3 Ways Reading Boosts Your Business

Many leaders dedicate little time to reading. But consistent and broad reading can truly help you differentiate your business. Going from “good” to “great” can be as simple as building a regular reading habit.

Today’s post is by Dr. Liz Alexander.

The statistics weren’t unexpected, just shocking. When Mike Figliuolo posed the question, “How much professional reading do you do each month?” to the 200,000 readers of SmartBrief on Leadership, less than 4% said they read more than five books a month. Some 60% admitted they barely read anything, if at all.

Which group are you in?

If it’s the majority, maybe you think you haven’t time to read when you’re running a business. Or being assigned all those boring textbooks in college put you off and you never got back into the habit. Whatever the reason, you’re missing out by not reading more.

I mean, it could just be coincidence that the 3rd richest person on the planet, Warren Buffett, spends 80% of his day reading. Maybe Steve Jobs didn’t become brilliantly innovative just because he absorbed everything from Autobiography of a Yogi to King Lear. Perhaps there’s no connection between Jeff Bullas’ consistent ranking as the world’s #1 Content Marketing Influencer and the fact that he spends at least two hours every day perusing others’ online articles and blogs.

But I doubt it.

Here are three ways I’ve seen my clients and my own business go from strength to strength by reading more. Which might be useful to you?

1. Clear differentiation. What distinguishes you from your competition? That’s a challenge for most businesses—as well as aspiring authors. To write a book that truly benefits their business, one of the first assignments I give my clients is to conduct a “competitive analysis.” This means searching Amazon for books that already cover the same or similar ground, reading, analyzing, then outlining how their book is different. What knowledge gaps will they fill that haven’t been plugged already? Most aren’t eager to do this, but it’s a non-negotiable exercise. What they discover always surprises them. Not least that they’re not the only people on the planet to have had this particular idea, or amassed this experience, or be thinking the same thing.

The beauty of the competitive analysis is that it forces authors to identify not only what is great about each book they read, but what’s been missed. That way they can more clearly determine their uniqueness, which most are not aware of at the start.

How does this relate to you? If you’re struggling to differentiate your business, take a month to read as many books, articles and blog posts as you can, written by people in your space. Do this with the aim of finding the sweet spot others aren’t hitting right now. That’s where the opportunity to truly stand out lies.

2. Increased customer-centricity. So you think you know your clients and customers? I believe you. But plenty of evidence suggests otherwise. The Hinge Research Institute produced an eye-opening report entitled How Buyers Buy that sought the opinions of buyers and sellers across a wide range of service industries. They found that while 81% of buyers said the best way to market to them was by developing a reputation for producing results, only 3% of sellers saw this as important. Similarly, when buyers were asked how they chose which firms to work with, 43% said it had to do with a good fit and shared values. Which surprised 95% of sellers, because only 5% of them thought the same way.

As a professional communicator I see many examples of businesses engaging in activities, sharing information and using language no one else cares about or understands. This sounds like wasted effort to me.

How can reading help? Take the long-form posts mushrooming on LinkedIn. While more people are writing them, it seems few are actually reading. TrackMaven, for example, found that 68% of such posts receive fewer than 10 interactions. I’d argue that reading is much more important than writing if, like many producers of branded content, you’re not achieving much engagement. By “listening in” to the conversations that are already taking place—the comments under posts tend to be hugely instructive—you’ll get a better sense of common pain points and what keeps people awake at night, and can frame your solutions in the language your market uses.

3. Enhanced press-worthiness. Picasso is reputed to have said, “Good artists copy, great artists steal.” That’s especially true in advertising and PR. For years, copywriters have kept “swipe files,” containing examples of headlines, sales letters, and other content they know have been impactful. Here’s how I used this concept recently.

Fortune magazine ran a wonderful article entitled How to succeed in Asia without offending anybody that showcased my latest client co-authored book, Access to Asia. It got tweeted like crazy, resulting in great exposure for the book and my client’s business. As a strong believer in not reinventing the wheel, I studied the journalist’s tone and approach to write an article on why U.S. businesspeople are missing opportunities to build trust, inspire respect and develop long-lasting business relationships by ignoring the importance of gift-giving in Asia. We sent that over to my client’s PR person who responded: “I love it. Will place.” We can now expect similar coverage in another business-focused magazine.

If you don’t take the time to read online or print magazines, books and blogs, you won’t understand what works; you won’t notice patterns. Like how popular numbered lists are for headlines (“20 Challenges CEOs will Face in 2015”), or what topics and themes always pique journalists’ interest.

I admit, I love reading and have set myself a Goodreads Challenge of 200 books this year. Even if this isn’t the most enjoyable way you can think of to spend an hour or two each day, you owe it to your business to read more. There are so many benefits you’ll miss out on if you don’t.

Convinced?

– Dr. Liz Alexander has been writing ever since she could pick up a pencil. She has written or co-authored 15 books including the award-winning Transform Tomorrow: Awakening the SuperSaver in Pursuit of Retirement Readiness and Access to Asia: Your Multicultural Guide to Building Trust, Inspiring Respect and Creating Long-Lasting Business Relationships, both published by Wiley. She runs her own consultancy (www.drlizalexander.com), working with global executives and consultants to craft thought leading books. She’s also Special Counsel, Book Strategist & Writer for Australasian communications firm, SenateSHJ.

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Photo: I <3 2 read by Kate Ter Haar