How to Talk to Anyone: 92 Little Tricks for Big Success in Relationships, Edition 2

Leil Lowndes

Sep 2003 · McGraw Hill Professional

About this ebook

"You'll not only break the ice, you'll melt it away with your new skills." -- Larry King

"The lost art of verbal communication may be revitalized by Leil Lowndes." -- Harvey McKay, author of “How to Swim with the Sharks Without Being Eaten Alive”

What is that magic quality makes some people instantly loved and respected? Everyone wants to be their friend (or, if single, their lover!) In business, they rise swiftly to the top of the corporate ladder. What is their "Midas touch?"

What it boils down to is a more skillful way of dealing with people.

The author has spent her career teaching people how to communicate for success. In her book How to Talk to Anyone (Contemporary Books, October 2003) Lowndes offers 92 easy and effective sure-fire success techniques-- she takes the reader from first meeting all the way up to sophisticated techniques used by the big winners in life. In this information-packed book you’ll find:

• 9 ways to make a dynamite first impression
• 14 ways to master small talk, "big talk," and body language
• 14 ways to walk and talk like a VIP or celebrity
• 6 ways to sound like an insider in any crowd
• 7 ways to establish deep subliminal rapport with anyone
• 9 ways to feed someone's ego (and know when NOT to!)
• 11 ways to make your phone a powerful communications tool
• 15 ways to work a party like a politician works a room
• 7 ways to talk with tigers and not get eaten alive

In her trademark entertaining and straight-shooting style, Leil gives the techniques catchy names so you'll remember them when you really need them, including: "Rubberneck the Room," "Be a Copyclass," "Come Hither Hands," “Bare Their Hot Button,” “The Great Scorecard in the Sky," and "Play the Tombstone Game,” for big success in your social life, romance, and business.

How to Talk to Anyone, which is an update of her popular book, Talking the Winner's Way (see the 5-star reviews of the latter) is based on solid research about techniques that work!

By the way, don't confuse How to Talk to Anyone with one of Leil's previous books, How to Talk to Anybody About Anything. This one is completely different!

Ratings and reviews

I was very disappointed in this book. I thought it would offer helpful communication tips, instead it offers ways to copy people to make them think you're an "insider", whatever that is supposed to mean. The author seems only concerned about raising her status not helping people make thoughtful conversation. If you follow her tips, people may listen, but it won't take them long to see you have no idea what you're talking about and are only using buzz words to look like you fit in. The book focuses on how to be other people and frankly how to be a fraud by changing your lingo. The examples in the book made me cringe, if she actually said all the things she claimed, I can't believe people take her or her friends seriously. After asking a group of firefighters for directions she tells them "see you at the big one" Who talks like that if they aren't a firefighter? It's ridiculous! She thinks others are only concerned about being "big shots" or only being around "big winners" (A phrase used way to much in the book). Everyone she references is some big insider, or some very rich person (most aren't given names). Stick with How to Win Friends and Influence People or other books for business success.

Purchased to read offline. BEWARE. This book has some sort of protection THAT MEANS YOU CANNOT DOWNLOAD IT to read without an active WiFi connection. Shortly after I started the book, Google said I had FINISHED the book (despite being less than 1/10th through it). This is NOT a criticism of the book, but of Google platform. Would not let me go back and start over or finish it, so I cannot meaningfully evaluate the book. The whole system is a sorry excuse for a book platform. Do yourself a favor and DO NOT mess with buying any book from the google platform. Have asked for a refund. Will never buy another book from google and I'm guessing this review will never see the e-light of an e-day.

In general the advice is not bad. There are some really interesting things to learn here. I would warn you though, some of the advice seemed a little fake. If you weed through that stuff, then you stand to gain a lot. I think that a book like this should really concentrate on 5 things people can do to help them communicate. I can't say that this book has changed my behavior any, but it has planted seeds that may sprout later on.

About the author

Leil Lowndes is among today's most sought-after communication consultants and the author of the international bestsellers How to Make Anyone Fall in Love with You and How to Be a People Magnet.