Little Red Book of Selling

I'm closing this week of looking at "The 100 Best Business Books of All Times" by talking about selling. The specific book in question is Jeffrey Gitomer's "Little Red Book of Selling." Gitomer is a sales consultant, prolific author, and motivator.

If you think a book about sales isn't appropriate about the church leadership world, you would be wrong. This book could also be entitled the Little Red Book of Buying. As Gitomer would say, people don't like to be sold, but they love to buy. The people that churches are reaching, and more importantly want to reach, are the same. If you want to connect with them, you must begin to adopt a philosophy that drives you to a higher, value-driven, helping purpose.

This book offers motivation to get you jump-started on interactions with people. Although it is a collection of many of the great sales teaching philosophies, it can be a great learning tool for leaders whose "product" is relationships with people. The nuggets in this book may be couched in "sales" terms, but make no bones about it: you will learn dozens of effective techniques for interacting with people, and creating networks of relationships that will impact your ministry in powerful ways.

Here's a quote that pretty much sums up why I like Gitomer, and why I think leaders in ChurchWorld should be reading his work:

It's not hard sell, it's heart sell. Good questions get to the heard of the problem/need/situation very quickly - without the buyer feeling like he or she is being pushed.

Substitute the word "buyer" with your choice of words - friend, guest, unbeliever, prospect - and you have a pretty good philosophy of engaging people where they are at, and building a relationship with them.

That's my quick look at "The 100 Best Business Books of All Time." Check it out of your local library, or pick up a copy for your own library. There's a wealth of wisdom inside from the business world that you can make applications in your world today.