Recommended Reading

A Sense of Urgency

A sense of urgency is required for any project or change initiative to become a high priority and obtain traction. Best-selling author, John Kotter, first describes the difference between a false sense of urgency and a true sense of urgency. Then, he describes tactics for establishing a true sense of urgency.

This book is stuffed full of sales tactics and practices. You should read it and reread it until you are doing every one of them everyday.

Selling Change explains why it is imperative that in the twenty-first century, salespeople must be agents of change. Selling Change gives the modern salesperson the tools necessary to stay competitive and make the sale amid constant change.  The organization of the book is what makes it perfect for the busy salesperson. Divided into 101+ secrets, the salesperson can read one secret each day, mull it over during the day, and apply it.

These flashcards are fast-reading, pocket-sized cards that you can use as a quick reminder or as a training tool for your sales or management team. Each deck contains the key ideas extracted from “Selling Change”, including summaries of 25 secrets.

This book is a study in the psychology of change and how it can be applied to help customers and grow sales. The book is written as a “learning journey” and includes thought-provoking exercises that help the reader apply the principles in his or her own life or business. Readers who enjoyed the concepts summarized in Selling Change will find the concepts described in full depth and detail in Forceful Selling.

David Keirsey’s temperament sorter, which builds upon the Meyers-Briggs Temperament Indicator (MBTI) is one of the most important developments in the field of psychology. You will find Keirsey’s descriptions of sixteen types of personalities easy to understand, insightful and useful in your business. By determining which temperaments most closely match your customers and stakeholders, you can interact with them in the way—and deliver to them—what they most value.

Leading Change is the seminal work in the field of change leadership. Author John Kotter describes an 8-step process for leading large-scale transformational change. While it is written as a tool for top management, the 8-step process describes critical success factors such as vision, support, urgency, etc that apply to any project or change initiative of any size.

A critical success factor for helping customers and stakeholders achieve their goals is developing a deep understanding of their personality and psychology. Keith Farazzi has a process he calls “instant intimacy” for breaking through typical social norms for emotional distance and guarding information. To be a successful change agent that creates compelling value for your customers and stakeholders, you have to “have your customer’s back.” Farazzi shows how to develop these deep relationships that create very high value for both parties.

The Leadership Challenge, is a seminal work on the subject of leadership. Co-author Barry Posner, who was Brett Clay’s professor in business school, recently retired as the Dean of the Leavey School of Business after teaching and inspiring generations of leaders. This book is a must read for salespeople and executives.

This book is a study in the psychology of persuasion and is the bible of the advertising industry. Cialdini describes the 6 universal principles and how to use them to become a skilled persuader.

To change, people must be open to new ideas and ways of thinking. “Mindfulness” will open your mind and help you open other people’s minds.

To be outstanding and create irresistible value for clients and stakeholders, you must believe in a bold, better situation–what David Schwartz calls “big”. “Thinking Big” will inspire you and help you inspire others.

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Thomas Friedman documents how companies, and even individual people, are competing on a level playing field. “Globalization 3.0” is upon us and people in leading economies such as USA, UK, Germany, France, etc must learn to compete with fast-moving Asian competitors. This book is a must-read for business people.

Project management is a critical skill for delivering change that creates high-value for customers and stakeholders. The PMBOK is the official “specification” of the PMI. People without prior formal project management training may want to supplement the PMBOK with a more reader-friendly introductory book on project managment.

Geoffrey Moore continues to be most identified with his book, Crossing the Chasm, which describes the challenges of introducing new products to market. However, Living on the Fault Line contains ideas and raises questions that most salespeople and business executives will be facing as companies, and entire industries, continue to rebuild after the 2009 economic recession. Moore describes how if companies collaborate and share value, they can create more value for their shareholders—an important concept for salespeople and executives.