Hey Bill, Can You Recommend a Book?

In a perfect world (why do so many of my blogs include that phrase???), a company has a rich and robust sales library of books and tapes. In the real world, those that do buy beautiful and expensive book cases to hold hundreds of dollars’ worth of unread, untouched books and tape sets still shrink wrapped.

But still, here are the books that I have gotten a lot from and reread frequently...

• "How to Win Friends & Influence People" — This is an absolute must! Main theme: You can get what you want when you figure out what other people want and help them to get it;
• "The 5 Love Languages" — Teaches that we all receive love in one of five ways. Sales implication: You might think you are managing well but if you don’t understand the rep’s sales “love language,” they will feel under appreciated.
• "Strengths Finder" — Good book to assess the skills of an individual
• "The Four Agreements" — Always do your best, Make no assumptions, Don’t take anything personally, Be impeccable with your word. Easy to see where this fits in a sales life!
• "Wellbeing" — Same author as "Strengths Finder." Happiness is scientifically measured. Interesting read that helps to benchmark where you are personally and where you need to go. That, in turn helps with setting sales and financial goals
• "Integrity" — Dr. Henry Cloud wrote this book about managers and employees and the need to consider some vital characteristics when gauging their impact on others and the company.
• "The Assertiveness Workbook" — Helps salespeople (and all of us, really) to turn up the heat without becoming too aggressive. Also talks about giving and receiving feedback. I recommend this one A LOT.
• "Driven to Distraction" —This is THE book for those of us with Adult ADD.
• "The 4-Hour Workweek" — Once you get past the enormous ego of the author, he makes some very good points regarding efficiency.
• "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People" — This one is in the Hall of Fame. Steven Covey provides some great tips on getting more done in less time.

There are also a number of TED talks that might help. Perhaps it would be best to send the URL to the salespeople and ask THEM to share links with each other.

Okay, gang, let’s hit the books!

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