Recently I asked some of my fellow consultants at The Center for Sales Strategy for the name of the book that influenced them the most in their careers in B2B sales training and consultation. Here’s the list of resources for consultants along with some insight about each one.
Happy reading!
Flawless Consulting by Peter Block
Recommended by Steve Marx, bestselling author of Close Like the Pros
There’s a reason why Flawless Consulting is a hotter seller now than when it was published about 35 years ago—how many other business books can make that claim? It’s the bible for serious consultants.
Block teaches the competencies required for consultants to have their expertise used in situations where they have influence but no direct control.
Influencer, the New Science of Leading Change by Joseph Grenny
Recommended by John Henley, COO, The Center for Sales Strategy
This book is the result of a research project focused on influence. Specifically, looking at what effective leaders are doing to change organizations. The key finding is that success relies on the capacity to systematically create rapid, profound, and sustainable changes in a handful of key behaviors. Not one, and not seven or eight behaviors, but a handful. The book breaks down the keys to influence into these three key topics:
- Focus and measure
- Find vital behaviors
- Engage all six sources of influence
Organizational Consulting by Alan Weiss
Recommended by Jim Hopes, CEO at The Center for Sales Strategy
Experienced consultant Alan Weiss guides consultants through the steps necessary to establish credibility, build relationships, develop internal marketing abilities, and apply proper methodologies to their work. Weiss provides practical techniques change agents can use to excel, advance their careers, and become valued assets. Some of the major subjects covered include setting up the proper environment for success and establishing peer-level interactions.
In Search of Excellence by Tom Peters
Recommended by Mike Anderson, VP of Consumer Insights and Communications at The Center for Sales Strategy
In Search of Excellence explores the art and science of management used by leading companies with records of long-term profitability and continuing innovation. Peters consistently makes the point of focusing on the desired outcome of a business practice. There are so many things we do for the sake of legacy because that’s the way things have always been done. Peters encourages us to look at processes and ask why they were done in that manner; to make sure there is a customer-centric reason for the way things are being done.
For additional reading download The Center for Sales Strategy’s ebook: The 5 Hurdles Every Successful Sales Consulting & Training Firm Must Clear.
Could one of these five hurdles b2b sales consultants face be holding you back?
• The Content Hurdle
• The Credibility Hurdle
• The Transfer Hurdle
• The Priority Hurdle
• The Innovation Hurdle
This ebook explains how these hurdles may be keeping you from maximizing your potential and how to successfully clear each one.
