What They Say

"All extremely good sense and very timely in view of the considerable confusion and hurt than can follow these days when a man and a woman attempt to establish a loving relationship." Tom Crabtree, Cosmopolitan

"The next stage to "You Just Don't Understand", a positive, intelligent guide. Sue Plumtree's successful seminars form the basis and research to answer practical questions like why men take phone numbers then don't ring. Meeting and keeping friends and lovers can be a minefield of misunderstandings and uncertainty. This guide aims to throw light on each stage of the way and how to discover and deal with fear of rejection, how to develop self-esteem and what makes and breaks relationships."

"Lessons in Love on offer. For the past eight years Sue Plumtree, a Fellow of the Institute of Personnel Management, has run her own training consultancy. It provides courses on communication skills for managers and has found a growing market, particularly among the financial and service sectors. "With the trend towards downsizing, empowerment and flatter organisations, many companies have realised that the people who remain need to deal with each other in different ways", she says.

Gradually, however, she became aware of another, equally pressing need: "People would come up to me during the breaks and ask for advice on how to use the same skills to find a partner." The result was a new consultancy, Entre Nous, and a new weekend seminar. It's come-on is direct: "What to do when someone takes your fancy." Now, the most tongue-tied suitor - male or female - is offered the chance of becoming a model of beguiling wit and charm.

The techniques, explains Sue Plumtree, 49, in the husky foreign tones of romantic cliche (she was born in Austria but raised in Argentina), are broadly the same as those used in business - building confidence, learning to use humour to defuse tense situations. Next year she brings out her first book, "Across a Crowded Room: How To Find And Keep The Love Of Your Life", a distillation of the course's wisdom. It might cause confusion among would-be buyers. After all, where would you find it? Under True Romance? Or, perhaps more true to its roots, under Business? (Management Today)

"My reason for contacting you is simply to provide feedback on "Across a Crowded Room", the book I was looking for in the last year, only I didn't know it. I am/was looking for a relationship though not of the sort the book seems aimed at. You see, I work in advertising and there were a few areas in my work that needed polishing. If I forgot for a minute the intended goal of the book and generalised a little, I had many answers at my feet. My imagination did the rest. I just wanted to say thanks for such a clear and concise well-targeted book." Luis