The Likeability Factor: How to Boost Your L-Factor & Achieve Your Life's Dreams

I recently saw Tim Sanders speak at a private business forum. His message range loud and clear: people do business with people they like. As a business coach, I talk to business owners and professionals all the time, and I can tell you that in my experience, many people in business are so transaction-oriented that they fail to do the simple things that create the kind of warm personal interaction that people need to feel good about doing business with someone. It's the likeability stuff that sticks with people and leads to repeat business and referrals. Tim Sanders' book is not only a reminder that we need to pay more attention to how we interact with people, he shows us how to become more likeable. It may seem like a simple concept, but it's essential. Highly recommended reading for anyone whose business depends on influencing others!

On a scale of 1-10, Tim's book is an 11. Dale Carnegie's "How to Win Friends and Influence People" gave us the macro message: "Be Likable". Tim Sanders explains the micro details of how to actually "BE" likeable. As a business consultant, I'd rate myself these days as a 6 moving toward 7. Ronald Reagan was probably a 10 or 11; Merv Griffin is right up there, too. As a young man raised in a toxic environment, I was probably a 4 on the likeability scale. For many years, beginning with "How to Win Friends ...", I read everything from Freud and Jung to Games People Play and Transactional Analysis. As a loner, I took engineering courses and was "respected", but not socially successful. After much "psychological bootstrapping", I got my first sales job at the relatively late age of 33, selling expensive, complex electronic test systems. Looking back on those times where I lost a job, alienated a co-worker or upset my wife, I realize now that I sorely needed a book like Tim's. "The Likeability Factor" is more than just a book; it is like a Scouting Manual - a handbook for those of us who want to tie more social knots with people far and near, and enjoy the improvement in our lives that its tools make possible. It shows us, step-by-step, exactly how to leave behind the isolative and counter productive emotions of Anger and Apathy and move toward a life of filled with Empathy and Enjoyment. On page: 42, Tim sums the problem of being "unliked": "Being unlikable is like expelling toxic waste into your social life". Then, in Chapter 6, he begins our education in "Likeability". In a perfect world, this handbook would be spiral-bound and handed out as required reading in every school and company. Or perhaps it should be kept in secret vaults and cost $50 on the black market - so that young people would move heaven and earth to get a copy, then read and discuss it into the wee hours in coffee houses and dorm rooms. (;-) John Schuler Portland, Oregon June 28, 2005

I loved this book - for one simple reason. Sanders has written a new book that is needed like rain on a dry desert. Good people need to be reminded that being likeable matters and how we treat each other in business is not just good manners and being considerate - it is also GOOD business. We can be happier and healthier by being likeable; and surrounding ourselves with likeable people. Tim Sanders is reminding us that the old ways of respect, caring and being likeable are admirable traits. In the near future - books like this will be remembered as the beginning of a quiet renaissance inside the business world. Why isn't this book and others like it - appearing as a a daily column in a national newspaper? Sort of like "good biz news for the day" to be posted on the water cooler or the white board.... I like the way Sanders outlines these ideas in a clean style with excellent research to support his ideas. The citations and research makes convincing reading. An easy intelligent read. This big world needs more messages such as this 2005 book. A simple message that needs repeating. Keep writing, Tim Sanders!

C R A C K . . . That's the sound of Tim hitting it out of the park again! I'm a huge fan of Tim's first book, Love is the Killer App, and couldn't wait to get my hands on the Likeability Factor. There aren't many non-fiction business or self-improvement books I haven't read, and I'm always a little skeptical. If I can get one new idea or strategy from a book it's worth it for me to read it. Well, having read the Likeability Factor, I can tell you there are tons of new ideas I'm taking away. The premise is deceptively simple . . . the more people like you the more successful you will be in business and in relationships. The real genius is Tim's thorough breakdown of the different components that make up "likeability." Rather than approach it like a textbook, he gives insightful real-world examples and stories. Chapter Six is an absolute goldmine and worth a hundred times the cost of the book. Tim shows you step-by-step how to become more likeable. I loved the "My Personal History" exercise. I can't wait to read whatever Tim's working on next!

I really loved this book! This is a book that I've needed for many years. I grew up as a science nerd, studying science and math and technology instead of people. Now, years later, I'm struggling to make up for all the things that I didn't learn about people during high school, while I was studying science. As Tim states early on in the book, our lives are determined largely by other peoples choices about us, such as who to hire or promote. I was a big fan of his first book. "Love is the Killer App", so I bought this book as soon as I heard it was out. Like "7 habits", or "How to win friends and influence people", this is a book that you have to treat as a workbook and work through it to get real results, so don't expect good results unless you come to the book willing to work. One of the goals that I have set for myself after taking the Dale Carnegie class is to become the kind of person that everybody likes, and Tim has told me what I need to do to get there. Thanks, Tim!