The CEO’s Book Club
The CEO’s Book Club
When you have some downtime, but still want to be productive, pick up a business strategy book and learn something that might just help grow your business. Whatever you do end up reading always think if this will fit in my business, region, and industry. Sometimes the things the authors suggest may be against the consumer protection laws in your region or against the company culture you strive for. Never try to implement everything you read about, nor use the book as a model for your business, everything needs to be customized in order to fit in your business.
Find The Service Guild’s CEO’s Reading List, these books contain nuggets of wisdom, life lessons, and some fantastic methods to grow a business. Read it from front to back or set it down after you learn something new. It doesn’t stop with the CEO, we suggest when you find a book that jives with your organization, get your key employees to read it too!
“People don’t buy from people they like. No! Your buyer doesn’t care about you or your product or service. It’s not your job to overcome objections, it’s your buyer’s. Closing isn’t a skill of good salespeople; it’s the skill of weak salespeople. Price isn’t the main reason salespeople lose the sale. Gap Selling shreds traditional and closely held sales beliefs that have been hurting salespeople for decades.
For years, salespeople have embraced a myriad of sales tactics and belief systems that have unknowingly created many of the issues they have been trying to avoid such as: long sales cycles, price objections, no decision, prospects going dark, last minute feature requests, and more. Success at sales requires more than a set of tactics. Salespeople need to understand the game of sales, how sales works, and what the buyer is going through in order to make the decision to buy (change) or not to buy (not change).
Gap Selling is a game-changing book designed to raise the sales IQ of selling organizations around the world. In his unapologetic and irreverent style, Keenan breaks down the tired old sales myths causing today’s frustrating sales issues, to highlight a deceptively powerful new way to connect with buyers (Amazon.ca).”
—Keenan. Gap Selling. A Sales Guy Publishing, 2019.
The One Minute Manager, 106 Pages, Synopsis:
“The One Minute Manager is a concise, easily read story that reveals three very practical secrets: One Minute Goals, One Minute Praisings, and One Minute Reprimands (Amazon.ca).”
—Blanchard, Kenneth Ph.D, and Johnson, Spencer M.D. The One Minute Manager. Harper Collins India, 2017.
Mr. Jenkins Told Me…, 135 pages, Synopsis:
“This book wasn’t written to earn money or win fame. It was written to help you accomplish your dreams. Packed full of encouraging stories and detailed advice, you’ll likely read “Mr. Jenkins Told Me…” from cover-to-cover in just one sitting. And when you wake up the next morning, you’ll want to read it again. Overflowing with timeless truths that will resonate in your heart, you’ll find yourself saying, “Deep down I already knew that, but I’ve never heard it put quite so plainly or clearly. And these examples are fabulous.” If you’re going to read just one book this year, this is the one to choose. And when you’re finished reading, you’ll know the truth: a business strategy that is working can easily be copied, but no one can copy your culture. And culture eats strategy for breakfast (Amazon.ca).”
—Williams, Roy. Mr. Jenkins Told Me… “Forgotten Principles That Will Grow Any Business”. Wizard Academy Press, 2019.
The E-Myth, 288 pages, Synopsis:
“E-Myth: the entrepreneurial myth: the myth that most people who start small businesses are entrepreneurs 2: the fatal assumption that an individual who understands the technical work of a business can successfully run a business that does that technical work
Voted #1 business book by Inc. 500 CEOs.
An instant classic, this revised and updated edition of the phenomenal bestseller dispels the myths about starting your own business. Small business consultant and author Michael E. Gerber, with sharp insight gained from years of experience, points out how common assumptions, expectations, and even technical expertise can get in the way of running a successful business.
Gerber walks you through the steps in the life of a business—from entrepreneurial infancy through adolescent growing pains to the mature entrepreneurial perspective: the guiding light of all businesses that succeed—and shows how to apply the lessons of franchising to any business, whether or not it is a franchise. Most importantly, Gerber draws the vital, often overlooked distinction between working on your business and working in your business.
The E-Myth Revisited will help you grow your business in a productive, assured way (Amazon.ca).”
—Gerber, Michael. The E-Myth: Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It. HarperCollins, 2004.
SELL LIKE CRAZY, 395 pages, Synopsis:
“In what some are calling the most controversial marketing book of the decade, Sell Like Crazy reveals an 8-phase selling system for generating absurd amounts of leads, sales and profit for any business in any market!
If you’re tired of struggling to make online marketing work…
Sick of throwing money down the drain with PPC advertising…
Or want to create a torrential downpour of clients for your business.
Then THIS will be the most important book you EVER read.
Sabri Suby, (founder of King Kong, Australia’s fastest growing digital agency) is finally revealing the system he’s used to go from $0 to $10m+ in annual revenue…
And make over $400m in sales for his clients – in 4 years flat!
FULL DISCLOSURE: This book is NOT for the faint of heart…
If you want the same old rehashed advice from ‘experts’ who couldn’t sell water in the desert…
Then this book is NOT for you.
However, if you want to FINALLY discover what’s working online…
Get the battle-hardened tactics King Kong are using RIGHT NOW…
And outsell your competition so you can CRUSH them into a fine powder…
Then ‘Sell Like Crazy’ will change your business life forever.
Here’s a glimpse of what Sabri reveals in this revolutionary book:
1. How to write Google or Facebook ads that practically FORCE your prospects to click them and buy!
2. His breakthrough approach to generating itchy-to-buy leads in droves that create an avalanche of sales. It’s like nothing you’ve ever seen before, and instantly positions you as a trusted authority
3. Where to find large new “starving crowds” of prospects who spend like sailors on leave (even when the economy is hurting and you’re far more expensive than the competition)
4. How to crawl inside the mind of your DREAM buyer and get fresh marketing intel to pump up your offers on steroids and beat the pants off your competition! (Amazon.ca)”
—Suby, Sabri. Sell Like Crazy: How to Get As Many Clients, Customers and Sales As You Can Possibly Handle. Self-Published, 2019.
The 7-Power Contractor, 146 pages, Synopsis:
“Spending most of your time at work putting out fires? Frustrated with employees who don’t do the job properly? Tired of your phone blowing up with questions and crises whenever you try to get away? In The 7-Power Contractor, former contractor and contracting business expert Al Levi lays out seven simple business powers that hundreds of owners have applied successfully to run their businesses with less stress and more success. In these pages, you will learn about the seven power concepts—Planning and Leadership, Operating, Financial, Staffing, Selling, Marketing, and Sales Coaching—you can use to run your business better. You’ll also hear from other contractors about how their application of these concepts faithfully and consistently over time empowered them to transform their businesses and their lives forever. If you’re ready to create a business you can run with less stress and more success, this book is for you (Amazon.ca).”
—Levi, Al. The 7-Power Contractor: Run Your Contracting Business With Less Stress and More Success. Appleseed Business, 2016.
Home Service Millionaire, 188 pages, Synopsis:
“Already have a home service business but just scraping by? Don’t know how to grow because you can’t possibly work any more hours than you already are? This book aims to change all that, in a big way. Home Service is a $400 billion dollar industry with mammoth players such as Amazon, Google, and Bing. You know if the big boys are there, there is money to be made. And I am going to tell you how you too can do very well as a local provider. The cool thing about home service is the need for it is never going away. Every home at some point requires maintenance. Roofs need repairing, walls need painting and drains need clearing. Your goal is to become the go-to company in your area for whatever home service it is you provide.If I can turn my local garage door service business around from being over 50 thousand dollars in debt and grow it into the millions, so can you—if you are willing to change how you think about achieving this goal. If so, the information in this book may just change your life—just like it did mine. My experience running one of the top home service businesses in the country has inspired me to help others succeed just like I did. Are you next? (Amazon.ca)”
—Mello, Tommy. Home Service Millionaire: How I Went from $50,000 in Debt to a $30 Million+ Business in Seven Years. Home Service Expert, 2018.
What Got You Here Won’t Get You There, 256 pages, Synopsis:
“What’s holding you back? Your hard work is paying off. You are doing well in your field. But there is something standing between you and the next level of achievement. Perhaps one small flaw–a behavior you barely even recognize–is the only thing that’s keeping you from where you want to be.
Who can help? Marshall Goldsmith is an expert at helping global leaders overcome their sometimes unconscious annoying habits and attain a higher level of success. His one-on-one coaching comes with a six-figure price tag. But, in this audiobook, you get Marshall’s great advice without the hefty fee!
What is the solution? The Harvard Business Review asked Goldsmith, “What is the most common problem faced by the executives that you coach?” Inside, he answers this question by discussing not only the key beliefs of successful leaders, but also the behaviors that hold them back. He addresses the fundamental problems that often come with success–and offers ways to attack these problems. Goldsmith outlines twenty habits commonly found in the corporate environment and provides a systematic approach to helping you achieve a positive change in behavior.”
—Reiter, Mark, and Goldsmith, Marshall. What Got You Here Won’t Get You There. Hyperion, 2007.
Getting Everything You Can Out of All You’ve Got, Pages 384, Synopsis:
“A trusted advisor to America’s top corporations and recognized as one of today’s preeminent marketing experts, Jay Abraham has created a program of proven strategies to help you realize undreamed-of success! Unseen opportunities face each of us every day. Using clear examples from his own experience, Jay explains just how easy it can be to find and/or create new opportunities for wealth-building in any existing business, enterprise, or venture.
And just how easy can it be? One entrepreneur took the concept of the ballpoint pen and refined it into a multimillion-dollar idea: roll-on deodorant. Fred Smith of Federal Express took the methods that banks use for clearing checks to develop an overnight delivery company that has revolutionized the way we do business. Now, what have you seen– or are going to see– that you could take and turn to your advantage?
In Getting Everything You Can Out of All You’ve Got: 21 Ways You Can Out-Think, Out-Perform, and Out-Earn the Competition, the program focuses on helping you spot the hidden assets, overlooked opportunities, and untapped resources around you, and gives you, and gives you fresh eyes with which to see and capitalize on them. You’ll also learn how to adapt and apply these tools to your unique circumstances to maximize your income, influence, power, and success(amazon.ca).”
—Abraham, Jay. What Got You Here Won’t Get You There. St. Martin’s Griffin, 2001.
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