Women Make the Best Salesmen

April 1, 2004
Everyone is a salesperson, insists car dealership mogul Brem, and women are uniquely expert at selling. This is not just because women--who make most buying decisions today--know what buyers want, but because of so-called"natural" female traits. Brem seeks to galvanize women, especially those with little work experience outside the home, to apply the skills they already use in any relationship--negotiation, communication, intuition, attentiveness--to sales (she also encourages male readers to hone these skills as well). Brem uses her own extraordinary history as the clinching example: after two cancer surgeries, chemotherapy and a divorce, Brem found herself a single mother without medical insurance or a job at age 32. Mustering all her courage and homemaker experience, she made her first sale--she sold her skills to the car dealership manager who reluctantly hired her. Five years later, she founded her own dealership and has since become a sales sensation, and was named one of Hispanic Business magazine's 100 Most Influential Hispanics in the United States and Inc. magazine's Entrepreneur of the Year. She chalks up her success, in part, to empathy; in chapters like"You Don't Have to Like Them, But They Have to Like You" and"Taking Charge of the Sales Process," Brem offers a veritable carload of common sense on approaching customers, determining how to help them and closing the deal. (Rather than viewing closing as an end to the sales relationship, for example, she views it as a beginning.) Time and again, in entertaining and easily digestible prose, she makes her point that good selling is about helping--and that women, the traditional"helpmates," are innately gifted at it.

April 26, 2004
Everyone is a salesperson, insists car dealership mogul Brem, and women are uniquely expert at selling. This is not just because women--who make most buying decisions today--know what buyers want, but because of so-called"natural" female traits. Brem seeks to galvanize women, especially those with little work experience outside the home, to apply the skills they already use in any relationship--negotiation, communication, intuition, attentiveness--to sales (she also encourages male readers to hone these skills as well). Brem uses her own extraordinary history as the clinching example: after two cancer surgeries, chemotherapy and a divorce, Brem found herself a single mother without medical insurance or a job at age 32. Mustering all her courage and homemaker experience, she made her first sale--she sold her skills to the car dealership manager who reluctantly hired her. Five years later, she founded her own dealership and has since become a sales sensation, and was named one of Hispanic Business magazine's 100 Most Influential Hispanics in the United States and Inc. magazine's Entrepreneur of the Year. She chalks up her success, in part, to empathy; in chapters like"You Don't Have to Like Them, But They Have to Like You" and"Taking Charge of the Sales Process," Brem offers a veritable carload of common sense on approaching customers, determining how to help them and closing the deal. (Rather than viewing closing as an end to the sales relationship, for example, she views it as a beginning.) Time and again, in entertaining and easily digestible prose, she makes her point that good selling is about helping--and that women, the traditional"helpmates," are innately gifted at it.

Copyright 2004 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 15, 2004
Those who do not believe that life is all about selling should consult Brem, " Inc. "magazine Entrepreneur of the Year and International Automotive Hall of Fame member. Her unique experience as a female car-dealership owner forms the basis of some simple rules for anyone, regardless of gender, to succeed in sales. From understanding what a customer needs ("help") to identifying and winning over difficult customers (the know-it-alls, Mr. Indecisive, hotheads, and others), Brem uses the principles of common sense and the Golden Rule to underscore her points. "Dress the part," for instance, equates to the art of looking like a professional. "It's about time" refers to keeping, not breaking, appointments. And "you don't have to like them--but they have to like you" involves such easy-to-accomplish activities as laughing, letting your human side show, and accentuating similarities. After reading her words, it will be difficult to claim "I can't sell."(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2004, American Library Association.)