"Guru" Books as Paperweights

The clutter of sales process, sales prospecting and sales leadership books out there is overwhelming. Search Amazon for “sales training” books alone and you get 600 answers! They all seem to regurgitate the same old stuff. All the books I’ve read on prospecting (VITO, Prospecting for Dummies, Prospect Your Way To Sales Success, etc.) are a great read…to learn exactly what NOT to do and what is ineffective.

“Mr. vice-president prospect, my company can deliver an 86% ROI in 3 weeks to you with our buzzword-compliant solution, just ask my references at American Express, who we give the solution to for free and who I take to expensive dinners regularly! I await your call at 555-5555.” Would you return that kind of voicemail or even email?

I believe most books have a high “fluff ratio” to make sure they can justify a $30 price for the 2-3 useful ideas wrapped in a pound of verbage (magazines often aren’t much different). I’ve actually started an idea notebook into which I transfer the top 2-3 appealing ideas from a book or magazine. Frequently, out of a 300+ page book I’ll have just 2-3 pages of notes (if that). There are some exceptions, like The Toyota Way and most of Jeffrey Fox’s books, which I’ll cover in more detail in the future.

Unfortunately, it seems human minds are organized to equate book and magazine value with weight, when in reality the opposite should be the case. Why does complexity cost me more, when I really want simplicity? I’d pay more for a shorter, sweeter, more concise book that’s easy to digest.

I started this effort to help me capture and distill great (and useful) ideas as I come across them, whether from a book, magazine, colleague or my own efforts (as anyone on my team at saleforce.com will tell you, I love to experiment with new ideas).