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Top Dog: Impress and Influence Everyone You Meet
Get the results you want and come out as the Top Dog in every conversation
Fancy being the ‘Top Dog’ in all your dealings? Fed up of feeling like the underdog? So many of us regularly ‘lose’ in conversations before we’ve even opened our mouths. Often without realising it, we don’t see ourselves as a peer of the other person. And we transmit this in what we do and say (“I’ll fit round you. I know you’re really busy.”) The other person picks up on this. And, without doing a thing, they’re suddenly in charge!
Top Dog will teach you how to lead in all your interactions, so you can get more of what you want, more often.
Together, Andy Bounds and Richard Ruttle are experts at helping people achieve more from their conversations with others. Their techniques work in every type of interaction―conversations, socialising, dating, interviews, sales, marketing, and networking. Basically, anytime you want to impress and persuade others.
Top Dog: • Details the skill set needed to gain competitive advantage from the outset • Provides instructive and thought-provoking content, relevant to both beginners, and seasoned professionals • Contains insights from working with some of the world’s largest companies • Addresses how to achieve more from interactions in business and social arenas
Fancy being the ‘Top Dog’ in all your dealings? Fed up of feeling like the underdog? So many of us regularly ‘lose’ in conversations before we’ve even opened our mouths. Often without realising it, we don’t see ourselves as a peer of the other person. And we transmit this in what we do and say (“I’ll fit round you. I know you’re really busy.”) The other person picks up on this. And, without doing a thing, they’re suddenly in charge!
Top Dog will teach you how to lead in all your interactions, so you can get more of what you want, more often.
Together, Andy Bounds and Richard Ruttle are experts at helping people achieve more from their conversations with others. Their techniques work in every type of interaction―conversations, socialising, dating, interviews, sales, marketing, and networking. Basically, anytime you want to impress and persuade others.
Top Dog: • Details the skill set needed to gain competitive advantage from the outset • Provides instructive and thought-provoking content, relevant to both beginners, and seasoned professionals • Contains insights from working with some of the world’s largest companies • Addresses how to achieve more from interactions in business and social arenas
176 pages, Paperback
First published January 29, 2015
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
January 31, 2024
It's good to be reminded of the basics of preparing to engage, influence and deliver pitches, presentations and business cases.
March 1, 2020
Very appropriate for business professionals and business owners including email templates, structures for meetings, etc
June 17, 2015
Three stars is quite a compliment. Most books like this are utter nonsense, but there are one or two good ideas here among the customary banalities and statements of the obvious. It's really aimed at salesmen (the subtitle should have been 'Impress and Influence Everyone You Have Sales Meetings With'), but many of the lessons are relevant to wider business and even to social situations.
Typically for this genre, it comes in a hideously garish cover that screams 'Like me, pleeeeeeease!'. Even hiding the title won't stop your sniggering fellow commuters guessing what sort of book you're reading: one that proclaims, 'Here's a schmuck who's desperately trying to overcome his inadequacy'. The amateurish layout makes it look like it was self-published (though it isn't), which was enough to make me check LinkedIn to see if the top execs who gave those glowing references at the front actually exist (they do).
Then there are the dogs, which do more to undermine the book's credibility than anything else. Why? The problem isn't that there are far too many pictures of the author's Labradors (though there are) or that those pictures are clearly amateur snapshots (though they are). It's that by including them the authors have ignored one of the most important lessons in their own book: that you need to offer people something that interests them, not what interests you. And I'm not interested in dogs. I know: it's a metaphor. I don't actually want to read about dogs. And listing the key issues at the end of each chapter under the heading 'Doggie Treats' is just puerile.
And, while we're being rude, let's mention the repeated, annoying use of 'pre-prepared'. What do they think the 'pre' in 'prepared' means? Can anything be post-prepared?
So, one star then? Actually, no. These irritations do compromise the book, but not fundamentally. A lot of what it says about presentations and how to control meetings is clear and insightful, and it mercifully doesn't deliver a suite of leveraged nonsense buzzwords to stakeholders up the value chain. The stress on your customer's needs rather than your own product or service is well argued, and on that subject they have the good sense to use one of my favourite business quotes from Theodore Levitt's The Marketing Imagination:
Actually, the more I think about it, the less appropriate I find the title. Even ignoring the distracting references to the author's pets, this book is about creating co-operative business relationships, not becoming a dominant pack leader. Also, in a gratifying deviation from the norm, the generic top executive cited in all the examples is female. Your meeting might end in disappointment if you call her a Top Bitch.
So it's three stars, because I'll probably use this book next time I want to bone up before a meeting.
Typically for this genre, it comes in a hideously garish cover that screams 'Like me, pleeeeeeease!'. Even hiding the title won't stop your sniggering fellow commuters guessing what sort of book you're reading: one that proclaims, 'Here's a schmuck who's desperately trying to overcome his inadequacy'. The amateurish layout makes it look like it was self-published (though it isn't), which was enough to make me check LinkedIn to see if the top execs who gave those glowing references at the front actually exist (they do).
Then there are the dogs, which do more to undermine the book's credibility than anything else. Why? The problem isn't that there are far too many pictures of the author's Labradors (though there are) or that those pictures are clearly amateur snapshots (though they are). It's that by including them the authors have ignored one of the most important lessons in their own book: that you need to offer people something that interests them, not what interests you. And I'm not interested in dogs. I know: it's a metaphor. I don't actually want to read about dogs. And listing the key issues at the end of each chapter under the heading 'Doggie Treats' is just puerile.
And, while we're being rude, let's mention the repeated, annoying use of 'pre-prepared'. What do they think the 'pre' in 'prepared' means? Can anything be post-prepared?
So, one star then? Actually, no. These irritations do compromise the book, but not fundamentally. A lot of what it says about presentations and how to control meetings is clear and insightful, and it mercifully doesn't deliver a suite of leveraged nonsense buzzwords to stakeholders up the value chain. The stress on your customer's needs rather than your own product or service is well argued, and on that subject they have the good sense to use one of my favourite business quotes from Theodore Levitt's The Marketing Imagination:
"My customers don't want quarter-inch drill-bits; they want quarter-inch holes."It has good tips on how to maintain equal relations with top executives, because, despite its title, the book is less about how to dominate others and more about how to gain and maintain equal status with senior business contacts.
Actually, the more I think about it, the less appropriate I find the title. Even ignoring the distracting references to the author's pets, this book is about creating co-operative business relationships, not becoming a dominant pack leader. Also, in a gratifying deviation from the norm, the generic top executive cited in all the examples is female. Your meeting might end in disappointment if you call her a Top Bitch.
So it's three stars, because I'll probably use this book next time I want to bone up before a meeting.
April 5, 2021
Wow. Is this to impress people with how cringe you can be?
I liked the idea of WWF stories (what we found) but you can tell that it has been written COMPLETELY from a sales perspective. You might be able to apply some of these into an internal focused role but you might want to ditch some of the obvious embellishments they suggest in this book. "It was the fastest implementation in history" .... Eurrrgggh... Was it? Really? If I claimed that in a meeting you better believe I will be hit with a ton of qualifiers "how do you know it was the quickest? Compared to what?" It just sounds so cringe.
I can expect that this might be more suitable for American audiences but I can just see British meetings being eye rolls all around
It does however raise a very important point of selling the Afters which I think as long as you do this in a thoughtful and positive way without the needless guff then it may be a powerful tool to consider.
But much of the way it suggests to present yourself seems less Top Dog and more someone good at blowing smoke up their own... Well... You know
I liked the idea of WWF stories (what we found) but you can tell that it has been written COMPLETELY from a sales perspective. You might be able to apply some of these into an internal focused role but you might want to ditch some of the obvious embellishments they suggest in this book. "It was the fastest implementation in history" .... Eurrrgggh... Was it? Really? If I claimed that in a meeting you better believe I will be hit with a ton of qualifiers "how do you know it was the quickest? Compared to what?" It just sounds so cringe.
I can expect that this might be more suitable for American audiences but I can just see British meetings being eye rolls all around
It does however raise a very important point of selling the Afters which I think as long as you do this in a thoughtful and positive way without the needless guff then it may be a powerful tool to consider.
But much of the way it suggests to present yourself seems less Top Dog and more someone good at blowing smoke up their own... Well... You know
April 7, 2015
In their book Bounds and Ruttle provide expert advice and examples on becoming a more effective and sought-after communicator when it comes to any conversation from dating to sales. The goal of the book is to teach you proven communication strategies that will heighten your ability to spark conversations, make you the center of attention, and help you take charge of a conversation.
For your convenience, I had Andy Bounds on my podcast, The Entrepreneurs Library, to give a deep dive on Top Dog. With Andy’s experience he gives amazing insight on how to master the art of charismatic communication. If you would like to hear a real review from the author himself check out episode 193 on the EL website or you can find the show on iTunes.
For your convenience, I had Andy Bounds on my podcast, The Entrepreneurs Library, to give a deep dive on Top Dog. With Andy’s experience he gives amazing insight on how to master the art of charismatic communication. If you would like to hear a real review from the author himself check out episode 193 on the EL website or you can find the show on iTunes.
November 28, 2021
Nice structure that walks you through the sales process from getting your first meeting to closing a deal.
It gives some good tips, but doesn't go deep enough to be a guide.
I liked the way the book talks about drafting a proposal, with some useful and concrete examples.
It gives some good tips, but doesn't go deep enough to be a guide.
I liked the way the book talks about drafting a proposal, with some useful and concrete examples.
September 7, 2016
Fantastic book
Clear and precise instructions that would be easy to follow.
Clear and precise instructions that would be easy to follow.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews