One of the most common myths in campaigns is that our business is somehow unique. As mission-driven, political entrepreneurs, we’re snowflakes — the rules of capitalism don’t apply to the special few.
This couldn’t be further from the truth.
From sales to marketing, from human resources to theory of constraints, political business owners who understand both campaigns and business are the ones who ultimately prevail in the marketplace.
Being your own boss can be a long, lonely journey. Forget the old cliche about books inside the Beltway serving primarily decorative purposes. These works can be the friend, mentor, and encouragement you need along the way. So let’s get reading:
The Score Takes Care of Itself: My Philosophy of Leadership by Bill Walsh
As a business owner, you’ll only get so far by yourself. You need to recruit and motivate great people to join your team and lead them to victory.
This is the story of how Bill Walsh took the San Francisco 49ers from the worst team in football to the best in only two years by establishing and relentlessly adhering to his “Standard of Performance.” The Standard is about the performance and behaviors he required from all of his players. He did not tolerate talented jerks who refused to follow the standard and took a long-term view of developing players who did.
If you want a Hall of Fame team on your staff, you need a clearly stated Standard of Performance. This book will inspire you to get started and stay on the path.
The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing by Al Ries and Jack Trout
Published in 1994, this short gem of a book will change your perspective on marketing in a single afternoon.
The laws are pithy and simple. Best of all, they make sense. For instance, it’s not about being first to the marketplace. It’s about being first in the customer’s mind. The leading brand is almost always the first brand in your mind. Think Kleenex, Band-Aids, and so on. If you aren’t first or second in the category, make a new category.
Granted, you’ll have to get past some of the completely outdated cultural references, including IBM computers and Hertz rental cars. If you are a child of the 80s, the nostalgia will be an added enjoyment.
While some of the stories haven’t aged well, the lessons are timeless. It’s a surprise this book hasn’t been updated and overhauled for this millennium.
Pitch Anything: An Innovative Method for Presenting, Persuading, and Winning the Deal by Oren Klaff
I often tell people politics is like dating. Business is like dating. Negotiating is like dating. Think about it. Who has all the power? The one doing the chasing … or the one playing hard to get? (Hint: It’s the latter.)
Klaff will show you — the person pitching — how to become so exciting, so appealing, so compelling, that your customers will pursue you. As a bonus, his pitch stories are great.
You can see why this system works for him, and it can work for you too, if you have the guts to try it. Most people don’t.
The Ultimate Sales Machine: Turbocharge Your Business with Relentless Focus on 12 Key Strategies by Chet Holmes
You may be a fantastic salesperson. You may be the best closer ever. But until you create and maintain a never-ending flywheel of business, you’re not the Ultimate Sales Machine.
Chet Holmes doesn’t tell you how to pound people into submission, make them buy something they don’t want or don’t need. Rather, you’ll learn how to provide amazing value to customers who need it and will appreciate it, and how to document those processes so that you and your team can delight customers over and over again without fail.
Consider waiting on this one, though. A highly anticipated update of the book is scheduled for release in summer 2020, according to Twitter.
The Dip: A Little Book That Teaches You When to Quit (and When to Stick) by Seth Godin
The last time you were in the market for a brain surgeon or a rocket scientist, did you look for someone who was “well rounded” and had a good “work-life balance” or did you look for the best person for the job?
It should come as no surprise that people want “the best” whether it’s life and death, or they just want the best Chinese food that can be delivered to their home at 2 a.m. So for your venture to succeed, you must be the best in the world.
Most people start something, it gets hard, they quit, and then they start over, right before they get good at it. The Dip is meant to weed out the weak and heap disproportionate rewards upon the strong.
To be the best, figure out what’s worth doing, quit everything else, and put 100 percent of your effort into getting through the Dip and over to the other side.
So what are you waiting for? It’s time to open a book and make 2020 your most successful year yet.
Nicole Schlinger is the founder and president of CampaignHQ. Since 1999, CampaignHQ has delivered millions of effective P2P text messages, voter ID, persuasion, advocacy, patch through, and GOTV calls for winning campaigns and conservative organizations.