Dear Reader,

Do You Do This When You Decide to Read a Nonfiction Book?

When you read nonfiction books, do you view them as problem solving tools? You hear all the time in the media how many books successful people read. But many of them read nonfiction books because they’re looking for solutions to specific problems they have. You should try this sometime and see what happens.

When you do this though, it’s important to read diverse books to get different perspectives. I wanted to master the sales process, so myself along with other executives are currently participating in the Sales Accelerator. Although the books I read were different, when I started to combine the big ideas and the sales models that’s when I saw the themes emerging.

Here’s what I have come up with so far.

You have to establish credibility, start building trust, and instilling confidence in the first few seconds of the conversation. The name I came up with is Rapid Rapport (RR).
You have to gather information to diagnose the customer’s real problem. The name I came up with is Customer Intelligence (CI).
You need to convince the customer that your product or service is the right solution to their problem and the best among all the solutions. You anticipate objections, present the benefits you held back when the customer raises her objection. I name this Delayed Gratification (DG).
To be the best, you have to be knowledgeable not only about others, but also about self. I name this Conscious Awareness (CA).

It’s a good learning process for me and having short, pithy names help me to remember the steps. What problems do you need to solve for your clients? And how can I help you to read the right books?

The Invisible Mentor Blog

This week I profiled Madam CJ Walker, who Operated the Largest Black-Owned Business in Early 20th Century.

The following quote says a lot.

“Surely you are not going to shut the door in my face. I have been trying to tell you what I am doing. I am a woman who came from the cotton fields of the South. I was promoted from there to the washtub. Then I was promoted to the cook kitchen. And from there I promoted myself into the business of manufacturing hair goods and preparations. I know how to grow hair as well as I know how to grow cotton. I have built my own factory on my own ground.” Madam C J Walker at Booker T Washington’s National Negro Business League Conference (1912)

Read more on the blog! https://theinvisiblementor.com/black-history-month-madam-c-j-walker-operated-the-largest-black-owned-business-in-the-early-twentieth-century/

I also started a new series on the blog called The One Problem, which consists of short interviews. In Episode 3, Liz Kitchell from SheMoolah talks about the gender wage gap. Transcript included on the blog. https://theinvisiblementor.com/the-one-problem-liz-kitchell-from-shemoolah-talks-money-conversations/

Episode 1 https://youtu.be/e2MC_4_QPKU

Episode 2 https://youtu.be/dHqp1LAOyBw

Episode 3 https://youtu.be/vep12u7AixQ

I haven’t conducted interviews in a while, so this is not my best work. This episode I had to do it three times for various reasons.

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