There has never been a better time to sit down and read important books about your business, your craft of sales and marketing. And one thing I am encouraged by is that people are contacting me asking for some business book recommendations…I love that!
About three months ago I came across a series of very good and very powerful short books that are part of a series called the Ignite series. These are literally little handbooks, designed to be read in a couple of hours. Actually, they claim they can be read in one hour, but I would not advise you to do that. The reason is that you should always be thinking about what you, and you should always be taking notes, borrowing, or more honestly stealing the ideas that you’re reading. And these little books are jam packed with ideas worth stealing.
A few months ago, I wrote a number of book recommendations on these books and Iconnect 007 was good enough to publish them. But I suspect that until now, in these times of COVID 19 you haven’t giving much thought to time to reading business books. BUT NOW YOU HAVE THE TIME! So, I urge you to sit down in your most comfortable chair, have your notebook and pen on the lamp table next to your share and start to read and take notes. This will be one of the best things you can do for yourself during these weird times.
The first book I read was this one:
The 10 Golden Rules of Customer Service: & the story of the $6,000 Egg
By Todd Duncan and Deb Duncan
Copyright 2019 Simple Truths/ Ignite Reads
Pages: 101
Price: $16.99
I consider this one of the most valuable books I’ve read in the past year. This clear, easy to read book is filled with great ideas for delivering fantastic customer service. Whether you own a small restaurant or a large business to business electronics company this book has something for you.
From the book, “Every decision to add value to the customer expands value to the brand.”
From the book, “Never deliver bad news, unless you can also deliver good news. Focus on the solution, not the problem.”
The book is filled with real-life examples of great customer service stories. Like the example of Mama D’s Italian restaurant, a restaurant that is so good and so popular that there is always a wait, so they have found ways to make the wait as delightful as the mean by serving free hot buttered buns and ice cold drinks while you wait, so that you almost want to go at busy times!
The chapter on creating great relationships by problem solving is worth the price of the book.
From the book, the four steps to proper problem solving:
- A deep and sincere apology
- A quick commitment to a solution
- Delivery of a solution that is more than expected
- A follow-up to make sure everything is okay
And the book ends with two full pages of additional golden rules of great service
- If you don’t follow up with customers, they won’t follow through with you.
- If you are not in touch with your customers, you are out of touch.
And my personal favorite:
- You are the architect of your client’s happiness
I want to urge you to buy all of the books in the Ignite Series. But, I have to tell you I would start with this one, The 10 Golden Rules of Customer Service: & the story of the $6,000 Egg. By the way you’re going to love that egg story!
The second book I read ands recommended was this one:
Change is Good…You Go First 21 ways to inspire change
By Mac Anderson and Tom Feltenstein
Copyright 2019 Simple Truths/ Ignite Reads
Pages: 116 with Appendix and Notes
Price: $16.99
And here is the second book I read
If you need to change to be able to change, this is the book for you.
Oh, that dreaded word “CHANGE” I have seen companies go out of business, rather than change. I have seen people suffer from all kinds of physical ailments, rather than change. I have seen companies fail because they don’t want to change.
People, by natural instinct, hate change. They hate anything that takes them out of their comfort zone. They would rather stay in a deplorable situation, than make a change. It’s that proverbial frog in the water syndrome. Which isn’t at all true by the way. The fact is that even a frog will be smart enough to jump out of the water when it gets too hot!
In our own times, look at the people who have made fortunes by taking advantage of the changing social media platforms, as opposed to those who sat back and called Tweeter, Linkedin, and Facebook…passing fads.
Here from a neat little book titled: Change is Good…You Go First: 21 ways to inspire change By Mac Anderson and Tom Feltenstein are six ways that you can inspire change in your own organization:
- Change what needs changing-not what’s easy: Sometimes people will see easy things to change. That low hanging fruits. That’s a fine way to get started, though the easy stuff can get you started, but in the end the real change that has to be done can be painful. Don’t be scared of it
- Forget to success: Remember the fifty reasons why it won’t work? Forget everything you tried in the past. So many times, when change is introduced, members of your team will wrack their brains trying to find the few reasons why it might not work. What just might go wrong. Don’t let them do that. Think of the good change can do.
- You’ve got to believe: You have to get the entire team to believe that change is the right thing to do, and that the changes you want to make are the right ones. It’s an all hands-on deck situation. Everyone has to buy into it.
- Remove barriers: The company leader’s main job is to remove all the barriers to change. Make sure that the team’s path to change is as clear as possible and you’re the one who has to do the clearing.
- Communicate/ simplify the message: “Peace and Bread” the Russian revolution was started by the use of these two simple words. The people were hungry, and they were tired of war. So, when the Bolsheviks showed up and promised them “Peace and Bread” they converted the populace and the rest is history. In the end it’s all about simple communications.
- Celebrate your successes: People love success. People love recognition. Start with small success and then build from them. Recognize those who are doing a good job not only adapting to but actually driving change. The more you recognize them for their achievements the more they will become your best “change mongers”
And the more change mongers you have. The more everyone on your team is ready to embrace change the more your business will grow.
And you can rest assured that we are facing more changes right now, and we will in the next year at least…drastic changes. So, arm yourself, prepare yourself. Read this book and be ready to handle change.
Other titles worth reading are here: All of these are available from Amazon.com right now:
- Elevate: Push Beyond Your Limits and Unlock Success in Yourself and Others
- Every Monday Matters: How to Kick Your Week Off with Passion, Purpose, and Positivity
- Create Your Yes!: When You Keep Hearing NO: A 12-Step Strategy for Success
- Revolutionize Teamwork: How to Create and Lead Accountable Teams
- Attention Management Extended Excerpt: Breaking the Time Management Myth for Unrivaled Productivity
I would urge you to go to Amazon right now and order these books. They are part of a great new series of business books by Simple Truths called IGNITEREADS. These books are written by experts and are designed to be read in an hour…talk about an impactful hour, but again make sure you add an hour to write down all the ideas you’ll want to incorporate in your business life. It’s only common sense
