Terry Coates' Recommended Reading
Professional Resources
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Leisure Reading
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You may have heard of 6 Sigma, the process
and product quality assurance system. This
book, from the Gallup organization, takes the
basic premises of that system and applies it to
human interactions--specifically the customer
relationship. They succeed where others have
failed primarily by recognizing that materials
and machines are distinctly NOT human.
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This is a fascinating book about
the first cross-country "motor train". In 1919,
the military set out to drive a set of military
vehicles from coast to coast. The course laid
out was the first, end-to-end American Road,
which was called the Lincoln Highway. Most of
the trip wasn't on anything like what we would
call a "road" today. |
As a management book, there is plenty of useful
information in how to better manage those
employees that have direct customer
interaction. This is presently my #1
recommendation for this type of book.
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The most common complaint I hear from
sales consultants is that they can't make any
money. Sometimes they'll say it's because the
buyer knows the product's cost, other times
it's that another store will cut the price too
low.
This book can help with those and other
price situations. Subtitled,
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1908 was an incredible year in
American History. In one year there were
2 attempts to discover the North Pole, Henry
Ford released the Model T, the Wright Brothers
flew for the first time at Kitty Hawk, but also
in France and Washington, D.C. The first
airline passenger was killed that year,
too. This is an amazing look at a
snapshot of America. |
How To Sell at Margins Higher Than Your
Competitors, this book was recommended by
Dave Heath, head of American Honda Sales
Training. This book isn't written specifically
for automotive retailing but most of it is not
only applicable, but wildly useful. The
purchase price was justified half-way through
chapter 2. This book is truly a must-read for
anyone who sells anything for a living.
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First, Break All the Rules,
subtitled, What the World's Greatest
Managers Do Differently is a real
eye-opener. The auto industry is consumed by
process improvement, attempting to solve daily
operational issues. But managers still have to
manage people--arguably a far more difficult
task. Few books are truly helpful in this area,
but this is certainly one of them.
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Note: These links will
take you to Amazon.com to view more details about each book and
optionally to purchase them.
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