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The world needs more storytellers. Storytelling is an inherently innovative activity. When organizations find their best stories and tell them to the world, they’re not only building a reputation, they're flexing the same muscles that allow them to pivot quickly around crisis or opportunity, and solve problems more creatively. For individuals, crafting stories is the primary way we can make sense of the world and our place in it. The Strategic Storyteller is a comprehensive, practical guide to transformative storytelling. In its pages you will learn how to: Tap into your and your organization's unique sources of wonder, wisdom, and delight Boost individual and collective creativity Understand the storytelling strategies behind some of the world’s most powerful brands Unlock the secrets of the great strategic storytellers of the past Build a place where your stories can live online Distribute stories so they have staying power and reach in the digital age Convene audiences by going beyond demographic stereotypes and tapping into enduring human needs Understand how unshakable reputations are built out of stories that accumulate over time Sooner or later all of us will be asked to tell stories in the course of our professional lives. We will be asked to make a case for ourselves, our work, our companies, and our future. The Strategic Storyteller tells you how.

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The New Psychology of Selling The sales profession is in the midst of a perfect storm. Buyers have more power—more information, more at stake, and more control over the sales process—than any time in history. Technology is bringing disruptive change at an ever-increasing pace, creating fear and uncertainty that leaves buyers clinging to the status quo. Deteriorating attention spans have made it difficult to get buyers to sit still long enough to “challenge,” “teach,” “help,” give “insight,” or sell “value.” And a relentless onslaught of “me-too” competitors have made differentiating on the attributes of products, services, or even price more difficult than ever. Legions of salespeople and their leaders are coming face to face with a cold hard truth: what once gave salespeople a competitive edge—controlling the sales process, command of product knowledge, an arsenal of technology, and a great pitch—are no longer guarantees of success. Yet this is where the vast majority of the roughly $20 billion spent each year on sales training goes. It’s no wonder many companies are seeing 50 percent or more of their salespeople miss quota. Yet, in this new paradigm, an elite group of top 1 percent sales professionals are crushing it. In our age of technology where information is ubiquitous and buyer attention spans are fleeting, these superstars have learned how to leverage a new psychology of selling—Sales EQ—to keep prospects engaged, create true competitive differentiation, as well as shape and influence buying decisions. These top earners are acutely aware that the experience of buying from them is far more important than products, prices, features, and solutions. In Sales EQ, Jeb Blount takes you on an unprecedented journey into the behaviors, techniques, and secrets of the highest earning salespeople in every industry and field. You’ll learn: How to answer the 5 Most Important Questions in Sales to make it virtually impossible for prospects to say no How to master 7 People Principles that will give you the power to influence anyone to do almost anything How to shape and align the 3 Processes of Sales to lock out competitors and shorten the sales cycle How to Flip the Buyer Script to gain complete control of the sales conversation How to Disrupt Expectations to pull buyers towards you, direct their attention, and keep them engaged How to leverage Non-Complementary Behavior to eliminate resistance, conflict, and objections How to employ the Bridge Technique to gain the micro-commitments and next steps you need to keep your deals from stalling How to tame Irrational Buyers, shake them out of their comfort zone, and shape the decision making process How to measure and increase you own Sales EQ using the 15 Sales Specific Emotional Intelligence Markers And so much more! Sales EQ begins where The Challenger Sale, Strategic Selling, and Spin Selling leave off. It addresses the human relationship gap in the modern sales process at a time when sales organizations are failing because many salespeople have never been taught the human skills required to effectively engage buyers at the emotional level. Jeb Blount makes a compelling case that sales specific emotional intelligence (Sales EQ) is more essential to success than education, experience, industry awareness, product knowledge, skills, or raw IQ; and, sales professionals who invest in developing and improving Sales EQ gain a decisive competitive advantage in the hyper-competitive global marketplace. Sales EQ arms salespeople and sales leaders with the tool

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A revolutionary marketing strategy proven to drive sales and growth They Ask You Answer is a straightforward guide to fixing your current marketing strategy. Regardless of your budget, you are almost certainly overspending on television, radio, and print ads, yet neglecting the number-one resource you have at your disposal: the Internet. Content marketing is no longer about keyword-stuffing and link-building; in fact, using those tactics today gets your page shuffled to the bottom of the heap. Quality content is the key to success, and you already have the ingredients in-house. This book shows you how to structure an effective content strategy using the same proven principles that have revolutionized marketing for all types of businesses, across industries. Author Marcus Sheridan's pool company struggled after the housing collapse; today, they're one of the largest pool installers in the U.S., turning away millions of dollars in business they simply cannot accommodate every year. How did he manage it? He answered questions. This book shows you how Marcus's strategy can work for your business, and how to use your keyboard to bring customers through the door. Boost your company's web presence with methods that work Build a level of trust that generates customer evangelism Leverage your in-house resources to produce winning content Utilize tactics that work, regardless of industry or sector When people have questions, they ask a search engine. If you have answers, the right content strategy will get them to the top of the search results and seen by millions of eyes every day. Drop the marketing-speak, stop «selling,» and start answering. Be seen as an authority, not just another advertisement. They Ask You Answer describes a fresh approach to marketing and the beginning of big things for your business.

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A concrete framework for engaging today's buyer and building relationships Social Selling Mastery provides a key resource for sales and marketing professionals seeking a better way to connect with today's customer. Author Jamie Shanks has personally built Social Selling solutions in nearly every industry, and in this book, he shows you how to capture the mindshare of business leadership and turn relationships into sales. The key is to reach the buyer where they're conducting due diligence—online. The challenge is then to strike the right balance, and be seen as a helpful resource that can guide the buyer toward their ideal solution. This book presents a concrete Social Selling curriculum that teaches you everything you need to know in order to leverage the new business environment into top sales figures. Beginning with the big picture and gradually honing the focus, you'll learn the techniques that will change your entire approach to the buyer. Social Selling is not social media marketing. It's a different approach, more one-to-one rather than one-to-many. It's these personal relationships that build revenue, and this book helps you master the methods today's business demands. Reach and engage customers online Provide value and insight into the buying process Learn more effective Social Selling tactics Develop the relationships that lead to sales Today's buyers are engaging sales professionals much later in the buying process, but 74 percent of deals go to the sales professional who was first to engage the buyer and provide helpful insight. The sales community has realized the need for change—top performers have already leveraged Social Selling as a means of engagement, but many more are stuck doing «random acts of social,» unsure of how to proceed. Social Selling Mastery provides a bridge across the skills gap, with essential guidance on selling to the modern buyer.

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The essential roadmap for the new realities of selling when buyers are in charge Sales and service are being radically redefined by the biggest communications revolution in human history. Today buyers are in charge! There is no more 'selling'—there is only buying. When potential customers have near perfect information on the web, it means salespeople must transform from authority to consultant, product narratives must tell a story, and businesses must be agile enough to respond before opportunity is lost. The New Rules of Sales and Service demystifies the new digital commercial landscape and shows you how to stay ahead of the pack. Companies large and small are revolutionizing the way business gets done, and this book takes you inside the new methods and strategies that are critical to success in the modern market. Real-world examples illustrate the new marketplace in action, and demonstrate the brilliant utility of taking a new look at your customer and your business. This new edition has been updated to reflect the current reality of this rapidly-evolving sphere, with fresh strategies, new tools, and new stories. Whether you're an independent contractor, a multi-national corporation, a start-up, or a nonprofit, this book is your essential guide to navigating the new digital marketplace. David Meerman Scott provides up-to-the-minute analysis of the current state of the digital commercial landscape, plus expert guidance toward the concepts, strategies, and tools that every business needs now. Among the topics covered in detail: Why the old rules of sales and service no longer work in an always-on world The new sales cycle and how informative Web content drives the buying process Providing agile, real-time sales and service 24/7 without letting it rule your life The importance of defining and understanding the buyer personas How agile customer service retains existing clients and expands new business Why content-rich websites motivate interest, establish authority, and drive sales How social media is transforming the role of salesperson into valued consultant Because buyers are better informed, and come armed with more choices and opportunities than ever before, everything about sales has changed. Salespeople must adapt because the digital economy has turned the old model on its head, and those who don't keep up will be left behind. The New Rules of Sales and Service is required reading for anyone wanting to stay ahead of the game and grow business now.

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A non-technical guide to leveraging retail analytics for personal and competitive advantage Style & Statistics is a real-world guide to analytics in retail. Written specifically for the non-IT crowd, this book explains analytics in an approachable, understandable way, and provides examples of direct application to retail merchandise management, marketing, and operations. The discussion covers current industry trends and emerging-standard processes, and illustrates how analytics is providing new solutions to perennial retail problems. You'll learn how to leverage the benefits of analytics to boost your personal career, and how to interpret data in a way that's useful to the average end business user or shopper. Key concepts are detailed in easy-to-understand language, and numerous examples highlight the growing importance of understanding analytics in the retail environment. The power of analytics has become apparent across industries, but it's left an especially indelible mark on retail. It's a complex topic, but you don't need to be a data scientist to take advantage of the opportunities it brings. This book shows you what you need to know, and how to put analytics to work with retail-specific applications. Learn how analytics can help you be better at your job Dig deeper into the customer's needs, wants, and dreams Streamline merchandise management, pricing, marketing, and more Find solutions for inefficiencies and inaccuracies As the retail customer evolves, so must the retail industry. The retail landscape not only includes in-store but also website, mobile site, mobile apps, and social media. With more and more competition emerging on all sides, retailers need to use every tool at their disposal to create value and gain a competitive advantage. Analytics offers a number of ways to make your company stand out, whether it's through improved operations, customer experience, or any of the other myriad factors that build a great place to shop. Style & Statistics provides an analytics primer with a practical bent, specifically for the retail industry.

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The premier guide to digital marketing that works, and a solid framework for success The Art of Digital Marketing is the comprehensive guide to cracking the digital marketing 'code,' and reaching, engaging, and serving the empowered consumer. Based on the industry's leading certification from the Digital Marketing Institute (DMI), this book presents an innovative methodology for successful digital marketing: start with the customer and work backwards. A campaign is only effective as it is reflective of the consumer's wants, needs, preferences, and inclinations; the DMI framework provides structured, implementable, iterative direction for getting it right every time. The heart of the framework is a three-step process called the 3i Principles: Initiate, Iterate, and Integrate. This simple idea translates into higher engagement, real customer interaction, and multichannel campaigns that extend even into traditional marketing channels. The evolution of digital marketing isn't really about the brands; it's about consumers exercising more control over their choices. This book demonstrates how using this single realization as a starting point helps you build and implement more effective campaigns. Get inside the customer's head with deep consumer research Constantly improve your campaigns based on feedback and interactions Integrate digital activities across channels, including traditional marketing Build campaigns based on customer choice and control Digital marketing turns traditional marketing models on their heads. Instead of telling the customer what to think, you find out what they already think and go from there. Instead of front-loading resources, you continually adjust your approach based on real interactions with real customers every day. Digital marketing operates within its own paradigm, and The Art of Digital Marketing opens the door for your next campaign.

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A practical guide for providing exceptional client service Most advertising and marketing people would claim great client service is an elusive, ephemeral pursuit, not easily characterized by a precise skill set or inventory of responsibilities; this book and its author argue otherwise, claiming there are definable, actionable methods to the role, and provide guidance designed to achieve more effective work. Written by one of the industry's most knowledgeable client services executives, the book begins with a definition, then follows a path from an initial new business win to beginning, building, losing, then regaining trust with clients. It is a powerful source of counsel for those new to the business, for industry veterans who want to refresh or validate what they know, and for anyone in the middle of the journey to get better at what they do.

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Apply software-inspired management concepts to accelerate modern marketing In many ways, modern marketing has more in common with the software profession than it does with classic marketing management. As surprising as that may sound, it's the natural result of the world going digital. Marketing must move faster, adapt more quickly to market feedback, and manage an increasingly complex set of customer experience touchpoints. All of these challenges are shaped by the dynamics of software—from the growing number of technologies in our own organizations to the global forces of the Internet at large. But you can turn that to your advantage. And you don't need to be technical to do it. Hacking Marketing will show you how to conquer those challenges by adapting successful management frameworks from the software industry to the practice of marketing for any business in a digital world. You'll learn about agile and lean management methodologies, innovation techniques used by high-growth technology companies that any organization can apply, pragmatic approaches for scaling up marketing in a fragmented and constantly shifting environment, and strategies to unleash the full potential of talent in a digital age. Marketing responsibilities and tactics have changed dramatically over the past decade. This book now updates marketing management to better serve this rapidly evolving discipline. Increase the tempo of marketing's responsiveness without chaos or burnout Design «continuous» marketing programs and campaigns that constantly evolve Drive growth with more marketing experiments while actually reducing risk Architect marketing capabilities in layers to better scale and adapt to change Balance strategic focus with the ability to harness emergent opportunities As a marketer and a manager, Hacking Marketing will expand your mental models for how to lead marketing in a digital world where everything—including marketing—flows with the speed and adaptability of software.

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Impossible Goals, Inevitable Successes Why are you struggling to grow your business when everyone else seems to be crushing their goals? If you needed to triple revenue within the next three years, would you know exactly how to do it? Doubling the size of your business, tripling it, even growing ten times larger isn’t about magic. It’s not about privileges, luck, or working harder. There’s a template that the world’s fastest growing companies follow to achieve and sustain much, much faster growth. From Impossible to Inevitable details the hypergrowth playbook of companies like the record-breaking Zenefits (which skyrocketed from $1 million to $100 million in two years), Salesforce.com (the fastest growing multibillion dollar software company), and EchoSign—aka Adobe Document Services—(which catapulted from $0 to $144 million in seven years). Whether you have a $1 billion or a $100,000 business, you can use the same insights as these notable companies to learn what it really takes to break your own revenue records. For instance, one of the authors shows how he grew his income from $67,000 to $720,000 in four years while maintaining a 20-30 hour work week and welcoming a new child—nine times. This book shows you how to surpass plateaus and get off of the up-and-down revenue rollercoaster by answering three questions about growing revenue to tens times its size: Why aren’t you growing faster? What does it take to get to hypergrowth? How do you sustain growth? This powerful, effective book provides a template for you to kick off your biggest growth spurt yet. This template includes The 7 Ingredients Of Hypergrowth: You’re not ready to grow until you Nail a Niche. Overnight success is a fairy tale. You’re not going to be magically discovered. You need sustainable systems that Create Predictable Pipeline. Growth exposes your weaknesses and it will cause more problems than it solves—until you Make Sales Scalable. It’s hard to build a big business out of small deals. Figure out how to Double Your Dealsize. It’ll take years longer than you want, but don’t quit too soon. Make sure you can Do the Time. Your people are renting, not owning their jobs. Develop a culture of initiative, not adequacy by Embracing Employee Ownership. Employees, you are too accepting of “reality” and too eager to quit. You can Define Your Destiny to make a difference, for yourself and your company, no matter what you do or where you work. The authors take each ingredient and break it down into specific steps to guide you through implementation. From Impossible to Inevitable helps you take impossible goals and turn them into inevitable successes for your business and team. You will achieve success even bigger than you can imagine from where you’re sitting today.

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