My Favorite Books of 2019

January 1, 2020 by Leave a Comment
My favorite books of 2019, showing book covers

I read some truly inspirational and eye-opening books this year. Without further ado, here is this year’s list of my favorites books of 2019.   

Thinking in Bets: Making Smarter Decisions When You Don’t Have All the Facts by Annie Duke – Duke is the first woman to win the World Series of Poker and she shares insights on how to make decisions when you don’t have all the cards on the table, which translates for the rest of us to making decisions when you don’t have all the information you need. As someone who over-thinks and over-analyzes many decisions this book resonated with me deeply. It’s changed my mindset in how I approach certain situations. When a book does that, it’s something special. I’ve even successfully used her techniques while playing the occasional night of poker with my friends. This is a must read, especially if you want to learn to approach making decisions more quickly, without second guessing yourself and with more accuracy in the outcome.   

Keep Going: 10 Ways to Stay Creative in Good Times and Bad by Austin Kleon – I’ve read Kleon’s other books, Steal Like an Artist and Show Your Work, with delight and this is another gem. His insights, along with thoughts from other artists, provide inspiration to keep producing work that excites you and gets you out of bed in the morning, when it seems like you’re doing the same thing over and over, like Bill Murray in Groundhog Day. It’s a fun read and made me appreciate the joy of the creative process and not get too focused on the outcomes. You will enjoy this book as much as I did.     

Beat the Bots: How Your Humanity Can Future-Proof Your Tech Sales Career by Anita Nielsen – This book calls itself a sales book for tech sales professionals, but it’s much more than that. This book is for everybody who deals with other people in their work – essentially, everybody. Nielsen approaches sales, not as a transaction that takes place, but a thought process that transforms your relationship with your client. Instead of thinking B2B, she has you think in terms of H2H – human to human. Her insights are powerful. She writes in a personal way that makes you feel like she’s right there with you one-on-one in a coaching session. She’s in your corner and her care for you as a sales professional shines through. It’s easy to see why she’s one of the most sought after consultants around. This book is highly recommended.  

When Nobody Was Watching: My Hard-Fought Journey to the Top of the Soccer World by Carli Lloyd with Wayne Coffey – I’ll start by saying I’m not a soccer fan and I know Lloyd’s name by watching the Olympics, so I can say that I’m only vaguely familiar with her career. I’ve never read a book by an athlete that showed so much mental toughness like this book did. The sacrifices that Lloyd made to become an elite athlete and her struggles to maintain her position on the team are astounding. She takes you through the grueling long hours of practice, the exhausting physical training program, the loss of a social life that all athletes at this level sacrifice to “make it”, and details the moments in important matches in her career, but there’s more to her story that got to me. It was the constant need to prove herself, not only year to year, but match to match. It was exhausting just reading about it and I thought to myself many times, “How much can one person take?” Thankfully, she had a personal coach who believed in her. He pushed her when she needed a kick in the butt and comforted her when she needed someone to vent with. We could all use a coach like that in our life. I realized this book is a perfect fit for those working in a corporate environment, which isn’t always warm and welcoming. There’s a lot to be learned from someone who ended up being a two-time Olympic gold medalist, two-time FIFA Women’s World Cup champion, two-time FIFA Player of the Year, and a three-time Olympian for the United States Women’s Soccer Team.      

The LeRoy Butler Story by LeRoy Butler and James J. Keller – I loved watching Butler play with the Green Bay Packers during the 90’s. He was part of some great teams, including the team that won Super Bowl XXXI. I also enjoy listening to him as part of “The Big Show” on 105.7 FM the Fan in Milwaukee. He brings a unique perspective and his insights are eye-opening, not to mention his amazing sense of humor. I knew a little about Butler, but not the full picture. For him to make it out of a rough neighborhood in Jacksonville, Florida, where he saw kids his own age get killed, his physical ailment that forced him to wear leg braces while he healed, to become a high school, college and NFL football great is remarkable. Butler proves that you can achieve great success, no matter where you come from and that you can do it with humility and a great appreciation for all those who helped you along the way. 

What were your favorites books this year? What are you looking forward to reading in 2020? Happy reading! 

Filed Under: Books, Inspiration, Life Lessons, Motivation Tagged With: , ,

My Favorite Books of 2014

December 23, 2014 by Leave a Comment

My Favorite Books of 2014After reading so many wonderful books in 2013, I wasn’t sure how 2014 was going to be able to compete, but compete it did. 2014 provided a treasure trove of insight, information, and realizations. There are some stellar pieces of work out there.

Without further ado, here are my favorite books of 2014:
80/20 Sales and Marketing by Perry Marshall. One of the best books I’ve ever read on sales and marketing, period. This is not only an eye-opener, but a shock to the system. Marshall is a visionary and his ideas will change the way you see marketing and life. I’m not kidding when I say this book will literally blow your mind. He doesn’t talk theory, he talks realities, and he’s got real-life examples and proof that what he’s talking about works. If you want to achieve amazing results with your sales and marketing, read this book.
difference by Bernadette Jiwa. This book is a mere 95 pages, but don’t let that fool you. This book contains more wisdom on marketing than books three times the length. It provides some thought-provoking written exercises for you to complete. This book helps you strip away the unnecessary BS to get at the truth of what really matters. It’s a beautifully written work and a sheer delight to read. After reading difference, you’ll see marketing, and your role in it, in a different way.
QR Codes Kill Kittens by Scott Stratten. Stratten has compiled an entire book of terrible uses of QR codes and of inappropriate marketing decisions. Each example leaves you scratching your head and wondering, “what was that company thinking”. It’s a hilarious look at what’s wrong with marketing today, but it’s a great reminder of what not to do. Read it and save a kitten.
Show Your Work by Austin Kleon. Where his previous book Steal Like an Artist talked about creativity, this book delves into getting your creative work noticed. Kleon lays out how to go about this in 10 steps. Filled with examples from his own career, as well as those of other famous artists, the steps are well thought out, and best of all, do-able. Kleon writes in a way that makes you feel like the mystery behind achieving success has been lifted, which is a gift in itself.
The Promise of a Pencil by Adam Braun. An inspiring story of how a 24 year-old employed on Wall Street, found his true calling by giving. Braun was in India when he asked a young boy what he wanted more than anything in the world. He answered, “a pencil.” Braun was inspired to leave his job and work on a “purpose” instead. That purpose was the organization he started, Pencils of Promise, which has since built over 200 schools across the world. An inspiring read, and it makes you realize one person can make a difference.
Choose Yourself by James Altucher. A sometimes unconventional approach on how to live the life you want. Altucher is one person who moves to the beat of his own drum. He has wonderful insights on how to achieve what it is you want out of life and he does it with vulnerability, humility, and humor. If you want to take charge of your career, love life, and finances this is essential reading. After reading this you’ll want to get your hands on his other work, his blog, and podcast. He’s just simply one of the most fascinating people you’ll run across.
Body of Work by Pamela Slim. A great book to help you bring all the loose ties of your career together. After reading this and doing the exercises, you’ll have a greater handle on your career so you’re able to tell a compelling story of your work and your accomplishments. If you are transitioning careers or in between jobs, I highly recommend getting your hands on a copy of this as quickly as possible.
The Power Formula for LinkedIn Success by Wayne Breitbarth. There’s not many more people more knowledgeable about LinkedIn than Breitbarth. If you want to boost your visibility on LinkedIn and give yourself the advantage over everyone else, you’ll want to read this book and implement every Breitbarth suggests. It’s jam packed with helpful tips to get you to standout from the crowd and help you land your next job, win new clients, and make more sales.
Are any of these titles on your list? What were some of your favorites? Is there something you’re looking forward to reading in 2015?
Happy reading!

 

Filed Under: Books, Inspiration, Marketing Tagged With: , ,

The Reason to Explain the Obvious

December 16, 2014 by Leave a Comment
The Reason to Explain the ObviousHow often have you seen messages like these on packages:
To open, lift flap. (On a cereal box)
Caution. Contents hot. (On a coffee cup)
Harmful if swallowed. (On practically anything that’s not food)
Keep out of reach of children. (On insecticides and household cleaners)
We tend to think, “well, duh.” It seems so obvious, and in these cases this is probably done more for legal reasons than for anything else.
But, as marketers there’s a reason to explain the obvious. It’s to get people to do what you want them to do. What’s obvious to us, is not obvious to the casual observer.
How often do you go to a store (or a website) and have difficulty finding what you’re looking for? Out of frustration you’ll leave. How many others will do the same?
We want someone to lead us to what we want, without making it seem like we’re being led. That’s why marketers need to make things as simple as possible.
The customer needs to feel like they are in the right place, at the right time, looking for exactly what they want. Take them down a path they won’t regret.
You need to address questions as simple as: How do I buy this? Where do I find more information? What hours are you open? What is your address? What does your business do? Seems pretty basic, doesn’t it? Yet, it’s surprising how many times you can’t find this out. Answer the basic questions then go further.
Explain how the product works: This can be done with videos, testimonials, and product reviews.
Provide steps so the customer knows what to expect: If it’s online, show how many steps it takes to complete a transaction and where the customer is in the process. Let them know what information they’ll need to complete a transaction. That way they’re not rummaging through file cabinets looking for paperwork, which takes them away from completing their task.
Communicate with the customer: Provide information about the transaction, as well as contact information of who to reach for certain situations. Follow-up after the transaction to see how the customer is doing.
We all want to be assured that we’re being taken care of and explaining the obvious is a good way to do that. It doesn’t take much more than caring to take care of a customer.
Filed Under: Marketing Tagged With: ,

Giving More Than What’s Expected

November 11, 2014 by Leave a Comment

Giving More Than What's ExpectedBack in the days when record albums were issued in vinyl, I used to base my decision to plop down money for the entire album on whether or not I liked the B-side of the single. My thinking was, if the B-side was good the album would be good. If the B-side was good but wasn’t on the album, the album had to be great because they had more material than they could fit on the album.

In both scenarios I was almost certain to go out and buy the album. If the B-side wasn’t that good or felt like a throw-away track I wouldn’t buy the album and figured that the band didn’t have enough good material to make a strong album.

Maybe my logic was a little harsh, but I wasn’t going to let them get any more of my money when they didn’t care about putting out a quality product. And for a 45 that meant two solid songs. Maybe some record labels or artists wanted to save their best material for the A-side of the singles when they didn’t realize that the B-side was an opportunity to give fans, and more importantly potential fans, a reason to love them.
When someone knocks your socks off you’ll brag to your friends about them. Today, people have thousands of friends in their social media contacts. When they share their experiences the ramifications can be huge.
Maybe I’m just jaded, but for me that bar is pretty low. It should be easy to impress, but sadly, that’s rarely the case. The companies that do though, reap the rewards. The ones that don’t won’t last. How to do it? Give more than what’s expected.
Gary Vaynerchuk talks about this a lot. He says the key to success is to care…a lot. Giving more than what’s expected is caring in it’s truest form. People don’t forget experiences, good and bad. Do your best to make it memorable by giving more than what’s expected and you can turn an okay experience into one that’s special.
Have you been impressed with a company that went above and beyond? What did they do that was different? How do you give your customers more?
Filed Under: Customer Service, Life Lessons, Marketing Tagged With: , , ,

It Pays to Ask

October 28, 2014 by Leave a Comment

It Pays to Ask

Malcolm Gladwell at INBOUND14.

Last year I won tickets to go to INBOUND in Boston. In the marketing world, it’s a big deal. The conference boasts an amazing lineup of incredible speakers, authors, and experts. Unfortunately, I couldn’t work out my schedule with my employer and wasn’t able to attend. As the conference approached, I looked at going this time around.

I sent a message to the person who I won the ticket from last year; the company’s Chief Marketing Officer. I briefly explained my situation and asked if there would be any way I could cash in on the ticket this year since it didn’t work out for me last year. The worst he could say was no, right?
He emailed back the next day. His message was “sure, no problem.” He gave me a code to use and an email for someone to contact if I ran into problems. I immediately signed up and made preparations to attend the conference. By asking, I saved $999. It pays to ask!

How often do we want something, but never get it? They say that’s one of the main reasons a sales person doesn’t sell something is because they never ask for the sale. A simple, can I wrap that up for you, should we fill out some paper work so it’s yours, or do you want to buy it, could be all that’s needed to close the sale.
People aren’t mind readers. What you think are obvious signs are not that for others. Implying you want something and asking for it are two very different things. Children have no problem asking, “can I have this?”
That special someone you want to invite to dinner? There’s no chance they’ll go if you never ask. Sure, they could say no. If they do, you’re in the same predicament as you are currently. If they say yes, who knows what could develop. If you make your intentions known the possibilities are endless.
As I expected, the conference was phenomenal. The speakers were brilliant and I met talented people from across the country. I even made some new friends. It was such a blast that I can’t wait to go next year, even though I’ll have to pay.
I certainly learned that it pays to ask. What are you going to ask?
Filed Under: Life Lessons Tagged With: , ,

Sales and Marketing Lessons from the Apple Guy

October 14, 2014 by Leave a Comment
Sales and Marketing Lessons from the Apple GuyOne of the things I love most about fall is apple season. Apples are my favorite fruit and there’s nothing like having a crisp, fresh, delicious apple. Apple season only lasts about two months, so I appreciate it when it comes around.
When I was a kid, every Sunday after church in the fall, my mom would drive us to visit the Apple Guy, as he was affectionately known. His real name was Mr. Patterson.
Here are four Sales and Marketing Lessons I remember from the Apple Guy, that anyone can use:
Have a Beautiful Presentation – When you drove by, it looked like something from a Norman Rockwell painting; his car was off to the side of the road and the apples were lined up by type in baskets. He also had bags of various sizes ready-to-go. Everywhere you looked, there were apples. I remember him as a friendly man; wearing his blue jeans, plaid shirt, and baseball cap. It looked like he just came from the orchard (he did). His display was something that made you want to stop. Do you give your customers a reason to stop?
Be Helpful – He was the apple expert, but he approached customers with friendly, neighborly advice. He’d tell you what each one tasted liked (sweet, tart), if you could use them for baking, when certain types were going to be ready for harvest. McIntosh were my favorite but that wasn’t the first apple of the season. They were usually ready in mid-September. He’d say, “come back in two weeks, I’ll have the macs then.” He’d also offer a replacement. “If you like McIntosh, check out the Paula Red, or the Cortland.” Look at how you can be more helpful to your customers.
Hook ’em with a Great Offer – The Apple Guy knew how to entice his customers. He’d let you try before you buy. Not just one apple, he’d let you try all the different varieties he had. In the above example, he’d hand me both a Paula Red and a Cortland to try, so I could figure out which one I liked best. More often than not we bought more than one type of apple. What better way to get customers to fall in love with your product than to try it. He knew once you took a bite, you were hooked. What do your offers look like? Do they hook your customers?
Over-Deliver – He’d often give us more apples than would fit in the bag. He’d say those apples would be “for the road.” He’d even polish it up before he handed it to you. We always left feeling we got a great deal, and we’d have delicious apples for the week. Do you deliver or over-deliver?
Patterson Orchards is still in operation today. If you’re in the Milwaukee area you should check them out. Instead of a car on the side of the road, they have a small store that’s open each fall at the Orchard. Besides their own apples, they feature other fruits, vegetables, and bakery products from other local and regional businesses. Hand-written signs provide shoppers with information about the products, just like the Apple Guy used to do. It still feels friendly and neighborly.
I’m not sure if the Apple Guy is still around, but his orchard and his lessons in sales and marketing sure are. The lessons may be simple, but they sure are effective. Make sure you utilize them every chance you get.

 

Filed Under: Customer Service, Marketing Tagged With: , ,

3 Takeaways from Inbound Marketing Day

June 10, 2014 by Leave a Comment

3 Takeaways from Inbound Marketing DayLast Wednesday I attended Inbound Marketing Day at Potawatomi Bingo Casino in Milwaukee. What a great mix of local and national inbound marketing experts. I heard great presentations about content, landing page optimization, buyer personas, video strategy, and a lot more. 

Many of these ideas not only work in marketing but in daily interactions as well, whether business or personal.
Here are three key takeaways:
Dan Zarrella from HubSpot: How does your content help your fans build their reputation?
My two cents: The job of your content, or your company, is to help your customers look good to their customers. Content shouldn’t be designed to help you look good, although by helping them solve their problems you will.
What are your customers’ pain-points? What content can you provide that helps alleviate those pain-points?  If you can make your customers look like heroes, you’ll end up a winner.
Jeff Coon from Stream Creative: What makes you look like a rock star? Have signals in place to alert others. What are the symbols of trust in your industry? Add them to your content, your name, your brand, etc. If there are certifications, partnerships, or logos that show you know what you’re doing, you need to highlight them.
My two cents: What makes you stand out? There are certain things that give you instant credibility. For me, it’s having MBA behind my name. For your business, it could be “Best Places to Work” or a Better Business Bureau sticker on your front door. It could be words like Author, or Speaker. These words conjure up an image of you in the eyes of people that don’t know you. Use them to your advantage.
Ezra Fishman from Wistia: Think in terms of the Trust Bank. You are either building trust or spending trust. Using video is a great way to build trust. If you teach someone something in a video, it allows you to bring the human element in.
My two cents: We should always be giving to people without the thought of getting something in return. This builds trust. Then, when we truly need help from our customers, community, or our friends, we have enough trust in the bank to be fairly certain that they will help us when we ask.
Be yourself. Allow your personality to shine through. People like doing business with people, not brands. If they trust you, they’ll trust your brand.
Do you see yourself using any of the three ideas from Inbound Marketing Day? Let me know which ones you use. I’d love to know what success you have with them.
Filed Under: Customer Service, Life Lessons, Marketing Tagged With: , ,

Who Have You Helped Today?

November 5, 2013 by Leave a Comment
Who Have You Helped TodayLearning how to give instead of trying to get, changed how I approached sales, customer service, and life.
At one point, early in my career, I worked in sales for a large telecommunications company. I struggled constantly to meet my monthly sales objective. I came close a few times, but never made 100% of my objective. My job was held over my head every month. The message was – “sell or you could find yourself out of a job.” Talk about stress.
Then one month I finally made it – 100.2%. Time to celebrate. But, the next day I checked, I was only at 99.9%. I went through my orders and found that someone had gone in and put their sales codes on one of my orders. When I told my manager all she told me was, “You need to pay more attention to your orders.” She didn’t even try to help me rectify the problem, and stealing sales was a huge problem where I worked.
This episode left me bitter. Why try to meet the sales goal when it’s going to be stolen from me anyway? The company is going to say I am a bad employee (anything less than a 100% was “does not meet expectations.”) Throw in a daily dose of customers yelling at you and I was at the bottom. I went through months of the absolutely worst days I had working in that call center.
Finally, I made a decision. Since I couldn’t find any satisfaction in the job doing it the company way, I would try things differently. I love helping people. It makes me feel good. I was raised to think of others. I decided if I could help one person each day, then it would be a successful day in my books, regardless of how much I sold. If I was going to get fired, at least I was going to enjoy the process.  I essentially ignored my sales objective. I forgot about it, didn’t care, eliminated it from my radar. I wasn’t going to let my sales, or lack thereof, define whether I had a good day or not.
So, I started each day with two objectives. The first, was to help one person that day. I would literally say to myself before logging in to take my first call, “Who am I going to help today?” I knew somebody out there really needed my help, and if I took their call I would do everything in my power to help them.
The second thing I said to myself each morning was, “What’s going to happen to me today, that’s never happened to me before?” This was freeing. I knew I’d get a nasty call that day, a problem that would otherwise ruin my day, but I wasn’t going to let it affect me. I built it into my day. I anticipated it. I looked at it as a learning experience.
The funny things is, once I started to ignore my sales numbers and focus on helping my customers, my sales took off. I went from making 90% of my monthly sales to an average of 120%. The highest month I had was 153% of my objective! And, after a while I was helping more than one person a day. Go figure!
And, because I didn’t mind receiving the “problem” call, I looked at it as a way to learn and also help, I became the guy that knew how to solve problems. If someone ran into some mess they’d be referred to me since I had probably run into it at some point. I kept records of the problems I encountered and how to fix them. I ended up becoming a team leader; writing and presenting training, handling difficult calls, and helping coach others.
I also sat in on a few sales meetings because of my high sales. You know those meetings where they want to know what you do and then roll it out to the rest of the call center? Yeah, those. When I was asked for my opinion on how to increase sales I said, “Get rid of the sales objective.” The manager looked at me and blurted out, “that will never happen” and ignored me for the rest of the meeting. Their loss, I thought.
There’s been a lot of research lately to back up why looking at helping others is a good plan to have. One fantastic book that explores this is Adam Grant’s “Give and Take.” It shows why giving is the best way to achieve your own success. It’s worked for me. What is your experience?
Filed Under: Customer Service, Motivation Tagged With: , ,