Quarantine has provided us with a unique opportunity to work on our personal development, and we highly recommend you lean into these authors in particular, to improve your selling skills and transform bad habits.
The Infinite Game – Simon Sinek
Prolific author of ‘Start With Why’ and ‘Leaders Eat Last’, Simon Sinek’s ‘The Infinite Game’ adds onto the principles that he’s developed, and that we’ve used to shape the bedrock of Best Practice’s moral code. His latest work – as the name would suggest – is based on the idea of finite, and infinite battles. He argues that in order to perform well in your industry, you need to first understand the rules of the game, and whether you’re fighting a finite, or infinite battle; similar to his guiding principle of establishing why your business exists, before you can truly succeed. Finite games have winners and losers, he explains, while infinite games on the other hand have no winners or losers, and a less defined set of rules.
The thesis of ‘The Infinite Game’ centres on the idea that succeeding in business is not to outperform your competition… it’s to outlast them. In a game of tennis, for example, the rules are set and the boundaries are fixed, meaning that the end-point is final. Sinek says that when it comes to succeeding in business, politics or in life itself, we must adopt a line of thinking that acknowledges our efforts as part of an infinite battle, which in turn changes how large-scale decisions are made, mission statements are formed, goals are set, and very importantly, how leaders lead their organisation into battle.
Way of the Wolf – Jordan Belfort
The notorious Wolf of Wallstreet is back, proving why he’s one of the world’s savviest sellers in his latest book, the Way of the Wolf. Up until recently, Belfort’s secrets were made available only to those willing to hand over $2000 for a training course. Now, however, he’s compiled some of his favourite tactics in a step-by-step sales playbook which he claims were an essential piece of building his high-profile sales empire through the power of persuasion.
If you’ve read “The Wolf of Wallstreet”, you’ll be familiar with Belfort’s unique tone and colourful vocabulary, as well as his ruthless pull-no-punches approach to selling. While people might argue some of the ethics behind Belfort’s sales tactics, few people would deny their effectiveness, and considering this fact alone, this book is worth your time if you’re looking to sharpen your selling skills. Whether you’re a high-level executive or a lone-wolf out in the market, Belfort’s tried-and-tested tactics could be the feather in your sales’ hat as you aim for higher targets.
High Performance Habits – Brendon Burchard
We all know that we need to throw out bad habits in favour of hood ones, but which habits matter the most when it comes to improving your life and achieving long-term success? That’s what Brendon Burchard has tackled in this book, offering a refreshingly scientific approach to self-help as he takes the reader through a series of six vignettes, drawing upon a ten-year sting working as a high-performance coach working with some of the world’s biggest names.
This book synthesises a mammoth amount of research and interview material into six simple habits that he argues can transform anyone’s professional life. Books in this context can often be subjective, and not as widely-applicable as Burchard’s science-backed approach, and considering you’re able to measure and track your progress, this is a great resource or anyone looking to make meaningful changes in their lives. If you were to implement any new habit in your life, it should be one that’s mentioned in “High Performance Habits,” and considering recent events, has there ever been a better time to dive into subject matter like this?
This Is Marketing – Seth Godin
Seth Godin’s ‘This Is Marketing’ has become a bit of a gospel around the Best Practice office in recent years. Godin, a marketing wizard in his own right checks the pulse on the current state of contemporary marketing, while dispelling some of the most pervasive myths surrounding effective marketing, and offering up some golden nuggets of his own. Too often, Godin explains, businesses try to mass-market themselves, which runs antithetical to what he believes is the purpose of marketing itself: identifying your audience, your tribe and your future customers, and targeting them directly – and effectively – rather than the blanket approach.
Without giving too much away, at the centre of his thesis is the idea that great marketers solve other people’s problems rather than using consumers to solve a company’s problems. It’s the perfect book for an aspiring entrepreneur, all the way through to C-level executives and high-profile marketers. There’s a million different ways to market your product or service to your audience, however, as Godin explains, to be effective you must choose who you seek to serve. It’s as simple as that, and when you’ve done the work in identifying your hungry tribe, you’ll be more effective when you feed them.
Tools of Titans – Tim Ferriss
Tim Ferris rose to prominence with the “Four-Hour Work Week” and his podcast “The Tim Ferris Show”. In Tools of Titans, Ferris compiles a range of interviews with elite athletes, business figures and celebrities, and lets them to most of the talking. He synthesises answers from around 200 interviewees, covering themes like behaviour, rituals, attitudes on failure, or a personal take on popular business mythology.
Amongst a long list of takeaways, Ferriss conveys that through the entirety of the interviews, three traits remained constant. The first is that successful people practice daily mindfulness or meditation, secondly, they believe that failure is not durable, and that one must have the ability to convert weakness into a competitive advantage. One of the most inspirational teachings in this book is that the titans are often the first to admit that they are a collection of walking flaws – no more immune than you when it comes to making a mistake – that have ultimately capitalised on one or two of their strengths. Anecdotal lessons, particularly from titans in their respective fields are a great way to adopt new and productive habits and improve your professional standing.
Other stand-outs include:
The Ultimate Sales Machine – Chet Holmes
The Psychology of Selling – Brian Tracy
Sell or be Sold – Grant Cardone
