Compelling Selling. Simple & profitable tips for effective, efficient sales conversations. Dr. Nancy Zare. 2020.  The author, a psychologist has analyzed aspects of prospects and salespeople and identified 4 different buying styles and 4 different selling styles. Some of this is very reminiscent of the Social Styles work done a few decades ago. I had applied it to my selling syles and found it useful.  This book goes further by giving more insights into identifying and following up with the different buying styles.  It reflects the more pragmatic demands of today’s business reader. The guides are useful and simple so I suspect most young salespeople will be able to adopt them.  I started out thinking that the book would be a retread of older material but I found new insights from this work.

A Long Petal of the Sea. Isabel Allende. 2020. ISBN 9781984820167. I am a long time fan of Allende’s work.  She weaves feeling. the human condition and history into a seamless tapestry.  This book starts with the  Spanish war between Republicans and Fascists that was a warm-up to WWII. We follow the hero ( a medical student)  through being on the desperate Republican side, what happens to his family and then fleeing to France. After they flee to Chiulem, build a life and then after Allende is killed, fleeing again to Argentina and starting over. The protagonist is jailed and tortured several times. Yet the characters survive the harshness and scarcities of war and repressions.  A great read that will stay with you for quite some time.

Channel Force. A modern methodology for channel revenue growth. Craig H. Booth. 2020. 9781734891553.

A recent book on the issues surrounding Channel Sales. Written with a technology company in mind, the solutions suggested applying to any channel sales. The organization of the book is very logical and it allows the reader to build up a comprehensive model for their channel sales.  I appreciated the depth of thought put into this book.  This is helpful when you build your program but also you will learn the root of your channel problems and then be able to troubleshoot.  IMHO many, most channel problems are self-created through errors in the original set up and inattention.  It is difficult and painful to fix but needed to improve your revenue picture. This book will help, but the reader has to pay attention and work through the whole process, there are no short cuts. But once you understand the logic,  the work you need to do is easy to  see