Book Description

“I have observed several hundred salespeople who were taught to use deceptive practices like ‘bait and switch’ and encouraged to play negotiation games with customers. They were so stressed by this behavior that they suffered from a high incidence of alcohol and substance abuse, divorce, job-jumping, and low productivity. In the same industry, I have observed countless people who had been taught to sell with high integrity. Ironically, their customer satisfaction, profit margins, and salesperson retention were significantly higher.” — Ron Willingham

If you’ve tried manipulative, self-focused selling techniques that demean you and your customer, if you’ve ever wondered if selling could be more than just talking people into buying, then Integrity Selling for the 21st Century is the book for you. Its concept is simple: Only by getting to know your customers and their needs — and believing that you can meet those needs — will you enjoy relationships with customers built on trust. And only then, when you bring more value to your customers than you receive in payment, will you begin to reap the rewards of high sales.

Since the publication of Ron Willingham’s enormously successful first book, Integrity Selling, his sales program has been adopted by dozens of Fortune 500 companies, such as Johnson & Johnson and IBM, as well as the American Red Cross and the New York Times. In his new book, Integrity Selling for the 21st Century, Willingham explains how his selling system relates to today’s business climate — when the need for integrity is greater than ever before.

Integrity Selling for the 21st Century teaches a process of self-evaluation to help you become a stellar salesperson in any business climate. Once you’ve established your own goals and personality traits, you’ll be able to evaluate them in your customers and adapt your styles to create a more trusting, productive relationship.

Drawing upon Willingham’s years of experience and success stories from sales forces of the more than 2,000 companies that have adopted the Integrity Selling system, Ron Willingham has created a blueprint for achieving success in sales while staying true to your values. ... Read more

Reviews (13)

Order it NOW!
This book is one of, if not the BEST guide to selling success I've read. It exceed Mr. Willinghams previous works. The clear and concise concepts are easy to read and apply. They're simple but not simplistic. The principles in this book feel like he has combined the best from Carl Jung, Wm. James, Tom Hopkins, Stephen Covey, Tony Robbins and Donald Goldman. It reads like a roadmap for both selling and personal growth success. It's a nice mix. The chapter summaries can be used like a workbook. The best and most practical sections are on Releasing Achievement Drive and Values Congruence. If you want to 'raise your game' read and work this book.

This new volume is the best that I have discovered.
After more than three decades of searching out the top books on leadership and sales, I must say that this new volume is the best that I have discovered, especially in these times when genuine care and consideration for the customer is a prime ingredient in forming and growing a meaningful relationship. Trust is the foundation for Integrity Selling in the 21st Century ... and Ron Willingham has encapsulated the essence of doing it right and doing it well. This book belongs on every business leader's desktop and the principles belong securely planted in their hearts.

"Integrity" says it all
If you are in sales and you want a system that truly focuses on the needs and wants of the prospect, this book is for you. It'll help you feel good about what you do and, more importantly, it'll help your customers feel good about what you do.

You'll position yourself as someone who genuinely wants to do what's best for the customer, and that will make you easy to do business with and easy to refer to others.

I've worked with this system since Ron's first book came out. Sales people of all experience levels have the same response - this works and people buy because they know I am interested in them. This book is better than the first one, and in my opinion will increase your production through providing value to the customer.

Conscious Competency
We all sell everyday even though most of us have never had a sales territory. And we have been successful in selling our ideas, our strategic initiatives, our companies and ourselves.

We have been successful because we are competent in creating value for others, and we do this naturally, unconsciously. The value of "Integrity Selling" is that it gives context and consciousness to these natural competencies. The result is logic and understanding behind our approach that takes our success to even higher levels. Understanding why we succeed in selling our points-of-view and moving people to action is a powerful gift Mr. Willingham gives to us through his new book. And once understood, we become even better!

Integrity Selling for the 21st Century
I used less than one highlighter on this book which rates it 3 stars. If you've read many sales books, much of the content in this book is not new. I think, though, that it is a very nice overview for those new to sales or if you'd like a refresher on successful sales principles. The "Three Parts of You" and "Sales Congruence" models were both interesting. I didn't feel the middle chapters had much new or thought-provoking information. It almost seemed that the first and last few chapters contained the more relevant or new information and the middle chapters were put together as "filler". I agree with another review that the title "Integrity Selling" did not accurately represent, in my mind, the content of the book. I felt a little mislead in that respect. It was good enough to make it into my sales book rotation to be re-read at a later date and I'm sure I'll find more valuable information. A nice, easy read. ... Read more

Reviews (19)

The only book you'll need on effective selling
Zig Ziglar's "Secrets Of Closing The Sale" is probably the best book I've ever read. Not only does it provide you with everything you will ever need to be successful in the world of selling - it thoroughly entertains as well. "Secrets" provides readers with interesting and humorous stories meticulously tied in with step by step actions and exact scripts for sales people to use in specific situations.

All you have to do is adapt these scripts to your situation and you are ready to start selling more of what you sell.

Zig covers - how to use a tape recorder to explode your selling power - how to use voice inflection to communicate your message more effectively - how to make you and your prospect both winners when you close the sale - and so much more.

Ziglar even has various free items that he will send you scattered throughout the book. Just by responding I've already received three free gifts including an incredible audio casette on voice inflection. It's incredible.

I hope to get to see Zig live one day. He's an incredibly powerful speaker and author. Get this book - even if you have to steal it.

If you do steal it though, read it, learn to sell, sell something, get your commission, then go pay for the book. Zig deserves to get paid. He did a fine job on this one.

The only book you'll need on effective selling
Zig Ziglar's "Secrets Of Closing The Sale" is probably the best book I've ever read. Not only does it provide you with everything you will ever need to be successful in the world of selling - it thoroughly entertains as well.

"Secrets" provides readers with interesting and humorous stories meticulously tied in with step by step actions and exact scripts for sales people to use in specific situations.

All you have to do is adapt these scripts to your situation and you are ready to start selling more of what you sell.

Zig covers - how to use a tape recorder to explode your selling power - how to use voice inflection to communicate your message more effectively - how to make you and your prospect both winners when you close the sale - and so much more.

Ziglar even has various free items that he will send you scattered throughout the book. Just by responding I've already received three free gifts including an incredible audio casette on voice inflection. It's incredible.

I hope to get to see Zig live one day. He's an incredibly powerful speaker and author. Get this book - even if you have to steal it.

If you do steal it though, read it, learn to sell, sell something, get your commission, then go pay for the book. Zig deserves to get paid. He did a fine job on this one.

Raymond A. Mardo III Mailto:raymardo@raymardo.com

Don't pollute your mind with this waste of time.
These techniques may have worked 40 years ago but, now, in 2004, buyers are keen to this "old pro's" dialogs. After reading this book, "The Closers" and "How to Master the Art of Selling", you will see the difference I'm talking about and realize that this book is a joke.

zig you're alright
but your book didn't knock my socks off. At least two thirds of the book are more or less a waste of time and teach about closing only in the form of annecdotes - then every little story has a headline and the "close" gets a name, the soundso-close, and he drones on and on and then towards the end of the book finally he is getting somewhere. Still, I think that Ziglar is mostly good at selling cooking pots, (I even believe he was good at it), and himself. But since buyers and markets always change and salespeople should change alltogether with them in order to stay on top, we should turn to other authors in the meantime. I recommend SPIN Selling and QBS. This one here is still at times enjoyable and I am not saying I didn't learn anything or that I wasn't inspired at times. But not a treat and no matter how good he's been and still is, old school is over and I am looking for something fresh. When you're not Zig, don't sell like him, it may not work. Everything from chapter 25 on, however, is worth the money, this is where he covers objections and how to handle them. Also, I never knew the guy (I'm German). When I started to listen to his audio programs on motivation (How to stay motivated) he made a lot more sense to me.

Invest in "Secrets"
While attending a sales class last spring, I met a salesman in my company who was consistently performing at top levels. I asked him his secrets, and he suggested I buy this book and read it. "I could let you borrow my copy," he said with a smile, "but if you invest in your own copy you'll get a lot more out of it."

He was so right. This book shows a lot of tips on closing the sales: how to make the sale when your customers don't show up for appointments, how to handle complaints on price, how to help the prospect sell HIMSELF on the product/service. I don't know how I was ever selling anything before reading this!

It's a delightful read, written with humorous stories and pertinent examples in every chapter. And despite its age (written in the 1980's) it consistently provides good advice. Everything I have read in "Secrets" has been a boon.

Does it work? Well, now I'm the top salesperson in my market area and in the top ten in my region, whereas before reading "Secrets" I was near the bottom in both. ... Read more

Book Description

"Building upon lessons learned for over a quarter century of theory and practice, Bill Brooks brings to the table the ultimate synthesis of selling and persuasion techniques. A must-read for serious business executives!"
–Richard Gimmel
President, Atlas Machine & Supply and
President, Industrial Compressor Distributors Association

"This powerful, easy-to-use program by Bill Brooks is the ultimate scientific synthesis of sales theory and practice. It is an essential tool for every professional whose pursuit is excellence in the art of persuasion and the science of selling."
–Steven Powell
Regional Sales Manager, First Citizens Bank

"Indeed, Bill Brooks has placed in perspective the essential lessons of a century of business history, and combined this intelligence with tools for effective professional sales management. The New Science of Selling and Persuasion awaits smart business managers who are seeking the ultimate sales solutions."
–Jack Perry
Senior Vice President, National Sales Development, Manulife Financial

"At a time in business history when increased competition, customer demands, and a constantly changing selling terrain are thebaneof all sales executives,Bill Brooks has combined, with remarkable clarity, principles underlying the art of persuasion with the science of selling. The New Science of Selling and Persuasion will surely empower the executive who plays to win."
–Bob Damstetter
Vice President, Sales, Townsend Engineering Company

"Bill Brooks’s well-researched book is a powerful tool for every sales force. It should be required reading for sales professionals who seek to develop the way of successful selling in a complex, demanding business arena."
–James Canale
CEO, Net2 Technology Group

"Bill Brooks has the uncanny ability to articulate the truth. I know his message is correct because it resonates with my own heretofore unspoken belief structure. Bill has simply and systematically provided the language that crystallizes thought, the prerequisite to action."
–Mike Pierson
Vice President, Beckwith & Kuffel, Inc. ... Read more

Reviews (6)

Breakthrough Book!
This book is one of the best I've read on sales management and overall business strategies in years.

The principles and ideas Brooks presents in "The New Science" are causing me to re-think the way I'm running my operation...and I've been running a sales-driven organization for over 30 years!

I'd highly recommend this book to anyone whose income and success are driven by the performance of a sales team.

More sales management than sales
This is a book about sales management and not as much about selling. It is also a commercial for these Trimetrics assessments that Mr. Brooks must market and sell. I can't imagine that past the first chapter or 2 a salesman would get much out of it. It is certainly a decent book for sales managers but not so much for sales people.

A must-have book
As a Sales Trainer for 22 years, I recommend this book as a must-have, must read book for any serious student of selling and sales management. I will recommend it in all of my seminars. Bill Brooks has shown again his grasp of what it takes to build a successful sales career and a successful sales organization.

helpful guide
A good, solid sales book, with key points that I'll be sure to review again later. I like that the writing style is not patronizing like other sales books I read from time to time.

Misleading Title
If you buy this book because you search for scientific thought in the field of sales methodologies or persuasion, you will be diasappointed. It contains nothing of that. Salespeople will find nothing of value. The books is about tips for sales managers, thus the two stars. ... Read more

Book Description

Dramatically increase your ability to sell by learning how to control the mind of your prospect using 30 psychological tiggers to motivate, influence and persuade. ... Read more

Reviews (43)

Triggers
I have read Mr. Sugarman's book and found it to be both helpful and insightful. Once I started reading it, I found it hard to put down. My company operates in the high tech arena and after reading "Scotts (no E-mail)" comments I couldn't disagree more. Mr. Sugarman, one of the nation's most respected authors in sales and advertising, offers no trickery but powerful techniques. My company has effectively used Mr. Sugarman's teachings from his other books, and speaking for myself I think this one is the best.

Basic Premise: Emotion and not logic clinches a sale.
Most experienced sales people and books will tell you that the sales process is an emotional one and logic plays only a secondary role. The author of this book (Joseph Sugarman) takes this concept to the next level and introduces 30 psychological triggers. These triggers (or sales tools) if used correctly by the seller will influence the buyer's state of mind and dramatically increase the chances of a sale.

The author takes these 30 important triggers and devotes a chapter to each and every one of them with clear explanations and examples of why and how these triggers work. Here are just a few sample triggers - Greed, Consistency, Product Name, Prospect Nature, Integrity, Storytelling, Objection Raising and Objection Resolution.

There are a few triggers that are very hard to dispute. The best example is the Exclusivity trigger. Almost every one of us falls for this technique if we are in the market for the product and can afford it. Sometimes, even when we are not in the market and can't afford it, we still seem to fall for this one.

There are a few triggers where I found it difficult to agree with the author on some of the premises. For example, in the chapter on the Sense of Urgency trigger, he states in so many words that it is okay to use some very bold tactics to create a sense of urgency if it looks like you are going to lose the prospect. The author even hints that you really don't have much to lose so it's okay to use certain tactics that I thought were inflammatory. The problem with this approach is that some individuals will never go back to the salesman or the company that hired the salesman. I think one has to consider the possibility that this could turn into a public relations and marketing problem.

But if you take some of the triggers and their explanations with a grain of salt, I think this is a great book overall.

After reading this book, I wondered why logic fails so miserably where emotion succeeds so easily in the sales process. I think the answer lies in the fact that the buyer has to be an expert in order to correctly apply logic and compare any two products. In most cases though, the buyer is not an expert and hence abandons logic and succumbs to emotional triggers in making a decision. Apparently, even in cases where the buyer is an expert, the chances of abandoning logic in the face of very strong emotional triggers are very high.

If you are new to sales, there is a lot you can learn from this book (as I did). If you have a decent amount of experience in sales, this could still be an interesting read.

Two things that struck me about the techniques in this book is that it can work beautifully in situations where you are selling products and in situations where there isn't a long term relationship involved. I am really not sure of the effectiveness of the techniques in this book in the services market and plan on experimenting slowly over time. I am also not sure if the techniques work as well in situations where the sales cycles are very long like in high dollar contract (whether it is a product or a service).

On a final note, I must say that the book is focussed on helping you close a sale but little attention is paid to the important aspect of negotiation. Anytime you are dealing with a high dollar item and the services market, negotiation becomes an integral part of the sales process. This is a very complex topic that is dependent on various factors including the cultural backgrounds of the individuals and companies involved. Overall, a worthwhile book to read to get an invaluable insight into the 30 psychological triggers. Good luck and enjoy learning from this book!

Forget the Gun...Hit the Triggers!!
Joe Sugarman wrote this book five years ago. It is as useful as if he wrote it today. There are things about people that never change. Their hot points are the same today as they were five years ago.
Joe knows his material through trial and error. Why not learn from his mistakes instead of making your own? Be years ahead!
Read what Joe says! I'm certainly happy I did!
Great for every salesperson! Even the best can improve!

Joe Sugarman has a winner
Joe Sugarman has been in marketing for many years. In Triggers he gives specific examples of marketing tools to use including explaining why your product is better over all as well as a lower price than a competing product.
He also gives information on how to become a better buyer by looking at different factors when you want to make a purchase. His writing is light, fun, and informational.

How to get more sales starting today!
Joe Sugarman is the recognized expert of advertising and marketing in our times. People pay big money to hear him speak and not for no good reason.

This book is a wonderful collection of great ideas to help you trigger people to buy your product or service. Apply the ideas contained within and watch your sales soar!

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

Book Description

A sales force is no better than its management—and Sales Management supplies the tools sales executives need to inspire their sales forces to increase productivity through improved customer service, equitable compensation plans, e-Commerce, sales force automation, and more. It explains how to make heroes out of a sales force by understanding and taking advantage of both the micro and the macro of sales and sales management and determining the best methods for organizing, deploying, and motivating today’s changing sales force. ... Read more

Reviews (4)

Straight-forward, practical, and well written
In nine easy-to-read chapters, Calvin is able to present a great framework for professional sales managers to review their thinking and organize their thoughts. Each chapter captures the essence of its subject, and then presents a number of good ideas that add to any parctitioner. Each chapter is summarized through a creative and insightful list of the top 10 mistakes that sales managers do in this area. These lists alone are worth what I paid for the book. I find it to be a book that is capable of contributing to the knowledge of both academics and professionals alike.

This is THE reference and guidebook
Calvin succinctly packages sales and sales management processes into this book in a way that enables the reader to PUT IT TO USE!! The references, lists, worksheets, and key points will be invaluable to you. Keep it in your briefcase to refer to on a daily basis - it has so many key points and reminders that you will find relevant pages to earmark to make you more effective against your day-to-day sales goals.

Highly Recommended!
Companies of the old and new economies often suffer the same ailment: sales teams that don't produce. Writer Robert Calvin tells sales managers what they must do to cure this disease. Calvin's book ' which is as concise as an effective sales pitch ' gives you a thorough blueprint for building or rebuilding your sales team. The book is filled with questionnaires and lists, including a sample performance evaluation and a rundown on what not to say to a potential hire. Calvin argues that managers often neglect training, which alone should take up 40% of their time. We [...] highly recommend this potential Bible for sales managers, which makes it clear that you must be more critical of your sales force's achievements in areas such as prospecting, closing and even personal demeanor. A word of warning: Calvin is as ruthless as 'The Weakest Link' television show in asserting that poor performers must be eliminated' and he doesn't even wink.

sales management
This book gives a new dimension how to increase the effectiveness of sales activities nowadays. W.Stanton and R. Spiro wrote a books-management of a sales force, which gives a very clear basic understanding of managing a sales force. But your book gives a new idea how to make the force more effective. ... Read more

Book Description

This book represents a new – some may say radical – approach to forecasting.The authors explain how:

Forecasting less, not more, can yield higher customer service and lower inventoriesTeamwork, good communications, and clear accountabilities are more important than complex statistical forecasting models,It’s more beneficial to pursue process improvement than to focus narrowly on forecast accuracy.

This is an exciting, new, breakthrough approach to a traditionally difficult and frustrating task. ... Read more

Book Description

Expert advice on how to strike a fair deal and command a fair price… The Contract and Fee-Setting Guide for Consultants & Professionals No matter how knowledgeable you are in your field….No matter how great your track record….No matter how expert your advice or impressive your credentials … you jeopardize your client base if you do not instill every phase of your practice with a consummate professionalism. And for sharp clients, the first clear signs of such a savvy professionalism are the ability to set fees at a fair market price and offer neat, straightforward contracts with clearly delineated terms. This book teaches you, in a few days, what it traditionally took people half a lifetime to learn through trial and error. In writing it, the author drew on his more than twenty years as a business consultant, lecturer, and author to offer you tips on how to ask for and get the fees you deserve and to establish contract terms that are in the best interests of you and your clients. Throughout he shares his insider’s expertise on:

• Determining market value for your services
• Establishing per diem or per-project rates and calculating overhead
• Advantages and disadvantages of various systems of fee-setting and billing
• Six major goals of every contract
• Negotiating the contract and avoiding legal pitfalls

Reviews (7)

Highly Recommended.
This book is definately worth purchasing -- particularly for those new to independent consulting. Although the copyright date is 1990 (Howard died in the early/mid 1990s and the book hasn't been updated since), most of the material is timeless. It is often difficult for independent consultants to get sample copies of proposals, interim reports, and final reports. This is particularly the case for those new to consulting without an established peer network. This book solves that delimma and illustrates the marketing role of the proposal and subsequent interim and final reports. Are you serious about building your consulting business? Prove it to yourself: buy a copy of this book today.

A keeper....
This book came just in time. My consulting practice took off suddenly and I literally dashed to amazon to search for a book with information I could apply right away. It was an invaluable aid. And after a couple of years, it is still a useful reference, always close at hand.

Dated Material
The items covered in the book are basic and need to be discussed. However, the sample items and some tables used show data from 1988. This info is not useful.

What a GREAT resource!
I first picked up this book at the library when starting my consulting agency. I found it so valuable as a second and third read and as a resource, that I ended up paying almost $20.00 in late fees. I should have just bought the book, as should you. I highly recommend it.

There are MANY of these types of books out there, but this is definitely in the 'Gotta have it' section. I bought it and continually use it as a resource.

The greatest part is that it covers some VERY difficult material well. I found fee setting and the interim and final reports extremely difficult to do before I bought this book.

It is important to note that this book is not just for independent consultants, but for anyone selling consulting services and other professional services.

If you are not sure whether you want it, get it at the library and take a look. Just remember to take it back!

Great for startups or exisiting businesses!
As an experienced consultant I've found this book to be extremely useful when I stumbled across it. I've recently started my own consulting practice and have found this book to contain some really useful information and steps on setting up your fees along with developing contracts. It reads very easily and walks you through the process step-by-step. Wish I had found this book while I worked for a larger consulting company, it would have helped out a number of times when trying to walk through the process, or as an education for anyone developing proposales, fees, and contracts. Highly recommend it for anyone in the consulting field (either solos or working for one of the big boys). ... Read more

Book Description

Compensating the Sales Force is a uniquely jargon-free, how-to guide to all major sales compensation concepts and formulas. Using real-world examples, guru David J. Cichelli:

• Helps readers select the right compensation strategy for their firm
• Provides step-by-step guidance to implementing various approaches
• Simplifies the mathematical formulas that are a thorn in most manager's side

Reviews (2)

Worthless in the real world**(see edited section of review)
I now understand why large corporations are confused. This book has many pages of verbiage with even more useless graphs. Perhaps corporate vice presidents who need to justify their existence can wave this book around and generate reams of computer reports to wade through while their corporate bosses walk down the halls, but as far as creating a practical working program forget it. I would like to have my money back.
********
******** Hold the presses!
This guy David J. Cichelli just gave me a call! I will say one thing for him. He is sincere and extremely intelligent. After a warm friendly conversation he helped me with my plans. So I don't want my money back after all! In fact I definitely will be looking for him to write some industry specific books in the future. I truly wish him well.

The perfect how-to for sales incentive program designers
Keep this book among your collection of professional books. It's a no-nonsense guide that goes directly to the heart of how you design incentive programs for sales people in different jobs. David Cichelli describes, in detail, the finite number of formula mechanics used to pay incentives. He also describes when to use the mechanics, the math behind each formula, and popular variations of each mechanic. If you're looking for a book on the psychology of incentive programs, this isn't it. It is, however, a primer on specific sales incentive program types. Every HR or Comp Analyst should be familiar with these concepts - if not for your career, then for the sake of the people working in sales and the company's bottom line. ... Read more

Book Description

"Unquestionably the most comprehensive treatment available on the subject. I found this book unique in its capacity to benefit executives, planning staff, and students of strategy alike."–– RobertL.Joss, Dean ofthe Graduate School ofBusiness, Stanford University

A successful business strategy enables managers to provide organizational vision, monitor and understand a dynamic business environment, generate creative strategic options in response to environmental changes, and base every business effort on sustainable competitive advantages. Developing Business Strategies provides the knowledge and understanding needed to generate and implement such a strategy.

This fully revised and updated edition of David Aaker’s highly influential strategic manual offers copious new information on important emerging business topics. Numerous new and revised sections cover such critical areas as the big idea, knowledge management, the customer as an active partner, creative thinking, distinguishing fads from trends, forecasting technologies, alliances, design as strategy, downstream business models, and more. Other important new features of this comprehensive guide include:

• A new chapter on strategic positioning
• Many new illustrative examples from B-to-B, high-tech, and the Internet
• Increased focus on global leadership and global brand management
• Using the Internet to develop and support business strategies

For managers who need to develop and implement effective, responsive business strategies that keep the organization competitive through changing business conditions, Developing Business Strategies, Sixth Edition is the way to go. ... Read more

Reviews (4)

Excellent reading
This book is one of the best for strategy framework and methodology formulation. It is also very useful for case interviews. I believe that every management consultant and related professionals should own a copy, and hope that it would be incorporated into the MBA curriculum of the top B-Schools for strategic management.

Classic and comprehensive guide to strategic planning
Unless you know where your company is going, chances are it won't get very far in today's global marketplace. That's why every business needs the strong vision and keen sense of direction that come from the development, evaluation, and implementation of business strategies-and why every business owner or manager should have Developing Business Strategies, David A. Aaker's classic and comprehensive guide to strategic planning, now in its fifth edition.

Using vivid case studies, Developing Business Strategies helps you to move beyond reactive problem solving toward the development and realization of sound strategic objectives for your company. Providing both the framework and the tools necessary to make strategy development and strategy review efforts effective, this book shows you how to:

* Conduct a structured external and internal analysis of a business with confidence * Develop sustainable competitive advantages by creating assets, competencies, and strategies * Make strategic investment decisions to generate growth * Organize to support strategies * Compete strategically in hostile, growth, and global contexts.

As compact and easy to use as ever, this new Fifth Edition offers new or revised sections on current topics such as strategic uncertainty, buyer hot buttons, shifting customer priorities, strategy as options, paradigm shifts, organizational stubbornness, and brand equity. You'll also find up-to-date research and fresh examples on economic value analysis, competitor image, total quality management, reengineering, the virtual corporation, and more-plus a set of useful sample planning forms to help guide you through the strategy development process.

Whether you're a business owner, manager, or planning executive, the key to your company's success is in Developing Business Strategies.

David A. Aaker is the E. T. Grether Professor of Marketing Strategy at the Haas School of Business Administration at the University of California at Berkeley. He is the author of numerous articles and ten books on strategy, including Marketing Research, Fifth Edition (Wiley) and Managing Brand Equity. His books have been translated into eight languages. Professor Aaker is an active consultant and speaker in the United States, Europe and South America.

Reviewed by Azlan Adnan. Formerly Business Development Manager with KPMG, Azlan is currently Managing Partner of Azlan & Koh Knowledge and Professional Management Group, an education and management consulting practice based in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysian Borneo. He holds a Master's degree in International Business and Management from the Westminster Business School in London.

THIS BOOK MADE ME THE BEST BRAND MANAGER IN THE COMPANY
AFTER READING THIS AND SOME OTHER BOOKS FROM THE PROFESSOR DAVID A. AAKER, I'VE BECOME BETTER AT DOING MY MARKETING JOB.

One of the most well written books addressing strategy.
David Aaker's writing style, in addition to the content, is exceptional. I feel as if I am in one of his UC classes. This is the closest I will get to that. I live in Chicago!! ... Read more

Book Description

Significantly revised, restructured, and updated to reflect the challenges facing service managers in the 21st century, this book combines conceptual rigor with real world examples and practical applications.Exploring both concepts and techniques of marketing for an exceptionally broad range of service categories and industries, the Fifth Edition reinforces practical management applications through numerous boxed examples, eight up-to-date readings from leading thinkers in the field, and 15 recent cases.For professionals with a career in marketing, service-oriented industries, corporate communication, advertising, and/or public relations. ... Read more

Reviews (8)

Synthesizes all the best practices and leading edge thinking
This is such a well-written and well-organized book that you can simply read from cover-to-cover or jump into your interested chapters right away.

Not only does the authors present you with their in-depth coverage of the various services related topics, supplementary materials (papers, cases) from other excellent sources/authors make this an absolute encyclopedia of services marketing and a coherent contemporary literature for both novices and seasoned practitioners.

This is THE book for this very under-written and immensely critical topic of services marketing and an essential reading for the 60-80% of the workforce who are involved in the ever growing services sector.

An Excellent Insight Into the World of Services Marketing
With its comprehensive content, the book gives a fantastic overview of the important issues in services marketing today. There are many interesting and practical examples demonstrating the learning points. Well-balanced perspective. Besides giving readers the foundations of concepts and tools to use as services marketing managers, it also gives readers interesting tips on how to get around or leverage on current services strategies used by companies as customers.

Review by Venkat
Its a very useful book covering all aspects of services marketing. Contents are well organised with real world examples, frameworks that you can apply to practical issues etc. I have read through all the chapters in the book and a few headings very interesting
1) Loyalty
2) Managing services people
3) Understanding service quality
4) Power of service guarantee
I strongly recommend anyone interested in services marketing to buy this book.

An excellent book on Services Marketing
a) The subject content is very good and is quite informative with the relevant examples of the best practices and cases. Gives good insights into the various aspects of Services Marketing and changes your perspective.
b) The paper used is just perfect (not a glossy) which gives a great reading pleasure.

A must-read for a good grounding in services marketing
Services Marketing by Lovelock and Wirtz is a down-to-earth practical textbook that covers the myriad facets of services marketing. I like it because it showcases real-life examples, and ties theory and models neatly in with practical examples that MBA students can easily relate to. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Unlike practically every other segment of the modern business world, the corporate-sales department has changed very little from the rigid organizational framework it first attained back in the gray-flannel '60s. But even that bastion of traditional business structure is starting to evolve, as customers at all levels begin to reconsider their expectations, purchasing patterns, and criteria for establishing and maintaining relationships with sales professionals. Rethinking the Sales Force, by Neil Rackham and John De Vincentis, is an innovative attempt to give today's salespeople a push in the right direction before the inevitable sea change now developing totally overtakes them and undermines their potential for future success. Rackham, author ofSpin Selling, and De Vincentis, an independent sales and marketing consultant, use leading real-world examples such as Microsoft, IBM, and Charles Schwab to show how the commercial viability of assorted products and services can be dramatically improved by determining the real needs of three different types of buyers--whom they call "intrinsic value customers," "extrinsic value customers," and "strategic value customers"--and then developing the appropriate sales strategies to meet them. --Howard Rothman ... Read more

Reviews (14)

Updating Sales
Today's world no longer rests upon the product. Rather, it rests on the customer's perceived value of said product. Due to this fundamental shift, it is necessary that the sales department also shift. But, like any bureaucracy, it is slow to change.

Rackham and Devincentis make a powerful case, strongly supported, with lots of suggestions on how to work with this new type of consumer. The two of them, along with Michael Levine in his Guerrilla PR: Wired, recognize and realize that to prosper in the new economic environment, the relationship between the customer and the business can not be one of a simple trade of product for monetary equivalence and compensation.

To that end, Rethinking the Sales Force strives to move sales into the 21st century, where the customer's perception of the product's value is king, and the actual product itself is the pawn.

Concerned with revenue and profits? Read this book!
Neil Rackham, along with various co-contributors, has written six excellent and thought-provoking books on different aspects of sales and sales effectiveness. If your business involves selling and you haven't read these books, your revenues and profits are not where they could be! This latest one, "Rethinking the Sales Force" reinforces that. I learned that first hand.

In June of 1996, I was asked by my company to join a cross-functional team whose major responsibility was to re-engineer the company's selling processes. It took ten of us - along with countless consultants, many from Big Six firms - and a LOT of money over two years to complete that process. The ideas in this book could have saved us months and probably hundreds of thousands! Unfortunately it wasn't written then. But that's no longer a valid excuse, so if you haven't read "Rethinking the Sales Force", I'd go to One-Click on this page and order it right away.

Early in the book, the authors point out that while many aspects of business have changed, many sales managers and sales people are still following the precepts first referred to in a book written in 1925 by E.K. Strong called "The Psychology of Selling". A nice way of saying that selling hasn't kept up with the times. The ideas in this book can help any company begin this "catching up" process.

Like the five previous books, this one is very well written. Rackham has the ability to present new ideas or new perspectives in an entertaining manner reinforced with real world examples.

Many books on selling and the sales process have one or two decent ideas explained in one or two pages and surrounded by 240 pages of filler. None of Rackham's books will ever be accused of that.

Disappointment
While Rackham's other books have been thought provoking and practical, this book falls short. Unless you're a salesperson for a multi-billion dollar corporation, this book is of little value. If this had been Rackham's first book and SPIN second, I probably would not have read Rackham's other books.

Disappointing
I really came prepared to read a terrific book. I think a great deal of Rackham's book SPIN Selling; it was based in some surprising research, and offered a detailed "how to" for those interested in mastering complex sales. Based on my strong endorsement as a marketing professor and later as a manager, I have doubtless sold many hundreds of copies of SPIN selling for Rackham. But this one is not very good.

This new book is disappointing because it reads like boilerplate McKinsey stuff. It is superficial, weakly case-based (I say weakly because they aren't cases per se but little illustrative vignettes or examples from the authors' consulting experience, or reading, or both), and even in some cases already out of date. Wordy, too.

I can see some use for the book, especially if you are fairly new to the world of sales force management. For example, if you have never really thought about whether your clients are seeking "transactional," "consultative," or "enterprise" selling processes, this will define them for you and point out that what is appropriate for one is not appropriate for another.

If you want some advice on how to organize and deliver one or the other of those strategies, the book offers some guidance, again in a fairly general and superficial way.

Rackham is an author whose knowledge I respect, and from whom I would have expected something new to say. That is why, although I don't like to say it, I cannot recommend this book to anyone with more than a passing knowledge of salesforce management.

Refreshing Breeze in Sales Force Optimization
Neil Rackham and John R. De Vincentis masterfully divide their examination of selling into transactional sales, consultative sales, and enterprise sales that coexist in many organizations. Enterprise sales are also known under such terms as partnership and strategic alliance. Rackham and De Vincentis concisely look at the key challenges that sales forces face in dealing with increasingly sophisticated buying consumers and businesses that are "ruthless" in the definition of their value scale and options. Rackham and De Vincentis then examine the fundamental pillars that characterize each type of selling and how to be successful in each type of sales, even in times of drastic changes observed in the buying landscape. Rackham and De Vincentis rightly warn their audience against the temptation to move up from either transactional selling to consultative selling or from consultative selling to enterprise selling. Most consumers and businesses will not pay for what they perceive as beyond the value provided to them. In their examination of the sales process, Rackham and De Vincentis stress the importance of removing boundaries from product management to technical support that stymie the efficiency of both transactional and enterprise selling. In their analysis of the sales process behind consultative selling, Rackham and De Vincentis counter-intuitively but rightly observe that improvement lies in the creation of milestones reflecting results and not activities. They logically note that salespeople tend to do what is compensated rather than what is effective. Rackham and De Vincentis also help their readers rethink their channels of distribution for creating and capturing value as well as deal with channel conflict. Finally, Rackham and De Vincentis explore how to change a sales force for improving its performance in each type of selling and how to migrate that sales force from one type of selling to another following changes in buying patterns. Ultimately, the key value of "Rethinking of the Sales Force" lies in its mental combination with books like "SPIN Selling", "Major Account Sales Strategy", "Managing Major Sales", and "The New Strategic Selling." That combination is indeed powerful in devising a strategy that is actionable in the field to help differentiate one organization from its competition. ... Read more

Book Description

You've heard about "natural-born salespeople" -- those super salespeople who seem to perform intuitively and succeed effortlessly. In 5 Steps to Successful Selling, Zig Ziglar shows you that those success stories result from study and observation rather than inborn talent. They are the result of mastering the art of selling. Now you can master those techniques and perfect your own selling skills -- skills that will take you from being a good salesperson to being the best. A super slalesman himself, Zig Ziglar draws on his many years of experience to define and explain the keys to seccessful selling:

• Prospecting: identifying who can and will buy
• Presenting: knowing the product and showing it effecitvely
• Closing: winning the sale
• Follow-up: maintaining customer contact
• Positive self-image: the foundation of sucsess in selling

After leraning the 5 Steps to Successful Selling -- whether you are a beginner or a seasoned veteran -- you can't help but come away a better salesperson. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Sales
I have the audio cassette version, and i must admit this is one of Zigs best audio programs. The first part of the tape or cd talks about Self Image, then it goes on the Prospecting, and then other areas of sales. Dont waste your money on any of Ziglars other tapes, if you want an audio program which will benefit all areas of your life, this is the one. We are all in sales, you sell yourself in an interview when trying to land that job you want, you sell yourself to that guy or girl that you want to ask out on a date. We are all in sales. Just a little note, these audio programs where done quiet a few years ago, and now they have been put onto Cd's, if only it were made available on cd in the first place, because i ended up buying the cd version and giving the cassette version to my friend. Another way to generate sales. I hope you enjoy this program, its the only one you need to succeed.

A must have !
Zig gets to the root of what makes a successful sale happen. He narrows down to the basics and practicalities of things people should look for regardless of what sale you are doing. Exciting and energetic Zig Ziglar is exciting to listen to and provides some good tips for people to watch out for when making a sale.

It'll make you laugh it will make you cry.
Ziglar will make you laugh with his lighthearted humor, and you'll cry because you didn't get this sooner. Anyone who does any type of selling will benefit from listening to this book. Not only does he provide a lot of useful information but Zigler delivers it in way way that will definitely keep you awake and listening to the very end. Personally I think much of the information is helpful to not only sales people but anyone who wants to improve their "people skills". If you've thought about buying this before don't hesitate one moment longer. Grab it now! ... Read more

Book Description

"Can I Have Five Minutes of Your Time" is a no-nonsense, fun approach to sales from Xerox's Former #1 Salesperson.This book is for the Inexperienced as well as the Seasoned Sales Professional! In its eleventh printing, this book is becoming a classic for the savvy sales professional as well as the novice just breaking in.It belongs in every salespersons library. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Excellent
I met Hal on an airplane ... little did I know that the total stranger I struck up a conversation with was about to change everything I thought I knew about my career! He gave me a copy of his book - and even autographed it for me. I am buying 10 copies to give to my sales staff. It reinforces all of the most important aspects of selling, and it's funny too. If I could give it 10 stars, I would.

Is it really that simple!
I received Hal's book after listening to him speak at one of our company offsite meetings. I have only been in sales now 3 years and just from reading his book and listening to him speak I have learn 5 times what I learned in 3 years. Hal makes everything about selling seem so simple and easy that you want to smack yourself in the head. 'Can't be that simple, and if it is why didn't I think of this'?
Once I started to read the book I couldn't put it down, you will fly through this book in 2 hours and not even realize it. It easy to read, it's fun, and more than that it's just full of the simplest ways and steps to selling. I have applied some of what I learned from him and his book and they work, bottom line! If you are in any area of sales I highly suggest you read this book. In the 2 hours it will take for you to read it, your view on sales will change forever!

Outstanding! Quick and easy read.
As a sales professional, I found this book very worthwhile. Becker breaks everything down to simple, easy to understand examples. His pride and professionalism shine through in each chapter. If you are going to read only one book about how to sell, make this the one ... Read more

Book Description

This 217-page book is for anyone who ever has to call a total stranger who has never heard of you or your company, and you're trying to ask him for money, an appointment, or get an information package in his hands on the initial call.

It's for the person whose paycheck is dependent upon producing sales. It gives hundreds of ideas and concepts showing you how to sell in a systematic and intelligent manner, learned from years of selling in the trenches. What you read today, you use today. No filler, just time-tested technique after technique.

See three actual chapters from the book on voice mail, screeners, and opening statements.

If your competition reads this book and you don't, you or your sales force won't stand a chance. This is a must read for anyone who wants to know what the top sales reps are doing by phone.

Here Are Just a Few of the Hundreds of Tips

• How to write an effective opening

• Answers for any type of objection

• Callback scripts that close the sale

• Leaving voice mails that get results

• How to find hot leads

• Selling on the inbound call

• How to get quality referrals

• Sure-fire closing techniques

• How to steal accounts

• How to get past screeners

• Great questions to ask

• How to prospect painlessly

• Selling large accounts

• Why you should raise your prices 25%

And much more! ... Read more

Reviews (86)

Packed with hundreds of useful tips
I attended a 1 hour speech by Joe Catal on what it takes to be successful in phone sales, and what it takes to have a successful phone room. Like everyone else there, when he was finished speaking, we all made a mad dash to buy his book. The [small monetary] investment literally saved me thousands of dollars. There's a lot more to selling by phone than people think. Joe's book takes you step by step through the entire process from ordering leads, to script development and much more. We'll written and straight forward. Because of his book, I now have 5 reps selling business to business that are doing well using his techniques. Joe speakes the truth about being in trenches. He's a bit rough at times, but his techniques are solid.

Excellent Book, Excellent Seminar
Since the book came out, the author has updated his prospecting method. He now uses a 6 step process to prospect for maximum results. I was lucky too attend one of Catal's seminars in South Florida. I can honestly say, if you sell a product by phone business to business you can close in 1-3 calls, the seminar's a must. The book was great, but the seminar ties it all together. I literally consider the author to be the Guru of the 1-3 call close. No one even comes close. His system is light years above the rest. It's really a system by the people for the people. The author simpy uses the best techiques he's developed, or other peoples ideas. I suggest you hire this guy for your next company spokes person. When you're finished with his seminar, you'll have your own personal training manual. This guy's for real. A bit brutal, but honest and funny. If you're a franchise, I'd pay him 200K a year to go from office to office to train your people. Someone needs to get this guy off the street and working for their organization. A forutne 500 co. would make a killing off him. The author's a little secret gem that hasn't been discovered yet. Buy the book, it will be well worth it.

Tested salesmanship methods
A few things struck me about this book.

1. It teaches you when to say "No" to suspects. I learned from it to be more discerning with whom I am talking. This book tells you how to determine, in minimum of time, if you are talking to someone who can buy from you (even if the other party won't admit that he's not interested or that he doesn't have the authority to buy). Like they say on Wall Street: "fill or kill".

2. It gives you tips to help you establish your authority early in the call. How to deal with various brushoffs (more or less graciously).... When it's better to be direct, or even blunt... It's not just one style of selling, but rather a mix of hard- and soft-sell techniques that can be adapted to the situation.

3. It gives you specific expressions to use. Short sentences that sound natural and go past the initial indifference and suspicion of people... I'm studying it to learn how to keep the flow of conversation so that it doesn't seem contrived, and how to go from one idea to another in a natural way so that I don't sound like a telemarketer.

4. There's indeed no filler. Just lots of ideas about prospecting, presentation and closing. Some may not apply to your work, but you can extract the priciples. I've read this book two times and I open it almost every day. You must read it - now!

All gems... really great. Worth every penny
I've been doing a bunch of jobs, CSR, Techie,
Help Desk, LAN ADMIN, telcom sales, upselling for
existing customers, etc. And, as such, the more
I learn from books, the more I know how valuable
my own personal career experience is, and the more
I guess that there's a lot more to learn and master
in this craft than anyone can imagine.

Think about moving from a bicycle speed, to tractor
speed, to car speed, to high performance roadster,
to airplane, to rocket ... this is how a sales

star evolves ...all the while, staying within the
bounds of acceptable phone behavior in terms of
honesty, truthfulness, not deceiving, not lying
obviously, and generally, being nice on the phone.
The big difference, is SPH, and getting a lot more
done, in a small period of time.

In this regard, Joe Catal's book, SALES FROM THE
TRENCHES is really great.

I take it with me all the time to work. In the beginning,
I figured my collegues might take me as an amateur
for needing a book on my desk, while I work...after a while,
and meeting and exceeding all targets imposed on me, as a sales
rep, and mainly because I often have 2 jobs and work 13 hours
a day sometimes, and boredom, I take Joe's book with me to
work ...it really keeps me awake, amused, and I keep trying
out the rebutals, techniques that are new all the time.

Most of them work marvelleously...for example, "are you
prepared to DENY your family so-and-so priviledge ?" or
"I've been in the business for a while. When I'm told me
a customer like yourself, that you need to think about, it's
often because of the price. The price is too high, right ? How
much too high ? " etc. etc. etc.

All gems...

The other comments, about super-stars being a different breed
from other people punching in the clock and behaving like the
GRIM REAPER and often getting rewarded for being among the worst
possible employees in the company, bringing everyone down, even
the top performers, also rings true. I've been in the business,
sales, for under 3 years, and Joe Catal is on the money.

I think the GOOD MONEY is not in sales or telemarketing, but
higher in account management and project management, by the way.

Thanks Joe! Worth every penny !

excellent book
I've been a telesales rep and I've trained and managed more than 100 reps over the years. The book does a great job of combining telesales skills and sales fundamentals. ... Read more

Book Description

This straight-from-the-hip handbook by bestselling author and self-made millionaire Harvey Mackay spells out the path to success for readers everywhere. They will learn how to:

• Outsell by getting appointments with people who absolutely, positively do not want to see you, and then making them glad they said "yes!"
• Outmanage by arming yourself with information on prospects, customers, and competitors that the CIA would envy - using a system called the "Mackay 66."
• Outmotivate by using his insights to help yourself or your kids join the ranks of Amercia's one million millionaires.
• Outnegotiate by knowing when to "smile and say no" and when to "send in the clones."

This one-of-a-kind book by a businessman who's seen it all and done it all has sold almost 2 million copies, and is the essential roadmap for everyone on the path to success. ... Read more

Reviews (34)

Harvey's Take On Things
Some worthy information about particular business issues are raised and noted, and for the most part this is an off-the-cuff soliloquy talk about how Harvey views business, and the world.There is nothing more amusing than some wealthy person in business who thinks they have the answers and the remedies for the rest of us.Written in the late 1980s, some of the attitudes presented towards hiring potential employees will become evident.All in all, this is an easy and quick-read.

I read "Swim With The Sharks" front-to-back, however each chapter concerns a different topic, so one does not have to read this book straight through from page 1 to the end.

One thing I found a bit quirky were the consistent references to allegedly "successful" collegiate and professional sports coaches. I don't feel it's an appropriate analogy to commonly equate coaches with the situations outside of the sports world.The sports culture is often not applicable to making a business deal, dealing with corporate culture, and/or avoiding mistakes with people socially.The sports in itself is a microcosm of society, but a separate world within its own.Time and time again I would chuckle to myself as I would read a quote made by Vince Lambardi, some NBA coach, or read a personal anecdote from the now disgraced coach Lou Holtz.Having to read Yogi Berra's lobotomy-like quotes and philosophy was quite dull, and not very informative.

Some helpful and practical information is the "66 question customer profile," as well as the "12P Competitor profile."I liked his noting (book written 1988) of how people who usually don't have money go out and buy a brand new "prestigious" car that depreciates.

Mackay also reminds us (or me atleast) of the importance of writing small yet important things down on paper and/or notepads.

One of his tips on how to save time is to drive near the front of a grocery store you plan on shopping in.Then look for how many people are in line.If its too crowded don't go in.Thanks Harvey.You've changed my life with your insights.

He also tried to break an attempt by his employees to form a union, which he lost.He openly stated how he conned very employee into thinking they were "special" and "important" with his one-to-one meetings with them.It didn't work.They didn't buy it.

He does understand (see "Dig You Well Before Your Thirsty") the art of the schmooze in talking with celebrities such as O.J. and world figures such as Castro about things that they do, and interest them in their free time and NOT about what they do for work.

All in all, useful things can be gleaned from "Swim With The Sharks," and it's a very quick read.

Passes on Some Simple But Important Lessons
I came across this book a few years ago during a difficult time in my life.I was in the process of failing miserably at yet another professional endeavor, and in the throes of a major personal upheaval.It was shortly after these calamities that I seriously began to read this book.Internalizing just a few of the simple but important lessons in this book has made all the difference for me, and has allowed me to pursue life very much on my own terms.

From this book, I learned that in order to satisfy a demand, you first have to create the demand, the very first lesson of the text, and one that I applied to maximum benefit repeatedly shortly after internalizing it.I also learned that while money is nice, good information is priceless; otherwise, you will not have the money for long.Too many people never learn that lesson.Finally, the most important lesson for me came in the first few pages and had to do with salesmanship.As MacKay says, anyone can get the order if they are willing to say anything and do anything to get it.The real question is whether or not they can get the reorder, as that is the mark of the true salesman.I work with people at the moment that should have learned that lesson, but did not, and let me tell you, it is excruciatingly frustrating to interact with such individuals.People who have not learned this crucial and important lesson simply can not be trusted, and lack integrity.They develop reputations that, in a word, are most un-flattering, and can bring out the worst in people.An appropriate analogy for such people are scurrilous and reproachable politicians- all talk and promises, but very much non-action and non-delivery.Most important, once entrenched in a position with a fancy title andof some limited power and authority, they can and do frustrate any and all attempts at progress and forward locomotion. You would do well to cease contact with these people at the first and most convenient opportunity.

As an aside, I liked his musings on the old cliche 'Sell Yourself'- truly a meaningless and overworked phrase if there ever was one.As MacKay remarks, we as individuals often make for lousy products.I also concur with others who found Mr. MacKay's admonishment, Don't Get Mad, and DON'T Get Even, to be wise beyond words.I can affirm that stewing over personal and professional slights and plotting revenge wastes precious time and energy which could be directed towards more constructive and fruitful pursuits.However, I must admit that I have yet to internalize this truest of truisms, as some tresspasses are difficult to forgive.Still, as for most of the other lessons the reader probably already knows them or is familiar with them, but having them placed before you by an unrelated and credible third party always makes for good, sound, positive reinforcement.While some may dismiss most of the lessons in the book as common sense, I have to commend Mr. MacKay on his key insights on the human condition and human relationships.

Which, in the end is what business, and for that matter, everything else, including my profession, science, is all about.I especially recommend this book to those from non-business or professional backgrounds (especially scientists, as many of us are, perish the thought!, unfortunately severely handicapped in the people skills department, this reviewer included) who nonetheless must interact with people.Obtaining this book solely for the lessons on good, effective salesmanship alone would justify its purchase.I have also found that reading this book, in combination with a handy and powerful little volume, Soft Selling in a Hard World: Plain Talk on the Art of Persuasion, by Jerry Vass, can turn even the most reluctant, shy non-people-person into an effective salesperson.One of these days I am going to read Mr. MacKay's follow-up, Sharkproof!, as there are quite a few of those carnivorous, maneating fish in The Business of Science.

Why didn't I think of that?
Looking into networking for any reason at all? This is the book for you. The information is simple to apply and leaves you asking, "Why didn't I think of that?" If you are ready to not only meet people but to remember them well then read this book and have fun putting it into action today!

Nuts!
A bunch of feel-good stories about the author. The only real meat is his list of questions about his/your customers. The substance of the book is: find out all you can about you customers AND find out how they fit in and see the companies they represent.

The only good news is the book has so little substance it took me only an hour to read it.