Topic

reviews

A collection of 166 issues

30-Day MBA Ridicule

I flicked through one of the upended tropical forests of delusional surface-scraping self-help guides the other day. 321 pages, 12 chapters, with everything you need to know for business success as based on an MBA syllabus. How much prose was devoted to selling do you think? One and a half

60 Seconds And Your Hired

Pre-dating the discovery of global financial corruption, a friend of mine landed a job in New York with Goldman Sachs. He told me that this 1994 book helped him snare it. [http://www.robinryan.com/] I borrowed it wondering if it held any sales tips. I’m pleased to report

Soldlab Sold Magazine

[http://www.soldlab.com/free-magazine/] A newly launched free mag for all us busy and pressured salespeople. Excited? Upon discovery, I was. Disappointment though, soon took over. This enterprise demonstrates an awful lot about what is wrong with sales advice out there. Whilst any endeavour aiming to improve selling results

Daniel Pink TED video

Of remarkable consequence to anyone pushing the pursuit of commission is this Surprising Science Of Motivation TED video of Daniel Pink [http://www.ted.org/talks/dan_pink_on_motivation.html]. He rubbishes the accepted practice of incentivisation. Plenty of studies show bonuses do not lead to better performance. It’

The Emotional Transportation Business

Here’s another in a growing canon of work around the power of storytelling. Former film producer Peter Guber [www.peterguber.com] is entertainingly on the promotion trail for his tome of tips; Tell to Win – Connect, Persuade, and Triumph with the Hidden Power of Story. Pushing an open door

The Bootstrappers Bible (Seth Godin)

This is a book written by marketing author Seth Godin. I’ve recently read the updated November 2004 manifesto [changethis.com/8.bootstrappersbible]. He implores that having no cash is not a valid barrier to prevent a great idea you have being turned into a new business. A noble cause

Rory Sutherland and The Small Stuff

Sales and Marketing make restless bedfellows. It’s hard to find good words that either side says about the other. The very fact that different ‘sides’ is accepted language belies comradeship and gives a glimpse of mistrust. So we should hail Rory Sutherland. A distinguished ad man, he certainly doesn’

Obliquity (John Kay)

I’ve long blogged against the misguided pursuit of money as your primary driver. Better, I’ve always felt, to focus on success first. Financial reward then easier follows from your accomplishment. I’ve come across an author who reinforces this stance throughout his promotion of obliquity. As defined by

Microtrends

[http://www.microtrending.com/] Here’s an easy read from 2007. With 75 bite-size sections only a handful of pages each, you can leisurely dive in and out of Microtrends [www.microtrending.com]. The book aims to show how counter intuitive trends eventually buck conventional wisdom. They manage this after

Paul S. Goldner Price Or Value The Choice Is Yours

This was the title of a presentation given at a ‘software for sales’ event I attended in Chicago way back in 1998. It in part deserves recollection as being a needle of personal selling skill discussion in a haystack of mainly technical monologues. [http://www.redhotsales.com] Despite the ancient