Julian Franklin's Recommended Reading and Listening List for Professional Service Providers

• How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie.  This timeless text is THE book on learning how to get along with others, develop powerful networks of friends, and establish yourself as a person that attracts friends and business.
• Customer Satisfaction is Worthless, Customer Loyalty is Everything by Jeffrey Gitomer.  This book is filled with hundreds of ideas for converting one time customers into lifetime clients who cannot be "stolen" by lower prices, fast-talking competitors, or shaky economies.  You will learn how to turn all your past clients into advocates and un-paid salespeople for your business.
• The Sales Bible by Jeffery Gitomer.  If you are intimidated by the concept of selling, or feel that you could never hard sell anyone, then this is the book for you.  Gitomer explains why hard sales, high-pressure, and many of the tired, worn-out tactics that we have all come to loathe as both consumers and business people are NOT the way to conduct business, anyway!
• Selling the Invisible by Harry Beckwith.  How do you convince a buyer to purchase your service over your competitors?  They can't touch it, smell it, taste it, and by the time they experience it for themselves, it is over and too late for them to change their mind.  Beckwith teaches through case study, personal observation, and sharp insight exactly how to go about selling "the invisible".
• The Invisible Touch by Harry Beckwith.  More insights from Beckwith on marketing services.  If you like "The Invisible Touch" you will love the rest of Beckwith's material.  He is a service provider himself (a copywriter) and the advice he gives is real-world.
  
• What Clients Love by Harry Beckwith.  More insights from Beckwith.  I can't get enough of his inspiring material.
• Getting All that You Can From All that You've Got by Jay Abraham.  I almost left this book off the list just because I wanted to keep the best just for myself.  This book is worth far more than it's weight in gold.  I won't say any more.
  
• Rain Making by Ford Harding.  This book is a little bit more removed from our industry (focusing many times on how to generate business for your employer), but still filled with very useful ideas and motivational concepts for turning down time into productive time.  A "how-to" book on attracting clients to your business.
• Guerrilla Trade Show Selling by Jay Conrad Levinson.  If you market yourself as a trade show magician you MUST have this book.  Find out why the author of the Guerrilla Marketing Series tells millions of readers of this NY Times Best Selling series book NOT TO HIRE MAGICIANS for their trade show booth (p. 123).  Find out what really works and determine how you can offer the same.  If you ever market your own services through trade shows this book is a gem (and if you don't, this book will let you in on the huge potential you are currently missing).  In short, everyone needs this book.
  

• Secrets of Power Negotiating by Roger Dawson.  This course on negotiating will pay for itself 100 times over the next time you purchase your next car or home.  In the meantime you will learn how to get the most from all your transactions and how to avoid being manipulated by others in the negotiating process.  Learn how to stay firm in your price, book the show, and have the client feel GOOD about the transaction.  All other audio recordings on negotiating spawned from the insight of Roger Dawson.
• Unlimited Power by Anthony Robbins.  One of Anthony Robbins first programs and still one of his best.  Robbins is one of the nations leading motivational speakers.  This program will keep your batteries charged up and fill you with ideas about ways to create the life you've always dreamed of.
• Lead the Field by Earl Nightingale.  Earl Nightingale is the pioneer of self-help audio.  The company he founded, Nightingale-Conant is the leading supplier of great audio recordings, providing most of the programs listed here, as well as hundreds of others.  This is a four CD set that discloses some of the traits held by all of those who are leaders in their field.  Don't reinvent the wheel.  Learn from the successes of others.
• The Strangest Secret by Earl Nightingale.  The very first non-musical recording to result in a gold record, "The Strangest Secret" is just as true and appropriate today as it was when it was first recorded in the 1950s.  Learn the  single most important secret to success: a very strange, but powerful secret.
  
• How to Build a Network of Power Relationships by Harvey Mackay.  Listen to some of the other programs first.  Once you've applied some of what you've learned you may want to listen to this program.  It's only two CDs (or tapes) but the work involved will keep you relatively busy.  The production that results from your efforts should keep you very busy!  Just remember as you listen that every client you work with should be a part of your network.
• Almost anything by Brian Tracy.  His soft spoken voice belies the energy and passion he possesses and can impart into your life.
  
• Sell Your Act With Letters, Booking Yourself, and Make it Happen (plus many other programs about kid show bookings including The Confidential Day Care Booking Manual, Komedy Kidshow Kassettes, and others) by Samuel Patrick Smith.  Sammy Smith is a brilliantly funny man who has made a great career out of entertaining children.  He lays out the step by step program you need to book the shows, sell youself (in phone, via mail, and in person) and tells you exactly what to expect in the process.   
• Making Magic Memorable by Michael Ammar.  This is the single most important audio recording you can get in regards to what audiences REMEMBER about your magic and how to make them talk about you for days, weeks, and even years after your show.  By remembering to include your contact information with the memorable magic you create the ultimate promotional tool.  Ammar also offers a great recording by Charles Greene on restaurant magic.
• Radio Magic by Steve Shaw.  This 3 CD set contains some live performance of famous mentalist Banachek from the 1980s as he performed magic on the radio.  The effects are all explained along with his thinking about getting booked on the radio, maximizing your time on the radio, making the best of your publicity for your own benefit plus a lot more.  Available from Magic Inspirations.
• Anything by Jim Rohn. Touted as one of the most influential speakers of our time, Jim Rohn is amazing in his ability to speak in simple ways that will change you for the better. I particularly like "The Day That  Turns Your Life Around", but anything he creates will be money well spent.