Required Reading
It starts when someone teaches us to read. From the day we began with Dr. Seuss until we picked up the instruction manual to our new quarter-of-a-million-dollar CNC, reading affects our lives. Just the fact that you’re visualizing these words on the page is living proof that mankind is thirsty for knowledge.
We all cry out for more. So much so that, in the last 20 years or so, we’ve amassed what is known as “The Information Superhighway” – and, of course, you can’t ride on this boulevard of dreams unless you’ve been licensed to read.
This brings us to the Ultimate Question plaguing the stone trade ever since Og started detailing his production of the wheel on his cave walls: What’s worth reading in this industry?
Early in my career, I heard a talk about leveraging other people’s time, money and experience. And in this business, knowing who to read (and therefore who’s experience to leverage) is valuable information.
We’re glutted with so much information that some will just ignore it all and forge ahead like the Donner Party (and, hopefully, not get chewed up in the future). Let me guide you to some publications that’ve helped me on my way.
Aside from the obvious one you’re reading now (support your local team), I’ve always found the Marble Institute of America’s newsletter, The Cutting Edge, to be informative. The president’s column is usually informative and has great business ideas, but the meat for me is in Chuck Muehlbauer’s “My Opinion” on page 2.
Chuck doesn’t always talk restoration (but, hey, who does in this business), but I always learn something, and that one tidbit is usually worth the price of admission. (Also, if you do not own the latest version of the MIA’s Dimension Stone Design Manual, you’re just winging it and spouting your own opinion, not the industry’s).
When I got into this business, the only restoration guy putting out publications was Fred Hueston. I bought and read many of his books; and while some still list a few out-dated methods (remember, these were written about 15 years ago), they’re still a valuable addition to any stone tradesperson’s library. (There are times when even I and many others I know will refer to The NTC Stone Restoration Bible.) Fred used to have a website and forum set up with Richard Zenobio for information and debates; unfortunately, much of the wisdom online there was lost in a virus and backup tragedy.
Although we make our living with stone, we’re not just in the stone business. We’re selling vanity, pride, illusions (of perfection), dreams and luxuries to the people that can still afford it. Some try to push the sales to the tract home people, but my clients are not the “you can do it, we can help it” type. My clients are the fleet-sized-car-garage, full-time-servants, yacht-and-jet-setting types who will cry if their limestone has lippage, etch marks or “ugly spots”.
And, these clients do not react to the “rip-it-out mentality” that’s so common in the world today. They’re coming to us for solutions.
In many cases, I hear of people in this business that put up roadblocks to selling their customers a happy ending. And, that’s absurd; the client really wants to enjoy their purchase. To love their home, office, boat and motorhome (I will never say I have seen everything again), and to be happy with their stone that they’ve chosen.
So how do we learn how to sell them that? Well, I have found great insight into the mind of my customers by reading anything by Dr. Thomas J. Stanley. The Millionaire Mind, The Millionaire Next Door and Selling to the Affluent are all books that everyone in the stone business should read.
And, for those who think that they know it all and are always right in this business, a good read of Dale Carnegie’s How to Win Friends and Influence People is never out of style or old-fashioned. It’s as simple and to the point as the old adage: “You can catch more flies with honey than you can with vinegar.” (On a side note, the same author wrote Lincoln the Unknown, an excellent but now-out-of-print biography of Abraham Lincoln.)
And as my good friend Malcolm from Knoxville will testify, you are not even in the sales game unless you have at least four books by Jeffrey Gitomer. The Sales Bible, Jeffrey Gitomer’s Little Green Book of Getting Your Way: How to Speak, Write, Present, Persuade, and Sell Your Point of View To Others, Little Gold Book of YES! Attitude: How to Find, Build, and Keep a YES! Attitude for a Lifetime of SUCCESS and Customer Satisfaction is Worthless, Customer Loyalty is Priceless are essential reads if you have any hope of selling in the new millennium.
And, there’s Zig Ziglar and Napoleon Hill; these timeless authors offer wisdom that can be harvested for gold.
But, all of these authors’ wisdom is useless if they’re never read. Use their experience to help steer you in the right direction.
I’d be a fool if I never mentioned this next author, although I must preface the introduction with the words of the immortal Groucho Marx: “From the moment I picked your book up until I laid it down, I was convulsed with laughter. Someday, I intend on reading it.”
Yes, I’m speaking of me. Aside from this column, I’ve written a few books – one on business, and three for the stone industry. And I wouldn’t be a good salesperson if I left it at that – email me at stone_rx@earthlink.net for more details.
If you’re interested in even more laughs, pick up a copy of anything written by Dennis Miller, the Redneck Comedy Group or any other funny comedian you choose – because, at the end of the day, it’s good to just sit back and forget about business for a while, and laugh like there is no tomorrow.
Until then, keep your stick on the ice.
Tom McNall is founder and owner of Great Northern Stone Care, a Huron Park, Ontario-based stone-cleaning and -restoration company servicing all of southern Ontario. He also serves as the director of training, technical assistance, and operational support for Stone Restoration Services, a division of Stone Shop International. Tom offers corporate and private consultations, serves as a trainer for the Marble Institute of America, and is also on the organization’s board of directors. He can be reached at stone_rx@earthlink.net.