Selling in a Crisis. 55 ways to stay motivated and increase sales in volatile times. Jeb Blount. 2023. ISBN 9781394162369. This is a truly motivational sales book. At times I felt he was channeling good Zig Ziglar vibes. Many sales people today have not experienced a down turning economy and need this book to help them reset. The strongest takeaway for me is that now is the time to stick to the basics of sales and not be lazy. Those of us who do that will succeed despite what the economy does. Easy quick read, but very useful.

Sales Coaching Essentials. How to transform your sales team. Mark Garrett Hayes. 2022. ISBN 9781788603324. A very clear and well written guide to sales coaching. The author makes a clear distinction between training (teacher led) and coaching (partnership). In the sales environment coaching is a must-do for sales leaders. In my practise I see it as a journey of the sales leader and the sales team together toward better practices in their market. Your clients can help you find what works. Thus book touches all the bases in sales and gives you approaches, questions and concrete examples on what to do in any sales situation. Buy this book, read it, make notes and ensure it is on your desk for when you need it.

Pickup the Phone and Sell. How proactive calls to customers and prospects can double your sales. Alex Goldfayn. 2022. A very useful boon for today’s SDRs. This book is full of tactics and tips for outbound selling. Also, it has a lot of motivational material for sales managers to use with their teams. I found it easy but detailed enough to read that the material can be immediately useful. His website goldfayn.com has good free resources for the sales teams. You need this on your shelf to read through the year.

Sales Coaching Essentials. How to transform your sales team. Mark Garrett Hayes. 2022. ISBN 97861788603324.  This book does what it sets out to do.  In today’s world the effective sales leader is the head coach for the team.  This is a book I would put on my desk to reread and make notes. prior to coaching sessions. It is organized around topics that are of immediate importance to sales.  As well the overall view is leading the team and team members to solutions they come up with and are responsible for.  You don’t do the work for them.  Very useful book.

Sales Secrets. The World’s Top Salespeople Share Their Secrets to Success. Brandon Bornancin. 2020.   I have been working through this book for several months now.  Not because it is a tough read, but because each if the 100 plus interviews is so packed with very useful terse advice.  I have directed many of my coached clients to this treasure of a book.  Its just so useful. I would read an interview and then use it in my daily practice.  So do not rush through this book,, but reflect on each bit and see where you can use this.  Also you will connect with 100 plus great sales resources on LinkedIn.  Could be the sales book of 2021

Sell Different!: All New Sales Differentiation Strategies to Outsmart, Outmaneuver, and Outsell the Competition Lee Salz. 2021 ISBN 978-1400222506.  I like Lee Salz work, so when he offered a review copy, I readily agreed.  I finished it today and it is everything I expected and more. This is easily one of the best sales books this year.  His ideas, examples and suggestions are bang on in the competitive and ever changing of sales field.  Plus it is all actionable and will result in much improved sales efforts for your sales teams.  Do not wait to get his book as you are leaking sales every day until you start to implement his ideas and techniques.  Another  winner from Lee

5 Tips That Can Help You Get Paid Without Losing Customers  by Eleanor Wyatt

A recent survey indicated that 17% of small businesses have unpaid invoices. This can not only cause cash flow problems but complicate business planning because businesses cannot count on being paid when bills are due. Collecting unpaid invoices is important for your bottom line; however, you need to take care to pursue collection in a way that doesn’t degrade your relationship with your customers. Reg Nordman offers tips that can help.

1. Send a Friendly and Professional Payment Reminder

Sometimes customers simply forget to pay bills or need a little nudge to get them to take action. Sending a friendly, professional email reminder or text message after the due date may prompt these customers to remit their payments without further action from you. Inform the customer that their payment is past due and remind them what the due date is, how much they owe and how they can pay. Include a copy of the original invoice in case the customer lost, didn’t receive or misplaced it. 

2. Call the Customer

If your email or text reminder doesn’t elicit a response, try calling the customer. Confirm that you are speaking to the right person and have the correct contact information. Be friendly and empathetic. Ask them for a timeframe when you can expect to receive payment. If appropriate, offer to work out an alternate payment schedule if the customer is having difficulty paying the full amount. Being willing to work with the customer, rather than demanding immediate payment, is a good way to strengthen your relationship and increase the chances of getting future business.

3. Automate Your Invoicing Process

Chasing after late payments can cost you resources you would rather be spending on running your business. You can automate some of these features by using payment processing software. Zenbusiness recommends investing in software that can automatically send customers late payment reminders. It also makes it easier to offer a variety of payment methods which increases your chance of getting paid. 

4. Avoid Late Payments

Another way to save yourself the hassle of chasing late payments is to avoid them in the first place. There are a variety of tactics you can employ. If you are experiencing a large volume of late payments, you may want to be more selective in who you offer credit to. Make sure your payment terms are clear. Offer as many ways to pay as possible. Provide incentives for early payments, such as discounts. Consider collecting a portion of your payment upfront for large invoices. 

5. Prioritize Kindness

Understandably, you may become frustrated with customers who don’t pay their bills, even after several reminders; however, if you want to build customer loyalty, it is important to remain kind. Once you become confrontational, it is difficult to repair the relationship. Practice active listening when communicating with customers. Demonstrate empathy when customers explain why they haven’t paid you yet. Instead of intimidating, threatening or punishing, make the process cooperative. You want the customer to believe you are there to help them, not hassle them for money.

Collecting money from customers who don’t pay on time without risking losing future business is a tricky proposition. However, if you remain kind, persistent and empathetic you can turn a frustrating situation into an opportunity to build stronger relationships and retain customers.

Coaching Salespeople into Sales Champions. A tactical playbook for managers and executives. Keith Rosen. 2008.  A very useful book as it is full of things that managers can actually do.  Its Olympics time and one of the sponsors had made spotlight videos of the impact of coaching to the high performance athlete.  The is  true for sales teams ( since its all about people and not stuff) .  Rosen is very recognized in this field and he writes a no nonsense book stuffed full of impactful insights.  I took copious notes and constantly refer this book to my own coaching clients.   Buy it, read it and keep it handy for regular referral.

Tactical Pipeline Growth. Winning the battle for new business, Mark McInness. 2020. ISBN 9780646819938.   The author has put together a very practical, pragmatic book on tactical sales methods. He is also very organized and logical making this a good guide to building internal sales processes.   You will still need a good idea of your ideal client, the types of language and content that works for them. As well you need good marketing chops to drive leads and traffic to work with.  That done, this book will make sure you take the best care of the leads you work with.  Worth any sales professional’s time to read this.

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.