Discover how the One-Up Book Club transforms sales strategies through influential business literature.
Revolutionizing Sales with Strategic Reading
When I was selling staffing, I had no sales manager, no training, and no accountability. I needed money, and no one ever had to motivate me to work. I have never been without a book, or more likely, books. During this time, I read hundreds of business books, everything from Tom Peters to Jim Collins to Peter Drucker to Andy Grove to Stephen Covey. I also read books on sales; my favorite was Neil Rackham, known for SPIN SELLING. For me, the book that helped me the most was Major Account Sales Strategy. I also read everything from Miller and Heiman, and anything else I could get my hands on.
When I read what I believed was a valuable book, I would buy a copy for my clients. Unfortunately, each client would thank me for the book, placing it on their shelves. Weeks later, the book was right where it was placed, now covered with the same dust that covered the rest of their books. At some point, I decided that if I wanted the client to know something, I would have to share it with them myself.
Cultivating Client Relationships through Knowledge Sharing
In 2001, I started providing my clients with executive briefings on labor markets, demographics, and wage growth. This allowed me to weave in other insights I wanted to provide them. This changed the relationship I had with my clients, as this approach prevented me from being treated as a commodity.
I started the One-Up Book Club to help salespeople and sales leaders read substantial and consequential books so they can share an informed perspective with their clients. The main idea of being One-Up is that you are responsible for having and sharing information and insight that benefits your clients, helping them navigate their future.
The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who can't read them.— Mark Twain
When salespeople read books, they tend to select books on sales or personal development. While these books are helpful in developing as a salesperson, they don't often provide insights and ideas that one might share with their clients.
It's important to remember that selling is a contest between the salespeople vying for the client's relationship and their business. When two salespeople are indistinguishable, they are easily bested by a third salesperson who has a greater and more useful perspective on their future and how best to pursue it.
Enhancing Business Insight through Diverse Reading
Most of the books that are valuable are books written by authors who can see something that is invisible to others. For less than $30 dollars and 6 or 8 hours of your time, you can see what the author can see—without spending the hundreds of hours it took them to be able to see something well enough to publish a book on the subject.
Once you can see what the author can see, you now have the possibility of helping your clients to navigate their future, enabling them to consider information and insights they would lack were it not for your reading what your client isn't reading, or books they don't even know exist.
Fostering Collaborative Learning through Book Discussions
If you went to college, you read books and talked about them with other people in your classes. If you had a good experience in college, you argued with your peers about the ideas and concepts you encountered. You have a perspective about the book and others took away something very different than you did. These different perspectives improve your understanding of the content and how others understand it.
One of the values of joining a book club is that you can talk about what you read with others who may have found something you missed, or some perspective with the ability to change what you believed before you read and discussed the book.
Join the One-Up Book Club's Journey of Growth
We are right in the middle of the first book, a monster book with an incredible number of actionable insights on the future of our world. This book has scored highly with the 62 people in the One-Up Book Club.
There are four tiers available, with the lowest level at $10 a month up to $100 a month for a tier that meets every two weeks to discuss the book and share the insights they acquired in their reading and conversations. You can catch up with us if you want to change your status in your client’s eyes.
To join us, go here: https://www.oneupbookclub.com.
