I'm not one of those guys who reads 10 books a week.  

As a matter of fact, I'm really the kind of guy who reads one book at a time for a really long time. Call me slow. Call me whatever.

The fact of the matter is that when I do finally pick up that book that someone recommended to me, I really read it. 

And I get it. REALLY get it.

I'm part visionary, part get it done. So when I finally get my hands on a good playbook...I make sure I get every bit of goodness out of it so that I can make plays and not miss anything.

That's why I'm standing behind these 3 books that every marketer, entrepreneur or salesperson should read...slowly.

Here are my reviews for all three in 140ish characters:

REWORK, by Jason Fried & David Heinemeier Hansson

Jason and David are the founders of 37 Signals, creators of wildly popular project management software, Basecamp.  "Stop talking. Stop working." Plans are useless in business.

THE CHALLENGER SALE, by Matthew Dixon & Brent Adamson

Want to know how to sell? Teach. Tailor. Take Control of The Conversation. That's the magic recipe. After reading The Challenger Sale I sold around $145,000 in high ticket coaching business....over the phone.

80/20 SALES AND MARKETING, by Perry Marshall

If you want the best handbook to being a "work smarter, not harder" marketer, read this book and use it as a reference. I literally read a little bit over again every day. Create more results with less activity. Period.

 What Happened After I Read These Books

Results, of course, are what all marketers really care about.  Ultimately, the result from reading these three books are as follows:

80/20 Sales and Marketing - I work MUCH smarter and think on a higher level of efficiency when it comes to leading my team on day to day activity. We look for leverage points rather Than new places to try and dig new holes searching for oil. Oil happens to already be in the areas we've been digging in for months.

The Challenger Sale - I know how to sell one-on-one in such a way that I can get a very high conversion percentage on high ticket phone call sales.  The framework and principles taught are easy and the data they provide is much like Jim Collins in Good To Great, only the data they share is specific to every kind of salesperson out there. It just so happens that 64% of high capacity/high performance salespeople are "Challengers".

Rework - This really helped my personality as a team leader and someone who takes ownership of a company that I'm not technically an owner in.  Overall, there is a ton of freedom to be found in Rework because it shatters a lot of traditional business customs that loom over the heads of entrepreneurial thinking executives who want to be nimble, agile and creative in how they hit their goals.  If you're a business owner, I'd say Rework is required reading.  If you're in charge of marketing or sales for someone else, I'd say you have a great model to craft your game plan after in these 37 Signals jokers....smart as hell and sharp as tacks. 

Call To Action:

Don't go order these books immediately on Amazon...

But consider it.

And consider linking up with someone smarter, more experienced and in a larger company than you are currently.  Call it coaching. Call it networking. Call it spying. Whatever. 

Bottom line is that you need something that will make you better because you and I in and of ourselves will not go to the next level. You get what you pay for. You become who you put yourself around, in a way.

Stay groovy my friend.

SPECIAL NOTE: Don't Miss This Post -> 6 Tips To Reaching Six-Figure Affiliate Income with Clickfunnels

Sales Funnel Blueprint and Affiliate Marketing Websites

If you're reading this and you're interested in affiliate marketing, I think you'll find this quick story encouraging. I was emailing with a customer of mine and he purchased my Sales Funnel Blueprint, which you can get at IDontHateCommissions.com. It's super affordable. It's $29. Just really easy for you to scoop up and grab. But the crazy thing about it is I put easily $10,000 worth of knowledge in there if you're willing to soak it up like a sponge. Anyway, my customer was specifically emailing me about an actionable affiliate marketing funnel. I've been coaching him through this system, through this Sales Funnel Blueprint system and he was so excited because he had tried everything and now, he finally had the momentum. 

    What was holding him back wasn't that he wasn't taking action. I know you probably hear a lot of gurus online that say, "Hey, you need to take massive action. You need to take action. You need to take action." Well, yes. But anyone can take action. It's not necessarily action. That wasn't my customer's problem either. He was taking action. As a matter of fact, he tried a lot of things. 

   He just didn't have a recipe. It's like me in the kitchen. Like for me and my family, we subscribe to the meal preparation services like Hello Fresh or Blue Apron, you've probably heard, where they literally ship you all the groceries and the recipes to your door. All you have to do is take action, right? Just take action in the kitchen. Follow the recipe. Turn the oven on and cook.

    That's basically what he said he did with my Sales Funnel Blueprint. I shipped it to him in the course and in the system. He took action. He cooked it. He followed the recipe. Now he's up to 42 customers. That's over $4,000 of monthly recurring revenue that he gets from his affiliate program that he's a part of. Let that sink for a second. How much would $4,000 in monthly recurring revenue be for you? Like, how big of a difference would that make?