The Science of Influence: How to Get Anyone to Say "Yes" in 8 Minutes or Less!

This is one of the most painful self-help books I've trudged through because page after page contains nothing but heady promises never fulfilled, self-promotion, and just bad writing. For example, in Chapter 1, Mr. Hogan says: "I want to share with you three ways to change that no one wants you to know about." Curious and excited? I was. And what were those three ways? 1. how you appear to others (wow!) 2. where you are (people act differently in church then they do when alone, you don't say Mr. Hogan!) and 3. well, Mr. Hogan does not provide the third way; maybe those "others" got to him too. Another example: Ch. 12: Mr. Hogan says that focus groups don't work. Why? Because "all the research shows that focus groups don't work." But Mr. Hogan will help you out: "There is an alternative: if you need to know, contact me." And here I thought that's what I was buying the book for. A final example: Ch. 5. "Seven Ways to Increase Your Credibility: 1. be a fluid communicator; 2. be likable; 3...." Brilliant. Basically, Mr. Hogan wrote this book, among hundreds of others (& his weekly CDs, which he tells you to buy at every 10 pages or so) to tell people that to increase your sales, you need to become a better salesperson. The only part of the book worth a straw is when he steals, err, cites to the 6 principles of influence from Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion (Collins Business Essentials) [which he does not cite in his bibliography...], probably the best and only book worth reading on the subject of influence.