This year I’ve decided to update my list with four additions. These books are not necessarily new, but they are books that I’ve read in the last year (I know, some of you will look at this list and wonder “what was he waiting for?”). All of these books provide great insights to anyone intent on growing business or improving important processes.
Within the first five pages of The Sales Development Playbook you’ll know what I’m talking about. This book is not about theory or what could be. It’s down and dirty, how-to at its finest, from one of the leading practitioners in the sales development world (hell, she defined what sales development is).
This is one of the few must-read books in sales. Whether you’re a veteran or a rookie, you’ll find yourself highlighting passages, dog-earing pages and referring to the book frequently. And, while the focus of the book is on implementing an effective sales development process, it’s also a great book on selling in general.
Ostensibly written with a focus on software development, the applications of this book are limitless. If you’re involved in developing or improving processes designed to improve outcomes while reducing costs and easing the effort required, you simply must read this book.
I finally got around to reading this book six months ago. After reading it, I decided that we needed to absolutely change how we were managing and developing our processes, how our client services team was structured and how we were implementing our sales and marketing approach. Interestingly, the book doesn’t talk about any of those processes directly, but I felt like it was written for me - and I’m sure when you read it, you will too.
One of Imagine’s values comes from W. Edwards Deming, who said (among other things) “In God We Trust, Everyone Else Better Have Data.” While the last 10 years has seen an obscene amount of change in how businesses work, if I were only allowed to name one change it would be the importance of data in success.
I’m on a bit of a crusade for sellers to learn what marketers are finally learning - arguing over opinions, beliefs and even experience is an absolute waste of time (at best) when you can use facts and data to test and ultimately answer important questions. The challenge for all involved is how to do that effectively. Separating the “signal from the noise” is challenging for even the most quantitative among us. If you’re involved in gaining better insights from data and analytics - this book needs to be on your list. And thank you to Luke Summerfield for recommending it to me.
We already know that building better mouse traps isn’t a recipe for success; and that just because you build it doesn’t mean they will come. So how can you build predictability into launching a new offering?
“Customer development” is the answer to the question. If you don’t know what that is, what are you doing still reading this blog post. Go here and get a copy of the book.
It’s eights weeks until Labor Day. Read at least two of these books and you’ll prepare yourself for a great fall season as well.