4 Biz Books For Summer Reading
 By Terry M. Blair

Summertime and the readin’ is easy. Kill two birds with one stone this summer. Relax with a good book, but make it a book that’s good for your business. Here are four recommendations.

1. “Questions That Sell”
By Paul Cherry
American Management Association, 2006

Paul Cherry’s premise is that making a sale doesn’t hinge on communicating magical information about your goods or services. Instead, the buying decision turns entirely on asking potential buyers the right questions.

In “Questions That Sell,” Cherry proposes advanced questioning techniques to close more sales by addressing what customers value, rather than stressing price. Some suggested tactics address:

• How to tap into customers’ needs and desires

• How to uncover problems by fixing what’s not working for the client

• Getting customers to specify the price they believe the product or service is worth

2. “Investors in Your Backyard: How to Raise Business Capital from the People You Know”
By Asheesh Advani
Nolo, 2006

According to author Asheesh Advani, banks used to grant loans based on the four Cs: character, capacity, capital and conditions of the times. But today, loan officers focus on just one qualifying characteristic: personal credit score. A few dings in your credit record can scuttle bank approval, even for the most otherwise respectable borrower.

To address this sea change in the loan world, Advani shares secrets for securing vital financing and for approaching and persuading potential lenders from a pool of friends, family and angel investors.

This book offers advice about how to:

• Prepare your business to attract private financing

• Determine whom to approach

• Create a successful loan proposal

You’re also shown how to make “your kitchen table pitch,” seek equity capital, document final agreements including cash transfers and maintain a healthy ongoing relationship with your new financiers after sealing the deal.

3. “Maximum Marketing, Minimum Dollars”
By Kim T. Gordon
Kaplan Publishing, 2006

Are you consumed by running the day-to-day operations of your small business? Do you have less time every day to devote to marketing? Are you struggling with the ever-rising costs of marketing?

If you answered yes to any of those questions, Kim T. Gordon’s book is for you.

This softcover, breezy book ticks off “The Top 50 Ways to Grow Your Small Business,” as its subtitle promises. The book is reasonably divided into a dozen chapters, each focusing on particular marketing strategies, such as “Create Your Online Identity” and “Make PR Profitable.”

But Gordon doesn’t just lecture. She includes examples of real-life entrepreneurs who have successfully employed the recommended strategies. Many of the suggestions can be implemented at no cost, or at least with no cash outlay, which is about as good as it gets for cash-strapped entrepreneurs.

4. “The Relationship Edge in Business”
By Jerry Acuff with Wally Wood
John Wiley & Sons, 2006

Although it’s natural for people to build positive, long-lasting personal relationships in marriage, friendships and with co-workers, Jerry Acuff’s premise is that, “few of us know how to consciously and systematically build and maintain positive business relationships.”

If that’s true of you, this book may help.

The genesis of the book came about when an executive at Pfizer sought advice on how sales reps could spend more time with their doctor customers, who typically allotted them only a fleeting two to three minutes.

“What can you say in that time?” Acuff asks rhetorically. Addressing the pharmaceutical giant’s dilemma led to formulating the concept of, “climbing the relationship pyramid.”

If you learn best from clearly enumerated, step-by-step instructions, Acuff’s book may be just the ticket. He takes you through a checklist of assessments and improvements to apply to yourself and to those you want to get close to.

(Posted June 2006)

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