Marketing Books

The authors present a very well structured concept around the discovery of customer value, followed by various strategies to capture that value potential. Great balance between theory and case examples.

Solid book on CS- long read!
Many good points-
Wish there was a cliff notes version

This book provides comprehensive material on Relationship theory and how organizations can move from a product centered setup to a customer focused one. There are lots of very interesting examples. It is definitely worth a read for anyone interested in Customer Relationship management.

The book is voluminous and covers the concepts in about 500 pages. I felt though, that the same concepts were repeated over and over again many times. It could have been more concise to fit it in about half the number of pages.

Yet, if you read through the entire book patiently, you won't forget any of the key aspects of building a successful business that is oriented arounds its customers rather than just its products or services. You will learn how to manage your customers and the building blocks of of any relationship. I perform a Relationship manager's job in an organization that is already customer centric and does most of what the book recommends, and found this book to add very useful additional insights to what I am already doing in my work life.

Also, you may find that some of the material in the book is more relevant if read a few years ago. Today, many companies are already in the type of customer oriented setup with a Customer manager assigned and empowered to make all decisions, so its likely that, like myself, you may be in an organization that is already organized in a customer centric manner. In this case, you'll have to skip or skim through the chapters that talk a lot about how existing organizations can move from a product centric setup to a customer centric setup. In other words, I felt the book is not 100% current given where Corporate America is. Further, there is a heavy dominance of recommendations more suited for a retail or product based organizations rather than services oriented type of organizations.

Regardless, a must read and offers great value to anyone buying it, especially for fundamentals on Relationship theory and management.

This book fills in the empty space of academic books in CRM. Most of the publications and articles I've read deal with research on the subject and companies selling their programs. In this book Peppers and Rogers compiled a comprehensive text with theory, research and contributions from other authors that are a valuable tool for the under and graduate level.

This very extensive text on customer relationship management leaves nothing unsaid or unexplained. Authors and editors Don Peppers and Martha Rogers tackle the subject with admirable organization, clarity and depth. They define every important term and do not lose the reader in marketing jargon - a rare virtue in a book about marketing. The text, including contributions from other well-known experts in the field, propounds a well-developed theory of customer relationship management (CRM) and sets out numerous examples to illustrate, explain and clarify the theory. Useful as a handbook, textbook or reference manual, the book covers - among many other core subjects - customer identification and differentiation, customer feedback, an analysis of retailing and basic tools for CRM. We highly recommend this book to service-oriented managers and executives. To form profitable relationships with your customers, first get friendly with Peppers and Rogers.

On the treadmill of front-line marketing, it's easy to get caught up in the never-ending lists and deadlines, rather than stepping back to think more broadly and deeply about who we really are, who we're trying to reach and what we're really trying to accomplish.

As I read the Zaltmans' Marketing Metaphoria, it felt like a sudden holiday getaway that whisked me away from my lists and deadlines and into a calmer, almost meditative place. Readable and engaging, this book helped me step back and reflect on the great metaphors that make humans tick. The Zaltmans' genius is in not only identifying these metaphors, but also helping the reader understand their relevance in marketing and communication strategy. The book does a beautiful job illustrating how "deep metaphors" are the story elements and images that create meaning and purpose in people's lives. With many great examples they also illustrate how insightful marketers can use these deep metaphors to create meaning and purpose for companies, brands and products in people's lives.

Like any great holiday getaway, at the end I was not only refreshed and rejuvenated, but I was changed for the better. This book's vivid examples and passion for the subject make it irresistible for marketing professionals to look for themselves, their customers, brands and companies amongst the metaphors - and to begin "deep thinking" about their work.

For anyone interested in more than just superficial communication, marketing, image or brand, this book will provide gratifying insights that change how you understand and craft the stories you tell.

The Zaltmans' new book can truly be described as insightful. By way of transparency, I should point out that I am priveleged enough to have Jerry Zaltman's endorsement on the back cover of my own recently released book, "Brand Meaning." Though I have never met him, I know Jerry to be an astute and visionary commentator on consumer behavior. Anybody who has read "How Customers Think" will know that. What "Marketing Metaphoria" illustrates so well is that only by probing deep into the way people think about and view the world around them can one hope to connect with consumers in a visceral and enduring way. The book provides a framework for identifying such "implicit cognitive influences" (see back cover) - here in the form of deep matephors - and that is what makes it important reading.Brand Meaning

...as a professional who has introduced neuroscience into leadership, I can personally attest to the importance of "thinking more about our thinking" when it comes to why we do what we do. Though we all on some level know this, Zaltman has written brilliantly and pragmatically these sometimes forgotten truths that truly affect decision making. This is a classic!

By way of full disclosure, I was a graduate assistant for Jerry Zaltman when he was a Professor at the University of Pittsburgh. Naturally, I've followed Jerry's many publications for these past 20 years and have never found the time I've invested in reading his latest ideas less than incredibly worthwhile.

Interestingly, I bought this book based solely on the title and my expectation that it would be full of new ideas and insights about how using metaphors in marketing tactics would influence consumer behavior. While this book does cover material related to that sort of thing, it really covers so much more. The first two chapters on thinking deeply, "Workable Wondering" and focusing on consumer similarities set the stage for how to take the insights and ideas from the next 7 chapters (one per each deep metaphor) and incorporate them into your own thinking. The last chapter ties things together and presents a number of ideas for how Deep Metaphors may influence a number of marketing strategies and tactics.

This book is written to stimulate your thinking about how Deep Metaphors apply in many areas of marketing and consumer behavior. It doesn't present a list of "to dos" or lay out a plan of action that you should follow. Instead, you'll find yourself seeing what you, your consumers and your competitors do in a new light.

Another great book from Zaltman, with more excellent insights into the way people think.

I found it a more straightforward read than the excellent 'How Customers Think'. And it has an even blunter message for managers: "Start paying proper attention to how your customers really make their buying decisions, or miss out!"

As a metaphor elicitation specialist I was wowed by some of the fine detail, such as the description of the relationship between deep metaphor and emotion. But if most readers focus on the high-level message - the crucial importance of deep metaphor in guiding human behaviour - I'll be absolutely delighted!

If, like reviewer Dave Lakhani, you're disappointed by the book's lack of a detailed methodology for eliciting metaphors, why not check out a non-proprietary technique such as Clean Language? Though I suppose I would say that, wouldn't I... :-)

Simple, straithforward and to the point (hitting the mark). Good advice that does not just sound good, but is being presented in a very practical hands-on way. Very well written, very practical to implement (take your own step-by-step actions). A definite good buy and destined to become a classic.

As someone who coaches independent professionals on how to find new clients, I especially like the advice in this book on targeting. If you don't have a target you spread yourself too thin. There is much to be gained from this book. -- Henry DeVries, founder, New Client Marketing Institute

It's difficult to market a service - you're marketing the invisible. It's even more difficult to find a services-specific book on marketing. Anthony Putman cuts right to the bone with his ideas, approach and presentation. This is the best marketing book I have ever read. And, I have bought dozens to give to my friends in the service industries.

Of all the books I've read on "Marketing Your Services" this has to be the best. The reason is that Putman gives the most comprehensive, in-depth and holistic view of marketing I've ever seen in print. He looks at marketing your services not as a chore you need to get through but as a fun and challenging activity to improve the success of your business. Everything is covered here, from finding your niche to taking care of clients. The style is fun and informal and includes many stories and real life examples. This is a "must have" book if you want to attract new clients.

I read lots of business start-up books since I help people start successful businesses for a living. Finding a book written by someone who has something new to say is rare. This is a book which is not just a recycle of someone else's work.

Most books are written for product-based businesses so the 4 p's of marketing are applicable, but service businesses are really different. You can't taste, touch, or otherwise inspect a service before you buy.

Putman's chapter on pricing justifies the price of this book by itself. The book is also helpful in dealing with price objections, a critical part of any business. While it's pricing component is not new, the method provides a great baseline for your business.

I particularly liked the method by which Putman helps entrepreneurs creates benefit statements. People don't buy based on a feature list.

I am a Web analyst, and I strongly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in, or must report to management about their comapny's Web site. There are other great writers on the subject (Jim Sterne, Bryan Eisenberg, Jim Novo), but Hurol's book has the great advantage of being really to the point. This book WILL help you start an analysis practive whithin your company (which I urge you to do!). Once it's done, move on to the above mentioned authors. The book will tell you about filters (are they important!), actionable metrics, marketing issues, etc. This excellent work is really worth reading.

I can't believe I'm going to be the only fan of this book once its popularity spreads further out of the author's native Australia. It is the best book yet that I have read on the topic of Web site measurement and analysis. Admittedly there aren't that many out there yet on this increasingly hot topic but it is infinitely better than, say, "Web Site Analysis and Reporting" and soon I'll be able to judge how it compares to Jim Sterne's book "Web Metrics" which is just out.

Why do I like it? Hurol Inan, the author, spent eleven years at Andersen Consulting and Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, which helps ensure that the focus is a commercial one and based on a wealth of business experience. Furthermore, far from being too `management consulting' to be intelligible and practical, the book addresses operational and implementation issues as well as giving enough technical detail without being overwhelming.

That said, I found the first half of the book, which is more business and marketing in focus, to be superior to the second half which is a little light at times on the operational and implementation side of things. That does mean it is easy to read, however, and communicates the key concepts, practices and approaches clearly and succinctly.

Definitely worth a read. The accompanying Web site is also a good resource of supplementary information including vendor details.

Ashley Friedlein
CEO: e-consultancy
Author: 1) "Web Project Management: Delivering Successful Commercial Web Sites" 2) "Maintaining and Evolving Successful Commercial Web Sites: Managing Change, Content, Customer Relationships and Site Measurement" (pub. Oct 2002)

The information presented in this book, is like its style and presentation, simple, immediately accessible and implementable.

The book may not apply to highly trained and experienced web designers, but will serve as a terrific information source for non-ICT people that need to get an immediate grasp of the key concepts, the terminology, the possible applications and ultimately in implementing the strategies and ideas.

This is a terrific, and ongoing introduction into this important area of website marketing.

You are not going to find such an useful review of the state of the art in Web Metrics in any other book. The content is clear and structured. Perhaps the only weakness is the length of the book. Hurol Inan has knowledge enough on the subject to expand the information about specific metrics that are just defined, but not thoroughly explained in the book. Fortunately, the companion website helps to expand some of the topics in the book. Additionally, other books on the topic seems more like a presentation of the services provided by the author rather than a true explanation on web metric. Fortunately, Hurol Inan writes in a much more objective style.

In summary, an extremely useful introduction.

I am responsible for the web metrics in a financial corporation in California. This is the first book I have come across that brings the much needed business perspective to our online initiatives (not biased towards online marketing and advertising).

Equipped with the ideas and the framework put forward in the book, I was able to influence the direction of our web site. It was full with material that helped me raised the awareness of measurement across our organisation. Additionally, it also provided some starting points towards the implementation of web metrics.

This book is definitely one of the first when it comes to web site management.

I like the style of the book as well. Well written, to the point.

I found the book to be useful as a beginners guide to the media and media relations. It is a very quick read.

PR can be the most effective guerilla marketing available to companies that are trying to capture a bigger piece of the pie in their niche. Ms. Stewart has taken away the fear any executive may feel in dealing with the media and PR by writing a logical step by step book. I can definitely testify that her professionalism and realism in how to deal with the media has had a major effect on our company.

Media Training 101 gives strong fundamentals for anyone new in dealing with the news media. This book should be a part of any PR pro's library.

When being interviewed by media, it is tempting to do a `brain dump,' and give them as much information as you can. This can backfire, though. Faced with an information overload, the journalist has to pick-and-choose through all the data to construct her story. She probably has room only for a few of your points, and she may not choose the ones that you would like.

Politicians understand this. When they do interviews, they focus on `talking points.' The politician prepares by selecting three or four points they want to get across during the interview. The preparation allows them to get their message across clearly and succinctly.

You should do something similar to this to prepare for your encounters with the media. In 'Media Training 101,' Sally Stewart recommends that you have five focused and concise Key Message Points.

Key Message Point #1 is a general statement about your company. It might include facts such as how long you have been in business, what you sell, or where you are located.

Key Message Point #2 gives financial information. For example, revenues, growth percentage or number of units sold. Don't overload on statistics. Choose something easy to understand.

Key Message Point #3 identifies your target market. What characteristics do your customers share? Are they consumers or businesses? Are they in a specific industry? Are they located in the same geographic area? What need do they have that your product or service fills? You might also mention your share of the market, if it is impressive.

Key Message Point #4 addresses the company's future growth. Are you expanding into foreign markets, creating new products (or identifying new uses for existing products) to appeal to new types of customers, opening a new location or adding more employees?

Key Message Point #5 can be anything not covered in the other four points. It is a way to point out the uniqueness of your company. You might mention awards or other recognition your company has received, the specialized training or experience of your staff, or whatever you would want customers and the public to know about your business and what makes it special.

Once you have your Key Message Points, you are prepared for an interview at any time. This is important, because you won't always have a lot of advance notice of an interview. In some cases, you will have only minutes (if that) to prepare. With your Key Message Points you will know what to say-and when to stop talking.

Cathy Stucker
Author and Marketing/Publicity Consultant

This book gives you the essentials about dealing with the media, starting with interviews and calls from reporters. Sally Stewart, former journalist and PR practitioner, delivers the nitty-gritty. Her advice to recognize reporters' financial and emotional pressures is particularly useful. Reporters have two clear priorities, she says, to write good stories and to go home. If you want their good will, try a little respect, she suggests, although she displays considerable cynicism and negativity about them. Her lessons include getting reporters to pay attention and which reporters to contact and how, be it by phone, e-mail or fax. Stewart tells you how to deal with unexpected calls from the press, and how to decide whether or not you want to be part of a story. If you do, here's how to make the most of it. And if you don't, this book tells you how to extricate yourself, if possible. Along the way Stewart explains how to dress for a television appearance. If this paragraph mentions any core skill you don't already have, we have a newsflash for you: get the book.

This book is so great I had a old copy that was my moms when she was litle then mine, so I bought a new one for my daughter it is GREAT, very interesting and good for the imagimation. However there were some coffe stains in the book when the seller listed it as new.

Over the years I continue to love this book. Part of the reason is that it is a well told story involving animals. I also love the drawings.
I recently purchased this book for my niece and for the older children of two families who will be having a new addition. When I was asked to present a child's book to my class in middle school this was the book I chose.

MY DAUGHTER LOVED THIS BOOK SO MUCH, THAT WHEN SHE WAS SELECTED TO READ TO OTHERS DURING LIBRARY WEEK, SHE CHOSE THE MITTEN. THIS HAS ALWAYS BEEN A FAVORITE OF OUR FAMILY'S AND NOW I AM ORDERING THIS ONE FOR MY FIRST GRANDCHILD. A READER FROM CA.

Even though I buy them for my daughter, I try not to review items that I owned or remember from my childhood as I feel I am biased towards them simply because of the nostalgic factor. However, I do think I would still love this book even if I had just recently come upon it. For starters it has such vibrant colors with the alternating turquoise background and the bright red and gold Ukrainian clothing. And what child wouldn't love the thought of woodland creatures taking refuge from the snow in his or her lost mitten, although the story is just folklore and the product of a child's imagination...or is it?

What a treasure: the illustrations and the story go hand in hand so wonderfully, quiet and witty and authentic. If you have Slavic roots, the Ukrainian illustrator's work may have extra resonance for you. Yaroslava drew the animals wearing Ukrainian costume, but with subtle touches of real life; this one's boots have creases, see the wrinkles in that one's heavy coat. I always wondered if there was an anti-Soviet subtext to the characters all insisting on sharing one living-space until it bursts at the seams (literally)...

I found this book to be very informative with creative ideas on marketing products. It is just what I was looking for.

I plan on selling at our local farmers market in the spring of 2008. In the meantime, I am reading and learning as much as possible to do so. This book is amazing! From the use of color, the importance of signs for your stall, information on marketing and so much more, this book does not disappoint! Fun to read, interestingly written, packed with information this book is more than a winner! Two green thumbs up! I'm on my second read now and will likely read it several more times over the winter, and refer to it often for many years. You will not be disappointed in this book!

I bought this the other day and I am so glad that I did. We are moving to NC and going to start a hobby farm and sell at local produce markets. This is a great book. A true wealth of information and to think I almost didn't buy it. Can't go wrong with this book.

I have never before read a book with so much detailed information that still manages to give a great over view of it's subject. If you are into marketing your own produce, at your own stand or in a farmer's market, you are going to want to have this book. If you want to start a Farmer's market, this book is beyond value, it is a bible.

Eric Gibson is an agricultural journalist who wrote, along with Bud Kerr, "Sell what you Sow" in 1994. This book, written in conjunction with authors Vance Corum and Marcie Rozenweig, is an improvement on Gibson's previous book with updated information intended for anyone marketing their own produce. Learn how to succeed at farmers' markets. It covers the latest tips and trends from leading-edge sellers and managers from farmers markets across the country. Learn best products to grow and sell, learn display, merchandising, and selling tips, setting prices, managing and promoting the market, setting up an internet web site, dealing with rules and regulations, building community support for buying locally, and market issues and challenges. This book is a valuable resource for city planners, farmers market managers, as well as growers.

With its practical "how-to" approach, the many marketing ideas in this book will inspire you. Gibson gives you all the details needed to start a successful business selling and growing your own produce.

I am afraid that I have been dilatory in reading and reviewing this book. At the time of the offer, I appreciated the chance to read the text. It sounded like something that I would like and I always enjoy discovering a new author. Unfortunately, I went through a bad place where I started to hate all business books. I had the feeling that everything I read was more or less the same. I also started to feel as though most business books begin with a single good idea. Sometimes the exploration of that idea is worth an entire book. Mostly, however, I had the feeling that I was reading a puffed-up magazine article.

I was very pleasantly surprised by Dr. Herman's book. I found it smart (maybe because I intuitively agreed with many of his ideas) and quite readable. There is a nice assortment of exercises, ideas and examples that flow together well. I found it useful to gain insight into the success of my own company's brand.

Best of all, I found that it earned its 253 pages. There was very little puffery, if any.

I would recommend it to others who are looking to build or develop their business. Well done. The best business book that I have read in a while.

Masters degrees in Business Administration (MBA) are not only being taught in elite schools, but in nearly every university, college, and diploma mill that can find some way to get accreditation. Most of the programs teach their students similar concepts in the core subjects of Financial and Management Accounting, Finance, Economics, Statistics, Operations, Organizational Behavior, Information Systems, Marketing and Corporate Strategy. If everyone has the same tools and book of tactics, including how to differentiate your company and create a competitive advantage, how can you actually compete and win in the real world? Worse, these kinds of programs train these managers to work, think, and fit in to the large companies that hire MBAs by the campusfull. That is why this book refers to MBA Clones and provides an approach that takes a different tack than standard MBA thinking would see.

It isn't that what you learn as an MBA isn't valuable, it's that learning the core of a business program provides you with only a basic toolset. You still need to learn to apply them. However, if you apply them like everyone else (the problem with `best practices') you aren't creating a compelling advantage. The best business folks are artists and use their toolsets in powerfully creative ways to win in the marketplace.

Dan Herman is a Ph.D. and CEO (and co-owner) of Competitive Advantages Ltd. Through which he and his team serve companies all around the world. Their goal is to help their clients identify growth opportunities and creating `unfair' competitive advantages. Along with this Advantagizing they help create powerful and compelling brands and profitable business models.

In part 1 of this book provides a look at what Herman's views on some common myths of Competitive Advantage (that you have to be better than your competitors, that you have to endear yourself to as many customers as possible, and that your competitive edge is to be found on a parameter that is important in your business category. He then provides a secret to Differentiation and uses examples from Virgin, Google, Starbucks and others to show you what he is after.

Part 2 explains their O-Scan (opportunity scan) method. It is about identifying insights about customers and what they are GOING to want (rather than what they are demanding today). You also learn to use a customers 15 stage consumption process to find points of pain and opportunity, to provide more consumer benefits, and seeing the hidden rules your competitors are using to win.

Part 3 is provides Herman's views of Branding. First you have to understand the consumer's mind. I found this discussion of how the consumer experiences things, what they are trying to do, and how they for their beliefs to be quite interesting. Herman also rejects the idea that Branding creates brands. He says that it is the real success factors that you have identified previously that will provide substance and power to your brand. He provides the ABCDE of Brand Success: Attribution of benefit, Believability, Craving, Differentiation, and Ease of acting upon their desire.

For Herman, brands are more about expectations, anticipations, and dreams that take them out of their hum-drum reality. It is about adventure, temptations, testing limits, nostalgia, and much more. The goal is to make your marketing electrifying to your customers. He also provides interesting chapters on developing marketing hits and how you can drive your consumers crazy about your brand.

Is all this absolutely original and unique? Look, I have an MBA from the University of Michigan Business School and what he says here is consistent with what I learned there. The expectation I had upon graduation was to use what I learned creatively. What Herman does is help those interested in turning the toolkit you were given into a weapons system. And I think that is very worthwhile.

Reviewed by Craig Matteson, Ann Arbor, MI

"Outsmart the MBA Clones" by Dan Herman should definitely be considered as a textbook for business programs. This book uses real-life recent examples of companies, products, and services we know, explains how their creative innovations worked, and how some were imitated. Many companies and their products provide examples throughout this book. Starbucks, Google, Tower Records, Virgin, RIM's BlackBerry, etc. The days of Marlboro Man ads that go on year after year without adapting, are over.

Most businesses are more similar than different. I'll go as far to say, they're basically the same.

Not to be negative towards MBA programs, but many programs produce sheep. They are educational *institutions.* Mills. Fair enough. The knowledge and skills attained in these programs are needed and these courses often focus on graduates entering positions in established companies. Outsmart the Clones can enable you to be more innovative, adaptable, and think outside of the box. It's about tomorrow, not just today.

Successful concepts and products can often, but not always, be mimicked. Today, there are often multiple brands competing for consumers in the same market niche. Herman notes the "Commoditization of Brands," where products are so similar consumers have trouble telling them apart. Obviously, once an idea or item that's copyable is produced, many others will duplicate and follow.

There are sixteen chapters and three parts in Clones: 1) The debunking of Competitive Advantage. Today the focus should be on *Renewable* Competitive Advantage 2) O-scan, which focus on what customer will consume in the future 3) Branding.

The benefit of this book is that you don't have to be in marketing, advertising, or management to benefit from it. There are also good quality illustrations, throughout.

One concept noted by Herman is about the consumer (us humans), stated on page 243: "consumers live their lives, and in the frame of everything they do and go through they are constantly on the lookout for new opportunities to improve their existence. They search for solution to their problems, ways to prevent unwanted situations and experiences, opportunities to develop, improve, and advance themselves and their circumstances, and chances to have fun and enjoy live with their loved ones."

Great point. And, a great book.

Long-term strategies have been replaced by ones that adapt and change as opportunities are identified.

"Launch and forget" brands today, such as Marboro, are rare. They have been replaced by visual identities and advertising styles that change rapidly. To succeed over the long-term managements must succeed in the short-term time after time.

Dan Herman, citing observations from Copernicus Marketing Consulting, argues brands are becoming like commodities. Consumers can no longer differentiate them from sugar, corn or cement. They are created by marketers who employ the same data, the same focus groups and data analysis. The marketers have become indistinguishable.

In this new environment, Herman observes:

1. Porter, Kotler, Aaker and Ries and their rules are obsolete.
2. Marketers need to understand nature's rules. They need to be able to devise alternatives paths to the same goals.
3. Theoretical concepts are tools for thinking about reality. They are not reality itself.

If you are a seasoned marketer, this book is different from another you have read. Herman's fresh thinking about competitive advantage, marketing, customer segmentation, differentiation and branding will challenge your thinking. It is worth every penny of its cover price.

This book, which I was privileged to read as a review copy of the publisher, contains a totally new approach to marketing, one that is not taught in business schools, one that is geared to today's changed consumer environment. For example, to read the author's description of the Joe Boxer phenomenon is for old fogies like me to have a lightbulb on the culture suddenly turn on.

The book is full of extraordinary insights. A true page-turner, I highly recommend it.

Excellent book. A great answer to those they think that the customer is part of their graphs.

I bought this book because I was buying another one of Lior's books, and I am glad I did. This book is a great book if you want to change the way your company does business and how it treats it's customers. Like other reviews about this book have said this book gives you basic principals on how to build better customer "relationships" (not relations, notice the "ship" at the end) with your customers. I am an IT Director for a company, and have a side network consulting business and I have put the ideas in this book to use in both places. If you buy this book and don't get anything out of it, at least take this little nugget:

"Remeber your customer is the reason why you are in business." -- Lior Arussy, Passionate & Profitable: Why Customer Strategies Fail and 10 Steps to Do Them Right!.

Passionate & Profitable: Why Customer Strategies Fail and 10 Steps to Do Them Right has a rather simple premise - spending time and money on customer retention is of no value if it is not done in the context of having a well-defined execution strategy.

The goal of the book is to show the reader how to form strong, sustainable, and profitable relationships with customers. The challenge is that there are many critical decisions and trade-offs that have to be made, but many companies often make the wrong decision. Another issue is that many companies live by the credo of `Build a better mousetrap, and the world will beat a path to your door'. The problem is that even with the best mousetrap, the world won't come if you don't have a well-developed customer strategy. Passionate & Profitable is all about creating that well-developed customer strategy.

The book is worth it alone for the 25-question corporation-customer experience aptitude survey on pages 19-20. The survey examines the health of your relationship with your customers and is likely a good indicator of your profitability.

Another great section is pages 109-115 which goes into the organization-focused vs. customer-focused organizational structure. This section shows how many organizations are created with functional expertise via groups, i.e., engineering, R&D, sales, operations, etc. Arussy shows that a customer-centric organization must have the customer focused in the center, with the various groups supporting those customers. The beauty of a customer-centric organization is that all of the employees and functions are fully aligned around the customer cause.

Chapter 8 reiterates the importance of organizations training their employees and trusting them to make the correct decision. A focal point is that if you do not trust your people, do not hire them. And if you hired them, give them the tools to excel. After all, their success is your organizations success.

For those organizations that are serious about their customer strategy and looking for ways to improve it, Passionate & Profitable is a valuable book that can help achieve that goal.

I've had the pleasure of attending Lior's seminar and I was extremely impressed with his passion towards the subject of customer experience and focus. After the seminar I read his book and I was not disappointed - it's a goldmine - full with insights and concepts that are right on money. Share this book with your peers...I did - it helped me drive some great new ideas in my organization.

I've read all of Lior's books and been through his workshop. He always nails the topic and this book is no exception.

This book reminds us that innovation does not happen by accident but is the result of a well developed customer strategy.

I found the use of real life examples combined with surveys and activity sheets really helped me develop a servicing strategy that was right for my organization.

We have used Rainmaker for our executive team for several years; this toolkit makes the process much more streamlined and probable.

At 285 pages, this is one of the most densely-packed business books you'll ever own. Much of the information is delivered to you in the form of steps, lists, bullet points...author Harry Mills wastes no time on sweet-talking you into doing these things. There's an assumption that you're reading the book because you want to make rain, period.

Some of the things won't happen overnight. Some of them might not happen at all. Example: the sections on publishing. With focus and determination, you can start your own blog, get articles published on the Web, and approach your local newspapers.

But when you get to page 48 and read about how "it's not uncommon for a busy professional to pay skilled host writers more than $100,000 to transform their ideas into readable prose" and "A successful book can turn you into a celebrity and launch a high profit speaking career. Getting a book on the New York Times bestseller list typically allows an author to charge $15,000 to $25,000 a day as a celebrity speaker," understand this:

The odds are stacked against you, especially in the modern era of publishing, that you are going to be one of those authors or that you will be pulling down $25K per day as a "celebrity speaker." If you pour 110% of your energy and focus into that goal, 24/7, you're still facing a big "maybe."

So...as with every business book that's currently available to you...the challenge with this book will be selecting the items you can turn into action today, the ones that will move you forward today, while slowly chipping away at the bigger long-term goals.

That's where a lot of people make a fatal mistake, fail, get discouraged, and quit. There's more information in this book than most people would conceivably turn into action items. There's a winning mix for you, but you must read the book, pick the items you are willing to commit yourself to, form a plan, work the plan, and stay focused.

Otherwise you'll join the ranks of people who bought a book, read it, put it back on the shelf, and returned to all of the things they were doing before they read the book.

Comprehensive, well-organised guide for creating better results in a business -- not just professional services. I enjoyed his clear writing style and the easy-to-follow layout. A good read that stands out in a crowded field.

I read this book hoping to pick up a few practical tips on how to win more profitable clients. As a result, The Rainmaker's Toolkit far exceeded my expectations. Within it is a revolutionary seven step marketing system on how to build a successful and profitable business. I then passed the name of the book onto several of my colleagues whom then went out, bought a copy and found it to be equally impressive. I highly recommend this for anyone wishing to find a road-map that outlines how to create profitable growth. I highly recommend this book! Harry Mills is a superb writer.

Mills' book is part text, part workbook and all value.

If you ever thought you could benefit from the services of marketing consultant, stop and read this book first.

MIlls' 8 R's model for Client Relationship Marketing is a thoughtful and systematic approach that can be applied by individual consultants or service firms as a whole. The model is practical, proven and easy to apply. You just add the effort.

The book is well laid out, with plenty of practical tools you can put to use immediately. This book won't stay on your shelf for long. It'll be on your desk ready for repeated use.

Michael McLaughlin, coauthor with Jay Conrad Levinson of Guerrilla Marketing for Consultants.