Bits About Books : Access all episodes of 2021

I had the opportunity to speak with Authors and their latest books on Sales, Marketing, Management and Self organisation in Bits About Books. Imagined in the lines of Making of the Movie, BAB tries to go behind the scenes of how the books are actually written and how ideas take shape into the wonderful set of books we featured in 2021. Take your pick. Each episode is unique and discussions very enjoyable - likely to trigger some interesting actionable ideas for each of us.

EPISODE 41?/ In Conversation with Anuj?Adhiya, Growth Advisor,?Globalwork?

Anuj?Adhiya?is the Growth Advisor at?Globalwork?and the author of 'Growth Hacking for Dummies'. In the last couple of?years,?he has worked exclusively with?early-stage?startups as the first growth hire to align their processes and teams. He mentors startups at Harvard Innovation Labs,?Seedstars?and The McCarthy(s) Venture Network where he helps startups uncover their best growth opportunities and solve early challenges. He also?mentors?early startup employees at First Round Fast Track.?

?HIGHLIGHTS?

·??????Anuj's education has been in chemistry and biochemistry. It is by chance that he entered the world of growth. He wanted to create his first startup and decided he would have to learn about marketing. This led him to a community of growth hackers, where he started to take part actively. Soon, he was catapulted into important roles within the forum, and soon after, he was hired as a member of the team.?

·??????Growth hacking is misunderstood by many people. The term "hacking" seems to make people believe there is something covert about it. But Growth hacking has no secret principles, there are no 'tricks', and there is nothing illegal about it. In his attempt to demystify and clarify the subject, Anuj discovered that there were absolutely no beginners' books or "for dummies" books on Growth Hacking. This is what motivated him to write the book "Growth Hacking for Dummies".?

·??????Growth Hacking is about developing sustainable growth by growing value for the end user. This requires the right team, where everyone is aligned with the idea of creating value for the user. People may be working on several aspects within the organization, and one can be building more features into the product or removing bugs from the application. But all these activities must revolve around creating greater value for the user—this is in essence what Growth Hacking is all about.?

Run time – 00:49:58 mins.?

EPISODE 40?/ In Conversation with Ethan?Beute, Author, Human-Centered?Communication?

?Chief Evangelist at?BombBomb, co-author of?Rehumanize Your Business?and of?Human-Centered Communication, and host of?The Customer Experience Podcast, Ethan?Beute?has spent the past decade helping business professionals be more personal and human through simple video messages. He’s sent more than 12,000 videos himself. He also spent a dozen years leading marketing teams inside local television stations in Chicago, Grand Rapids, and Colorado Springs. He holds undergraduate and graduate degrees from the University of Michigan and UCCS in communication, psychology, and marketing. He lives in Colorado Springs with his wife and son.?

HIGHLIGHTS?

·???????The author emphasizes the fact that automation is easy, and so we have become enamored by such technology. We believe we can measure the effects of deploying these new technologies. But if humans?have to?be served, then relationships and social skills become important. These cannot be objectively measured, but this is what will ultimately lead to success in all spheres, including selling.?

·???????Digital pollution is the waste caused through digital means. A good example would be the number of uncalled mails and messages that we receive every day. While the intention may not be to cause harm, it however leads to wasted time and resources. Intent to cause harm such as the use of malware or ransomware is an extreme case and goes beyond mere pollution.?

·???????At the same time countermeasures to battle spam and harmful content has also been growing. Gmail's tab that segregates Promotional mail is an example of an early implementation of such a filter. With more of AL and ML taking over human functions, it becomes important to "teach" the machines the right values as well, which implies in turn empathetic human behavior in the first place.?

?Run time – 00:49:08 mins.??

EPISODE 39 /? In Conversation with Shakti?Leekha, Author of the book "High Value Sales"

?HIGHLIGHTS?

·??????Shakti?Leekha?has over two decades of leadership experience in starting and growing operations with various global fortune 500 companies like Philips, Johnson Controls, ABB, UTC & Bajaj Group. He is now associated with?Tiemmers?for APAC and ME. He is currently working as an independent director and mentor for?Indosworldexim. Having seen the world of sales transform over the decades, he decided to chronicle his experiences in his book so that others may benefit from the vast experience he has gained while creating award-winning businesses under his leadership.?

·??????The author emphasizes that in his generation, when they started their careers, there was no guidance in entrepreneurship. Sales and Marketing, he believes is in fact entrepreneurship, because it is about building a product and taking it to the market. His book, "High Value Sales", thus fills a crucial gap in providing that mentorship and guidance that will help sales leaders take their product to market. And if the nation?has to?grow, sales?must?develop, because the economic wheel starts spinning from the sales function.?

·??????The book highlights the fact that B2B selling is vastly different from B2C selling, which boils down to essentially, availability. But Organization to organization selling, as well as even Government to Government selling, faces many unique challenges. The many cases that the author relates in?thebook?from his own experiences, should help to guide sales leaders achieve high value sales.?

?Run time –?00:31:24 mins.?

EPISODE 38 / In Conversation with?Tony Hughes, Co-Founder and Sales Innovation Director, Sales IQ Global, and Author of Tech Powered Sales

HIGHLIGHTS:?

·??????Tony Hughes has 35 years of corporate and sales leadership experience and is ranked a top 3 sales expert. He has generated record-breaking results as a salesperson, head of sales, and CEO. He is a best-selling author, consultant,?trainer?and keynote speaker.?

·??????In this episode Tony Hughes talks about his latest book, "Tech Powered Sales". He along with his co-author propose that almost 70% of what a salesman does today can be automated, and should be, leaving the salesman to concentrate on the human element, which is what machines cannot do. These include building relationships, navigating?politics?and building a better narrative about the business.?

·??????Today companies are typically spending $1000 per year on their sales tech stack, and it is expected to go up to perhaps $5000 by the end of the decade. While that is indeed a lot of money, that tech stack will make the salesman a sales superhero. The stack will be able to perform myriad automation activities such as set appropriate cadence and frequencies of outreach applicable for different roles in the buyer organization, in running campaigns and outbound in a technology led sales environment.?

These and more insights in this new episode of Bits About Books with?Tony Hughes.?

Run time – 00:43:15 mins.?

Ep?37 / In Conversation with?Brad?Jeavons,?Author of the bestseller?Agile Sales, Delivering Customer?Journey’s?of value and delight.?

Highlights:?

·??????Brad?Jeavons?started life on a farm in inland Australia, where he first honed his skills on selling, because "you have to do everything by yourself" on a farm. He went to university and studied International Business, where he learnt about Toyota's business model.?

·??????He went into sales and even when he was promoted to General Manager, he continued focusing on sales. He gained more than 20 years of experience in sales, talking to customers and?sales people. Subsequently he also assumed a consultative role. He then decided to write a book on sales.?

·??????While most sales books concentrate on techniques and approaches of selling, Brad's book, "Agile Sales -?Delivering Customer?Journey’s?of value and delight.?", discusses cultural and systems elements of selling, along with customer-centricity and alignment. This implies that selling teams should be based on the customer, not on internal imperatives.?

These and more insights in this new episode of Bits About Books with?Brad?Jeavons.?

Run time –?35.58?mins.??

Ep?36 / In Conversation with?Melissa?Madian,?author of -?Enabler? I Hardly Know Her!?How to Make the Sales Experience Not Suck.?

?Highlights:?

·??????Melissa?Madian?is the Founder and Chief Fabulous Officer at?TMM Enablement Services?Inc..?She was one of the first people to pioneer the “sales enablement” role and has spent the past 25 years perfecting the sales experience for revenue-generating teams.?

·??????Enabler, I Hardly Know Her is a book about Sales Enablement. It explains what Sales enablement is, why it is important to the sales process today, and what it means to sales leaders and sales managers. In a sense, it is a ‘Sales Enablement for Dummies’ book, starting from the very basics.?

·??????Interestingly, the author provides several definitions for Sales Enablement. She starts with one definition, but progressing along the chapters, she provides more definitions. The reason is because along her journey as a sales enablement professional, Melissa too has arrived at different definitions of what sales enablement is.?

·???????The book also talks about how to create a great buyer experience throughout the customer journey. Ultimately the goal of sales enablement is to realize revenue using the tools of enablement, while creating a great experience for the buyer.?

These and more insights in this new episode of Bits About Books with?Melissa?Madian?

Run time –?33.49?mins.??

?

Ep?35 / In Conversation with?Dr. Kevin?Gazzara?–?Co-Author of ‘The Leader of Oz’?

?Highlights:?

·??????Dr. Kevin?Gazzara?is recognized as a Management & Leadership Expert. Along with?Dr.Murtaza?Ali Lakhani, who is a statistician, he co-authored "The Leader of OZ – Revealing the 101 Secrets of Marvelous Leadership for the 21st Century". It shows that essentially, leadership qualities have not changed much over the years, but they have become slightly adjusted for the current times.??

·??????The book dives into leadership traits that are essential for today's organizations. Based on Murtaza Ali's dissertation and?Dr.Gazzara's?research, the book reveals 101 qualities of successful leadership. It is partly based on a cross cultural survey across countries,?taking into account?leadership attributes that contribute to successful business outcomes. While considering 10 classical attributes spoken about by other scholars, the authors realized that these did not?take into account?organizational or national culture.?

·??????As a leader, if there is only one thing you can improve, it should be communication. To be a good communicator, listeners?have to?consider the communication as an opportunity and not as a threat.?

These and more insights in this new episode of Bits About Books with?Dr.Kevin?Gazzara?

Run time –?40.53?mins.???

Ep 34 / Listeners Choice#3 - In Conversation with Stu Heinecke, author, Get The Meeting

Over the years that we have been bringing you stimulating conversations with Authors of breakthrough business,?sales?and personal development books some conversations resonated with the listeners of this podcast. For the next few episodes, we will bring you some of those conversations. (repeat?from last recording)??

The Conversation with Stu?Heinecke, author, Get?The?Meeting was one of the most entertaining and in a way –?out of the box. His ideas seem larger than?life?but they work. If there is this?meeting?you must get – then this Episode is for you. Enjoy.?

• Heinecke’s second book “Get The Meeting” is about getting a face to face meeting through contact marketing.
• Contact Marketing tries to establish personal rapport with target prospects through research and appealing to personal interests thereafter. It uses personalized campaigns to reach high ranking executives and create alliances to win large deals.
• Stu is a Hall-of-Fame-nominated marketer and?Wall Street Journal?cartoonist and brings a unique perspective to marketing that involves creativity and utility.

These and more insights from the ground in this great episode of Bits About Books.

Run time – 53.14 mins.?

EPISODE 33 / In Conversation with?Ramli John, Managing Director at?ProductLed, and Author of the bestseller “Product Led Onboarding -?How to Turn Users into Lifelong Customers”.?

Highlights:?

·??????Ramli John's book "Product Led Onboarding -?How to Turn Users into Lifelong Customers?" defines key strategies in user onboarding. Appropriate onboarding is essential for acquisition, retention and user engagement with today's tools and services. Such onboarding?has to?be led by the entire organization and not just by the product team.?

·??????Onboarding fails due to lack of ownership, and lack of clear definition along with quantitative metrics and targets. The book helps to guide readers in creating definitions,?metrics?and targets to achieve exceptional user onboarding through a series of “Aha” or value moments at each touchpoint of the buyer journey, ending with the signal that the buyer is gaining meaningful value from the product.?

·??????The EUREKA framework proposed by the author is a six-step framework that shortens the time-to-value (TTV) for successfully onboarding more users by delivering an effective, immersive, and seamless onboarding experience for new users through a holistic process, as well as use metrics such as Product Qualified leads to refine success criteria and evaluate and optimize the onboarding path.?

These and more insights in this new episode of Bits About Books with?Ramli John.?

Run time –?40.39?mins.??

Ep 32 Listeners’ Choice #2 – In Conversation with Diane Helbig, author, Succeed Without ‘Selling’

?Over the years that we have been bringing you stimulating conversations with Authors of breakthrough business,?sales?and personal development books some conversations resonated with the listeners of this podcast. For the next few episodes, we will bring you some of those conversations. (repeat?from last recording)??

My Conversation with Diane Helbig, author of Succeed Without ‘Selling’ took place while I was travelling through Bristol, UK. The era of hardcore selling is over and this conversation with Diane resonated with me because it was so focused on the buyer and the simple truth that hard sell is, well, hard. Enjoy.

• Diane Helbig’s book dispels common myths about selling and closing sales. One of these commonly held beliefs is that everyone we meet is a potential customer. This is a complete fallacy. We are told that just being convincing or eloquent will result in a sale. This is wrong, obviously. The only way there can be a sale is when the customer has a need for our product.
• Not every conversation or engagement has to end with a sale closing. The very attempt to lead every conversation to close creates a negative impression and can in fact lead people away from the conversation.
• The effort on the part of the salesperson should, instead, be in providing help and information, that genuinely engages the other person and benefits them in a positive way.??

These and more insights from the ground in this great episode of Bits About Books.

Run time – 33.30 mins.

EPISODE 31 / In Conversation with?George?Brontén, Founder of?Membrain?and author of the?book?-?Stop Killing Deals – How to Avoid Deadly Assumptions and Achieve Sales Excellence?

Highlights:??

·??????At a psychological level, selling has remained the same over the years. While internet has changed the process of selling significantly, at a fundamental level the 'why' of selling has not changed. In his book "Stop Killing Deals" George?Brontén?tells sales professionals to stop making assumptions and start thinking deeply about those fundamental motivations behind why people buy.?

·??????The book is a condensed version of knowledge gathered over years of?experience, and?guiding other sales professionals through his blog?“Art & Science of Complex Sales”. Initially, George had not set out to write a book. His learnings came from several attempts at building sales teams, when he hired and fired often, but failed to create a successful sales team. He realized that one crucial mistake was the assumption that sales professionals are born that way. Once he was able to get over that thought, he realized the importance of training and building sales professionals.?

·??????Another false assumption was “sales professionals who were successful, would perform equally well in all situations. Also, we assume that tools which claim to aid sales processes automatically lead to higher productivity. Combined with several other assumptions, this just?lead?to failures in the sales process. Armed with this learning, George?Bronten?set out to right the wrongs by sharing his knowledge though his book "Stop Killing Deals".?

These and more insights in this new episode of Bits About Books with?George?Brontén.?

Run time –?49?mins.??

Ep 30 Listeners Choice # 1 In conversation with Amit Agarwal, author, The Ultimate Sales Accelerator

• ?The book talks about a single powerful strategy that contributes to maximizing sales. There are ten chapters, but the primary focus is on a single strategy. The Chapters pose questions, because the author would like the reader to think and participate in the ‘discussion’.
• The book deals with use case selling. Other chapters deal with thirty-one B2B and B2C selling experiences, which amplify the concept of the single strategy propounded by the author. The last chapter talks about the “future sales person”.
• Product differentiation can be made through value added services as well. Lot of value creation happens by servicing unknown needs. This means that even if the buyer has done research, there are still needs that are not known by the buyer.

These and more insights from the ground in this great episode of Bits About Books.

Run time – 31.31 mins.

EPISODE 29 / In Conversation with?with?Liz Wendling and her Bestseller – "The Heart of Authentic Selling - Tap?Into?The?Power of Human Connection?And?Close More Sales".?

?Highlights :?

·??????Liz Wendling is a nationally recognized speaker, sales consultant, and author of 6 books. Her most recent is?The Heart of Authentic Selling.??Liz understands the sales challenges that professionals face when selling in today's competitive environment and shows them how to make a profound difference in their sales approach, language, and process —online and offline.?

·??????It's not WHAT you sell, it's HOW you sell?that matters. People are buying how you treat them- they don't care about your marketing. People can tell when you are coming from the heart as opposed to making a quick sale. They can tell when you are interested in connecting human to human and wanting to solve their pain.?

·??????The competitive environment, quota pressures and other imperatives push?sales people?to be forceful or manipulative in trying to garner a quick sale, even if these play out in subtle forms. But customers are smart enough to figure out such overtures and machinations. Such tactics do not work.?Instead?they produce negative results.?

·??????The right approach is to treat every prospect with respect, have an honest conversation to understand their problem, and try to solve their issues. If the prospect says ‘no’, that refusal to engage must be respected as well.?

These and more insights in this new episode of Bits About Books with?Liz Wendling?

Run time – 39.43?mins.??

?

EPISODE 28?/ In Conversation with?T N Hari, Co Author?of?“Sailing through a storm,?Making?a Crisis work for you”.

Highlights :?

·??????T N Hari is an advisor and sounding board to numerous young entrepreneurs and startups. He is also a Strategic Advisor at ‘Fundamentum’, which is a homegrown growth phase VC fund. He?Co-Authored the book with Sanjay Swami, Managing Partner & Co-Founder?-??Priven?Advisors LLP, Advisory to Prime Venture Partners.?

·??????We are living though a historic moment of crisis due to the global pandemic. This was a strong reason to introspect and understand why challenges motivate us, how we survive and come out stronger in the process - which became the motivation for the book.?

·??????The distinction between a cyclic upheaval and a Black Swan event lies only in perspective. What is rare in one lifetime, may be a cyclic event over a longer?period of time?such as every 200 years. Challenge and adversity are therefore the normative condition, if a sufficiently long period of time is taken into consideration.?

·??????The book delves into history and explores the unique challenges faced by men and women, and how they overcame adversity. Especially telling are instances of women who faced inequality, and have not been given their due, as well as a woman monarch who ruled with a difference to bring peace and prosperity to her kingdom.?

·??????The authors identify five leadership qualities that make people shine even during?crises, and?come out stronger in the face of it. These include Character, Meaning and purpose in life, Balancing emotion and reason, Balance between masculine and feminine leadership traits, and Fearlessness and selflessness.?

These and more insights in this new episode of Bits About Books with?T N Hari?

Run time – 32.10?mins.??

EPISODE 27 / In Conversation with?Deb Calvert,?Co-author of the book?– “Stop Selling & Start Leading – How to make Extraordinary Sales Happen”.??

Highlights:?

·??????Deb Calvert authored?DISCOVER Questions??and?Stop Selling & Start Leading,?founded The Sales Experts Channel, is President of People First Productivity Solutions, and is a certified?sales and executive coach. She’s one of the "65 Most Influential Women in Business," a Top 30 Global Sales Guru, and an inductee into The Sales Hall of Fame.?

·??????While it is common in B2C selling to do buyer research and be responsive to buyer demands, it is strange that the same paradigm has not been applied in B2B selling.?

·??????It is no longer enough to provide service, because we?have to?create meaningful and relevant experiences for?each and every?buyer. 89% buyers will pay more for?superior?experience?than for a superior product.??

·??????There are many levels of experience, such as human to human connection. This is not just a "nice to have", but a differentiator. Ultimately, it is crucial to provide experiences that are transformative, affecting the buyer in how they think,?buy?and do business.??

·??????Entire organizations must be customer focused, and therefore, thinking about customer experience.?

·??????The authors conducted a survey amongst buyer to rank 30 leadership?behaviours?of sellers that would make them buy more from those sellers. One of the highest rated?behaviour?is that buyers want a 2-way dialogue and not a unidirectional sales pitch. This implies that a diagnostic approach with survey type questions that tries to segment and qualify the buyer's needs alienates the buyer.?

·??????The book contains results from several other studies that dig deep into buyer?behaviour?and demands.?

These and more insights in this new episode of Bits About Books with?Deb Calvert.?

Run time – 38.58?mins.???

EPISODE 26 / In Conversation with?Abhijit?Bhaduri, author of – “Dreamers and unicorns -?How Leadership, Talent and Culture are the new Growth Drivers”.?

Highlights:?

·??????Abhijit?Bhaduri?is the?Founder & CEO of Abhijit?Bhaduri?& Associates.?He is a Strategic advisor to business leaders and?organisations?in transition. Executive coach to leaders on building a culture that attracts talent necessary to drive growth, Rated among the top 10 learning experts globally.?

·??????Leadership,?talent?and organizational culture drive growth.?

·??????Not everything that creates value can be measured in numbers. Examples are truth, honesty, intellectual?property?and other intangibles. The proclivity to measure ROI is mired in old-school thinking.?

·??????Five great shifts have shaped the current world. Such as going digital and operating in a fully remote work paradigm, and these changes are very rapid and perpetual.?

·??????The nature of employment has changed, and requirements and aspirations of workers have changed. The best of class highly paid?whitel?collar workers?are?unionizing to demand greater equity and social justice.?

·??????The remote work model has made talent more substitutable,?and also?increased the level of expertise available. It is a more "freemarket" world in that sense.?

?These and more insights in this new episode of Bits About Books with?Abhijit?Bhaduri.?

Run time – 49.04?mins.??

EPISODE 25?/ In Conversation with?T N Hari, Co-Author of the book “Pony to Unicorn, Scaling a Startup Sustainably”.?

Highlights:?

·??????T N Hari is an advisor and sounding board to numerous young entrepreneurs and startups. He is also a Strategic Advisor at ‘Fundamentum’, which is a homegrown?growth phase VC fund set up by Nandan Nilekani and Sanjeev Aggarwal. Sanjeev is also his Co-Author for this Book.?

·??????Changing consumer?behaviour?is expensive.?So?if VCs with deep pockets are willing to invest on daring ideas, it's good for entrepreneurs with ambitious goals. Some ideas do work out, but others don't - so some startups just disappear while a few become unicorns.?

·??????VCs like to back ideas that can be disruptive. In that, they as well as the entrepreneur must take risks. The initial goal is to create markets where none exist. Profitability is not the primary concern at that point.??

·??????The book provides insights that can help entrepreneurs scale their startups. It is partly a manual, but also shares real life stories. It discusses 9 determinants of success, for example, that to be a unicorn you?have to?invest in a mega-trend, such as say urban transportation. Companies also have unique cultures, which are critical in determining success.?

·??????The book makes comparisons between the startup ecosystems of India,?China?and the US, and shows how the history of innovation in these countries makes a difference to the success of the industry.?

These and more insights in this new episode of Bits About Books with?T N Hari?

Run time – 44.20?mins.??

EPISODE 24?/ In Conversation with?Dhruv Nath,?Co-Author of the?book?“Funding Your?Startup?and Other Nightmares”.?

Highlights:?

·??????Dr Dhruv Nath is a Professor at MDI, Gurgaon, and a?Director with Lead Angels, and an Angel Investor.?He has been a consultant to the Top Management of several?organizations?such as Glaxo, Gillette, Nestle,?Indianoil?Corporation, Thermax, Bajaj Auto, etc., as well as to the Prime Minister of Namibia and the Chief Minister of Delhi.?

·??????Dr Nath, while?talking to many startup founders, realized that while there were many brilliant ideas floating around, not many?knew how to raise funds or run a business. This inspired him to write the book.?

·??????He draws many lessons from both success stories as well as failures. Usually, people do not want to talk about failures, but the author feels there are many valuable lessons to be learnt from these experiences as well.??

·??????The?authors propose the?PERSISTENT?framework?as a key to?building successful?startups,?as well as?for fundraising. The?framework looks at ten factors that can make or break a business.??

These and more insights in this new episode of Bits About Books with?Dhruv Nath?

Run time –?44.49?mins.??

~ End of list ~