Overview

Businesses these days talk a lot about figuring out what the customer wants. Well, here's your first lesson: the customer doesn't know what he wants. This book will show you how to convince him he wants what you're selling. Les Gold has been in business since age twelve, when he started selling used golf clubs from his dad's basement. Now he owns Detroit's biggest pawnshop, American Jewelry and Loan, and is the star of the hit reality television show Hardcore Pawn. As a third-generation pawnbroker, Gold grew up in the business, dealing with cus┬�tomers who could be unruly and violent as often as they were friendly. He became good at selling just about anything and at buying items for what they were worth. Although he started at his family's small pawnshop, he has now expanded into a fifty-thousand-square-foot former bowling alley, making a thousand deals a day. On any given day, he could be taking a vin┬�tage car into pawn or chasing down a thief who's just stolen a gold chain from the store. No business school in the world can teach you as much about buying, selling, negotiating, managing employees, dealing with customers, advertising, tracking trends, and predicting the economy's ups and downs. In this entertaining, honest book, Gold takes you inside some of his weirdest, wacki┬�est deals and steals. From the monkey his dad once took in to pawn to the deal Gold made for a stripper pole, he has no boundaries for what he considers to be part of his business--and neither should you. You will learn: How to tell an emotional story when you're selling--and take emotion out of the transaction when you're buying; Why judging your customers before you know them can kill a potential deal; How to deal with risk, both mental and physical; How to communicate with employees (even if they're your own kids); Why investing in relationships with your community is time well spent; Why your business should never be limited by what others tell you it should be. No place in the world prepares you better for the working world than a pawnshop, and Les Gold takes you inside his shop to share what he's learned from fifty-five years in the most interesting job in the world.

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9781469027449

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Reviews

Viewers of Gold's truTV show Hardcore Pawn may not be prepared for the Les Gold they meet in the pages of his book, where, all puns aside, he appears to have a 'heart of gold'...Fans who watch Gold's TV show for its sleaze factor will be disappointed by this book-it's alternately interesting and charming, and even sweet. -- Publishers Weekly In For What It's Worth, Les Gold shares business secrets from America's front line of front lines-the pawnshop. It's a fascinating read for anyone trying to succeed in business and life. -- Jerry Springer The best entrepreneurs are street fighters-and Les Gold is the ultimate. He's built an incredible business, fought through every possible battle, and reinvented his industry. In For What It's Worth, Les shares his secrets to becoming wildly successful, all told in a captivating and inspirational manner. -- Josh Linkner, New York Times bestselling author Since his first appearance on Good Afternoon America in the summer of 2012, Les has quickly become one of my favorite guests, in the mornings and the afternoons. I often call him 'our own Santa Claus, ' for the joy he gives people by showing them the wealth they didn't know they had. Les' years of experience have given him a business acumen that stretches far beyond the pawnshop-and this book is a must read for anyone who wants to create their own success in any business. -- Josh Elliott, news anchor, ABC's Good Morning America

Author Information

Les Gold owns the fifty-thousand-square-foot American Jewelry and Loan, which serves more than 250 customers every hour. He also stars in the truTV show Hardcore Pawn, which has more than three million weekly viewers. He lives in Detroit and works alongside his wife, son, and daughter. Walter Dixon is a broadcast media veteran of more than twenty years' experience with a background in theater and performing arts and voice work for commercials. After a career in public radio, he is now a full-time narrator with more than fifty audiobooks recorded in genres ranging from religion and politics to children's stories.

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