Happy Monday! Grant Cardone once said something like this: “I don’t worry about the price tag on a book. Instead, I look inside for the million dollar ideas.” I’ll add this… Some of the most impactful ideas for your business’ growth are hidden in the pages of books you may have never heard of… Or… they may even be sitting on your shelf - unread, unfinished, or just long forgotten. So I want to share with you some of my personal favorites to help you build momentum and make massive progress in your biz... 1. The Ultimate Sales Machine by Chet Holmes This is a book about building a killer sales system… AND how to “sell” it to your sales team so they execute. From implementing higher standards and ongoing training… Getting buy-in from your employees… To hiring superstar salespeople, getting the best buyers, and honing master-level sales skills. Active exercises throughout the book also help you get started implementing right away. 2. Ready, Fire, Aim by Michael Masterson A powerful book on business growth and how to achieve it faster, from my mentor Mark Ford. This book guides you through the 4 stages of scaling a business… From zero to $1M in stage one, to $50M to $100M+ in stage four. One of the most important messages within these pages is how much focus you must place on sales… “Make sales your top priority. Spend 80% of your time overseeing marketing and sales. In the first stage, the driving force of your business is sales.” Coming from a man who’s helped take dozens of companies from 7-Figures or less… all the way up to the 8 and 9-Figure level... Sage advice indeed. 3. Never Split the Difference by Chris Voss I loved the book so much that I also bought the Masterclass.com program Voss created. Here’s why… Chris Voss was with the FBI for 20 years and worked as a lead hostage negotiator. He uses riveting real life stories from his experience in high stakes negotiations to teach the tools that work when everything’s on the line. These same tactics can be ultra-useful in sales, contract negotiation, and simply just getting your way. In fact, two of my European clients, Boris and Hidde, have used this to save $75,000 in a contract negotiation and to earn 25,000 extra euros in commissions on a big real estate deal, respectively. In the book, Voss proves this with additional accounts of him and his students applying these to everyday situations… … like buying a car, securing a raise, and even paying less rent. 4. The Perfect Week Formula by Craig Ballantyne C’mon, how could I not include one of my own? ;) Listen, My goal in writing this book was to provide ANYONE who read it with strategies they could immediately put into action for a visible improvement in their lives. I’ve taken my best tactics for cutting through the chaos and getting more done... … and bundled them into step by step formulas even the laziest and most disorganized reader can use. Each chapter I reveal a different way to help you accumulate wealth through your business… … while still maintaining a healthy family, social, and personal life. Things like my Billionaire Time Matrix to give you back 12.5 hours a week… Non-Negotiables: the secret weapon to keeping your life on track... And my 7x7 Perfect Week Grid to ensure you live a perfect week EVERY week. 5. The Ultimate Sales Letter by Dan Kennedy If you’ve heard me use the phrase “copywriting” but just aren’t sure what I mean, then this book is for you. Copywriting, as Kennedy explains, is “salesmanship in print.” And it’s a crucial skill for success in any business... If you’re writing Facebook ads to generate leads, creating landing pages or sales letters to sell products online, or emailing to a list of subscribers… Good copy is what gets you results. Kennedy’s book provides the anatomy of a complete sales letter, along with a step by step process for putting it together. Keep this one as a reference guide if you do any sort of marketing, especially direct response. --- These 5 books form a great foundation from which you can draw on anytime to spur new growth in your business. If any of these are sitting on your shelf or you’ve read them before… I recommend you grab them now and re-read. There are so many gems in here it’s easy to miss some on the first pass. And if you haven't been through any of the books on this list… You’re missing out. I recommend you hop right over to Amazon and put an order together post-haste. You’ll be surprised at the impact from applying even just a handful of these strategies. To your success, Craig |