 We're working with an awesome sales coach who assigned us to read the book The Challenger Sale: Taking Control of the Customer Conversation by Matthew Dixon and Brent Adamson. I really enjoyed reading it and learned a ton. Sales is not something I have a lot of formal training in, and this book taught me several new things that I didn't think of as sales before and which are very effective.
At a high level, the authors did a bunch of research and analysis and figured out the type of salesperson/behavior that is most effective. It boils down to three core behaviors: teaching unique insights, tailoring the conversation to multiple stakeholders, and taking control of the conversation and process. The teaching part was the newest to me and the most interesting. I enjoyed reading the case studies and examples and can totally see how teaching your customers unique insights can be super effective. I read it on Kindle and ended up highlighting 276 things (i.e., I learned a lot!). You can read some of those here. I definitely recommend this book to anyone who wants to improve in sales or learn about "commercial teaching."
0 Comments
 Matt Mochary, author of The Great CEO Within, has every member of his team read The One Minute Manager by Ken Blanchard and Spencer Johnson, so I figured I should check it out too. It was a super quick read and very to the point and insightful. Nothing earth shattering or new but just some simple lessons clearly and succinctly explained. A nice reminder of what's essential in both managing and being a member of a team.
It was told as a story of someone meeting a remarkable manager and hearing from his teammates how he manages in a unique way. That storytelling style reminded me of The Goal, which is written in a similar style and focuses on operations and production/supply chain issues. The "One Minute" title is catchy and reminded me of Tim Ferriss's series of 4-Hour books, which I'm a big fan of also. The "One Minute Manager" is basically about three secrets: one minute goals, one minute praisings, and one minute redirects (basically, goal setting plus the right ways to handle positive and negative feedback). I understand why Matt considers the book required reading for all his teammates. My main notes and takeaways are below. |
Archives
July 2024
Categories
All
Subscribe |
RSS Feed
