Winning the Professional Services Sale. Unconventional strategies to reach more clients, land profitable work, and maintain your sanity. Michael W. McLaughlin. 2009. ISBN 9780470455852.  A very valuable book and at the front of my line to be the sales book for 2009 IMHO.  There is just too much great stuff in this book to summarize for you.  The author published with Jay Levinson Guerilla Marketing for Consultants, which I also found very useful.  The core (book jacket)  is  rather than pressing the sale, salespeople must help clients buy–the way that works best for each client.  Only by fully understanding a sale from every angle, including its impact on the client’s business and career, can salespeople thrive in the new era of the service economy.  He really makes the point that selling is getting harder all the time, and the pro salesman must  always search for and learn  new things. I really liked hearing his comments on long term clients expecting more from you over time as well as expecting you to be always getting faster at doing it.

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Business operations.

The Six Common Small Business Failures …and how to avoid them . Frederick Jones. 2009. ISBN 9780578008592.  This is quite a hard hitting book.  his chapter on traits of an Unfit Leader should scare a lot of folks.  His six items is:

1. Poor planning
2. Misalignment
3. Lack of dedication
4. Laziness
5. Untruthfulness
6. Arrogance

The author has been there and done it. This is not an academic book. Check out www.donotfail.info

Business Security. How to protect your small business against fraud, debtors, theft, workplace violence and more! T.A. Brown. 2008. ISBN9780974343891. This is a collection of articles by experts in each of the fields.  I was taken aback by the thoroughness of the writers in such a small book. All meat and potatoes.

Without Warning. Breakthrough strategies for solving the silent problems taking aim at your organization. Rodney N. Johnson2009. ISBN 1592982743.  This book outlines a method to quickly help you get your company aligned, by eliminating the silent problems.  By a generous use of examples and stories the author helps you identify your own silent problems.  Very useful quick  book. Check out  www.withoutwarningcoach.com

The Adversity Paradox. An unconventional guide to achieving uncommon business success.  J. Barry Griswell & Bob Jennings. 2009. ISBN 9780312385552.  Writers like Harvey Mackay have firsthand knowledge of “the adversity paradox”. They have found that the knowledge they gained from overcoming adversity played a crucial role in their success trajectories, so they now consider adversity a friend. Griswell is no stranger to this.  With lots of real life examples – it is not a short cut book, but rather a lifetime of insights book.  If you are facing tough time, embrace the experience and it will make you stronger.

Building Business Value. How to command a premium price for your midsized company. Martin O”Neil. 2009. 9780982056905.  Martin O’Neill shows you how to focus a leadership team on the challenge of building value over the long haul, so when it comes time to exit, your company can ask for – and get – that superpremium price.  ROThumb? Never stop thinking about tomorrow.

OOPS! 13 Management Practices That Waste Time and Money. 2009. ISBN 9780937100172.  The author believes that these 13 are a waste of time (and she pulls no punches):

1. Employee of the month
2. Stretch goals
3. Performance appraisals
4. Ranking
5. Rewarding things a dead man can do
6. Salary and hourly pay
7. “You did a good job, but”
8. The sandwich
9. Overvaluing smart talented people
10. The budget process
11. Promoting people nobody likes
12. Downsizing

Mergers, acquisitions and other reorgs.

She also present what you can do instead.  I believe him . A good read.

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