren't really new."

And, you would be right.

The problem is that so many companies/brands/businesses do these things so poorly, and so few do them well, that the ones that do them well rise above the crowd and really stand out. With the myriad of instant communications tools available to consumers, they have as much or more information about businesses than the business themselves. That instant communications also helps great brands get noticed. Those not-so-great brands get noticed too, but in the wrong way.

In Unselling, Scott shares examples from customer interactions with Ritz Carlton, Disney, and others that make you wonder why more aren't doing these things. Seriously, the Disney story made me a bit "misty."

One way to help you, personally, make changes to how you do business is to remember that "You are the brand." When we remember that each person who works with us and/or for us (and that includes "us") ARE the brand to our customers, it helps us to act better towards them, do what is right, hire better and even treat our coworkers differently.

The warden in the movie "Cool Hand Luke" often said that "you have to get your mind right." In the end, if you want to make your business better, you need to do just that.

I highly recommend Unselling to anyone in business who is looking to change and do things better. If you're just interested in the status quo, you might enjoy the stories, but you might not get anything else out of it.

Or will you?

Links to Amazon are affiliate links. If you don't want me to get a cut of the sale, go directly to Unsellingthebook.com and buy it there.

Images from Unsellingthebook.com