Little Red Book of Selling. Jeffrey Gitomer. 2004. ISBN 1885167601. “People don’t like to be sold…but they love to buy.” Gitomer appears to be everywhere! A columnist in business papers (BIV is one), speaker at conferences, three websites (which will you will probably buy from) he is prolific and guess what…very good. He authored the Sales Bible ( and it is) as well as Customer Satisfaction is Worthless – Customer Loyalty is Priceless. For a hard core salesperson this is a personal library book , to be read and reread. That’s why it is built as such as “tough” little book. Very easy to read and the ideas make just so much good sense.

Building the Bridge as You Walk on It. Robt. E. Quinn. 2004. ISBN 078797112X. www.deepchange.com “To become a leader involves a process of deep change in yourself. ” “Move from being a reactor to an actor” “Move from problem solving to purpose finding” Based on his previous works Deep Change and Change the World, this book presents some very enlightened thought in the context of individuals stories. In our technological world this is an excellent book to help us get reconnected. It came highly recommended and it hit me the same way. Something I will keep close by for quite some time. Ask someone to get it for you for Christmas, so you can use it set your New Year up!

Celebrate marketing. Ed. Rick Crandall. 1999. ISBN 1890777072. A collection of articles on marketing including local Noulan Bowker. Since it is an eclectic group, this is for general audiences. A good read (hey they are all in marketing!) and some useful nuggets are distributed throughout. Crandall has done this for several topics (worth a Google search)

The Marketing Playbook. Zagula and Tong.2004. ISBN 1591840384. Here is one of the two best books for me for 2004. This plus Christensen makes a go to market specialists day! Lots of the content is allover their blog, http://marketingplaybook.com/ But the book is a library keeper. If you have been around the product launch block at least once, you will really see the merit of the content of this book. The two authors developed and launched MS Office, Backoffice, NT Server and other key MSoft technologies. Learn from their chronicled mistakes, which go beyond the obvious. And hey they are both VCs now! You can also catch them in various talks in Seattle still. They keep it simple, straight forward, and no not easy, since this involves very hard work to get it right! Easy, fast read, that I will reread a few times. Thanks to Troy for pointing this one out to us!

Marketing Playbook

-Zagula and Tong

ISBN 1591840384

Price: CDN$ 5.11 CAD

Lowest used price: CDN$ 4.62 CAD

High Probability Selling. Jacques Werth. 2000. ISBN 0963155032. Quite likely one of the most intriguing sales books I have come across. Written with the use of many Q&A sessions and examples, the model/book is very east to grasp and read. If wanting to be the most effective user of sales time (calling and F2F) is one of your goals, this is a good book for you. On the surface
it directly challenges one myth of selling “Always Ask for the Order” and replaces it with a much more productive method. Also it helps you build a solid respectful and trusting relationship with clients.

Since we have been studying and applying sales techniques for a long time, Rocket Builders can see that the core idea of this book is well thought out. Customers are asked structured questions which allow them to quickly disqualify themselves as high probability prospects. Once disqualified, the sales person politely moves on. Talking with and making proposals to people who are serious about buying is a saleman’s nirvana. This book can help get you closer to that point. Thanks to Chris Jordan for pointing this one out.

Inside the Olympics. Dick Pound. 2004. ISBN 0470834544. This book was very enjoyable and full of lots of insight. His thoughts on Athens are quite relevant to what is happened. The book does not quite live up to its hype however. Pound seems to careful not to really slang anyone who is at all useful to him in future IOC endeavors. For someone who has a reputation as a loose cannon, someone has muzzled him. You will enjoy it, but it’s a library book.

The Professional Service Firm 50. Tom Peters. 2000. ISBN 0375407715. I promised myself I would never read another Tom Peters book again. But this was recommended to me by Wolfgang Strigel. And? Its a pretty good read. (But face it, he does not write a book, its more like a Coles notes edition.) The reading list is quite useful and has a few things II did not know. Get it from the library and enjoy it- its about a 2 hr read.

The Trusted Leader. Galford & Drapeau. 2002. ISBN 0743235398. Galford was a co-author with David Maister on The Trusted Advisor. This is a good book for CEOs and division leaders charged with change management. They look at three types of trust, strategic, organizational and personal trust. If your company is facing trust destroyers such as crises, restructuring, mergers, downturns, and executive departures, then the research and case studies in this book will be helpful. Not an easy read, it skirts being too dense at times. Get it from the library if you already have the Maister book, else its also in the bargain bin these days.

Inside Intuit. Suzanne Taylor, Kathy Schroeder. 2003. ISBN 1591391369. How nice to read a business book in our industry written by marketing types. who can write! This follows Intuit from Day One until late last year. I bought it because of the dramatic effect the present CEO Steven Bennet has had by instituting Six Sigma- Process Excellence in the company. The other7/8ths of the book is a delightful bonus. From early successes to picking the wrong channel, working six months with no one getting any salary, to those breakthrough deals to two big winning fights with Microsoft as well the DOJ, this is a definite , buy read and reread book. Its good for entrepreneurs, COOS and CEOs. Amazon has it.

The Great Game of Business. Jack Stack. 1992. ISBN 038547525X. The Power of Open Book Management. Their is something for all of us in the high tech field to learn from this book about taking a bankrupt heavy engine rebuilder from 10 cents to a $20 stock price and revenues from $16m to $83m , while setting the bar as to being competitive. If he can get all his employees to understand his profit and loss statements every week, so can we. A compelling argument for how to improve workers productivity by letting them see the Big Picture. This is no piece of cake as Stack lays out how to get to the metrics you need to make this work. You have to like the results though. One for your library shelf as it bears rereading.