Review: Selling With Noble Purpose, by Lisa Earle McLeod

Selling with Noble Purpose

Book reviews > Selling with Noble Purpose

Lisa Earle McLeod (2013). Selling with Noble Purpose (How to Drive Revenue and Do Work That Makes You Proud), Wiley

Saying 'Selling' and 'Noble Purpose' in the same breath might seem rather odd to many people, yet the purpose of consultant and former top sales person Lisa Earle McLeod in this book is to convince you that these are in fact very productive bedfellows, and to show you how to turn the idea into reality.

A key driver for this book came from research done by the author that showed how sales people who were driven by a higher purpose actually got far better results as compared to those who focused first on the numbers. This fact alone should be enough to make any sales manager want to buy and read the book.

One of the key reasons that purpose works so well is that it is an intrinsic motivator as opposed to extrinsic methods such as sales targets and bonuses. We all like doing a good job and having purpose such as helping customers and changing the world is far more powerful than just making the numbers.

Using purpose seems obvious, but it is not that easy (success seldom is). Truly putting purpose first is swimming upriver if the company is driving simply for rapid and short-term sales, and particularly if they manage by fear (a sadly common and base 'motivational' method). Quite sensibly, a good proportion of the book is given over to the practicalities of creating internal company change that allows purpose-based selling to be used.

This is an inspirational and highly practical book that sales managers will want to read very carefully. It is honest in highlighting the difficulties in changing how you sell and very helpful in how to go about making that change. Purpose is the first step and certainly not the last, but it clearly is well worth taking.

Buy Me

Lisa Earle McLeod, Selling With Noble Purpose, Wiley, 2013

An excellent book for sales managers and senior business people that challenges traditional models and shows why and how to put purpose at the centre of how and why you sell.