From Editorial Nudes From Lens Diaries™
“For crying out loud, IBM ‘gets’ social media. Don’t you think it’s about time that you do? This is the book to get you started.”
–Guy Kawasaki, author of Enchantment “Get Bold is…a book to be embraced, studied, and implement
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“The Linked Photographer’s Guide to Online Marketing and Social Networking” is a complete resource for photographers looking to improve their business through social media. This book provides a step-by-step process for getting a photographer’s busine
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What’s the definition of a great book? One that sells. Even if your book rises to the level of great literature, no one will know (or care) without sales. Great reviews won’t help. Fans, family and friends can’t save you. Customers reward successful
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An introductory guide to effectively using Twitter to grow your business!The field of social media marketing is exciting, cutting-edge, and…open to almost anything! Twitter’s style of quick remarks lends itself to a carefree, conversational tone, r
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Small business owners and solo professionals know they’re supposed to use social media to increase sales, but how should they start?
Using a unique Rule of 30 approach, 30 Days to Social Media Success is the perfect resource for busy people wh
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Social BOOM! contains every aspect of social media, including the business periphery (blog, personal website, e-zine) that you need in order to create the real law of attraction. When you create a connection, it’s an indicator that that prospect,
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Think you need an army of skilled programmers to build a website? Think again. With nothing more than an ordinary PC, some raw ambition, and this book, you’ll learn how to create and maintain a professional-looking, visitor-friendly site. This Miss
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Learn how easy it is for your market to get your messageNowadays, if you’re not tweeting, Facebooking, or blogging, what are you doing? Everyone has a Twitter account, a Facebook page, or a blog—even celebrities! With the popularity of social net
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How do organizations manage social media effectively? Every organization wants to implement social media, but it is difficult to create processes and mange employees to make this happen. Most social media books focus on strategies for communic
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“An amazing book – top social media professionals provide the ‘inside’ tips on how they stay on top and stay organized. Filled with specific tricks, tips and strategies to cut the clutter and build your business, you really want to read this
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“Today’s photographer can survive without yellow page advertising & only needs twitter, facebook, linkedin, flickr, personal blog and a personal website plus a skill set of understanding html, wordpress, social media, social networking and social marketing.”
Rolando Gomez
Praise for Socialnomics “It’s obvious that Erik Qualman’s passion is social media.”
—Dan Heath, New York Times bestselling coauthor of Made to Stick and Switch “People are hot for social media . . . Erik Qualman says it’s about
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The bestselling bible for social media is now completely revised and updated! The Social Media Bible, Second Edition (www.TSMB2.com) is the most comprehensive resource that transforms the way corporate, small business, and non-profit compa
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The only guide devoted exclusively to social media metrics Whether you are selling online, through a direct sales force, or via distribution channels, what customers are saying about you online is now more important than your advertising. Soci
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Stop pushing your message out and start pulling your customers in
Traditional “outbound” marketing methods like cold-calling, email blasts, advertising, and direct mail are increasingly less effective. People are getting better at blocking
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(out of 116 reviews)
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Chet Holmes helps his clients blow away both the competition and their own expectations. And his advice starts with one simple concept: focus! Instead of trying to master four thousand strategies to improve your business, zero in on the few essential
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Proven strategies for harnessing the power of social media to drive social change Many books teach the mechanics of using Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube to compete in business. But no book addresses how to harness the incredible power of socia
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(out of 8 reviews)
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Review by David E. Rothacker for The Dragonfly Effect: Quick, Effective, and Powerful Ways To Use Social Media to Drive Social Change
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I totally get (but am still learning) design thinking and storytelling. But I struggle with how to explain them to others in the context of enhancing one’s passion and or life. Fortunately for me, Andy and Jennifer do not. And that’s why I love this book!
The authors use a design thinking framework to teach one how to take hold of social technology and use it to achieve a single, focused mission. While we learn the how-to of using various social technology to do social good, we also learn the design thinking process.
Andy and Jennifer use case studies involving companies like Starbucks, Nike, eBay and Facebook. While these are big brand entities, the Dragonfly Effect will work just as well for the smaller company or individual, which they note as well.
Bottom line, even if you are not out to create social good using social technology, you need to get this book for the design thinking lesson alone.
Review by Sarah Thornton for The Dragonfly Effect: Quick, Effective, and Powerful Ways To Use Social Media to Drive Social Change
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I don’t normally write reviews but I saw Aaker & Smith deliver a keynote on their book and the room laughed, cried, and cheered…so readers need to know that this book delivers. It’s so refreshing to have a book that is both grounded in solid research and practical (plus entertaining – must check out charts at the end!) to drive any business or cause. I will refer to it often, as this isn’t a read-it-once-and-put-it-on-the-bookshelf book. I will use it to grow my business that is focused on delivering social good, but probably suffers from too lofty of goals and needs more focus!
Review by Michal Ann Strahilevitz, Ph.D. for The Dragonfly Effect: Quick, Effective, and Powerful Ways To Use Social Media to Drive Social Change
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This book provides a great road map for harnessing social media for infectious action. Reading it will be of enormous value to both individuals and organizations wanting to mobilize support for a cause or brand.
As someone who does research on cause-related marketing, I also consider this book to be very relevant for understanding how firms can most effectively communicate their CSR actions in a way that has maximal impact.
However, this book is not just for nonprofits and companies involved in cause related marketing. Indeed, although many of the examples are about efforts to help others, the book also offers concrete ideas that can be used by brands to build meaningful relationships with customers as well as employees. The broader scope of this book is on using social media to inspire people to take actions that will truly make a difference. Illustrations of how this can work for brands include examples from large companies such as Nike, eBay, and Google as well as from smaller ventures such as FourSquare, Groupon and Cookpad.
In a world where so many organizations are struggling to develop a meaningful social media strategy, this book does a great job of offering hands-on tools, based on solid academic research, for how to do it right. Its definitely a must-read!
Review by Amanda K. Haas for The Dragonfly Effect: Quick, Effective, and Powerful Ways To Use Social Media to Drive Social Change
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Jennifer Aaker and Andy Smith have managed to write a book on harnessing social technology that even a novice can understand! With their engaging stories, clear message, and helpful (and humorous) flow charts, I feel much more comfortable navigating the world of social technology for my own business. This is a must read for anyone trying to use social technology to affect some change in the world!
Review by Jonathan DeRochi for The Dragonfly Effect: Quick, Effective, and Powerful Ways To Use Social Media to Drive Social Change
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Andy has been a good freind of mine since middle school and was my first business partner. He has always had the kind of smarts and insight I found in The Dragonfly Effect and I am not surprised that this book is hard to put down. I am very proud to have him as a life long freind and am looking forward to his next work. Congratulations my freind.
JD
A fascinating, research-based look at the impact of social media on businesses and consumers around the world, and what’s in store for the future Social Media. You’ve heard the term, even if you don’t use the tools. But just how big has social med
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Review by David M. Freedman for Socialnomics: How Social Media Transforms the Way We Live and Do Business
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Qualman insightfully advises companies to patiently build relationships with customers through social media, rather than instantly getting a customer’s name and e-mail address into its database. “Good businesses realize that it’s not all about the instant win of getting someone into a database,” he says. “Rather it is cultivating that relationship via social media. If it’s done correctly, you will have a relationship that lasts a lifetime.” Throughout the book he tries, but doesn’t quite succeed, to show how to “correctly” cultivate such relationships.
Another insight: He says on page 111 that marketers will need to create content (news, entertainment, and how-to information, for example) for their websites, not just advertising messages.
Unfortunately, insights like those are few and far between.
Qualman’s platitudinous premise is stated in the introduction, and again in the conclusion:
“It’s all about the economy, stupid. No, it’s all about a people-driven economy, stupid. If anything, I hope that you have learned this from reading this book.”
(In the introduction, Qualman explained that the phrase “It’s the economy, stupid” was coined in 1992 by James Carville, Bill Clinton’s campaign manager. Qualman merely “adjusted” that phrase to create the book’s alleged premise.)
After reading the book, I still don’t have the slightest idea how the “people-driven economy” differs from “the economy.” Or what the adjusted phrase means.
This book is full of superficial anecdotes and miniscule case studies, platitudes and generalizations, unsupported opinions, idle speculation, specious claims, inconsistent style, imprecise language, typos, and bad punctuation.
In some of Qualman’s examples, I couldn’t tell whether the facts were real or hypothetical. In many of the micro-case studies, he shows how a company accomplished a certain objective through social media, but does not establish that the objectives could not have been accomplished more cost-effectively through other marketing channels.
He describes the case of Dancing Matt–about Matt Harding, who filmed himself dancing around the world and put his videos on YouTube. The videos were hugely popular, so Stride Gum sponsored his further travels and video production. Stride exercised restraint and placed its logo discreetly at the end of the video (in the post roll). Qualman claims Stride earned “millions of dollars in brand equity,” but does not support that claim with any data or sources. Is it his own guesstimate, or did the company tell him it earned “millions”? No clue.
He claims that social media activities “connect parents to their kids like never before.” He offers no source, data, or study to support that statement, and he is clearly not qualified to offer that opinion.
Regarding microblogging, he says, “What once took place only periodically around the watercooler [sic] is now happening in real time.” Huh? What can be more real-time than water cooler conversations?
He says (on page 52) that micro-blogging functions as a kind of log that you can look back on–at the end of a day or week or month–and review your posts and updates. “It’s extremely enlightening because it shows you how you are spending what precious time you have.” Ah, yes, it’s not only improving the way parents relate to their kids, it’s therapeutic as well.
As a downside of social media, he says, Generation Y and Z [are having] difficulty with face-to-face conversations.” No support for that claim. Is that his personal observation? He’s a marketer, not a sociologist.
He says that staying connected, through social media, to the people who elected Obama president will be the “key to his success as president.” The key!
He says social media “allows for a government to be more in tune with the country and to truly run as a democracy by stripping away the politics and getting to the core of what matters.” Uh huh.
He recites marketing platitudes that have been true for decades or centuries, but treats them as though social media makes them especially true. An example: “Companies that produce great products and services…will be winners in the socialnomic world.”
Here is an example of idle speculation. Qualman uses an example involving NBC’s failure to put its 2008 Olympics coverage online in certain circumstances. “Most likely, NBC and their advertisers…were judging themselves using old metrics…” Sorry, you can’t prove a point with a “most likely.” Qualman could have contacted NBC’s marketing department and asked them why they didn’t. But that would have required real journalism.
Regarding the concept of network neutrality (although he doesn’t use that phrase), Qualman says that if Internet service providers start charging for usage (“per stream”) rather than a fixed monthly fee, that would be “malicious.”
Qualman devotes almost five pages (perhaps the longest case study in the book) to the Scrabulous case, where the Agarwalla brothers created an online game similar to Scrabble, which they called Scrabulous and which attracted 500,000 daily users at its peak. Hasbro, owner of the Scrabble brand, issued a cease-and-desist letter and pushed Scrabulous off the web. Qualman excoriates Hasbro for being heavy-handed in the case, and he quotes several other marketing professionals who likewise criticize Hasbro for being short-sighted. Yet Qualman presents not a single quote or statement from Hasbro, nor does he speculate as to why Hasbro’s believed its legal action was necessary.
I could go on, but you get the point.
Review by Marylene Delbourg-Delphis for Socialnomics: How Social Media Transforms the Way We Live and Do Business
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It took about ten years for Brick-and-Mortars to figure out how they could best exist within the Web 1.0. They will have far less time to understand that marketing is turning into a completely new social and linguistic genre. Erik Qualman’s book, Socialnomics: How social media transforms the way we live and do business is an effective wake-up call for corporations and marketers, and is written by a sincere and authentic practitioner.
Amazon, Qualman reminds us, did a stellar job when it introduced the concept of affinity marketing, but as efficient as it was, it had its shortcomings, especially if buying My Little Pony for your niece was a one-time thing. Going a step further, Amazon started to showcase other books that people who bought the same book as the one you are looking at, also bought. The social media approach is a next era and shows that in the “people-driven economy,” effective affinity marketing is a contagious recommendation process operating within affinity groups. Instead of being told what people in general are interested in, we want to know what people in our network, people we appreciate, would advise based on their experience – an experience to which we tend to pay attention because we generally trust our friends. “People referring products and services via social media are the new king. It is the world’s largest referral program in history.” This is a new world that Qualman calls “the world of socialnomics.”
A few years ago, the very notion of “socialnomics” would have sounded like an odd linguistic construct, and, in the end, simply meant “management/rules of what is social,” just as economics originally designates the management/rules of a household. In many respects, the term “socionomics,” coined by Prechter in 1999, could have also been used, as it is the “study of social mood and its results in social actions.” However, through the word “socialnomics,” Qualman wants to emphasize the idea of an economy governed – I should say “mediated” — by social media as it leads to the creation of innumerable communities and tribes. This “social-media mediation” is perceived by individuals as a form of disintermediation and deliverance, shielding them from the marketing litanies imposed upon them by impersonal marketing machines. What we hear in our social media world comes from people we have chosen to listen to. The intermediaries are not mercenary message-carriers (or so we hope), they are peers of sorts and therefore, are not perceived as middlemen (even when there can be a bit of a sandwich man about them). This is why the world of “socialnomics” is not felt as yet another form of social pressure. We have the freedom to select the circles to which we belong, ensure that they mirror our needs and tastes, exchange points of views and ask questions with the hope of getting a candid response.
The eight chapters of the books analyze the new challenges and opportunities that the social media re-segmentation and restructuring of the market will present to businesses. Are customers going to reduce their reliance on the results they get from search engines? It is most likely. “I care more about what my neighbor thinks than what Google thinks,” if I want to buy a baby seat. It is also obvious that customers expect companies to converse with them in “open, two-way conversations” and that customer “services” are poised to become the customers’ voice and, consequently, a central part of marketing departments. Therefore, “businesses need to fully transform to properly address the impact and demands of social media.” And companies that fear to venture into the open, display their customers in the social media fora, will atrophy much faster than they think. Installed bases are joining the “Glass House Generation” at a fast pace, and follow its lifestyle — hang out anywhere and at all times in public view. Qualman indicates that “by 2012, eMarketer projects that more than 800 million users worldwide will participate in social networks via their mobile device, up from 82 million in 2007.” Meeting these new challenges as well as leveraging these new opportunities will definitely require new skills and new tools!
Review by S. Cece for Socialnomics: How Social Media Transforms the Way We Live and Do Business
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There are rarely times in history where a content rich book is published in the midst of the very revolution that it is addressing. Typically, those books are written after the fact, looking back in time. Socialnomics looks forward. As the leader of a company that is in the midst of this very transition–from “creating and pushing” to “engaging and listening,” I found Socialnomics to be timely, informative and full of very useful, practical information and case studies. If you want to harness the power of social media for your business, read Socialnomics.
Review by Sheldon Chang for Socialnomics: How Social Media Transforms the Way We Live and Do Business
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First, let me make it clear that I’m not an old grumpy throwback still trying to score deals in the classifieds section of my newspaper. I have an Internet history that dates back to the 80′s and I design and engineer websites and I’ve done plenty of work on sites that either are social media sites or take advantage of social media sites. I have a very long view of social media and how far its come and how it has disappointed.
In the first paragraph of the introduction, Qualman writes “Just like social media itself, this book is written in sporadically digestible sound bites.” This is all you need to know about this book. If you want a brainstorm of half-proven assertions that you can mine for ideas for your next marketing campaign, you’ll probably find this book valuable. If you’re looking to establish understanding and a long term outlook on social media, keep looking because another way that this book is like most social media is that it will have a short shelf life.
Socialnomics promises to reveal how social media transforms the way we live and do business, but it doesn’t reveal or inform so much as it presents a lot of loose anecdotes about the power of social media and how it appears to be affecting the world. While he occasionally makes a passing mention of the downside of social media, his tone is too often an infomercial-like positivity about the sheer awesomeness of social media. A particularly cringe-worthy example is how he closes his introduction by claiming that social media will reduce redundancy and recapture billions of hours that can be redistributed toward the betterment of society.
This is a bridge too far and if you’re going to make paradigm changing predictions like this, you’d better devote some serious grey matter into backing it up. Socialnomics doesn’t. It’s as if every argument in the book is allocated 140 characters of reasoning before we move on to the next topic.
Writing about disruptive technologies is a dangerous sport. Chances are that you’ll be wrong about a lot of things, but the ones that have done it well like Howard Rheingold and Douglas Rushkoff were able to do it in a more profound way that caused you to evaluate how we interact with media and each other and their works continue to have value long after the judgement has come on whether they were right or wrong.
I get the feeling that Qualman can do better and in his next book he should write a book that can’t be tweeted. It might have a longer shelf life.
Review by Justin S. Dickinson for Socialnomics: How Social Media Transforms the Way We Live and Do Business
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At first thought I would give this a 3 out of 5 stars. However it is so comprehensive with regards to social media and the impact it is and will have on commerce and marketing I am giving it a 4 out of 5 stars.
At times I found the author to be right on the mark and quite insightful and at other times I found myself thinking that the incredibly insightful person who wrote the book had been kidnapped, forced to drink the “social media Kool-Aid” and live with Care Bears for 45 days, thus morphing his sense of society.
Having said that, this is absolutely well worth the read. But if you find yourself from time to time thinking “where is this guy coming from?” ignore your apprehension and just read on to the next section, he will come back to reality and it will get good again.
Bhavana Musuluri 8:29 pm on October 24, 2010 Permalink
Review by Bhavana Musuluri for Inbound Marketing: Get Found Using Google, Social Media, and Blogs (New Rules Social Media Series)
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I’m stealing one of the often used words in the book to define the book itself – remarkable. This book is fantastic and easy to read. As you read each chapter, the authors take you through each step in successfully marketing your products. This book is not filled with theories, but it rather cleverly explains each winning strategy which is relevant in this day and age, and then sums up each chapter with a list of things to do to implement the strategy. The best part is that anybody who is willing to invest time and brains can use this book as a reference and start creating value to their company immediately and of course build on it overtime. The book shows new techniques that doesn’t require an old-school marketing guru with tens of years of experience. In fact, a person with a little bit of creativity can use this book to REALLY get customers and sell their products.
Couple of other things that I liked about the book are the particular examples (other organizations/blog articles/etc) that were provided and the cartoons – who doesn’t enjoy a chuckle every few pages?
Absolute bang for your buck and once you pick up the book, you will finish it!
Neil Davidson 9:04 pm on October 24, 2010 Permalink
Review by Neil Davidson for Inbound Marketing: Get Found Using Google, Social Media, and Blogs (New Rules Social Media Series)
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This excellent book is aimed at the 99% of the business world who are faintly befuddled by the strange world of youtube and delicious that they find themselves living in. It’s aimed at plumbers, hairdressers, lawyers and oil company executives; at people in large corporations and small businesses alike who are dimly aware that their working lives are about to change – indeed, have already started to change in disconcerting ways – and who don’t know what to do.
The premise of the book is that the old marketing is dead or dying. Gone are the days where simply throwing money at print or radio advertising guaranteed succees. Instead, you need to engage your customers. Give them reasons to come to visit your web site, and once they are there give them reasons to come back again and again. Turn your web site into a hub, stuffed with remarkable blog posts, videos and interviews. As the authors put it (they have a pleasing way with words) “ten years ago, your marketing effectiveness was a function of the width of your wallet. Today, your marketing effectiveness is a function of the width of your brain.”
“Inbound marketing” is clearly – and explicitly – inspired by authors such as Seth Godin and David Meerman Scott. But where this book differs is in its emphasis on hands-on advice. Not only is it inspirational, but it’s also brimming with practical wisdom. Sure, it talks about the power of Twitter. But then it gives you advice on how to choose a twitter handle. Sure, it talks about the rise of the superstar blogger and the death of the press release. But then it talks about how to decide whether you need a PR agency and, if you do, then how you should hire one. Sure, it stresses that your employees will need to learn new skills if they are to survive in this new world. But then it talks about what those skills are, what steps your employees need to take to get them and how you can track how they’re doing. Each chapter contains a checklist of things you should do, right now, to start improving your inbound marketing.
This is no dry textbook. It’s full of anecdotes, some from the usual suspects (Whole Foods, Zappos and Barack Obama) but from others too: accounting software, a shutter manufacturer and a PR firm among others. It’s well written, and there are cartoons too.
Inbound marketing – get found using Google, social media and blogs is an excellent, mainstream introduction to new marketing. If you want to dip your toes into the cold water of social media then buy a copy. If you know all about social media then you almost certainly know people who need this book. Buy them a copy from Amazon. They’ll love you for it.
Jeanne Yocum 9:05 pm on October 24, 2010 Permalink
Review by Jeanne Yocum for Inbound Marketing: Get Found Using Google, Social Media, and Blogs (New Rules Social Media Series)
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If you’re brand new to the world of Internet marketing and social media, this is the book for you. The authors cover the essential topics in clear prose that is quick and easy to read. For someone who already has Facebook and Twitter accounts and knows about Digg and other bookmarking sites and perhaps even has a blog already, there is probably not much here that you don’t already know. I would assume given their business that the authors know much more indepth information than they shared in this first book; I hope they get around to writing a second one for people with more social media experience.
D. Nielsen 9:31 pm on October 24, 2010 Permalink
Review by D. Nielsen for Inbound Marketing: Get Found Using Google, Social Media, and Blogs (New Rules Social Media Series)
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In 1999 a wise group of internet visionaries nailed 95 theses on the virtual front door of the internet. They called their movement the Cluetrain Manifesto (do a Google search) and here are their first 10 theses:
1. Markets are conversations.
2. Markets consist of human beings, not demographic sectors.
3. Conversations among human beings sound human. They are conducted in a human voice.
4. Whether delivering information, opinions, perspectives, dissenting arguments or humorous asides, the human voice is typically open, natural, uncontrived.
5. People recognize each other as such from the sound of this voice.
6. The Internet is enabling conversations among human beings that were simply not possible in the era of mass media.
7. Hyperlinks subvert hierarchy.
8. In both internetworked markets and among intranetworked employees, people are speaking to each other in a powerful new way.
9. These networked conversations are enabling powerful new forms of social organization and knowledge exchange to emerge.
10. As a result, markets are getting smarter, more informed, more organized. Participation in a networked market changes people fundamentally.
The Cluetrain Manifesto accurately predicted the societal and market changes we’re now seeing with the power of Facebook fan pages, blogging, Twitter and the millions of pages of discussion boards and blog comments powerfully indexed and available via Google and others. When we are interested in a product or service, we search, post, tweet, or blog about potential options and we rely on other humans – not the stale flat voice of corporate marketing – to guide us to the best one.
“Inbound Marketing” is the best guide I’ve seen for how your organization can tell their story with a human voice and how to spread that story using the full power of the internet. Brian and Dharmesh simplify the concepts of blogging, search engine optimization, and the social media tools that can connect your company with people who are interested in what you offer.
Erika S. Lehman 10:14 pm on October 24, 2010 Permalink
Review by Erika S. Lehman for Inbound Marketing: Get Found Using Google, Social Media, and Blogs (New Rules Social Media Series)
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This is an ideal read for anyone seeking a successful marketing strategy without breaking the bank. Halligan and Shah waste no time in establishing their point: consumer behavior has changed, and marketers needs to catch up. At the turn of the century, reaching out and educating consumers was easily accomplished via outbound marketing techniques including: telemarketing, television, radio, print advertising, direct mail, trade shows, and even email blasts. These techniques have become less and less effective in recent years; not because they have weakened, but because people have become better at tuning them out and blocking numerous forms of outbound marketing. Rather than relying on an outbound campaign to inform them of a product or service, people turn to the internet for answers, utilizing Google, blogs, and social media to outfit them with enough information to make an informed decision. Therefore, Inbound Marketing stresses that for a company to successfully market their products and services, they must adjust their strategy to cater to their online consumer, and implement inbound marketing into their overall marketing strategy.
In Sixteen chapters, Halligan and Shah outfit their readers with a successful marketing strategy by addressing and conquering the changing state of marketing in four distinct parts: An overview of what inbound marketing is and how it works, strategies to getting found online, strategies to converting prospects into leads and leads into customers, and suggestions for staying ahead of the curve (and your competition). In addition to educating readers on the importance of inbound marketing and teaching them how to getting started, Inbound Marketing is full of concrete examples of how companies have utilized inbound marketing to successfully grow their business. Likewise, the book has been endorsed by prominent social media gurus such as Guy Kawasaki and Seth Godin, and is recommended by eCoast and numerous other Hubspot certified partners.
Inbound Marketing is an ideal read for anyone looking to grow their business by generating leads and converting these leads into customers. Readers will gain valuable insight on the dynamic state of marketing, a comprehensive understanding of how to optimize their site to get found by prospects, a solid method of converting prospects into leads and leads into customers, and credible recommendations to utilize when moving forward. The process is comprehensive, thorough, and has produced remarkable results; but like all marketing strategies, it is just a strategy, and will only produce results if implemented properly. The reader must be willing to trust the plan outlined by Halligan and Shah, and stick to it in order to get results. Inbound Marketing offers readers the tips, tricks, and training needed to hit a home run, but only if they’re willing to step up to the plate.
Nick Fury 10:56 pm on October 24, 2010 Permalink
Review by Nick Fury for The Ultimate Sales Machine: Turbocharge Your Business with Relentless Focus on 12 Key Strategies
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I am another one who does not understand why this book has gotten so many 5-star reviews. Essentially, I have just finished reading “How to Sell without being a Jerk!” by John Klymshyn and these two books seem to pull at the same topic from two completely different angles.
Chet Holmes take on Sales is, I feel, to wear the client down with repeated calls and sales pitch till they give in. He advocates that someone with High Influence (that is, an ability to empathize with others) and a High Ego (High drive and determination – never say die attitude) is absolutely necessary to be a Superstar Salesperson. At the end of the day, this never say die attitude requires you to push your product (because you feel that it is good for your client, regardless of what he thinks) relentlessly until he gives in and buys from you.
All these is good as long as the product which your client buys works out for him at the end. Alas, I’m into Structured Products Sales in a Private Bank and sometimes we all know that some products do not work out well if the markets are not cooperative! The failure of a product is never covered in any of Chet’s materials. All his stories have happy endings – the executive who after 6 months gave in and bought advertisement space (through his relentless selling) and again bought more advertisement space after some more months when the first series of advertisements did not make any impact FINALLY saw the truth in Chet’s words when his sales jumped etc etc – Never has Chet’s advice been wrong or the products he sold not worked out (or these have been pleasantly omitted).
I think the book has some useful gems to take away and it has helped me address some of the weaknesses in my own selling. However, this ‘Take No prisoners’ approach may not be for everybody all of the time.
Also, I do not agree with his material on Presentation. He mentioned that it is necessary to have a very dramatic and visual approach to your slides to have your clients at the edge of their seats. In addition, humor is often an effective and useful content to have in your presentation. NOTHING WRONG HERE. However, this presentation style may not be for everyone. I’ve been trained in presentations and have learnt that doing a presentation with NO SLIDES is also a very effective way to conduct a presentation because then the audience would have to pay attention to you instead of staring at the slides. I’m not saying that one is right and the other wrong – I feel that at the end of the day, YOU would have to decide what is most comfortable ane effective for you and your audience when giving a presentation.
Chet’s way is definitely one way to succeed in Sales – he is a living example. But to call his way the Ultimate Sales Machine is just over the top.
John Chancellor 11:06 pm on October 24, 2010 Permalink
Review by John Chancellor for The Ultimate Sales Machine: Turbocharge Your Business with Relentless Focus on 12 Key Strategies
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No matter what business you are in, no matter what product or service you provide, you can benefit from the wisdom of the “Ultimate Sales Machine”.
The book starts off where most of the work is needed … with top management. Everyone today complains of too much to do and too little time. Chet describes how he cut his work days from 16 hours to a normal work day and got more done in the process. The first step is to become proactive rather than reactive. Adopt the mantra, “If you touch it, take action.” We let our desks pile up with material that we read, examine and think about but never get around to taking any action on. Develop the habit of touching a letter, memo or report once. Take action and get it off you desk.
We also let the small interruptions rule our day. Eliminate these pesky interruptions by scheduling “got a minute” sessions. Also hold regular staff meetings where general questions can be answered for the benefit of everyone.
Most of us are good at making “to do” lists. Chet’s offers some excellent advice. Never have more than six items on your list. Make sure those are the most important things for you to get done. Leave the minor tasks off your list and only work on those things on your list.
The book is divided into twelve chapters or steps which if you implement all the steps will totally transform your organization. Chet stresses the importance of strategic thinking as opposed to the reactive style of most managers.
He has a very interesting and unique approach to hiring superstars. Age and background are not relevant. Results are the only thing that counts. While his approach is a little bold and many people will be reluctant to try it, it is very difficult to argue with success.
The book is well written and contains plenty of exercises. There are some original ideas and you will certainly benefit if you choose to implement some of his ideas.
He gives lots of good ideas about how to create your ultimate sales machine. In the final analysis, his best advice is “pigheaded determination”, Whatever you are doing, if you give up when you meet a little resistance, you will never achieve the level of success you are capable of achieving.
The book is filled with good ideas that can really make a difference in your business – but only if you follow them with pigheaded determination.
Craig Matteson 12:01 am on October 25, 2010 Permalink
Review by Craig Matteson for The Ultimate Sales Machine: Turbocharge Your Business with Relentless Focus on 12 Key Strategies
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Chet Holmes knows his material very well and has the ability to not only say it concisely, but he can also present it in clear and memorable ways. He packs a whole lot of information into 245 pages and I am certain you can find more than enough useful information here to justify the price of the book.
The title refers to the book’s emphasis on fashioning your entire organization to support your sales and marketing efforts rather than just having a sales department. This makes a great deal of sense to me. Holmes starts with making sure that you, the reader and leader of your organization, are managing your own time most efficiently. The principles he lays down here also have resonance with the principles he will present later.
Holmes also demonstrates the values and benefits of deep and ongoing training of all your employees. Some companies consider it a luxury and cut back on it the moment any trouble occurs. This is a mistake, according to the author. Training gets everyone on the same page, helps them be more efficient, and, when handled properly, motivates them to higher performance.
Meetings consume way too much time. We all know that. Holmes shows you how to use them to greater effect in less time. He also talks about how you need to become a brilliant strategist and a great tactician. This is more easily said than done, but with what he provides you here, improvements are possible.
Holmes then talks about hiring superstars rather than just staffing your departments, how to get the best buyers (not just customers), the seven musts of marketing – how to turbocharge your efforts, using compelling visuals to close more sales, and the nitty-gritty day-to-day work of going after those best buyers he talked about earlier.
He then talks about deep selling, client bonding, and how to put it all together.
Each chapter not only has its topic, it usually has a list of steps or a checklist, and a concluding section to summarize the points made and guides for implementation.
It is a good read, a great reminder for those who are already experienced in this area, and will be a revelation for those who are coming to running their own companies or sales efforts for the first time.
Mitsu Fisher 12:50 am on October 25, 2010 Permalink
Review by Mitsu Fisher for The Ultimate Sales Machine: Turbocharge Your Business with Relentless Focus on 12 Key Strategies
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One of the things I like about this book is that it deals in specifics. Most sales books are stuffed with vague, flowery platitudes. While fun to read, they don’t justify the time spent. This book promises to cover 12 specific strategies, in the subtitle. Okay, that’s a good start.
Right then, let’s take a look at these 12 “strategies”.
The first one has to do with time management. At first I was disappointed because I thought I was reading a book about sales and not time management. However, the information is helpful and of course, time management is pre requisite to achievement in any field. The author offers a very an important addition to the traditional Franklin approach that wildly increases productivity. Definitely worth a look.
The second strategy has to do with training and setting standards. Okay, it’s important stuff and the improvement process offered was sound and undoubtedly works but the topic does not get me all fired up. This topic may be of greater interest to mature businesses.
Strategy next is about having better meetings using “workshop training” to improve the company. Again, good stuff, every company needs it but not my prime interest.
Next up, “becoming a brilliant strategist”. Okay, but when are we going to get to the sales stuff. What I really want to know is if this book can add to my “general fund of knowledge” about how to build a great sales organization. At this point, I’m beginning to wonder.
Now we are cooking with gas. The next strategy is about hiring superstars. This chapter offers some refreshingly candid and useful information about how to find, hire and motivate top talent. Best chapter yet. I can use this information now.
The following chapter talks about getting the best buyers. The author makes the case that taking the time to figure out who your best customers are, pays big dividends. Nothing new here.
The books then devotes a chapter to marketing. It talks a lot about advertising and how to make it work. Good information but not of interest because I don’t advertise. Too expensive and sometimes of questionable value.
Chapter 8 goes into graphics and mistakes people make when they present. Snoozer. Old news.
Next comes more detail about how to find your best buyers. “Been there, done that.”
Chapter 10 is all beef. It’s about how to sell and the importance of standardizing the process…and it’s good information. What I like most is his “this is not rocket science, but it is science” approach. Worth the price of admission.
The next chapter is about how to keep clients. Good information, but not what I bought the book for.
The final chapter is a wrap up and talks about how to use all 12 strategies together. Mildly interesting, but not what I bought the book for.
My overall opinion of this book: Really good. Four stars. I say this because most of the information is really good and I’m sure quite effective. My only hesitation comes from the fact that this book seems more suited to small/medium sized business owners and not enterprise professional management.
Kbovee 1:08 am on October 25, 2010 Permalink
Review by Kbovee for The Ultimate Sales Machine: Turbocharge Your Business with Relentless Focus on 12 Key Strategies
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I nearly passed on this book because of all the ridiculous reviews by people obviously trying to game the system and promote themselves. Authors who resort to this type of “marketing” come off as misleading and they reek of desperation, certainly not the type of person from whom I want to learn sales and marketing. However, the book was recommended to me by a friend so I bought it, and I’m glad I did. It was full of useful information on how to build a sales organization that I can actually implement in my everyday work.