The 5 Rules of Megavalue Selling. How to communicate customer value and differentiate from competitors. Mark Holmes. 2017.  ISBN 9781619846234.  This is a good book on the topic of value selling. It hits all the relevant points, while keeping it very credible. The allegory style that will tend to hold a readers attention.  This is not a beginning sales persons training book , but it is a book on sales effectiveness. Should be on every sales managers desk.

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Ask More. The power of questions to open doors, uncover solutions, and spark change. Frank Sesno. 2017. ISBN 9780814436721.  I am a fan of AMACOM books, they always deliver. This book by Frank Sesno is a good one. Unlike previous books on using questions in sales, this one covers questions for your whole life and many different situations.  Its a great starting book and also one that you can carry for your whole career. They key to change and impact is listening and the cornerstone to listening is having great questions.  Buy this, read it and refer back many times.

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Hacking Marketing. Agile practices to make marketing smarter, faster, and more innovative.  Scott Brinker.  2016. ISBN 9781119183174.   The author makes a terrific analysis of how today’s digital marketing has evolved and the need for marketers to develop and maintain new skills.   The application of agile tools and techniques to all aspects of marketing just makes so much sense. The author does an excellent job in showing how this is as much a management  tool as a software tool. Highly recommended for any and all marketers and schools of marketing.

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Finders & Keepers. How the world’s most powerful customer is changing everything. Rob Schlyecher.2015. ISBN 9780994059307. The book is an application of work by Christopher Norton and the authors company Spring Advertising on the market vertical called the New Economic Order, or as the author calls it Finders. Finders are less than half the population, yet control 75% of the discretionary spending.  Keepers (bargain hunters, sit on their wallets and thus have a very small part of the spending).  If your product is too often all about the price ( Cars, real estate, commodities) then you are talking ot the Keepers. In other word, a race to the bottom.  Finders are foodies, love the artisan, look for out of the way shops,  love the authentic experience. Finders will often pay full retail as they respect the product value. Eg Lululemon, Subaru, iPhone, Trader Joe’s, Brew pubs, Vinyl records.  Keepers love WalMart. The premise is very easy to grasp, but the application can be difficult if your company is not Finder friendly or oriented.  Worthwhile book to read, and clearly written ( They must write good copy at Spring) . Every marketer should read this one., if only for the fascinating case studies.

Content Inc. How entrepreneurs use content to build massive audiences and create radically successful businesses. Joe Pulizzi. 2016 ISBN 9781259589669.   This could be called the Content Bible on building any content based business.  The author is a successful  pioneer in this field and he knows how to make it work.  The book is full of get to the point quickly content and a plethora of case studies and examples of how others have done or are doing it.  With this book and the requisite hard work you are more than 3/4 of the way to a successful business.  Having read his other books  I am a fan, but you will find it a very worthwhile use of your time to get this book.

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WordPress Made Super Simple.  How anyone can build a professional looking website from scratch: Even a total beginner. Jack Davies & Sarah Wiley 2014.   This book does exactly what it proposes to do.  I have looked a few of these books this year and can not recommend this one too highly.  Like Jack  “just the facts ma’am”  Palance , the author does not stray very far from the essentials.  The first book to read on the subject IMHO.

The New Rules of Sales and Service.  How to use agile selling, real-time customer engagement, big data, content and storytelling to grow your business. David Meerman Scott. 2014. ISBN 9781118827857. The author is the expert on this stuff. I have reviewed several of his books and he always delivers exactly what you need.  I made so many highlights in this book that it seemed it would have be easier to just copy it all.  Great stuff , like

• more people have access to mobile phones than have access to toothbrushes.
• the marketing staff needs to be the buyer expert, not just the product expert.
• marketers become expert in persuading the audience of many , the salesperson  need to excel in persuading the individual buyers
• companies need to be educating the salespeople about the buying process.
• buyers operate in real-time
• salespeople need to be able to bring value to the discussion

He is all about the buyer and knowing the buyers journey.   He peppers the content liberally with real world examples that are true and sadly, too funny in that they still occur.   One of the better books for the beginner through to the expert , there is something for everyone in this book

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Buyer Personas. How to gain insight into your customers expectations, align your marketing strategies and win more business. Adelle Revella 2015. ISBN 9781118961506.  A very well considered book that provides a thorough analysis and playbook on building successful personas for your business.   .  Chapter 10 brings it together on how to help guide sales teams with buyer insights and decision  criteria to allow salespeople to do a much faster and better job of selling.   The pages are full of insights and good practice on this subject.   This is the authoritative text on the subject today and a must buy for all marketers.

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Sales Process Excellence. Michael J. Webb. 2014. ISBN 9780977107223.  Michael sent me this book to review almost a year ago. I let it sit on my review shelf for far too long.  Our firm has used Six Sigma Sales and Marketing as a guidebook since it first appeared in 2006. That book not only impacted how we looked at sales and marketing but what we counselled clients to do.  This has contributed to many successful projects over the years.

This book is even  better than the first. It is long overdue for sales and marketing  to be looked at and improved through a process view.  Taking from the work of  Deming, TQS, Lean and many years of applied experience, the author has built a fully functional analysis model to improve the sales, marketing and service components of your business in bringing increased value to the customer.  This material is as modern as you are going to get in the sales and marketing field.   There are many other great sales and marketing books out there, but they all seem to address just part of the process. This book will drive your company to take the waste out of your Sales and Marketing and drive customer value.  Its a must have for business leaders who  want to really succeed and grow.  To buy it go direct to http://salesprocessexcellence.com/

Hooked. How to build habit-forming products. Nir Eyal. 2014. ISBN 9780670069323.  The book is very good. Using four stages the author shows you how the user moves from Trigger, to Action, receives a Variable reward and Invests into the product.  Clearly written and easily familiar to any of us with addictive tendencies,  the book is a welcome addition to the literature of making compelling products.  The author makes a clear distinction between products that make the users life better and all the others out there.  A good addition to the work documented by Dan Ariely.   A four hour well written read.