I am inviting you to join me in a new venture: The Sales Blog Book Club.
Let’s get these disclosures out of the way first; membership is FREE (if I was asking you for your money, I’d ask you to join the Future Selling Institute . . . by the way, why haven’t you joined?).
You will have to buy your own book, of course. When I link to the book here, I am going to use an Amazon.com affiliate code.
How It Works
Every two weeks, we’ll read a book together. The books will relate to business, sales, leadership, personal effectiveness, or really big and important ideas.
We’ll start a post here to discuss the ideas that we find important, sharing our thoughts and ideas in the comments. Like all things here at The Sales Blog, we’ll relate what we learn to our own sales and our own businesses. Through the comments and our discussion, we’ll discover some things together.
I’ll also send out a newsletter every two weeks with our book selection and some plans for reading and communicating.
Why A Book Club, Why Now?
There isn’t a faster, easier, or cheaper way to learn something than reading. An author spends thousands of hours studying and thinking about some big idea. They have years of experience that allow them to understand a subject deeply. Then they organize and build a framework around that idea, coupling it with what they know to be true through their own experiences, or through other people’s experiences.
And they write it all down and package it for as little as $9.99.
You can learn everything that the author knows about a subject (well, not everything, but certainly the most important big pieces), for 6 hours of your time and $25.00. There is no greater deal to be had, and no better education to be found. That is why you must read!
The Value of Reading for Salespeople
Reading builds your foundational knowledge and understanding.
Reading can very quickly improve your business acumen. Reading widely can help you think horizontally, connecting ideas from other disciplines to your discipline (this how you build your creativity and your resourcefulness).
As you read and acquire knowledge and ideas, you can leverage these ideas to create value for your company and your dream clients, making yourself more and more valuable.
Reading a book and sharing ideas with a thoughtful group of people really ratchets up your learning. Plus, it can be a lot of fun.
That’s my pitch for The Sales Blog Book Club. I hope you’ll join me and sign up. Then go an buy the first selection:
Charlie is a friend and a strategic partner at the Future Selling Institute. I’ll bet we can get him to drop by and share some ideas with us, too.
Questions
How many books have you already read this year?
What books would you like to read?
Would you like to discuss and share ideas with thoughtful people reading the same book?
How badly do you need to commit to turning off the television and feeding your mind something better?