Most salespeople read books that promise personal or professional development. It's crucial to work on increasing your potential and continually leveling up. There's no better investment than the one you make in yourself, as you are the source of your results. You may have shelves of books that have helped you develop in some important way.
If you've ever given a client a book because you believed it would help them in some meaningful way, only to watch your client place it on their bookshelf, each time you meet with your client, you notice there's an inch of dust on the book that would still be a valuable read for your client.
At some point, you give up on buying books for clients who won’t read them. But you need your client to learn something that would help them understand something that will help them improve their results.
There's no end to people who will tell you to read books to improve yourself. But until now, no one has told you you need to read for your clients. If you believe that information disparity, the idea that you know things your clients don’t know, is an effective strategy for creating value for your clients, you can read for your clients.
Enhancing Client Relationships Through Reading
The contact sent a note about a long-form email. He described it as something from 1999. You live in a post-literate society, one that has been replaced by TikTok, quite the opposite of a literate society. Most people now prefer passive content consumption, watching short-form videos. Attention is lost when the content is over 20 seconds. The content consumed does nothing more than entertain, with no depth.
Your clients are busy people. Some of them read books and magazines. But few read the big, important books that would help them understand the changing environment and what the future may bring. Because they are not likely to read these substantial books, read these books for them.
By reading these consequential books, you will develop and improve yourself. But you will also be developing your clients by sharing what you learn and what it means for your clients. One way to deliver your insights is to use an Executive Briefing.
Insights That Matter: A Case Study
You may not know that every day in the United States, 10,000 people turn 65 years old.
You may not know that the Baby Boomers are the largest demographic, with close to 78,000,000 people in this generation.
You may not know that the replacement rate in the United States means every woman with a baby needs to have 2.21 babies. That number is only 1.66 babies, meaning we are not having enough children to keep our population stable.
Supply and demand suggest that because there are fewer people, wages will rise. Even though the United States Federal Reserve would want wages to be stable, acquiring talent will cost more.
When close to 78,000,000 retire, you can project there will be less demand. When there is less demand, you may not need as many companies doing the same thing, and that may mean fewer salespeople. We are likely to have fewer, better salespeople.
Navigating the Sales Landscape: TikTok vs. Literate Salespeople
Given the choice between a TikTok salesperson who has mastered the new dance everyone’s doing or the salesperson who has done the reading to have a perspective on their client’s business and their future, especially in a time of great uncertainty, even though we rarely talk much about the fact that for many of us, selling is a competition to win the client’s relationship and their business.
In any generation, you will find different groups. Some of Generation TikTok will find their way to business, and some of those will try their hand at B2B sales. A percentage of this small cohort will become consultative salespeople.
The Literate Salespeople will always have an advantage over those who can, but won’t, read the important books that would provide them with valuable insights that their clients need. If you want a sustainable strategic advantage, reading important works will ensure you have an advantage in a contest.
I have given my peers a big consequential book, and because they trusted me with the recommendation, they read the book. They have also given me advice on certain books.
Introducing the One-Up Book Club for Sales Professionals
I started the One-Up Book Club to help salespeople know things they can share with their clients and their prospects. By reading big, important books and acquiring the insights and perspective they can share with their clients.
This book club will comprise a literate society, those of us who read books and magazines that provide an understanding of our changing world we can share to create value for our clients and lead them safely into the future.
If you want to Join the One-Up Book Club, you can pay $10 a month to $100 a month, depending on the experience you want.
