I bought this book based on a reference in Secrets of the A Game by Logan Edwards. Both of these books are excellent. Although the tactics in Covert Persuasion might be tricky for some guys, I didn't have a problem with it. Definitely on par with Mystery Method, perhaps even better. I highly recommend it.

To be fair, I have not read the book cover to cover yet - rarely do.

I must give it four stars, because the information is accurate and extremely useful. However, this book is not an entertaining read. The book does not flow well - one must search diligently for specifics.

I purchased the book hoping that it would be a quick reference book - that - it is not - although the information provided is accurate and engaging - it requires a concentrated amount of time and attention to the material to grasp the concepts clearly.

I was hoping for something to review quickly and to subsequently use as reference for situations requiring persuasive discourse. It does not lend itself well to this scenario, yet does provide valuable information.

Excellent information, accurate and useful - slightly difficult to digest.

very interesting read.
some of the techniques used by interrogators to determine if someone is lying was useful.
would recommend

This book is good. It's no miracle that will
turn you into a sales-ninja, but it has a lot of
good information.

A lot of the stuff in here will be self-evident to
people who persuade for a living like copywriters
and salespeople... even preachers.

Just plain useful and worth reading. No one part
stood out as being jaw-droppingly informative. It's
a steady horse that delvers good, often usable information
from beginning to end.

I am a Kevin Hogan fan after taking one of his seminars, he's the real deal. BTW, I took the seminar on personal referrals of colleagues who he personally helped the year before negotiate a major salary increase.
Back to the book, the chapter on 20 Keys to persuasion in a story should be required reading for anyone in sales and public speaking. You've got to understand why you are telling a story and HOW to make it not just better, but captivating.
This book changed the way I deliver presentation! Before this book, the technical nature of my presentations would, understandably, put people to sleep. Now, I have the audience captivated and sold in the "pretalk" before I even start the formal presentation...the technical data becomes a formality. Because I followed Kevin's advice. I admit it was disconcerting at first to push myself out of the typical seminar drone comfort zone, but the results have been fantastic. AND I love giving seminars and presentations now, I look forward to them!
If you are in public speaking or any role where your ability to persuade it key, I hightly recommend this book.

This is a good book, but I would say it needs some more stories to help round it out. Gets into alot of specifics, and lists, that are helpful, but get to be a little boring. All in all, a very informative book, and helpful to know. Also easy to apply what is learned.

I read this book prior to reading verbal judo. I read this book from cover to cover in about 2 days. I strongly suggest this book to anyone who is interested in interpersonal communications and subconcious message delivery. I think its much more in depth and user friendly than reading verbal judo...not to talk too much about verbal judo but its very dry and not very explanitive. I found this book to be worth the extra few dollars it was more than the counterpart. My hats off to the author for a well written book that was quite entertaining and educational. I hope others enjoy this book as much as i have, i lend my copy out regularly, and it comes back a few days later always with positive reviews.

Covert Persuasion tactics seems interesting enough doesn't it? Here is a sample of his writing style and his ideas of covert persuasion. Persuasion Tactic #1, page 44, "Rapport can be defined as being 'in sync' with another person. Generally, people are more likely to have good rapport with someone else if they like that person. How do you know if you have rapport with someone? Ask yourself this question: Does the person respond to me in a genuinely positive manner?" Here is Covert Persuasion Tactic #2, page 46,"Discover what your target's interests are, and if you're not in tune with their interests, learn about them. People like to talk about what they are interested in. It lowers mental defenses and allows in new information - your new information." Covert Persuasion Tactic #3, page 47, "There is more to building rapport than swapping fishing stories. Becoming in-sync with another person or group can take a great deal of skill, in addition to the sincere interest that is necessary in building relationships." You will find all of the "covert" tactics in this book as new (or not) and useful (or not) as these three tactics. Other reviewers have mentioned the clunky writing and poor editing. They were kind. His sentence construction gave me a headache. Maybe I was tired so I tried reading it a day later. Same result. I liked the title but content disappoints.

This book is great for quick reference when dealing with persuasion. Most of it is NLP and some other tactics such as mirroring to create rapport. It covers some aspects of Milton language and how it is used. My opinion, good book!

Hogan's Covert Persuasion certainly contains some useful tips. But Hogan writes in a juvenile and sloppy style that robs him of credibility. To make matters worse, the book seems not to have been edited at all. Entire paragraphs are duplicated by redundant writing or, in a few cases, apparently as a result of cut-paste errors. Spelling mistakes add holes to an already sinking ship.

The book's 208 content pages could easily and usefully be condensed to 100. Chapter 8, for example, claims to offer "20 keys to using covert persuasion in a story." But most tips merely repeat each other. Tips 1-3 and 10 are "know your purpose in telling the story." Tips 12, 16, 17, and 20 are "Directly quote your characters, especially when complimenting yourself."

Hogan offends the reader with poorly constructed sentences and rambling chapters. It is a struggle to understand this book -- not because it is complex, but because the writer (and editor) couldn't be bothered to polish and condense the content. On page 130, a section header tells us "Lazy Is the Natural State of Mind." No kidding.

This book, although well written and well laid out, is simply a rehash of Hogan's earlier book, "The Psychology of Persuasion". This book introduces literally nothing new, simply reorganizing the material.

If you own the Psychology of Persuasion, do not purchase this book. Otherwise, definitely buy one or the other.

(As an aside, I find it amusing that Hogan and his publisher believe the key to sales to be re-introducing the same material in different works, rather than creating "new editions". They may be right, but as someone who almost bought two "identical" books, it's a little annoying!)

Terrible waste of time and money. If you do really do want to learn something about persuasion get to the best nlp, L. Michael hall book time lines and communication coach, sleight of mouth by Diltts or gut impact by Fuentes, another good work done by Nathan Blaszak how to hypnotize anyone...

I'm on the fence with this one folks. You have to question the intention of any author who writes his best stuff in the INTRODUCTION page. This book starts off enticing and ends up boring. I never like when I am reading a book like this and I get that gut fealing the writer assumes everyone who is reading this just graduated from elementry school. One of his persuasion techniques includes using vague statements. Well this book is packed full of vague notions. One of his personality evaluations was that people over promise, and then dont deliver.#22 on his list. Well this book starts off delivering and about half way through you start to fall asleep from the rehashing of similar themes. This book is good if you just graduated from Highschool and your thinking about saling used cars for a living. If on the other hand your an intellectual that has alot of common sense, then i wouldnt suggest you go reaching for your credit card to add this to your current collection. This book could have been written in ten pages. I gave this book a 2,but depending on your vantage point you might feel its a 3. Lots of common sense stuff here folks. Put this one at the bottom of your wishlist. One more thing worth mentioning is that Kevin H gives lots of examples to support his findings but they all leave you scratching your head, while thinking to yourself, thats great but how is this appliable to a real situation. This book is 95 percent fat and 5 percent beef. I would suggest looking at THE APEX from http://fightmonks.com or maybe one from PK ELLIS , before picking this one up. This book reminds me of reading a textbook. No personality in this one.
Remember to always question who writes these reviews, because the writers must be paying off people to give them 5 stars.
BEWARE...they already spoon fed me fruit loops. :-)

Once more Dr. Kevin Hogan delivers a quality, content filled power house of a book.

Anyone who wants to understand how to persuade others, do it quickly, and do it so everyone wins, needs to read this book.

Kevin has filled the pages between these covers with high powered proven tools that anyone can apply.

Caution, these tools really do work!

Do you really want to learn the art of persuasion? This is a trick question - you will understand it after reading the book. I have to say that even after reading it, I do not believe real persuasion is to play a trick on someone. You can fool someone, but in the long run you will get caught and this type of "persuasion" will catch up with you. I am simply not interested in that subject, so I was quite ready to throw the book, if it proved to trumpet the value of tricking someone. The use of the word "trick" in the title is unfortunate, because the book, with a few exceptions, is not a repository of tricks, but a pretty good analysis of successful communication.

The writing is clean and clear. There are no complex theories, statements of advice are explained in a straightforward manner. The reader could appreciate the purposeful style. Although the tactics are listed using a dry numbering system ("Covert Persuasion Tactic #32), they are grouped in chapters following well defined concepts. I thought the authors handled quite well the delicate issues of emotion and belief. One of the positive aspects of the book is that the reader can follow a system to educate new, better communication habits. Some readers could find observations that provoke thinking beyond the simple idea of persuasion.

The authors make an effort to simplify the message of persuasion (they have to persuade you, right?), but they also emphasize the fact that one has to put in more effort in order to get better results. It is about being motivated, knowing what you want and hard work. Some of the more interesting concepts in the book are:

- People don't believe in something because of a specific reason, they just do
- Always be outcome focused, imaging final product
- Avoid mind drifting, which is caused by tiredness
- Focus requires energy
- Anticipate, always anticipate
- Beware when someone else's agenda is on your to-do list
- Communicate with intention

The title and the introduction style do not do justice to the book. It has more depth than it lets you believe. It is better if you take your time and read it slowly - and think about it, rather than skip through it.

Overall, the book is useful, even if you are already familiar with some of the concepts. Occasionally, the book drops the quality by dipping into sales demagogic rhetoric (just ignore that), but considering the size of the covered territory, it has remarkable tempo and interestedness. I am writing this review a month after I read the book and I can say that a few ideas in the book are sticky: they stay with you for a while. That means the book is onto something.

As a salesperson myself i am always looking to imporve my techniques, strategies and polish my methods. Imagine then when you read a book that not only validates what you are already doing but introduces many easy and quickly implemented ideas that you just KNOW will make you a better salesperson. Kevin Hogan has managed to wrap up in one easy readalbe book all the sub-conscious presuasion techniques that are needed to take us into the next level of salesmanship. All to often our customers and clients know more about selling than the salesperson due to them relying on methods taught and introduced over 3 years ago.

You don't have to do it the same way as every other slaesperson anymore. This is what I and many of you have been waiting for.

A gift from the author that if implemented will reward you many many times over and above the cost of this book.

Gary May
Author: SELLING: Powerful New Strategies for Sales Success
www.garymay.co.uk

As a salesperson myself i am always looking to imporve my techniques, strategies and polish my methods. Imagine then when you read a book that not only validates what you are already doing but introduces many easy and quickly implemented ideas that you just KNOW will make you a better salesperson. Kevin Hogan has managed to wrap up in one easy readalbe book all the sub-conscious presuasion techniques that are needed to take us into the next level of salesmanship. All to often our customers and clients know more about selling than the salesperson due to them relying on methods taught and introduced over 3 years ago.

You don't have to do it the same way as every other slaesperson anymore. This is what I and many of you have been waiting for.

A gift from the author that if implemented will reward you many many times over and above the cost of this book.

Far more than others, Kevin Hogan synthesizes and makes accessible vast amounts of technical and scientific knowlege.....not for the academic, but for the average "sales guy"....those of us who are actually selling and marketing every day and need to know and use this stuff quickly . This is "our" guy. And this stuff works. Its all here. The only thing better is to see him in person! I know. I've read, I've used it, I've been successful with it. Buy this book, read it, do what it suggests, then write Kevin and tell him THANKS.

Disclaimer: I usually prefer not to speak or write negatively about a given book because I generally do not want to spend the energy required to so. In the case of Covert Persuasion I feel compelled to write a review solely on the basis that I strongly feel this book does not live up to what it purports to give or enable the reader to be able to do. The very title persuades the reader into believing that the forth coming pages contain the necessary wealth of information that will arm the reader with these mysterious and much touted psychological tactics and trick which, when applied, will transform you into a persuasion guru. I contend that this book delivers some of the goods but, falls short of what it could have been and, in the end, is just another tired attempt to market a book/idea in an already saturated and misguided niche (the art or tactics of selling). The author's fall short not because they do not provide statistical data or because they do not provide some sure fire time test listing of persuasion how-to's. Instead, they falls short because they only partially follow through on their attempt to deliver or provide the reader with a full view of any given tactic or trick they are trying to impart upon you. What the authors do is begin a section by telling you what they are attempting to do and how, by the end of this section, you will see or have defined or know how to use said tactic or trick. By section end the reader is left scratching their head wondering and waiting to be given information regarding some trick and, even more annoying, is the author's referencing tactics from a previous section. Maybe the trick or tactic is somehow imparted during the flurry of motivating stories that fill the vast majority of each section or, quite possibly, I was too ignorant to derive the assumed tactic or trick but, regardless of these points, I consistently felt as though is was missing information or that I had fallen asleep during reading and subsequently mis-read a given section and hence I was forced to go back an re-read section after section with the hope of finding all the missing information. Saying that you will defer fully explaining or revealing a trick or tactic until later and then not delivering is like bringing food to a starving person and then eating it yourself. In conclusion, this book does not live up to its title and it was not that helpful as a tool to use in any given situation, especially those where knowing how to apply manipulative subtleties to obtain a desired outcome is needed and important.

As a former multiple business owner for twenty years and a current business image consultant, I highly value anything written by Dr Hogan about the art of persuasion and influence. Time and again, I have been able to successfully navigate tough business negotiations using the techniques I've learned through Dr Hogan's courses and books. I now have a respectable library of Dr Hogan's material and I am more than excited to add this book to my collection. My husband is an attorney and handles billion dollar contracts and negotiations for the nuclear industry. He actually carries "Covert Persuasion" with him as a reference in his dealings. That says it all!
Anyone who cannot realize the value of the content of this book probably has little real time experience in business dealings.
Michelle Matteson, Business Image Consultant, Professional Speaker
[...].

A GF first lent me Kevin Hogan's best selling Psychology of Persuasion 18 mths ago as my introduction to his writing and work. Covert Persuasion is his latest work that combines Kevin's masterful practical insight and practices (yes, this is one where I can actually go APPLY it immediately!) with is academic perspective as well. Intelligently written AND practical. I love it. As a saleswoman, I have everything he has written and frequently purchase his teaching CDs. He is generous in the practical knowledge and application he shares with us. I highly recommend adding Covert Persuasion to your Sales library. Kevin is the leader in Persuasion in my book. And you'll have fun reading it, too!

The problem with this book is the author repeatedly contradicts himself.

On page 21 he says that many people try to persuade others by telling them about someone like them in a similar situation, "They are just like you and they tried it and it worked". He goes on to say, "These strategies have been proven not to work".

The problem is, when he gets to his top secret covert persuasion strategies, many of them are nothing more than variations of the above technique which he says has been 'proven' not to work.

For instance, Covert Persuasion Strategy # 26 states, "There is power in the group. We like to belong... Any attempt at showing what similar others have done is a powerful appeal to your targets because, fundamentally, they want to be just like everyone else."

Covert Persuasion Tactic #37 states that one reason for its effectiveness is "People like to know that other people just like them have done the same thing. This is a simple and direct way of providing 'social proof' that others have done this also". What's that? People like to know that other people just like them have done the same thing? I thought he said earlier that techniques like, "They are just like you and they tried it and it worked" had been 'proven' not to work? Like I said, he contradicts himself.

There are several other instances I could give. No, I would not recommend the book.

I bought this book hoping it would contain more than common sense way to manipulate others covertly especially in the areas of NLP and Hypnosis. I found that these areas were touched but only in a very brief and vague fashion. This book isnt a total dud either however what it does tell you may seem simple but is good reinforcement of common knowledge and will get you to think more about what you are doing in a situation that perhaps you may not have been aware of otherwise. All in all if you want to screw with someone's head this book only gives you basic tools so look else where this only tells you how to make sales easier.

.
I bought this book hoping to expand my knowledge of NLP. It didn't do that.

If you don't have an extensive collection of NLP books, this would be a good starting point for learning about it, and may lead you to invest in more detailed books on NLP and other techniques.

I bought this book partly on the strengths of previous reviews, and as such I expected a much more in depth and meticulously researched book than it was.

The book is squarely aimed at a sales audience, so the writing style is more that of a motivational book than an introduction to or tutorial on covert persuasion. So many of the techniques are prefaced with superlatives about their effectiveness that it begins to sound a bit silly. Many of the book's tip lists are embellished by duplicating previous entries with somewhat altered wording.

The word "covert" was irrelevant to the majority of the book's examples; many are simply restatements of classic personality skills. The conversation examples are awkward at times, and it's hard to imagine them unfolding in a real-world setting. My own biggest disappointment, though, was the shortage (or lack, in many cases) of references or hard data to support the effectiveness claims that you'll find peppered throughout the material.

I won't call the book useless; it has its merits, and there are a good ten or eleven pages worth taking notes on. In fairness, books I consider very good contain maybe 10% noteworthy pages, while the rest consists mainly of explanation and examples, which is as it should be. However, there is little to be learned here that you wouldn't find in a day or two's worth of reading on Wikipedia, and having done that before buying the book, reading it felt like an episode of déjà vu, even as a newcomer to the subject of NLP.

If you're in sales, relatively green at it, and you want a motivational book with mostly good advice on how better to communicate with prospects and clients, this book does fit that bill. If you're a skeptical sort like me looking for data, statistics, concrete examples and copious authoritative and neutral references, this is not that book.

I bought this book partly on the strengths of previous reviews, and as such I expected a much more in depth and meticulously researched book than it was.

I was a bit disappointed that the book assumed an audience of salespeople, so the writing style comes across more like a motivational book than an introduction to or tutorial on covert persuasion. There's a feeling of excessive hype from the fact that Hogan and Speakman praise so many techniques with superlatives that the praise starts ringing hollow. I thought many lists of tips and techniques were embellished by duplicating previous entries with somewhat altered wording.

It also seemed that the word "covert" was irrelevant to the majority of the book's examples; many are simply restatements of Dale Carnegie type personality skills. Many of the example/template conversations are awkward and hard to imagine unfolding in a real-world setting. Most importantly to me, though, there is a serious shortage (or lack, in many cases) of references or hard data supporting the authors' claims about the effectiveness of the techniques offered.

I won't call the book useless; it has its merits, and there are a good ten or eleven pages worth taking notes on. In fairness, books I consider very good contain maybe 10% noteworthy pages, while the rest consists mainly of explanation and examples, which is as it should be. However, there is little to be learned here that you wouldn't find in a day or two's worth of reading on Wikipedia, and having done that before buying the book, reading it felt like a major episode of déjà vu, even as a newcomer to the subject of NLP.

If you're in sales, relatively green at it, and you want a motivational book with mostly good advice on how better to communicate with prospects and clients, this book does fit that bill. If you're a skeptical sort like me looking for data, statistics, concrete examples and copious authoritative and neutral references, this is not that book.

Good information. I like it. Nothing really 'covert' but rather some common sense tactics and strategies that you can learn to implement into your daily sales routine. Not hard to do at all.

Hogan brags a bit about his own course "Science of Influence" and okay that's cool but he refers to it often trying to spark your interest. Frankly I'm not interested in spending close to $350 for material that I've purchased elsewhere at little over $100 on DVD and CD Rom. High priced rhetoric!

A couple of his tips are spot on and I highly recommend you take time to study and use them. One that has worked well for me is listed on page 18 the "Covert Power Project" and you use this for writing down 10 things where you can use this in your business. Exercises like these are always helpful. Why? Because they force you to apply what you've learned from the book to the real world and especially your own.

He also offers 55 Persuasion Tactics - some of which are ho hum common sense and only fools refuse to use them whilst others are interesting and force one to think how they can be used to generate more sales, more agreements and more success in one's life. The first tactic is simple: "Rapidly Build Resonant Rapport" and to old hands at NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming) this isn't anything new however it's something that everyone should learn as part of a Communication Skills 101 course but most don't learn it or never use it.

The author's sprinkle in other psychological tactics and persuasion ideas throughout the book including Quadrant Thinking (again, nothing new) but it should be in a book like this for easy reference.

There's a decent index and bibliography. All in all I give this 4 out of 5 stars for its depth and completeness. If you only get one book on persuasion and need to understand it, this is a great place to start.

I think the book could have been written with more organization. I feel I learned a few things from reading this book, but I feel that I could have retained so much more had the author organized the information and made the book "flow" together more smoothly. I gave it three stars because the author was all over the place throughout the entire book and for some people (myself included) it will drive them crazy.

My recommendation is to take your time reading this book. Also if you haven't read a book on the subject of persuasion, start with Robert Cialdini's "Persuasion".

Well the title could put many people off of this book! However it is well researched with terrific applicability to the intended audience, salespeople. You will find out the "why it works" for pretty well any sales and motivation approach you may have experienced or heard of and some you have not. Of particular use to me were the checklists of words and phrases that he collects from all sorts of places that help drive targets toward making a decision. I also learned about Option Attachment. This is where a buyer has two good choices, either of which are valid. However once a choice is made, the buyer can feel a sense of loss over the option not taken. This is a useful book, fairly easy to read. There are a few serious copy editing flaws which drove me to ask "what?" It may come from a bit over use of cut and paste from other books/articles he wrote that refer to topics not in the book.

Looking for ways to convince clients and employees to see things your way? Motivational speakers Kevin Hogan and James Speakman offer dozens of secrets of what they call "covert persuasion" - the art and science of gently nudging people to do what you want them to do. Hogan and Speakman offer dozens of specific techniques for discretely bending customers to your will. Occasionally, these techniques seem more cheesy than covert - for example, saying "Just imagine how much you'll be admired in that new car." And if you're not a fan of Dale Carnegie, Zig Ziglar and Jeffrey Gitomer, you may lose patience. Still, even skeptics are likely to find something they can use among the worksheets, lists and tactics outlined here. We recommend this overview to salespeople and to those who want to polish their persuasive skills.

I'm a good Salesman and I read sales books regularly. Most of the books I've read have only one or two nuggets of gold in them. This one has many.

But...

On closer reading, here's what I now think:- there's an underlying total selfishness that goes right through this book. That's fine with me since it seems to allign with the evidence of man's history and furthermore is refreshingly honest too. But be warned, if you're a happy clappy bunny then this book may well alter your worldview. The attitude of this book is on a par with The Prince, so handle with care.

Highly recommended.

A terrific airplane book that goes over tactics that explain and show persuasion.

All of Kevin's books are very good reads and his words are always very clear, to the point and enjoyable. There will never be alot of original thought in his work. He takes the best of many other books and and puts the main points in his own easy to read print. All of his books are worth the money and time it takes to read them.

[...]

This is one of those books that I have marked up, dog-eared, and looking like the well-loved book that it is, and I have only had it for a few weeks. So yes, I'm reading it and employing the strategies. Get a pad and pen when you read this book, because you will want to take copious notes.

I even used a quote from this book at a presentation I gave when I shared the stage with Ben Mack and Larry Benet recently in Atlanta - about how people fear because they do not see the future, so your job is to help them see the future.

Thank you for this wonderful book. It is one of the most useful books I have read, and is one I recommend to entrepreneurs and writers..

This book is a true jewel, especially to those in Sales. The concepts delivered in this book can be applied to everyday life, work, and even relationships. Kevin Hogan continues to deliver exceptional work.

This is a good book with many technics to get the other party to do your will. The book is intended for those involved in sales and leadership roles. You will like this book because it is very informative and gives you some tools to use when attempting to persuade others.

As a student of marketing and sales techniques, Covert Persuasion sits at the top of my stack of my books on the subject. Having purchased and read Hogan's Psychology of Persuasion, The Science of Influence, Talk Your Way to the Top, and Irresistible Attraction, I trusted Hogan's skills enough to buy Covert Persuasion new and without reading any excerpts.

I was not disappointed.

Since the book is the intellectual child of his Psychology of Persuasion and Science of Influence, I urge you to get those books as well. All three books are overflowing with the latest research on persuasion.

My favorite chapter was chapter number 6, entitled The Focused Outcome Mindset, which explains that to be successful, one must imagine a desired outcome, design active steps toward that desired outcome, and continue to take those steps. I got a sense as I read Chapter 6 that Hogan was not merely restating what has been put down in many a self-help book, but showing us the drive and determination it takes him to stay at the top of the marketing research and speaking games. The man is determined. (Did you know it took him five years to get The Psychology of Persuasion in print?)

In Chapter 4, Hogan introduces us to what he calls hypnotic language patterns. I wouldn't tell you to read this chapter first, but you might want to know what it says and apply it to your career or business. If I could show you a way to learn hypnotic language patterns, would you listen to me? (I just used several of Hogan's hypnotic language patterns; read the book and find them!)

In Chapter 10, Hogan recounts 27 Observations About People (And How to Covertly Persuade Them). Therein, you'll find such critical principles as People Do More to Avoid Pain Than They Will Do to Gain Pleasure, Negative People Infect Others. Avoid Them, Peer Pressure Doesn't End with High School and many others. These will not only help you get inside potential customers' minds, but if applied, will help you in life.

This is the kind of book that you will leave highlighted , sticky noted, and dog-eared. When you get it you will feel as if you've got a weapon no one else has!

Lastly, make sure you apply the techniques in the book. As he writes in Chapter 6, no book can change your life. Only you can.

William Powell Jr.
Author - Valkyrie ISBN: 1-59080-529-1and dietersdictionary.com

I was disappointed with this book and frankly wish I'd spent my money elsewhere. Although there was the odd bit here and there that was interesting, the "tactics and tricks" I felt were in general quite simplistic. For example, one of the tactics is "always give more than you promised": something that to me is pretty obvious if you want to get on someone's good side, as is "building rapport".

The most frustrating thing about this book is that I felt the authors were constantly trying to sell me something. For example: "The Covert Persuasion Tactics in this chapter are an exclusive collection of the closely guarded and little known subtle tactics used by the most successful professional persuaders." Note the capitals. I'm surprised they didn't try to trademark the phrase.

I felt this was far from "Covert Persuasion" but instead just simple tips for salespeople, which did not deserve the hype the authors gave them. If you feel you do ok with getting on with people and in sales, you'll probably find you "mirror" people's body language and "pace" (alter your tone of voice to match your audience's) now anyway without realising it and won't learn as much from this book as others.

If you're not in sales, don't bother. To take it to the next level for genuine "covert persuasion" I'd suggest a book more on the fundamentals, like body language (eg "The Definitive Book of Body Language" by A&B Pease), suggestion or perhaps NLP (Bandler, Grinder or Dilts).

Kevin Hogan hit...again! Once again the master persuader has provided a guide book to persuasion and infuence. Through wisdom a house is built, through understanding the rooms are filled with all good things. This information is vital to anyone who cares about really having the tools to produce results in life.

I read Covert Persuasion the first time and I will be referring back to it more than once. I used one of the tactics in the book and it really does work. I had to convince one client to help another. It was not easy but I managed to persuade and get the job done. If you're in sales or sales managing I would highly recommend this book.

I was thinking that this book was going to be a little more about getting compliance out of individuals, along the lines of verbal judo. However, I found the book to be mostly about sales, and most concepts related to salesmen. Some of the concepts could be applied to getting compliance out of non-compliant individuals, but it seemed like the main focus was how to sell a product.

And this book capsulizes the best of the sales tools that I've found in a myriad of books, seminars and personal experience over the last 30 years! Presented in a compelling and understandable way, this book is an assest to anyone.....salesperson or not.

Kevin Hogan does and outstanding job of getting you in touch with the finer methods of communication. He not only lets you expierence the facts but gives you the "WHY"
I cant imagine anyone that claims to be serious about the art of sales or influcence that doesnt have this book. Its not a should, its a must!

Good book. Mark Joyner must REALLY like it as he also is the 1st to "Praise" the book in the insert of the actual book "and" is giving it 5 stars in this review.

I give all of Hogan's books priority to other persuasion guru's. He is very educated and know how to communicate his knowledge to all readers.

I even own his tinnitis book which is probably the most helpful book written for us tinnitus sufferers

... if the book is really worth it!

The answer is "Yes".

The best thing about the book is that it's not just another rework or rewording of Robert Caldini's work on influence and persuasion. If you know Kevin and/or his style, you'll immediately "feel" him coming through to you in the pages.

A great and practical book packed with immediately applicable techniques. I've used the methods (and I'm still going through using them each day because there's no way you can use all in all situations) and they work. Period.

I'm 100% confident that if you use them as described and in the right situations, they'll work for you too, instantly!

Yes, you can not put down this book. I read it in one go. However, this only means that Kevin Hogan is himself a good user of hypnotic language structure. This book doesn't provide much new information that you do not already know. Also, a lot of times it presents problems (observations about people) without offering solutions or ways to deal with them. For example, he says that people always regret having chosen one person/object over another (a girl who chooses b/w two men she likes will value the rejected guy a lot more after she has rejected him). This makes sense and is a perfect observation, but he doesn't provide any techniques to reverse the situation should it occur or to address it to prevent it from happening (except saying that do not give your target too much time to decide). There are a lot of other situations where he makes good observations based on research other people have conducted before him, but he doesn't provide good techniques to deal with them.

The book is also sometimes grammatically and syntactically incorrect although this is a very minor problem. Positives about the book is that it is a good, quick read and will tell you a lot about people's behaviors and a little about using them to persuade people. It will not change your life or anything and the only reason you would think it was the greatest book you ever read (if that happens) would be probably because the authors are great at using hypnotic structure in language.

I thought the book was very lacking in information. It had a few good points but for the most part it could have been written in about 20 pages.

Kevin has written yet another facinating look at how many unsuspecting are manipulated. He will confess that many of the techniques could be used for non-ethical purposes but the art of persuasion has been around since forever. Hogan lays the book out in 55 tactics and then continues to demonstrate how to use them. (presumably in a sales situation but it could be any scenario) I was familiar with a number of tactics but some were new and very interesting. Makes for an intriguing read.

How many people do you know who make rational decisions? After reading this book, you may learn that the answer is a lot closer to zero than to one...Kevin Hogan and James Speakman have asserted in this work that people make their decisions based on subconcious feelings about similar situations; they back it up with results from many counterintuitive psychological studies throughout. And it even includes a section on ethics.
But this is not some dry, dull psych tome. The whole book is a "How-to"- how to make more sales, how to get people to help you achieve your goals, how to get things done in an interdependent world. The book shows you how to gently and covertly nudge people toward a decision that will benefit both you and them, without trickery, and make the best use of your time in the process. Loaded with visual, lingual, empathic and other tactics to influence others, it is a fascinating and provocative read.
I ripped it out of the Amazon package at 10AM and closed it at 9PM the same day- then went back to start taking notes to put the concepts and tactics into daily use. When you decide to buy and use this book, be prepared for changes in your outcomes with others. And, oh- don't let it lying around where your kids can find it, they know enough of these things already!

Cram every great persuasion book over the last 50 years--How to Win Friends And Influence People, How to Get Anyone to Do Anything, Influence, Sales Bible, The Secrets of Power Persuasion, and other--into a box, add a few new insights, and shake the box until the books become one resource and you have Covert Persuasion. I couldn't stop reading it. From the very beginning, the authors (I'd heard of Hogan before from other books on the same topic)toss out solid advice. Sure, you've heard some of it before, and some of it is reworded and served up new, but the collection of strategies is still worth the money. Almost every page is highlighted somewhere, and often in several places. To me, it's a must have book if you are interested in any way in persuasion.