Reviews (20)

Excellent - Best book on advertising and copywriting ever!
I have read this book twice cover to cover and refer to it almost everyday. If I could have given this book 6 stars I would have done it without reservation.

I have ordered and read at least 4 different books on copywriting and advertising in the last year. Most of the books have good ideas, but none of them describe the methods of writing headlines the way Caples does. He spends 4 chapters on it and let me tell you when he is finished you will know it cold! Personally that would have been enough to sell me on the book, but he doesn't stop there. He talks about scientific advertising to make sure you are writing ads that sell and not waste money. In addition, he talks through how to write the first paragraph and how to structure the copy. Finally, he spends time to talking about how to improve the selling power of copy.

Since I have read this book my ability to write copy has reached a whole new level. If you are in this field or responsible for writing copy I would advise you that this is a book you MUST own.

Excellent - best book ever on direct response advertsing
As an author and professional speaker on marketing, I've recommended this book for years. It provides more specifics and sound advice for novice and experienced marketers on direct response advertising than anything else I've seen. It provides good fuel to test an ad agency's stuff-- especially those that say things like "oh, you can't track that..." I've re-read this book probably 20 times -- and you should too if you really want to improve the results of your advertising.

Learn How to Motivate People to BUY Your product!
This book is the best book on marketing that I have ever seen! You know, I think this book provided with me the same stuff that would cost me 5000+ dollars to have some "marketing guru" to tell me the secrets of advertising. This book is literally a gold mine! I highly recommend this book to anyone who has to motivated people with this pen. Read it today!

Zev Saftlas, Author of Motivation That Works: How to Get Motivated and Stay Motivated

The Natural Successor to Scientific Advertising
First read Claude Hopkins's "Scientifc Advertising," then read this. Any modern-day advertisers and copywriters who don't follow the teachings of Caples and Hopkins are doomed to failure.

Caples picked up where Hopkins left off, expanding upon Hopkins's work and breaking new ground with his work. Far too many advertisers today fail to heed the advice of Caples and it shows both in their advertisng and the results they achieve.

"Tested Advertisng Methods," together with "Scientific Advertising," form the Bible of Advertising. If you are a serious student of advertising and/or copywriting, this has to be on your bookshelf.

One of the best books in advertising
This book is a jewel that every marketer or member of an ad agency should have as a reference. It does not lose time in trying to be creative. It's quite the opposite, with the author defending what he defines as "scientific" advertising, the type of advertising that wins sales as opposed to ad awards. It provides clear explanations on concepts of written copy and tests every different type of ad you can imagine - short copy x long copy, ads with picture x ads without picture, etc - to provide the reader with a quite good idea on the types of ads that really work in generating sales.

The only caveat of this book: it does not mention techniques that work better in radio and TV. ... Read more

Book Description

Millions of people around the world are involved in direct selling.There are 12 million in the United States alone!Almost 74 percent of direct sellers are women.

An estimated 46 million people in the world are involved in direct selling, according to the Direct Selling Association.In less than ten years this number is expected to grow to an unbelievable 200 million!With more people looking for careers that offer independence, flexibility, and tremendous income potential, this book offers a one-stop source of nuts-and-bolts advice, insights, and practical sales skills.

Build It Big: 101 Insider Secrets from Top Direct Selling Experts addresses the three most popular models of direct selling:
* network marketing (e.g., Amway)
* party planning (e.g., Pampered Chef)
* person-to-person(e.g., Guardian Life Insurance)

The training that many of these companies offer is limited and typically covers only product features and benefits, basic sales techniques, recruitment, and order processing.

Through extensive research, the Direct Selling Women's Alliance (DSWA) has identified four crucial "life skills" that often are neglected or omitted from a company's training and support program:

* Financial and tax guidance.
* Coaching and leadership skills development.
* Business management and technology training.
* Daily success practices and implementation.

Build It Big unveils the methods and approaches in developing these skills that, DSWA believes, are the true linchpins of growth and long-term sales stability.The disciplined approach and real-life insights from some of the most successful and talented people in the direct selling business will have broad appeal to rookies and veterans alike, especially for people who are opting for direct selling for part-time work, extra income, and the autonomy it offers. ... Read more

Book Description

Advance praise for Developing Products in Half the Time Second Edition New Rules, New Tools Preston G. Smith • Donald G. Reinertsen "This is an exceptional book! Get a new highlighter before you start. There are so many ‘ah ha’s’ in each chapter you will never make it through with an old one." Don LaCombe, Ford Motor Company, Product Development Process Leadership "An excellent book with a strong treatment of the cycle-time consequences of overloading your development capacity. It provides powerful and practical concepts for dealing with this issue." Andrew Aquart, Director Product Development, Cordis, a Johnson & Johnson Company "This is practical, useful stuff for people competing in highly competitive fast moving business." Dr. Paul Borrill, Chief Scientist, Sun Microsystems "3M has absorbed many of the tools from the original edition, and this new one will be even more useful. The topic of incremental innovation is crucial to us, and I really appreciate its balanced treatment." Ronald H. Kubinski, Manager New Product Commercialization Services, 3M Company "As the authors correctly point out, the Fuzzy Front End is the least expensive place to reduce cycle time. This book is one of the only sources of concepts, methods, and metrics for compressing this critical portion of the development process." David M. Lewis, Product Manager, Eastman Kodak Co. "Using these tools we’ve more than cut our time to market in half. The new edition of this classic crystallizes the synergy of the fast-to-market techniques, and the icons in the margins highlight the opportunities and pitfalls." Mike Brennan , Vice President of Product Development, Black & Decker ... Read more

Reviews (5)

Excellent must-read for senior managers
I found that this book was packed full of common sense, which is rare in a development management book. Although it has a lot of examples of manufacturing of phsyical goods, I found it great as a software manager. There aren't many spare words in this book, either -- it's terse and well edited, so you get the raw facts and the necessary stories to back them up, but not a lot (or any, really) fluff.

I am putting it on my bookshelf for software engineers, right next to Writing Solid Code and Debugging the Development Process, two classics for software engineers and team leads, respectively.

Buy and Read
Absolutely the best book there is on the subject of new product development. Of particular import is the discussion on market and pricing dynamics, which may be new to technical-types. Choosing the right product to develop is critical to avoid "The Innovators Dilemma". The book however needs to add more to the discussion of the importance (and risk) of rapid return of (partial) information to the team during the development cycle, as well as human (team) dynamics. I would therefore recommend "The Team Handbook" as a necessary adjunct.

very sophisticated tools for real life product development
While the first edition was a bit dry to read in the first four chapters, the second edition is more fun. The value of the content has not been reduced with rev 2.0, on the contrary.

The book is full of sound business theory which is well explained and put into real life context to help the non-MBA to transfer the message to their respective challenges.

Also invaluable are the hints towards common pitfalls. They show that the authors have really applied the theory and are aware of the human factor in change processes.

I read rev 1.0 and 2.0 and will probably buy 3.0 as well.

Keep going!

Great Reading for Software Managers
Over 14 years of software experience confirmed alot of what this book offered. It's well written, chalked full of great facts and gives you a perspective on the possibilities for software development. Let's face-it, software development has almost zero manufacturing issues. So, if your looking for the real reason to implement processes and methodolgies into your development processes, this book will take you there.

This is a must-read book for all development managers
This is a treatise on management techniques, not process improvement. The first two chapters detail the decision of which projects to speed up, implying that a manager can only speed up a project by overstaffing it and clearing its path of the usual bureaucracy. Therefore, there is no permanent process gain to be had. But it is a great guide for decision makers looking to cut some time off any (or every) project. The fundamental tenets are these:

1) Make the decision to develop a new product idea quickly.

2) Staff all functions to the project immediately and keep them on throughout (no ramp-up, no handoffs)

3) Specify it simply and quickly and do not change the spec (3 days, 3 pages).

4) Spend a little time on the product architecture, designing for modularity and quick development.

5) User overlapping development techniques (work on multiple modules simultaneously)

6) Make a successful transition to manufacturing to complete the project.

You can halve the development time of most projects just by changing the way you manage your projects, without doing a lot of overtime or increasing the cost of development. Many of the answers are in this book. Again, this is a must read book for all development managers. ... Read more

Book Description

One of the key determinants of success for today’s high-technology companies is product strategy—and this guide continues to be the only book on product strategy written specifically for the 21st century high-tech industry. More than 250 examples from technological leaders including IBM, Compaq, and Apple—plus a new focus on growth strategies and on Internet businesses—define how high-tech companies can use product strategy and product platform strategy for competitiveness, profitability, and growth in the Internet age. ... Read more

Reviews (7)

targeted for core products at large companies
I love this book: the concept of a "vector" for product
development is a terrific way to think about competition.
IMHO, this book is a must-read for all product managers,
product marketers and people involved in strategic decisions,
i.e. all senior executives.

That said, speaking as a five-time startup engineer, the advice
and examples in this book seem geared towards the core product
lines in larger companies, where you can credibly talk about
"two years from now" as opposed to wondering if you'll even be
in business, which is also the problem for new product lines at
large companies. The experience for the book comes from the
PRTM consulting firm, which was made famous for their work with
parallel product development at Intel. We hired them in the
early days at Inktomi, and found mixed success with their
process because we were terrified of immediate failure, and
they wanted to talk about version 3. Obviously, there's a
successful middle ground because Inktomi was a huge success in
the short term, but ultimately lost its strategic direction.

watch out cost to implement in ur office before do it
For example, author addressed the benefits to have a product platform strategy are focusing managemnet on key decision at the right time;enabling products to be deployed rapidly and consistently; encouraging a longer-term view of product strategy; leveraging significant operational efficiencies; helping management anticipate replacing a major product platform.

However, he may forget to remind readers that these require cost before enjoying the benefits, such as you need to hire a new tier of middle management if you company is too small to afford before; to establish the new channel capabilities to justify the investment on the platform bcz to access new markets; the IT system to calculate operation efficiencies such as engineering head count, material cost, and supply chain cost is also not cheap if you only have the option to use turn-key solution.....

It may be reasonable to equip product platform strategy only when benefits are greater than costs.

Unmatched User Guide to High Tech Product Strategy
In his richly illustrated Product Strategy for High Technology Companies, Michael E. McGrath rightly describes product strategy as a management process. Like any process, product strategy defines structure, timing, responsibilities, and skills. The process architecture reproduced on page 359 provides a practical framework starting with the definition of core strategic vision. Core strategic vision requires answering three questions: 1. Where do we want to go? 2. How will we get there? 3. And most critical Why will we be successful? Core strategic vision determines the criteria used for reaching a strategic balance in the product development process: Focus vs. diversification, short-term vs. long-term, current product platform vs. new product platform, business Alpha vs. business Beta, research vs. development, and high risk vs. low risk. Available resources influence the outlook of strategic balance.

Core strategic vision, strategic balance, core competencies, and competitive strategy are together the foundations on which the often-ignored product platform strategy is built. Product platform strategy is the lowest common denominator of relevant technology in a set of products or a product line. Product failures in high-tech companies frequently can be traced to an incomplete product platform strategy according to McGrath. Strategic balance, product platform strategy, and competitive strategy are together the foundations of product line strategy. Product line strategy is where specific product offerings are defined.

Core strategic vision also influences the competitive strategy that high technology companies must define. McGrath provides an in-depth, practical review of differentiation strategy, pricing strategy, and supporting strategies. Supporting strategies are first-to-market and fast-follower strategies, cannibalization, and global product strategy. McGrath's examination of both time-based strategies and cannibalization is particularly interesting because both subjects are rarely covered in such a luxury of detail. McGrath finally examines the optional expansion strategy and innovation strategy. High technology companies only need them if they want to invest in expansion or innovation.

To summarize, Product Strategy for High Technology Companies is a practical guide to a management process from which even product managers from outside the high tech industry can draw useful lessons and more importantly apply them to their own product strategy.

Best Strategic Toolkit Ever Written
There are countless strategy books out there. Each one has an overriding framework that the entire book is based on, that often warrants only a 15-page article. This book is loaded with practical frameworks that together provide a thinking and creativity-channeling approach. Better yet, every framework has been proven in practice at dozens of companies by the author's implementation-based consulting firm. Each chapter is filled with examples from a broad range of technology-based companies. When applying these frameworks outside of technology-based industries and large companies just use common sense to strip them down to their essence and don't worry about the fancy techno-speak. You can also use most chapters as stand-alone strategy tools. I personally like "vectors of differentiation" and wonder how so many companies blow it when it seems like common sense. But then again if common sense were common, books like this wouldn't be needed. And then there's the issue of actually implementing what you come up with...

Don't Just Read It, Do it!
After founding a leading market research firm and teaching New Product Development at Harvard, I found this book so compelling that our firm has completed a review of our entire new web research product strategy, and come to some startling and highly productive insights on how to proceed and succeed. It is by far the most practical, in-depth guide to achieving competitive new product development strategies I have ever read.

The book shows clearly how to answer the critical questions: 1) Where do we want to go, 2) How will we get there, and 3) Why will we be successful. It shows how to create a Core Strategic Vision that is the foundation for new product success. And it shows how to use that vision to create highly competitive and profitable product lines, particularly in high technology.

Having tested new product ideas for hundreds of companies over the last 25 years, it is difficult to think of more than a handful who couldn't have benefited from not only reading this book, but doing what it recommends. ... Read more

Book Description

A colorful look at Avon's journey to the top
Avon is the world's largest direct sales company, with a record four million representatives in more than 140 countries worldwide. Its product line has expanded from cosmetics to vitamins, weight control products, clothing, and jewelry. In The Avon Story, author Laura Klepacki offers an in-depth look at how Avon grew from a small business selling books door-to-door to one of the world's leading cosmetics companies. Through exclusive interviews with company executives--both past and present--as well as analysts and other experts in the beauty and cosmetics industry, Klepacki reveals how Avon has built a global empire by addressing the needs and customs of women around the world as well as how it has managed to thrive in all economies even in tough times. Readers will also discover how this cosmetics powerhouse has maintained and increased its market share through new product introductions, the use of technology, appealing to different customers, including men and teens, rewarding its best performers, and giving back to society with financial support for such causes as domestic violence and breast cancer. The Avon Story also takes a look at the leadership principles that have allowed Avon to prosper over the years. Engaging and entertaining, The Avon Story offers readers a well-rounded account of one of America's most respected and successful companies.
Laura Klepacki (West Caldwell, NJ) is an experienced journalist who has covered beauty, marketing, and other consumer issues. She is the mass-market beauty editor for Women's Wear Daily, where she specializes in articles on the multibillion-dollar health and beauty care industry in the United States. She frequently travels to industry conferences to meet with senior executives and has close contacts with consultants and analysts in the cosmetics and fashion business. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Great Idea
I think it's a great idea to have some kind of knowledge in making this business a success for everyone.I never thought they would come out with a book, but if and when it comes out, I am going to read it!Great job at making something so lucrative in helping the women of today advance further! ... Read more

Reviews (21)

A huge disappointment
I had high expectations for this book because James Surowiecki's New Yorker column is usually so good. But THE WISDOM OF CROWDS is one of the most disappointing books I've read in years. (Indeed, I feel somewhat ripped off by having purchased it and devoted several hours to reading it.)

The main problem with this book is that despite Surowiecki's often breathless tone, nothing he says is new. Every point he makes has been made many times before by many other writers.

For instance, the key theme of his book is that groups can solve certain "cognition problems" better than individuals. No kidding. Ever hear the phrase "Two heads are better than one?" The thesis is so self-evident and widely-known that it comes with its own cliché! Yet Surowiecki devotes more than one-third of the book essentially to arguing that two people can solve a crossword puzzle faster than one person. Amazing, no?

What's more, Surowiecki's central point about the power of "collective intelligence" has long been a staple of business education. If you've ever taken an organizational behavior class, you've done the exercise where groups of varying sizes are stuck on a desert island with a dozen supplies -- and then each group must devise a solution for escaping the island using those supplies. Inevitably, the larger the group, the better the solution -- because larger groups reflect the accumulated experience and expertise of more people. (In other words, five heads are even better than two.) Want another example of how threadbare this idea is? Google the phrase "none of us is as smart as all of us" - and you'll discover that Surowiecki's supposedly "counterintuitive" notion has been talked about in business circles since Bill Gates was in short pants.

If that weren't bad enough, the rest of the book -- particularly Suriowiecki's discussion of "coordination," his second "stunning" insight--- is essentially a retread of arguments that have been made elsewhere for more than a decade. James Gleick made many of these points in CHAOS. Kevin Kelly said everything that Surowiecki says ten years ago in OUT OF CONTROL. Steven Johnson said it again four years ago in EMERGENCE. Howard Rheingold said lots of it last year in SMART MOBS.

And Surowiecki's third argument -- that sometimes cooperation is preferable to competition -- is even older. Charles Darwin told us this in the 19th century! Indeed, there's an entire branch of evolutionary psychology devoted to studying cooperation. Just read Robert Wright's THE MORAL ANIMAL if you want a more thorough and engaging account of this point.

If this book were an undergraduate term paper that summarized the self-evident and reviewed what others had already had said, I'd give it a B. But for book that costs 20 bucks from a writer who's obviously got some talent, I'd have to give THE WISDOM OF CROWDS an Incomplete. Please try again, James. But next time, try a lot harder.

Excellent
I'm a big fan of James Surowiecki's "Financial Page" column in The New Yorker. He's consistently able to come up with unusual takes on seemingly familiar topics, and he has a great knack for making business stories compelling and entertaining as well as understandable. But because it's only a page long, I sometimes come away from the column wanting more, and I always wondered how Surowiecki would do if he was able to develop his ideas and arguments more fully. Luckily, "The Wisdom of Crowds" lives up to all my expectations. It's wonderfully readable, full of terrific stories, funny, and its basic argument -- that groups, under certain conditions, can make better decisions than even the smartest individuals -- is counterintuitive without being willfully contrarian.

The roots of the argument obviously stem from the way markets work -- buyers and sellers find each other and reach efficient outcomes without anyone being in charge, while the stock market (at least some of the time) does as good a job as possible of setting prices. But what I really like is the way Surowiecki extends this argument way beyond business and markets, showing how collective wisdom can be seen (and can potentially be used) in a host of other situations, including the racetrack, on the Internet, and on city streets. He also does a good job of drawing out the possible implications of this for everything from the U.S. intelligence community to the way companies are run.

This is definitely a big-idea book, but the author is cautious in laying out his evidence, and is careful to show that groups, even if they're potentially wise, are often stupid and dangerous. The chapter on small groups in particular, which focuses on NASA's mismanagement of the Columbia mission, is powerful stuff, and useful to anyone interested in how to run a meeting well (or badly, for that matter). The least satisfying part of the book is the chapter on democracy, where Surowiecki shies away from pushing his conclusion to its logical end. But on the whole, this is just a wonderful book, elegant and enlightening.

If you're interested in this book, it's also worth checking out Paul Seabright's "The Company of Strangers" and Robert Wright's "Nonzero."

Relevant and surprising
Although the subtitle to THE WISDOM OF CROWDS is an awkward mouthful, it is at least accurate: the book does an exceptional job of illuminating a remarkably wide range of material from politics, everyday life, and the business world. Surowiecki's not offering a grand unified theory of everything, but in the course of investigating how and when groups and crowds are and are not intelligent, he takes you on an exhilarating ride. You can't go more than a couple of pages without coming across some interesting factual tidbit or clever anecdote. Just a short list of stuff Surowiecki writes about includes: crowds on city sidewalks, Navy men trying to find a lost submarine, the Nielsen ratings, Google, scientists trying to find the SARS virus, the stock market, game-show audiences, fashion stores, and the C.I.A. Thankfully, though, he understands that just stringing together stories isn't enough. Instead, he fits his examples into a strong argument that holds the book together. You can get a lot out of this book just by dipping into individual chapters, but reading it from beginning to end is a powerful experience.

One of the things about the book that hasn't been much remarked on is the light it sheds on the flaws in the way the U.S. intelligence community -- and, I would argue, the Bush administration -- approaches the problem of forecasting the future and making good decisions. The book's main subject is the wisdom of crowds, but Surowiecki spends a lot of time on how groups go wrong, and his discussion of how groups make bad decisions seems to me completely relevant to our current problems. When Surowiecki delves into groupthink, into the pressure that's exerted on lower-level employees to conform, and the perils of too little diversity of opinion, he's making a broader point about what good decisions require. But in the process, he clarified for me just why the current administration did such a bad job of figuring out whether Iraq had weapons of mass destruction and of planning for the postwar period. I was surprised, but it turns out this book has a lot to say about the state we're in right now.

Refreshingly optimistic
It seems naive to mention it, but one of the things I liked best about Surowiecki's take on the intelligence of groups is how optimistic it is. Most of what we hear about crowds and democracy and the potential of average people offers a dismal picture. But I came away from this book in a hopeful mood, and infused with a sense of real possibility. Surowiecki is convincing on the idea that the intelligence of Google, or bettors at the race track, or the audience in "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" aren't peculiar anomalies, but are actually connected by the fact that they're tapping into collective wisdom. This makes me think that if we can figure out a way how to use group intelligence in a wider way -- inside companies, governments, whatever -- the decisions society as a whole makes can be improved.

Stylistically, the book is a delight. The sentences are crisp, and the stories are well-told. Occasionally, Surowiecki makes his ideas too involved and ends up in a digression. But I forgave this because it felt like the result of someone who thinks everything is interesting and wants the reader to feel the same. Wonderful stuff.

Engaging
Even after having read it, I'm still not sure what category I'd put THE WISDOM OF CROWDS in. It offers important insights into business, and helped me understand the way markets work. But it also has lots of fantastic and entertaining material about group psychology, and it's an interesting look at a host of questions about everyday life, ranging from the way crowds on a sidewalk move to traffic to the role of trust.

The book's real strength is its ability to take a complex question -- when are people in groups smart, and when are they foolish? -- and make it accessible and engaging, even to those of us without much background in the field. Surowiecki has a light touch with his ideas, and for me the book flew by (with the exception of a few pages about the NFL, which I had a hard time with). I feel as if I see the world now in a different way. ... Read more

Reviews (10)

Even the most experienced need the basics.
I like this book. It's has simple, workable, common sense actions. The book does spark the thought. After 23 years as a successful sales professional, with 4 years prior when I wasn't successful, this book is the tool I keep in my case at all times.
When in the midst of a sales action (cold call, needs investigation, presentation/demo or close) it is hard to remember the solid things that work. This book is that reminder. It helps to refer to it before a call, after a rejection or just to start the day.

Advanced stuff is great when you have blown your quota away and have lots of time to experiment with NLP, Hypnosis, slight of mouth, etc. However, if you haven't brought home the checks you deserve, read this book. You will certainly get your money worth on this one!

See you at club!

A Succinct And Easy-To-Read Book On The Basics
The 25 Sales Habits of Highly Successful Salespeople is a concise book on how successful salespeople go about their profession. The 25 'habits' are quite basic and hardly represent a revelation to anyone but the most novice of salespersons.
Nevertheless, the 130-odd pages can be a fast and quick review, or check list if you wish, for anyone interested in covering the basics.
The book's title might or might not be referring to Steven Covey's famous series. Either way, The 25 Sales Habits can apply to more than just salespeople.
Pro: A quick read with a quick reference summary at the end.
Con: Too basic for most and a partially dated entry in the ocean of sales collateral designed to launch a training career.

Terrible
I have read a few of Schiffman's books. I have attended a few seminars and I have met with him twice. Every time I come away unimpressed. There is no doubt that he is a good salesman but he is not capable of relating his skills to others. This book is no exception. I believe this book to be a bit simplistic and overall a yawner. It misses the boat for captivity.

A real yawner
I am not a negative person, however I do have some negative feelings about this book. I have what I consider "moderate" sales experience, selling everything from shoes, to real estate, which is my current profession. If you are looking for a book that gives you practical, applicable advice, this is not it. It is more of a feel good, hey heres a few ideas that may help you in general type book. Basically a lot of mush. I found myself having to sell my own self on even finishing the end of the book. I made it, but my eyelids were heavy and I was totally uninspired. I am truthfully surprised that this book has recieved such positive reviews. In summary, it was a book of broad, unconnected ideas that will have little to no effect on actual sales performance or customer satisfaction.

Insightful!
Noted sales trainer - and the head genius of cold calling - Stephan Schiffman succinctly describes 25 effective sales techniques. Each tip gets a short chapter with a nugget of advice, an example or two and a pat on the back to send you out the door charged up and ready to go. It doesn't matter if you've heard some of these common sense ideas before because Schiffman's compilation is so on-target, lively and encouraging. This little volume reminds you of leading sales techniques - or habits, as Schiffman calls them - that will build your customer base and increase your sales. If you're in the business of one on one product or service sales, this will boost your communications, planning, knowledge, rainmaking, visibility and confidence. Schiffman tells you to ask people what they do and help them do it better by selling into their priorities. Seems clear enough to us, given that the author doesn't only write - he also sells. ... Read more

Book Description

All sales managers work like crazy, but few are true managers. That's because they tend to fall back on the skills that made them great at sales...instead of adopting the new skills that will make them great managers.

This essential book, which speaks their language, will turn them into management pros. It teaches a proven method for managing the sales process as well as the salespeople. Packed with specific, field-tested techniques, PROACTIVE SALES MANAGEMENT shows sales managers how to:

* Regain control of their time* Create a proactive sales culture* Motivate a sales team* Manage to simple yet powerful metrics* Weed out failures quickly* Effectively coach and counsel up and down the sales organization* Measure not to revenue, but to the things that create revenue* Reduce reports to one sheet of paper and 10 minutes a week* Forecast more confidently* Manage the sales organization the way it should be managed. ... Read more

Reviews (15)

This is a Sales Manager's survival guide!
Managing salespeople is very hard. Contrary to coventional wisdom, being a successful salesperson has very little to do with being a successful sales manager. Too many organizations put good salespeople in management roles with little preparation, and then they wonder why the failure rate for new sales managers is so high.

"ProActive Sales Management" is an indispensable guide for any professional sales manager, from the newest to the most seasoned. This is a practical, actionable blueprint for building and managing a winning sales organization.

The core of "ProActive Sales Management" is a set of tools that can be immediately applied to a variety of sales management challanges, regardless of size of sales force, type of industry, or even geographic region. Our own organization has successfuly applied these methods in the US, Europe, Asia, Canada and Latin America.

The key strength of this book is its common-sense approach. This is not about dogma or ideology, as so many sales and sales management books are. This is about getting the job done, and doing it well. If you manage salespeople, or if you aspire to being a sales manager, you must read this book!

Not bad, but don't place too much faith in Sales Gurus
Good attempt at writing about sales management, and Skip makes some very solid points in the opening chapter. He points to the need for Leadership as a key element of a good sales manager. Unfortunately, I think Skip knows more about sales than leadership, himself, so he is not great at explaining HOW to be a good leader. He spends a lot of time on how to hire good people, which I agree is important. This might lead some rookie sales managers to fall back on the excuse of inheriting weak sales reps, and worry more about replacing them, than fixing them.
Read the first chapter in a book store somewhere, and save the $$$

More "tools" than Home Depot
I always thought that all my years of sales success would transfer to my job as a sales manager -- well, it has been a 2 year roller coaster ride. Until, I read skip's book.....my game plan was to manage the people the way I used to sell, however, ProActive Sales Management showed me that you must "Manage the process, not just the People!" I love the fact that Mr. Miller uses "tools" in his book, so this way I am able to pick and choose the right tool for any given situation. Sales have been climbing since we started implementing these metrics and we are not looking back!

Good Basic Sales Management Fundamentals
ProActive Sales Management takes a reactive sales manager and teaches them how to become ProActive. It provides basic guidelines to help sales managers focus on the most important things first. It also gives good specific examples to sales managers on what they should be doing and how they should be doing it. The book is a quick read and readily adaptable to any sales manager's situation.

This is it!
Sales Managers unite. It is time to really get down and dirty and really do the job we are meant to do...getting things done through others and create leverage.

Miller gives us the tools in an easy to understand yet powerful format. How to take a players higher, how to measure success, how to make our job more effective, coaching, mentoring, motivation...it's all there. One of the best sales management tools I have ever read. I take the book with me on trips, and it is in hardback! ... Read more

Book Description

For nearly two decades, Don Dillman's Mail and Telephone Surveys and the Total Design Method it outlined has aided students and professionals in effectively planning and conducting surveys. But much has changed since the TDM was developed in 1978. Mail and Internet Surveys: The Tailored Design Method, Second Edition, thoroughly revised and updated by the author from his classic text, addresses these changes and introduces a new paradigm that responds to the recent developments that affect the conduct and success of surveys.

In this new edition, Dillman introduces a new paradigm called "Tailored Design," which expands TDM to account for-and take advantage of-innovations such as computers, electronic mail, and the World Wide Web; theoretical advancements; mixed-mode considerations; the increasing acceptance of self-administered surveys; our better understanding of specific survey requirements; and an improved base of social science knowledge. As insightful and practical as its classic original, Mail and Internet Surveys, Second Edition is a crucial resource for any researcher seeking to increase response rates and obtain high-quality feedback from mail, electronic, and other self-administered surveys.

Topics covered include:

• Writing Questions and Constructing the Questionnaire
• Mixed-Mode Surveys
• Personal Delivery of Questionnaires
• Surveying When Speed Is Critical
• Government Surveys of Households and Individuals
• Business Surveys
• Internet and Interactive Voice Response Systems
• Questionnaires That Can Be Scanned and Imaged

Praise for the previous edition . . .

"Required reading for anyone who wants to diversify research procedures."
-Contemporary Psychology

"An excellent reference tool and valuable addition to any serious practitioner's library."
-Public Relations Journal

"The book is packed with practical suggestions that cover each task in designing andimplementing a survey."
-Social Forces

... Read more

Reviews (7)

Light on the technical side
For those of you who do survey research and struggle with getting an acceptible response rate, this is the book for you. It truly is an amazing resource for a method that can get one to near a 75% response even on mail-only surveys. Highly recommended.

For those of you looking for any help on statistics, this is NOT the book for you.

For those of you interested in increasing the validity and reliability of your surveys, this is could be the book for you. It does have an effective treatment of writing questions and effective survey design.

If you wish to become an expert in coverage, sample frames, sampling, etc, look elsewhere. That topic gets just 10 pages.

No book can do it all of course but I would have left out some of the "fluff" chapters Dillman included for some discussion of the more technical side of the statistics of analyzing surveys after you have designed them the way he suggests.

Still lots of great wisdom on survey research.
Dillman's text was the classic for so long that many of us think of him as the guru of survey research. I would guess that is why the Census Bureau hired him as their lead consultant for the 2000 Census.

As has been pointed out, Dillman does not present as much theoretical material as he might. But, I don't think that that detracts from the strengths of this book. There are other books out there that cover the cognitive and social psychology behind survey answers, and there are other books that give you guidance on the scientific method, experimental design, sampling, etc. (I would recommend Babbie's Practice of Social Research) And Dillman even has a more hands-on book (How to Conduct Your Own Survey) for non-scientists.

But, the real strength of Dillman's book might be how well he instructs on how to put together a great questionnaire - the design, layout, order, question design and implementation.

I find his take on internet surveys to be controversial and a little out-of-date. But, my concerns might be viewed as those of a skeptic - I'm not yet convinced that internet surveys are viable for all that many situations. And, I think Dillman does a good job of laying out some of the challenges and promises of internet surveys.

Strong book but doesn't cover software
This is a good book, but it doesn't offer much help picking an Internet survey tool, and there are a lot of choose from: perseus.com, raosoft.com, inquisite.com, scantron.com. I would have liked to see some discussion or analysis of the types of tools that could be used.

Misnamed, Lacking Scientific Methodology
Well, this may be "the book" when it comes to surveys, but it still lacks a lot. First, I found the chapters on writing questions and organizing a questionnaire to be very useful. However, it looks like the author only added a couple chapters about Internet surveys, instead of reviewing his decades-old book in terms of the impact of the Internet. For example, I don't find it particularly useful to discuss how to fold a survey, or how to distribute it by mail, when it's being administered on-line!

Furthermore, this book is lacking any real scientific methodology. I suspect this is a result of the nature of the field, but survey designers should at least try to employ some good experimental design approaches. For example, this book does not help me at all to ensure that the survey actually gives me information that I need. While he does give information on writing interpretable questions, he has no recommendations on how to determine the goals of the survey, how to design questions that will address those goals, how to arrange questions in the survey to ensure good data that addresses those goals, etc. And what about statistical accuracy, and how certain types of questions are easier to measure? Any suggestions on how to evaluate free-response questions? Why isn't there an entire chapter on "How to avoid bias and inaccuracy in responses", instead of having suggestions scattered around the text?

This book has a lot of useful sociological hints on how to increase the response rate from a population. However, this isn't the most important aspect of surveys---it sorely lacks the scientific basis for the design and evaluation of the "experiment" that is the survey. Without this, it doesn't matter how many people respond, because the data will be useless.

So much to say, even to those who think they know
I have close to 20 years of experience in market research; yet with the move that many are making to conducting their research over the Internet, I knew I needed to get a lot of learning quickly, in order to better understand the trade-offs being made between cost savings and research quality. Dillman's book fills that need. Building on an earlier edition, which focused on the issues surrounding interviewing by mail, Dillman confronts issues surrounding lack of randomness, need for clarity in a self-administered-survey world, and issues of internet coverage, in drawing conclusions. Also, he has a very helpful discussion on the issues surrounding combining data collected through different methodologies at once. Dillman also discusses the need to recruit within the context of a social exchange; we are, after all, collecting information with the respondent's approval, and our generalizations are stronger when we have a good sampling plan and can maximize co-operation.

Highly recommended! ... Read more

Book Description

The first guide to creating the word-of-mouth magic that breaks through the skepticism and information overload of today's consumers, and drive sales--and profits--to new heights.

As Newsweek recently proclaimed, "Buzz greases the great conveyor belt of culture and commerce, moving everything from movies to fashions of the body and mind faster and faster."

Now available in paperback, The Anatomy of Buzz, written by former marketing VP Emanuel Rosen, pinpoints the products and services that benefit the most from buzz and offers specific strategies for creating and sustaining effective word-of-mouth strategies. Drawing on interviews with more than 150 marketing executives who have successfully built buzz for major brands, Rosen describes the ins-and-outs of attracting the attention of influential first-users and "bigmouth" movers-and-shakers, and discusses proven techniques for stimulating customer-to-customer selling–including how companies can spread the word to new territories by taking advantage of customer hubs and networks on the Internet and elsewhere.

Recent surveys show that 74 percent of young people rely to some extent on others when selecting a car, that 56 percent of moviegoers follow the recommendations of friends, and that 65 percent of the people who bought a Palm Pilot were inspired by the enthusiasm of others. With The Anatomy of Buzz, business leaders have what they need to reignite excitement about an existing product or service or turbocharge the launch of a new product. ... Read more

Reviews (30)

Invisible but Powerful Human Networks
Think about it. How many times have you been asked "Seen a good movie lately?" or "What's your favorite Italian restaurant?" or "Where can I get the best deal on an air conditioner?" The single most powerful but least understood form of marketing is word-of-mouth and yet, until now, no one has devoted to it the attention it deserves. In the Foreword to this book, Everett M. Rogers observes, "New products and services spread among the consumer public through interpersonal communication networks. These networks are for the most part invisible. They often operate in mysterious ways.. Thus we are largely blind to this very powerful marketing process. No wonder that we fail so often in our efforts to diffuse innovations." He's right.

Rosen explains how to create effective word-of-mouth marketing with material organized within three Parts: How Buzz Spreads, Success in the Networks, and Stimulating Buzz. It is important to stress that Buzz results only in combination with a superior product or service. As Jeffrey Gitomer correctly points out, "customer satisfaction" is achieved only on a per-transaction basis; the objective is to achieve and then sustain "customer loyalty." It is not only possible but common for a new product or service to generate Buzz initially but if the quality is not sustainable (preferably enhanced), what I call Positive Buzz can become Negative Buzz. (Even under Rosen's personal supervision, no matter how much perfume you pour on a pig, it's still a pig. The only buzz it generates will be provided by insects.) The "interpersonal communication networks" to which Rogers refers can just as effectively (and probably more quickly) "get the word out" about a defective product or unsatisfactory service. Obviously, no Buzz is preferable to Negative Buzz.

Rosen is talking about Positive Buzz. He explains HOW to take full advantage of the marketing opportunities it permits. In Chapter 16, "Buzz Workshop", he asks and then answers a series of very basic but profoundly important questions. (All by itself, this final chapter is well-worth the cost of the book. I strongly recommend that this chapter be re-read on a regular basis. Competitive marketplaces do have a way of changing, don't they?) Once having read the book, the reader is well-prepared to select and then implement those concepts, strategies, and tactics which are most appropriate to her or his own situation.

This book will be especially valuable to small-to-midsize companies with limited resources but the success of any marketing efforts (Buzz or otherwise) will still depend upon the quality of the product or service offered. All of us now actively involved in marketing owe a substantial debt to Rosen. Revealingly, the quality of his thinking and the originality of his ideas created Buzz long before his book was published. The acclaim he continues to receive is richly deserved.

Bustling Buzzers Busily Boost Business
This is the first book I recall that looks at the word-of-mouth phenomenon as a management activity for modern marketing. While Edward Bernays often recounted fascinating tales of how public relations helped move products by setting fashion, he never focused on the face-to-face aspects of how new ideas spread. Robert Cialdini has done remarkable work on describing how influence is created, but does not squarely focus on the word-of-mouth aspects of that influence.

Mr. Rosen has done a sound job of providing a number of interesting, behind-the-scenes examples as well as a context for thinking about word-of-mouth marketing. (I actually ended up trying some products describe here that I probably wouldn't have otherwise, such as the novel, Cold Mountain). The book's main weakness is that it focuses on word-of-mouth about products rather the broader question of how word-of-mouth creates opinions in all areas of society.

Mr. Rosen defines buzz as "the sum of all comments about a certain product that are exchanged among people at any given time." Naturally, you can have either good buzz ("It's great!) or bad buzz ("Avoid at all costs.").

It is easy to us to underestimate the power of these comments before we consider our own experiences. For example, if audiences hate a new movie, the word soon gets out and ticket sales plunge. You have probably seen people waiting in line to buy tickets asking those leaving a theater how the movie was. Here you have an example of perfect strangers advising each other and making purchase decisions based on these interactions. Naturally, this occurs much more frequently with authority figures (like Oprah for books) and people we know well (our family, friends and neighbors). For example, I always ask my older son before seeing any movie. He will have already seen the movie and knows my tastes. I will always have a good experience if I follow his guidance.

The examples in the book formed the core of the interest for me. The concepts in the book were familiar to me from my days as an executive in the alcoholic beverage industry. Because of significant limitations on selling liquor with advertising, new brands are built almost totally through buzz aided by bar parties and other activities. I was surprised that there were no substantial stories from liquor or cigarettes (remember the cartoon of Joe Camel?), both of which depend heavily on creating buzz.

In addition to learning more about how buzz works, this book also offers guidance on how to encourage and accelerate that buzz.

The book is divided into three parts: The first looks at how buzz spreads (a small percentage of all the people do all of the connecting together of information networks); the second examines what makes for success with buzz (having things people want to talk about and encouraging that talking); and the third details how to stimulate buzz for your business (this is summarized in a workshop for you in chapter 16).

Publishers, book authors, music companies, companies that provide breakthrough technology (the Palm Pilot), and people who make exciting consumer goods (like the BMW) will get the most benefit from this book. The examples and lessons best apply in those markets. People with limited marketing budgets should consider the book also to help organize the questions to ask oneself for stimulating interest in a product.

I also suggest that you read up on Edward Bernays, Robert Cialdini (Influence), and Ernest Dichter. A recent book, Networlding, is a very helpful complement to this book in describing how to create more effective and meaningful relations with others to transfer information and assistance.

After you have finished reading this book, I suggest that you step back and consider how you could improve the value of what you make for your customers and potential customers, reprice it to make it more accessible, and reduce your costs so that you have more resources to share with your customers and other stakeholders. In that way, you will have something better to buzz about!

Provide great products first!

Interesting Stuff
This is a wonderful book that goes into legitimate, real-life methods of how Word of Mouth(buzz) is created. A great read...The Anatomy of Buzz is full of interesting stuff for the general reader, but even more helpful for the businessperson, beginning marketer, advertising executive, etc., very thought-provoking.

Read as a complement to "The Tipping Point"
Emanuel Rosen's 'Anatomy of Buzz' has some worthwhile stuff about what he calls 'information hubs,' those people who seem to know more about certain subjects and make it their business to pass the word to the rest of us. However, Malcom Gladwell dissected this phenomenon in great detail in his outstanding work, "The Tipping Point." Gladwell tells us that the Hub persona is actually comprised of three different indivduals: mavens, connectors and salesmen. You don't really get down to that level of detail here.

Not to say Rosen's book is without merit. I was fascinated by Gladwell's research and thought 'Buzz' would be a good complement to that. With those expectations, I enjoyed the book and found it to be a worthwhile read. I'll keep it on my bookshelf (for me, that's the litmus test of a book's worth).

Great Book!!
An extremely interesting book. Lots of concepts that can be applied to real life situations. Read it, you won't regret it... ... Read more

Book Description

Here in a short, compact and concise format is the basics of how to persuade more people more effectively, more ethically, and more often. Ziglar draws from his fundamental selling experiences and shows that while the fundamentals of selling may remain constant, sales people must continue learning, living, and looking: learning from the past without living there; living in the present by seizing each vital moment of every single day; and looking to the future with hope, optimism, and education. His tips will not only keep your clients happy and add to your income, but will also teach you ideas and principles that will, most importantly, add to the quality of your life. Content drawn from Ziglar on Selling.

Reviews (4)

How about something new, Zig?
Zig, I don't think you will ever read this, but just in case you do. We all know you have written the same book for 20+ years. Yes, your material used to be fresh and new, but now it is nothing more than a cliche.

I understand you put your name on these things to make money, but really how much more money do you need? After all you get $40,000 a speech, which if you do not know is more than most hardworking Americans make in a year.

For those rates, I expect something new, fresh, and invoative. Please start earining your money again.

A Handy Primer
'Selling 101' is an easy to read and understand introduction to sales technique for those new to selling, or a quick review for experienced sales people who need a refresher. The book can be read quickly, but to get the most out of it return to each section and determine how you can apply the principles there to improve your skills.

There are chapters on overcoming call reluctance, need analysis, closing, dealing with angry clients, making the most of your time and more. You are sure to pick up at least a few good ideas. Part motivation, part how-to, 'Selling 101' may be just what you need to improve your sales results a little or a lot.

Great little book!
This is a great little book to use as a handy check up book from Mr.Ziglar. I am not a sales person, but am in the service business and this book was just perfect for me. For $10.00 anyone can get this book and learn a few things, even if just for fun.

You're Kidding Me, Right?
This book is basically a collection of "daily affirmations." Its a feel-good book. It has very little in the way of "actionable" advice. At only 100-pages, I expected a collection of greatest hits. This is the first, only, and last Zig Zigler book I will ever buy. For people with a serious interest in tangible advice on how to increase sales effectiveness, I would recommend Michael Bosworth's "Solution Selling," or Stephen Heiman and Diane Sanchez's "The New Strategic Selling" or "New Conceptual Selling." If you need to feel good about yourself, I'd suggest a psychologist instead (or simply buy a dog). Overall grade: D-/F. ... Read more

Book Description

This book takes a strategic approach to value/profitability in marketing management and helps readers work through financial analysis. The Third Edition includes increased coverage of important topics such as e-Marketing, supply chain management, customer relationship management, and branding.It focuses on the fundamental need for businesses to attract, satisfy, and retain customers. Coverage that goes beyond marketing fundamentals features a three-fold integration of market-driven strategy, customer satisfaction, and profitable growth.For marketing departments and business owners seeking the tools and techniques for delivering higher levels of customer satisfaction, marketing productivity and profitability. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

A real treasure, an intro marketing book with substance
I really like this book. There are around 10 intro marketing textbooks, and they're almost all either (co-)authored by Kotler, or shameless rip-offs of his books.

Hats of to Roger Best for coming up with a book that's truly different. The approach is refreshingly down-to-earth, almost nerdy, including a lot of frameworks for financial or qualitative analysis that would be useful to any marketing manager in his or her daily life. Although it can be used as an introductory marketing textbook, you'll find a lot of material here that you don't find in Kotler and Kotler-clones, so I also recommend it to people who've had an intro marketing course, and who want to move beyond the basics. Likewise, this would be a great book for practicing marketing managers who've been out in the field a couple of years, and want to brush up on the basics, without wading through the usual definitions and useless frameworks in other intro textbooks.

The entire book is in black and white, lacking the usual fancy graphics, and it is only about half the length of other textbooks. I actually find that refreshing, and it is an extension the substance-over-hype approach behind this book. ... Read more

Book Description

Product Management is a lean, defining text that covers three major tasks facing today’s product mangers:analyzing the market, developing objectives and strategies for the product or service in question, and making decisions about price, advertising, promotion, channels of distribution and service.Product Management utilizes the familiar Marketing Plan as the unifying framework for its lessons, and takes a “hands-on” approach toward preparing graduates to assume the position of product manager. ... Read more

Reviews (4)

Too basic to be helpful
This book is seriously too basic to be of any help to a practitioner.

Great book
Explains the steps in product management in extreme detail. Not good for IT products (software), but general. Applies more to non-IT for sure.

Good book.

Fantastic!
This is the ideal book for the product manager/product planner. I have been looking for such a book for years and here it is. What I liked about the book was its no non-sense direct approach to product management. The book covers all topics required to jump start the process. You will learn "what" to accomplish quickly. To learn about the process of product development and that sort of thing you should look into Cooper's "winning at new products" book.

this text covers it all in an very easy to read & grasp style. Topics include defining the competitive set, category attractiveness analysis,... pricing decisions (for a thorough treatment on pricing, I would highly recommend "the strategy and tactics of pricing"), channel management, promotions and financial analysis for product management. The newly added chapter marketing metrics is bang-on.

***Good introductory book for the first line product manager / product planner. Very highly recommended. ***

This book shares some text with the other books these authors have jointly written ("analysis for marketing planning" - another excellent book), but has been changed significantly enough to make reading those shared chapters worthwile if you happen to have both texts.

A blend of product and pricing...
Lehmann proved that product and pricing are the two sides of a coin called Management. Its a must read book for any level of person in Production, Accounting, Warehousing, Marketing and Management. Its an excellent blend of knowledge. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Fish! Tales is Stephen C. Lundin, John Christensen, and Harry Paul's follow-up to Fish!--their enormously popular fable that draws lessons aimed at combating dysfunctional workplaces from the happy fishmongers at Seattle's Pike Place Market. In Fish! Tales the authors show how these lessons were put into practice at businesses both big (a major hospital and long-distance carrier) and small (a local car dealership and roofing company). Anyone who enjoyed Fish! (or, for that matter, Who Moved My Cheese?) or is looking for a motivational tool to help energize their own workplace, should find this short, upbeat primer worthwhile. --Harry C. Edwards ... Read more

Reviews (25)

Insightful!
Things are going swimmingly in Fish! land. In the latest volume, Fish! Tales, authors Stephen C. Lundin, John Christensen, Harry Paul and Philip Strand build on the successful training program that evolved from their first Fish book. Tales shows how four companies - a long-distance call center; a hospital neural-renal unit, a car dealership and a roofing company - have applied Fish! theories effectively. They also provide short examples from other companies to show how well the Fish! function. The four main principles are familiar by now - keep the work fun, seek to serve others, stay focused on your customers and have an enthusiastic attitude - but the examples in the book bring them alive. Along the way, the authors heavily sell their Fish! courses and merchandise - that's just good salesmanship - but the real catch of the day is the final how-to section, showing ways to apply these principles in any organization. The lively writing style helps keep you hooked. We from getAbstract suggest that if you haven't yet caught any Fish!, start with this one. Its cheery, accessible methods should lure you in, hook, line and sinker.

Insightful!
Things are going swimmingly in Fish! land. In the latest volume, Fish! Tales, authors Stephen C. Lundin, John Christensen, Harry Paul and Philip Strand build on the successful training program that evolved from their first Fish book. Tales shows how four companies - a long-distance call center; a hospital neural-renal unit, a car dealership and a roofing company - have applied Fish! theories effectively. They also provide short examples from other companies to show how well the Fish! function. The four main principles are familiar by now - keep the work fun, seek to serve others, stay focused on your customers and have an enthusiastic attitude - but the examples in the book bring them alive. Along the way, the authors heavily sell their Fish! courses and merchandise - that's just good salesmanship - but the real catch of the day is the final how-to section, showing ways to apply these principles in any organization. The lively writing style helps keep you hooked. We suggest that if you haven't yet caught any Fish!, start with this one. Its cheery, accessible methods should lure you in, hook, line and sinker.

"Real" It In
I enjoyed reading Fish, but Fish Tales is even better because it has real world success stories. While the original Fish! seemed like a business theory, Fish! Tales shows how several companies actually benefited from implementing these ideas instead of just reading about them. Fish! Tales enhances the credibility of the original book. Rat Race Relaxer: Your Potential & The Maze of Life by JoAnna Carey is another great book for companies to share with employees because it offers entertaining stories and goal oriented advice about improving your workplace and your life.

Disappointing
While the message is a good one, it nearly gets lost in this very poorly written book.

Integrating Fish and optimizing the workplace
The Fish philosophy isn't new but the unique context and delightful presentation makes it effective. I got a lot out of this book because I saw how the concept is integrated into organizations. We have found that the best companion for the Fish philosophy is to train employees in Optimal Thinking. Optimal Thinking is the simple, realistic mental resource to empower individuals to be their best and bring out the best in others. I recommend both of these books. ... Read more

Book Description

Sales and Operations is a powerful business process that integrates Sales & Marketing, Operations, Product Development, and Finance.Tom Wallace describes how it works and lays out a detailed plan for making it happen.This valuable handbook covers all aspects of a successful implementation, from the composition of the Executive S&OP team to the nitty-gritty of S&OP spreadsheet design. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

S&OP for Dummies
Should be called "Sales & Operations Planning for Dummies". This book has all the basics to get you started.

Excellent book.
An excellent practical guide for setting up a Sales & Operations Planning process. ... Read more