Darren is a young black man just cruising through life. He may have been valedictorian of his high school class, but he's happy to be the manager of the Starbucks he works at. He's home with his mother in the brownstone they own. He has his girlfriend and neighbors. He doesn't feel he needs more.
But one day the wild idea to have a new regular customer purchase a different Starbucks' coffee. He sells the idea the man needs this different flavor and the man bites. After that Darren is invited to join a tech start-up, where he will be a salesman. He will learn to cold-call prospects and turn them into purchasers.
This is not just a book about selling, an activity I don't care for. Darren takes a journey from self-satisfied doing just the minimum necessary young man to a driven salesman. He works with the tech start-up and is successful. Then the company is trapped in a scandal and optics drag him in front of the news cameras. To lay low and let the heat drop some, he takes a position with another venture capitalist as an assistant. There he begins his greatest work. He teaches other blacks and people of color how to sell. He gets the more successful ones jobs in big companies that used to be all white. And these weren't just low level, hide them in the basement sales jobs. There was pushback.
Considering the state of the world currently, this is a timely book. It has its funny moments, but the seriousness of the issues remain. I highly recommend you read this book. Expand your expectations.
I first found out about this book from BookishFirst, but received the copy I read for this review from the publisher through Shelf Awareness.
But one day the wild idea to have a new regular customer purchase a different Starbucks' coffee. He sells the idea the man needs this different flavor and the man bites. After that Darren is invited to join a tech start-up, where he will be a salesman. He will learn to cold-call prospects and turn them into purchasers.
This is not just a book about selling, an activity I don't care for. Darren takes a journey from self-satisfied doing just the minimum necessary young man to a driven salesman. He works with the tech start-up and is successful. Then the company is trapped in a scandal and optics drag him in front of the news cameras. To lay low and let the heat drop some, he takes a position with another venture capitalist as an assistant. There he begins his greatest work. He teaches other blacks and people of color how to sell. He gets the more successful ones jobs in big companies that used to be all white. And these weren't just low level, hide them in the basement sales jobs. There was pushback.
Considering the state of the world currently, this is a timely book. It has its funny moments, but the seriousness of the issues remain. I highly recommend you read this book. Expand your expectations.
I first found out about this book from BookishFirst, but received the copy I read for this review from the publisher through Shelf Awareness.