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The Art of Woo: Using Strategic Persuasion to Sell Your Ideas
Explaining that the practice of selling ideas is a matter of encouraging others to share one's beliefs by applying strategies in psychology and emotional intelligence, a guide for salespeople invites readers to self-assess their persuasion personality and build on natural strengths. 30,000 first printing.
312 pages, Hardcover
First published October 18, 2007
217 people are currently reading
1461 people want to read
About the author
G. Richard Shell
15 books76 followersG. Richard Shell is the Thomas Gerrity Professor of Legal Studies, Business Ethics, and Management at the Wharton School of Business. His latest book, The Conscience Code: Lead with Your Values. Advance Your Career, is the essential guide to creating and maintaining ethical, speak-up cultures at work. His Springboard: Launching Your Personal Search for Success (Penguin/Portfolio 2013), was named Business Book of Year for 2013 by the largest business bookseller in the United States. Shell is the Director of Wharton’s Executive Negotiation Workshop and its Strategic Persuasion Workshop and has taught everyone from Navy SEALs, UN diplomats, and Fortune 500 CEOs to FBI hostage negotiators, emergency room nurses, and front-line public school teachers. His earlier works include the award-winning Bargaining for Advantage: Negotiation Strategies for Reasonable People (2nd Edition, Penguin 2006)and (with co-author Mario Moussa) The Art of Woo: Using Strategic Persuasion to Sell Your Ideas (Portfolio/Penguin 2007). His books have sold over 500,000 copies and are available in over seventeen languages.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 79 reviews
April 16, 2024
It had its moments, but it just wasn’t very groundbreaking. I genuinely want to know if anyone read this book and thought, “Ohhhh, I didn’t realize I needed credibility! That must be where I’ve been going wrong all this time!”
Ok, that was probably rude and not very woo-y of me. To be fair, there was more to the book than that.
I will say that the last chapter was randomly excellent and gave me literal chills, which I was not expecting as I had already written a few negative reviews in my head by the time I got there because I was kind of bored.
I did learn a bit about the history of Walmart greeters though, so that’s a win.
Ok, that was probably rude and not very woo-y of me. To be fair, there was more to the book than that.
I will say that the last chapter was randomly excellent and gave me literal chills, which I was not expecting as I had already written a few negative reviews in my head by the time I got there because I was kind of bored.
I did learn a bit about the history of Walmart greeters though, so that’s a win.
December 28, 2015
I had the chance to attend a training by Richard Shell on The art of woo. For those who wonder what is the woo:
woo definition: winning others over. Or if you prefer, the art to persuade people. As the authors write it, "simple to say, hard to do".
They decompose the persuasion process into four steps:
- Survey the situation
- Confront the five barriers - consider all the barriers people have to overcome to be convinced; some of these barriers relate to your personality and credibility; others are dependent on your idea.
- Make your pitch
- Secure your commitments
The book is full of examples and anecdotes that make the theory far more digestible. The authors' favorite story is the story of Charles Lindbergh. He got the idea to try the nonstop flight across the Atlantic Ocean in a single engine plane, alone, whereas all the other competitors in 1927 focused on planes with two or three engines and a crew of three pilots. Lindbergh was a shy and introvert man and he had to work a lot on himself before being able to pitch and secure funding for his project as people viewed his strategy as pure madness. An another interesting one is the story of Brad Garlinghouse, the author of the Peanut Butter Manifesto, which was published on the first page of the Wall Street Journal a few years back to convince Yahoo CEO to rethink his strategy.
And once you finish to go through everything, or you get bored by the theory, take a pen and fill the quizz in the Appendix A to discover your leadership style.
http://365books.weebly.com
woo definition: winning others over. Or if you prefer, the art to persuade people. As the authors write it, "simple to say, hard to do".
They decompose the persuasion process into four steps:
- Survey the situation
- Confront the five barriers - consider all the barriers people have to overcome to be convinced; some of these barriers relate to your personality and credibility; others are dependent on your idea.
- Make your pitch
- Secure your commitments
The book is full of examples and anecdotes that make the theory far more digestible. The authors' favorite story is the story of Charles Lindbergh. He got the idea to try the nonstop flight across the Atlantic Ocean in a single engine plane, alone, whereas all the other competitors in 1927 focused on planes with two or three engines and a crew of three pilots. Lindbergh was a shy and introvert man and he had to work a lot on himself before being able to pitch and secure funding for his project as people viewed his strategy as pure madness. An another interesting one is the story of Brad Garlinghouse, the author of the Peanut Butter Manifesto, which was published on the first page of the Wall Street Journal a few years back to convince Yahoo CEO to rethink his strategy.
And once you finish to go through everything, or you get bored by the theory, take a pen and fill the quizz in the Appendix A to discover your leadership style.
http://365books.weebly.com
February 26, 2010
Applied Woo
In their book, Art of Woo (Penguin 2007), authors Richard Shell and Mario Moussa present “the selling of ideas” from a sales/negotiation perspective. Despite their rather broad framing of the subject, their discourse is highly instructive for Marketing Public Relations professionals. One of several points that are worth noting is their discussion of barriers to woo. Shell and Moussa consider relationships, credibility, communications mismatches, belief systems, and interest and needs to be the major obstructions to successful persuasion, and, I will argue, they are the same hurdles faced by marketers when pitching journalists and other connectors.
Clearly, relationships are critical to PR. The better we know our connectors and the better they know us, the more likely our chances of getting media mentions from connectors picking up our stories, or by their coming to us for assistance on something they are already working on.
Credibility is obvious, but the key to being a trusted source and strengthening the newsworthiness of a pitch.
Communications mismatches manifest themselves in the mundane and operational side of PR when marketers forget to pitch connectors in the format and in the timeframe that suits the connector best. Is a journalist more receptive to a phone call, email, or a letter in the mail? Is there a certain time of day week, or month that is typically best? Communications mismatches also occur when styles clash. For some editors and journalists bold, over-the-top pitches work really well, for others, they do not.
A match also needs to exist between the story you are pitching and the belief system of the connector. In the case of pitching in PR it is more about knowing the mission and audience of the connector’s medium than understanding the socio-cultural profile of the connector himself, although both are important.
The last barrier is one that MPR pros are keenly aware of-interests and needs. Connectors are charged with producing content that is interesting to their audience, is in line with the mission of their medium, and supports their editorial calendar. If you can show how it will also please their advertisers or help their medium’s sales people sell into a specific issue or episode, you’ve struck gold.
Check out Art of Woo.
In their book, Art of Woo (Penguin 2007), authors Richard Shell and Mario Moussa present “the selling of ideas” from a sales/negotiation perspective. Despite their rather broad framing of the subject, their discourse is highly instructive for Marketing Public Relations professionals. One of several points that are worth noting is their discussion of barriers to woo. Shell and Moussa consider relationships, credibility, communications mismatches, belief systems, and interest and needs to be the major obstructions to successful persuasion, and, I will argue, they are the same hurdles faced by marketers when pitching journalists and other connectors.
Clearly, relationships are critical to PR. The better we know our connectors and the better they know us, the more likely our chances of getting media mentions from connectors picking up our stories, or by their coming to us for assistance on something they are already working on.
Credibility is obvious, but the key to being a trusted source and strengthening the newsworthiness of a pitch.
Communications mismatches manifest themselves in the mundane and operational side of PR when marketers forget to pitch connectors in the format and in the timeframe that suits the connector best. Is a journalist more receptive to a phone call, email, or a letter in the mail? Is there a certain time of day week, or month that is typically best? Communications mismatches also occur when styles clash. For some editors and journalists bold, over-the-top pitches work really well, for others, they do not.
A match also needs to exist between the story you are pitching and the belief system of the connector. In the case of pitching in PR it is more about knowing the mission and audience of the connector’s medium than understanding the socio-cultural profile of the connector himself, although both are important.
The last barrier is one that MPR pros are keenly aware of-interests and needs. Connectors are charged with producing content that is interesting to their audience, is in line with the mission of their medium, and supports their editorial calendar. If you can show how it will also please their advertisers or help their medium’s sales people sell into a specific issue or episode, you’ve struck gold.
Check out Art of Woo.
July 20, 2013
Довольно любопытное руководство по "продаже идей". Этапы и приёмы переговоров в мягком стиле, основанных на выстраивании хороших отношений со всеми заинтересованными лицами.
Более подробная рецензия и интеллект-карта по книге - в моём блоге: http://s-kalinin.blogspot.ru/2013/07/...
Более подробная рецензия и интеллект-карта по книге - в моём блоге: http://s-kalinin.blogspot.ru/2013/07/...
January 6, 2026
Woo-wee! That is one long book! It hits on a lot of the basics of building relationships before you try to sell or persuade people. Some of the material is dated, but I did learn something from it, which is always a positive. The book was at least three times longer than it had to be.
November 8, 2019
Neat framework for navigating the world of human interaction in organizations. I am amazed at the authors’ ability to neatly catalogue the complex and messy individual and group behavior backed up by solid research and proven methods. Each chapter builds on previous one, showing how persuasion and influence works, how to build relationships, credibility, navigate politics, and deliver ideas in a compelling way. Last chapter is an excellent finale.
May 16, 2014
This book opens strong. I was blown away by the persuasion channels that you can use to get someone to do something; Authority, Rationality, Vision, Relationships, Interests and Politics. To me this was really ground breaking stuff and probably my most valuable take-away.
But everything started to go down hill around the time they ask you to fill out the questionaire to find out what type of persuader you are; Commander, Chess Player, Promoter, Advocate and Driver. To me, this was a fruitless exercise and because my scores across all 5 were almost identical, the case studies explaining each persuader in detail, left me unsure whether they were I should find them relevant or not.
3 Stars - Great work on persuasion channels, but the rest of the book is forgettable and, I felt, explained the obvious.
But everything started to go down hill around the time they ask you to fill out the questionaire to find out what type of persuader you are; Commander, Chess Player, Promoter, Advocate and Driver. To me, this was a fruitless exercise and because my scores across all 5 were almost identical, the case studies explaining each persuader in detail, left me unsure whether they were I should find them relevant or not.
3 Stars - Great work on persuasion channels, but the rest of the book is forgettable and, I felt, explained the obvious.
January 8, 2019
Ugh. Skip this; just meanders too much. Never read a book by academics studying successful leaders... read the books by those leaders themselves.
Newish revelations :
----------------
“Skilled negotiators spent about 40% of their time at the bargaining table asking questions…. while average negotiators devoted only 20% … The rest of their time was spent proposing, arguing, defending their positions and haggling, activities that discouraged the candid flow of interest-based information.”
“The more problems and needs you address, the wider the base of support you can build within the organization.”
"A problem well-stated is a problem half-solved.” - Charles Kettering
“How you state the problem defines what your audience will see in its mind’s eye.
.
.
Newish revelations :
----------------
“Skilled negotiators spent about 40% of their time at the bargaining table asking questions…. while average negotiators devoted only 20% … The rest of their time was spent proposing, arguing, defending their positions and haggling, activities that discouraged the candid flow of interest-based information.”
“The more problems and needs you address, the wider the base of support you can build within the organization.”
"A problem well-stated is a problem half-solved.” - Charles Kettering
“How you state the problem defines what your audience will see in its mind’s eye.
.
.
March 19, 2012
Woo: "It is a relationship-based persuasion, a strategic process for getting people's attention, pitching your ideas, and obtaining approval for your plans and projects."
Who Woo Works:
Step 1 - Survey your situation
Step 2 - Confront the five barriers (negative relationships, poor credibility, communication mismatches, contrary belief systems, conflicting interests)
Step 3 - Make your pitch
Step 4 - Secure your commitments.
"Everyone's Favorite Topic: Their Own Needs"
Who Woo Works:
Step 1 - Survey your situation
Step 2 - Confront the five barriers (negative relationships, poor credibility, communication mismatches, contrary belief systems, conflicting interests)
Step 3 - Make your pitch
Step 4 - Secure your commitments.
"Everyone's Favorite Topic: Their Own Needs"
December 8, 2022
Read Full Review
It truly is a framework that they give the user on how to be more persuasive. It's incredibly tactical and helpful.
They break their Woo Process into four "easy" steps. The problem is that each step has many steps. In order to diagnose the best strategy you also need to understand what your personal style is (of which there are five) and you need to understand what channels of persuasion will dominate with your audience (of which they lay out six). That's all before you even get to the pitch.
Like many professional development books, there were plenty of examples here. Many could have easily been cut in the editing process without detracting from the authority with which they were presenting the material.
Overall, I liked this one. The framework alone is reason enough to read this. Even if the only people you're persuading are your spouse to order your favorite for dinner.
It truly is a framework that they give the user on how to be more persuasive. It's incredibly tactical and helpful.
They break their Woo Process into four "easy" steps. The problem is that each step has many steps. In order to diagnose the best strategy you also need to understand what your personal style is (of which there are five) and you need to understand what channels of persuasion will dominate with your audience (of which they lay out six). That's all before you even get to the pitch.
Like many professional development books, there were plenty of examples here. Many could have easily been cut in the editing process without detracting from the authority with which they were presenting the material.
Overall, I liked this one. The framework alone is reason enough to read this. Even if the only people you're persuading are your spouse to order your favorite for dinner.
July 21, 2025
Favorite Excerpt:
𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗶𝘀 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝗮 𝘁𝗿𝗲𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗿𝗲𝗽𝘂𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝘀 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝗶𝘁𝘀 𝘀𝗵𝗮𝗱𝗼𝘄. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗵𝗮𝗱𝗼𝘄 𝗶𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘄𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗸 𝗼𝗳 𝗶𝘁; 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗿𝗲𝗲 𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴. —𝗔𝗯𝗿𝗮𝗵𝗮𝗺 𝗟𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗼𝗹𝗻
A problem well stated is a problem half solved. And according to noted communications expert David Zarefsky, “definition is the key to persuasion.” By providing a crisp answer to the question “What is the problem?” you establish the context in which your idea will be evaluated. Cognitive psychologists call this the act of framing, and it powerfully affects people’s perceptions, the standards they will call to mind, the evidence they will consider relevant, the emotions they will feel, and the decisions they will ultimately make. As the American journalist and commentator Walter Lippmann once said, “For the most part, we do not first see, and then define. We define first and then see.” How you state the problem defines what your audience will see in its mind’s eye. (p.182)
𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗶𝘀 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝗮 𝘁𝗿𝗲𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗿𝗲𝗽𝘂𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝘀 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝗶𝘁𝘀 𝘀𝗵𝗮𝗱𝗼𝘄. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗵𝗮𝗱𝗼𝘄 𝗶𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘄𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗸 𝗼𝗳 𝗶𝘁; 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗿𝗲𝗲 𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴. —𝗔𝗯𝗿𝗮𝗵𝗮𝗺 𝗟𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗼𝗹𝗻
A problem well stated is a problem half solved. And according to noted communications expert David Zarefsky, “definition is the key to persuasion.” By providing a crisp answer to the question “What is the problem?” you establish the context in which your idea will be evaluated. Cognitive psychologists call this the act of framing, and it powerfully affects people’s perceptions, the standards they will call to mind, the evidence they will consider relevant, the emotions they will feel, and the decisions they will ultimately make. As the American journalist and commentator Walter Lippmann once said, “For the most part, we do not first see, and then define. We define first and then see.” How you state the problem defines what your audience will see in its mind’s eye. (p.182)
September 25, 2017
OK read. The topical bibliography at the end lists some pretty interesting biographies. The authors concisely summarize some of the mental frameworks for negotiating, pitching, building political alliances, and overcoming some of the common pitfalls to getting buy-in for an idea. They also do a good job of providing ample real-life examples. Probably best audience are recent graduates or anyone who needs a framework for navigating the political realities of selling and then implementing an idea within large organizations where many factors from stepping on people's toes to not having a sufficiently inclusive coalition can torpedo the best of ideas. 3.5 to 4 stars.
October 18, 2023
DNF, picked it up at the store because WOO was one of my biggest strengths according to a personality test I recently took and I wanted to learn more. Overall, it’s a pretty decent book about selling your ideas as it has personality tests within itself and explains what means what. However, I didn’t feel like I was learning a lot of new ground breaking knowledge. So I put it down after reading approx. 120 pages and the conclusion. Tbh “How to win friends and influence people” might be a better start in that topic if you’re looking for something like this.
July 12, 2020
Jika anda ingin mempelajari seni bernegosiasi dan seni membuat orang berkata "ya", maka buku ini bisa menjadi salah satu referensi anda. Isi dari buku ini menarik dan disertai beragam contoh yang memudahkan untuk mebayangkan nasihat yang diberikan. Konten juga tidak hanya bermanfaat dalam bisnis, namun juga dapat dikaitkan dengan hubungan interpersonal. Sayangnya, bahasa penulis terlalu "akademis" sehingga saya cukup lama menyelesaikan buku ini.
September 17, 2023
I managed to finish The Art of Woo. It was good in the “I’m-glad-that-I-read-it” vein. I really liked that the authors based their recommendations on social science research. The drawback of The Art of Woo is the same as so many self-help books – the recommendations are multifaceted and would take a lot of work to put all of them into action. To do so, the reader would have to treat The Art of Woo as a textbook and commit all of the suggestions to memory.
August 23, 2018
A valuable must read on the topic of selling and the psychology of the decision making process. Too bad that the title doesnt convey that the contents are scholarly research. Many conclusions drawn from a wide range of other scholar's research, comes accross as very credible and most importantly the conclusions inutitively make sense.
October 31, 2018
I listened to the audio version and then bought the print version.
This book is a good lesson in civility, among other things.
On the audio version, the one thing I found distracting was the reader's attempt to "make character voices." Very difficult to do effectively, and when done poorly, well . . . it distracts from the text. That's all I'll say.
This book is a good lesson in civility, among other things.
On the audio version, the one thing I found distracting was the reader's attempt to "make character voices." Very difficult to do effectively, and when done poorly, well . . . it distracts from the text. That's all I'll say.
March 25, 2018
Great read on internal selling. Shell and Moussa take a very dense subject and boil down actionable principles to take into your career. The self inventories are helpful and the illustrations are memorable.
November 10, 2019
Woo: winning other people over through relationship based persuasion. Entertaining read on how to get people’s attention, pitch your ideas, secure commitments, obtain approvals. Relevant for work via influence vs coercion.
September 12, 2022
dnf: seems to be fitting anecdotal situations to their theory and method, in hindsight. i.e. person X did this in a situation, see, that was or wasn't woo... maybe later in book there is better cause/effect relationships w/ woo. not interested in seeing
June 13, 2017
A good read and guide on "winning over others" that provides both background of public figure examples and how-to points
January 30, 2019
A book of mostly anecdotes, it provides next to no guidance on how to apply the strategies used in the examples. But the stories were not awful, so it got a second star.
October 31, 2019
An amazing book, highly recommend it! Many practical tools and easy to read.
February 14, 2020
A great read on focusing persuasion tactics on your audience.
August 27, 2020
Lots of good information on how to sell your ideas. It took me awhile to get through.
October 11, 2020
Great book for anyone wanting to learn how to better relate your ideas and sway others to your side.
January 13, 2022
This is a fairly average business book. The quizzes were a nice touch.
May 26, 2023
woo woo woo
July 9, 2023
I'm a Lawyer
So, yeah, this book help me a lot to know how to persuade people to be in my team
So, yeah, this book help me a lot to know how to persuade people to be in my team
January 24, 2025
Good content, but get to the point
Displaying 1 - 30 of 79 reviews