The B2B Leaders Guidebook Book Review

📅 18th February 2021 | 2020/21 Sales Book Reviews

“Sales is not about selling anymore, but about building trust and educating.”
Siva Devaki

In August 1971, Jim Irving, author of The B2B Selling Guidebook, received his first salary. It totalled £9.83 net of tax and National Insurance. A tidy sum for a young man. Then ensued a successful forty year career as outlined in the abovementioned publication which was published in 2020. Jim’s second book of the year, The B2B Leaders Guidebook is similar to the first – it’s a bonanza of sales rules, sales management & leadership wisdom all learnt from the coalface. There are also some brilliant quotes.

What’s New

Appendices 3 & 4 really stood out for me. With the first, the reader will be impressed by the quality of the testimonials for Jim’s leadership and managerial qualities across a range of businesses. With Appendix 4, Jim writes on how sales leaders need to respond to the current Covid crisis – not just to external customers but also your internal customers too.

There are wonderful examples of ‘true’ social selling. The key here is to understand your customer and their likes – not everybody wants a golf society day or playing football or cricket with a sporting legend.

What’s Old

Jim recounts a time during the dot.com boom when time his services (as an experienced boss) were revered – then it all changed. Younger, brasher go-getters were all the rage until things went firmly South then ‘old wise heads’ were once again back in vogue.

If you’re a newbie into sales management you’ll enjoy reading the sections on recruitment, how to run a successful meeting and sales coaching. As enjoyable will be the passages on ethics, leadership and that old bugbear – customer service. My old mucker Geoff Burch, always says that customer service is an attitude, not a department.

What’s Better

Time Management (or perhaps better described as self management) has its own chapter. There’s a wonderful tip (you’ll need a rubber band or two) on how to switch off at the end of the working day.

One of the final chapters in the book is called Unfair Mindshare, or putting it another way – getting one over the competition. Fascinating stuff.