Top Dog

Take control and get more of what you want.

Everyone wants to be Top Dog. Or to be able to influence the Top Dog.

This might be to sell them something, get a job, a pay rise, or clinch a deal on your terms. But it doesn't seem easy. After all, Top Dogs hold all the power. So conversations go the way they — not you — want.

Fortunately, it's easier to impress and influence them than you think. Communication experts Andy Bounds and Richard Ruttle have helped thousands of people do just that. In their book Top Dog, they share new, simple ways to:

• Be more confident when speaking with Top Dogs
• Instantly impress Top Dogs by improving your first impression
• Think and speak in ways that set you apart from your competition
• Talk less about what you do and more about the impact you cause
• Prepare engaging communications that achieve what you both want
• Convince them &Mdash; and yourself &Mdash; that you're a Top Dog too

Most importantly, you'll learn how to make permanent changes to how you interact with others… so that you impress and influence everyone you meet.

1. Lead the pack
   Focus on other's successes, not your own
2. Drop!
   Unlearn the bad habits that hold you back
3. The welcome visitor
   Make a good first impression
4. Pick up the lead
   Get -- then prepare for -- a great first meeting
5. Walkies!
   Deliver a great first meeting
6. Keep walking!
   Build momentum in subsequent meetings
7. Become Top Dog (1)
   Write a compelling proposal/business case
8. Become Top Dog (2)
   Nail the final presentation
9. Stay Top Dog
   Lose your fear, and win more