Business Books

Every decision maker is surrounded by a wall of voicemail, email, and gatekeepers. Not only has technology made decision makers tougher to reach, but downsizing has heaped more work on top of management, so they have very little time to consider new products and services. This book provides strategies for the salesperson trying to crack a new account,and it helps you refocus your sales process to get through to time-starved execs. Furthermore, the sample emails, letters, and voicemail messages help you revise your value statement in a perspective that decision makers want to hear.

This book is easily the best sales book I've ever read. Implementing Jill's methodology has literally transformed my career and made me more money than I ever dreamed possible. I no longer view myself as a "sales person", I now view myself as a "business improvement specialist". According to Jill, this mindset is the #1 key to success. And I have to say I've seen this truth play out in arguably the most competitive business environment in the world, New York City.

The section on leveraging email as an account entry strategy has been especially helpful to me. I can't tell you how many meetings I've generated from well-crafted, customized emails and subject lines. In the age that we live so driven by technology, get this book for no other reason than just that.

After seven-plus years as a freelance communications professional, I brought my skills in-house to begin a new career in sales. I began reading, researching, and soaking up the best sales practices I could uncover. As a result of my recent promotion, however, I am now responsible for reaching out to key decision makers at large enterprises, including many listed in the Fortune 1000 and Forbes Global 2000. So I eagerly sought a definitive guide for selling to these big companies...And I found it.

Jill Konrath's "Selling to Big Companies" provides proven techniques for sales professionals at all experience levels. With her special insights, such as finding key decision makers, properly researching companies, and identifying triggering events, Jill''s lessons have already paid off for me.

I purchased two copies (one for the office, one for home) of Jill's book, and I have enthusiastically recommended this book to our entire sales team.

Quite a good book. It's especially valuable for salespeople who struggle to get through voicemail. Most of the value added comes form strategies that bring you through voicemail. I come form Europe where voicemail is not so popular and therefore the value of the book is limited for me. The book writes also about value, gatekeepers and other buying influences etc. but many of the subjects I have already read in other books.

If you are selling into big companies, you must read this book! It presents an easy to follow strategy and plan that you can implement today. Jill understands what it takes to win complex sales. Benefit from her insight!

Lee B. Salz... author of Soar Despite Your Dodo Sales Manager

This is a must have for any aspiring artist, musician, producer, or anything in between. You could probably spend hundreds of dollars on lawyers typing up contracts, but why do that when you can pay less and get more?

Complete, Accurate, Up-to-date, Informative -- everything I needed to make it out alive when it comes to music contracts. If you are like me, these can get tricky and confusing! 101 Music Business Contracts puts everything in order, ready to use or edit and relevant to any aspect of the industry. One of my best purchases yet!

This collection of contracts is a must have for anyone in any field related to the music business, these contracts cover it all! All together, all in one bundle, one affordable price, legitimate, editable, and so much more! If you are doing anything in the industry, definately add this to your collection of information. You'll be glad you did.

This book is so much more than its simple title, it's a complete collection of all the contracts you need in the music business regardless of what area of music business you are working in plus you'll get complete explanations for all the contracts, so there is no need for someone else to explain the terminology to you ( hint: no lawyer)

The majority of them are by people with no other reviews EXCEPT for books by the same publisher...

I purchased this book after skimming a lot of others in the same category. It's a really quick read with some fun side stories that take you from airline choices to interview prep to what to expect at training (a.k.a. the "charm farm") I felt so much more confident about my interview and ended up being offered a position!

I bought this book for a friend of mine. She read it and got all the hints to be a flight attendant, well really to get the job after difficult interview processes. She wasn't a FA but now she have worked for 2 airlines (AIR NOSTRUM and CLICKAIR). Fascinating, explicit and encouraging. 2-thumbs-up.

This book recently helped me get a job offer to attend Continental Airlines training. The book is actuate about the types of questions that they will ask you. Defiantly prepared me for an interview that I was really nervous for. I highly recommend this book for any person who wants to become or is thinking of becoming a flight attendant.
Good Luck with your interview!!

The book was very helpful. I have tried interviewing for a flight attendant position with various airlines off and on over a period of several years. I was never able to get past the first part of the group interviews. I was doing a lot of things right, but Kiki's book mentioned several things to do/not do which were different for what I had been doing. I followed her advice and the first interview I had following the purchase of the book, I not only made it to the one on one interview, I was offered a job!
Kiki is extremely helpful answering any additional questions via email and is very prompt in responding. Her resume service is also excellent.

I found this book to be jampacked with little tid bits of information & very easy to read. Purchasing this book would be an inexpensive begining however i am still on the lookout for more information regarding this career.

great read about taking chances, following your heart and making a difference. if this story doesn't inspire you to reach out and help your community, you probably are too self absorbed. better written than three cups of tea.

after having read this book, i decided to change my life and leave my job at one of the world's largest hotel companies, where i had a nice job, making a lot $, but no satisfaction in life. a career? I wanted a Calling, which is what I now have.
not a day goes by that I am not thankful for having jumped at the chance to change my life, for the better.

The true account of a man who gave up a dream job and the business fast track, security, a personal life, and his dream of owning a house to build libraries and schools in the poorest countries and stock them with books. A caring and brilliant businessman. An inspiring and brave story. I love the way he thinks and writes. I had one question throughout the book. Mr. Wood thought he had enough money saved to support himself for about five years. More than five years went by, but he didn't mention how he continued to have the money to feed, house, and clothe himself. He never mentioned collecting a pay check or receiving personal donations.

Very inspiring. If you liked this book you will love Three Cups of Tea which is a similar story, but written by a man who started with nothing at all and hadn't the faintest idea how to proceed with building schools.

Like a 2-out single that sparks a multirun bottom-of-the-ninth comeback, John Wood's story is most exciting due to the couldn't-have-seen-that-coming factor. What started as a vacation turned into a small idea, which exploded into one of the coolest charities I've read about. In fact, I was so inspired by this story that I wrote to John Wood immediately after I was finished (requesting a job because we know where Sp... ah.. my company.. is headed).

But what is the story?
In Leaving Microsoft to Change the World, John Wood is on a small sabbatical (in Nepal) from blossoming Microsoft. There, he discovers the country's intense need of books, libraries, and schools and its childrens' more intense desire to learn. He promises to return with books (on top of the pictured yak). What follows is an absolute eruption of giving from John's friends and family. Funding and providing books for one library soon turns into John leaving his killer position at Microsoft to work on his charity full time. Now, Room to Read (the charity) is present in seven countries in Asia and Africa building libraries, schools, and funding education.

Not just a success story...
Perhaps the part I enjoyed most about the book is that it does not only talk about how his charity started, but it discusses entrepreneurship, management theories, and other business ideas. It seems that business lessons learned by John apply strongly to successful for-profit organizations as well. Perhaps what stands out the most is how lean, focused, and passionate his company is.

Anyone can do it
As long as you've, you know, worked at a skyrocketing tech company, have millions of dollars of stock options, and the ability to quit receiving a salary for years at a time and still travel to third world countries. Admittedly, the author talks about how anyone can get involved, but it sure makes following your dreams easier when you've got the money to do so.

"It will make you want to quit your job."
Well, I was warned (Jeff) before I started to read that it would make me want to quit my job. It's true, a social improvement job is a lot more appealing than SQL. Leaving Microsoft starts out interesting and only improves. It is not a particularly difficult read, either, so that, coupled with how much fun it is to see Room to Read succeed makes this a rather quick read. At best, you'll be inspired to "dive in" (the author's words); at worst, you'll be entertained for a couple hours' worth of reading.

Leaving Microsoft to Change the World Rating: 84 / 100
Writing Style: 7 / 10
Finish-the-chapter-before-bed Factor: 8.5 / 10

Very well written book. Enjoyed reading it, and finished it in two days. John Wood has done a tremendous service to Nepal and Cambodia (two countries in which I used to live and work). Amazing work that needed to be done. Great reading also in the book about some of the inner workings of Microsoft as well. Read this book!

I have 10 years experience in managing consulting company. When I red just first chapters of this book I immediatelly have started to implement some ideas described there and it gave greate results!
No matter if you plan to start new business or you are mature partner with many years of experiane in professional services business - this book is a must and greate reading. Enjoy!

I have used this book to implement many new processes into my business. This sits in my bag or on my desk all the time. It's a great resource.

This book is worth its weight in gold. Well written, great ideas, very helpful for anyone involved in or starting a consulting firm.

We build websites and I wanted to learn more about how professional service firms operate since its basically the same thing (lawyers, accountants, engineers, website programmers, etc). The book helped me realize an important maxim to a service firm:

Success = Perception - Expectation.

If the client perceives they received something better than they expected, they will be happy. This is the key to client service; managing their expectations. While obviously quality, timeline, cost, etc. are all important, in the end they only matter if the client is happy.

The book covers many different usable ideas to manage clients better.

I expected that this book would be interesting to read, but the reality was even better than my expectations. The book provides very specific "how-to" recommendations for managing PSF. Thank you!

I LOVE Jan Brett's books! I buy them anytime I see them whether on sale, old ones on Amazon as remainders, or new.. They make great gifts. I have a backup of many to give to children, particularly my granddaughters. The illustrations in this one are so beautiful it is really a keepsake to save as well as enjoy. Give it as a gift and you will make some child very happy and a parent happy,too.

Beautiful illustrations reprinted from over 40 sources. All illustrations are credited on last page. Book measures 9"X11.5" Only down side was that the price changes by the day. One day it's almost $11 another it's $8.97. But that's just the way Amazon works; something to be aware of. (It's worked in my favor often while shopping at midnight--price suddenly went down!)

it's a classic, so of course you can't go wrong, but as far as the best one being out there... well, I'm sure there are much better illustrated ones out there than this one

I bought this for my grandchildren last Christmas. The wording is traditional, and the illustrations are wonderful! This has become a part of the Christmas Eve tradition at my daughter's house.

These illustrations are the best ever for The Night Before Christmas...Stunning even! A worthy heirloom Christmas Book. The illustrations cover both sides of the page for a large panoramic view seldom seen in other books...

This book is freakin AWESOME. It answered ALL and then some of my queries. I didn't think graphology did all of this, but now I'm ALWAYS seeing it everywhere! As it says within the book, "You will never look at handwriting the same way again." It even inculdes a section on what drawings mean. FANTASTIC, UNBELIEVABLE come to mind. I believe it has a small section on PRINT, though I am unsure. I had this book, then lost it in a move....now I'm buying it back (and KEEPING it)! 2 thumbs, 9/10 (or 5/5) watev!

Clear, concise, interesting and very useful. I already have some knowledge of handwriting analysis and found it very easy to learn more.

...everything! "Handwriting Analysis: Putting it to work for you" is a well-organized guidebook into the fascinating world of graphology. As a practicing handwriting analyst, I have used this book as a reference many times - with particular attention to such detailed handwriting traits as a "felon's claw". Handwriting reveals many characteristics to the trained eye - this book will educate and amaze readers, especially when they put it into practice.

Carrying the knowledge that i got from this book is like carrying a swiss army knife with you everywhere you go. i looked back at cards and "good luck in college" signatures in my yearbook and found very interesting things, that i know are true since i knew the people. the handwritings really do match the personalities. i analyze every piece of handwriting i now see! my coworkers, ads on the train, my friends, doctors, etc. this book is my bible. it teaches you who is a liar, has weird sex prefence, whose psychotic, who is secretive, who's an extrovert, who's suicidal, who wants to be well known, who has poor self esteem, etc. !! GET THIS BOOK!!! includes tons of famous signature and writing samples inside

This book offers a quick look at how to analyze handwriting. The quizzes help to engage the reader in the analysis of the handwriting instead of using prose to simply explain the concepts. I found myself analyzing handwriting for fun within a few days.

This delightful book for children which is enjoyable for parents to read as well wonderfully teaches us that we are all part of a family here to help each other with the gifts we have been given. For those with Faith, it is a happy way to show that we need each other, and to be grateful for each person, and appreciate what they do to make the world a better place; that each person is, as Pope Benedict said, "loved, willed and necessary."!

I still have this book from when I was young; it is now 36 years old and has survived all of my children. I cannot bear to part with it and I will save it for my grandchildren. (Along with Richard Scarry's find your ABC's) I am buying a copy for my niece though so she doesn't have to do without. Thank you Richard Scarry

This book will keep your little one occupied for several long minutes and then some. Great book to keep in the car or at Nana's house.

I have a 4 year old and a 1 year old, and I'm ordering another copy of this because the first is already worn out and ripped. If you have a curious child or want your child to be curious, then this is the book for you. Younger kids like to look at the pictures, and I read the text to the older one. This book and "Cars and Trucks and Things that Go" are his favorites and have been since about age two. We have many many Richard Scarry books and videos and they're all a hit.

I got this one as a child, back in the sixties. My copy is in Dutch and although a little weathered it's not falling apart yet.
The copy I'm reviewing here is a reprint that misses several spreads, but sad though it may be, if you don't know about it you won't miss it.
Richard Scarry shows different "people" (animals in clothes), all kinds of professions, how they interact and how one depends on the other. And in doing so he introduces a child to society where we all depend on one another.
More than anything else he was responsible that I grew up to be free minded and open spirited person. Whatever a human being does for a living, if he/she does it with love he will make your day.
A policeman, a baker, a newspaper man, a writer, photographer or singer, the postman, the bus driver. We all depend on one another. And as long as we try our best to understand that and accept and respect our fellow citizens we will be on the right path.
His drawings are world famous. They're sweet and funny without being too simplistic. No matter what family, the rabbits, the mice or the pigs, even the worm, they're all lovely characters with different personalities.
It has always been my first choice as a gift for kids.

Right from the gitgo Ben Hamper's Rivethead grabs you with gritty gusto of passages such as the above; Hamper is an extraordinary writer about life for the ordinary guy... at least the ordinary guy who winds up as an automotive assembly-line worker for General Motors in Flint, Michigan--once considered the Automobile Capital of the World. The author is a natural shop rat, growing up in Flint, with an alcoholic mostly absentee father and a long-suffering, working-three-jobs mother trying to raise the family as practicing Catholics.

...

For my complete review of this book and for other book and movie
reviews, please visit my site [...]

Brian Wright
Copyright 2008

The endless monotony and idiot bosses drive anybody with an IQ above their shoe size to do something to kill the thought that, if they're lucky, they only have 30 more years of mind numbing drudgery to go before they can retire. I'm not saying alcohol abuse is the proper outlet, but it does seem to be the most common and most convenient. Good book, excellent portrayal of what exactly "blue collar America" does for a living.

Ben Hamper shares his life as a worker on the GM assembly line in Flint, MI. Bold, frank, honest and often hilarious. This book was recommended to me years ago and for some reason I never read it until now. Hamper chronicles a part of American history (manufacturing jobs) that seem to be going stateside or as Ross Perot once described in a quip about NAFTA, what's that whoosing noise? manufacturing jobs headed to Mexico. This is prose for the ages. Loved the book.

I didn't really like reading this book because I too work in a (once) major three Auto plant. I didn't feel that it properly portrayed some of the workers. It made it sound like all workers are like the author where they just really don't give a damn about anything except having a joking time on the job. It also made the workers sound like they were underachieving, undereducated, bottom of the barrel workers and I didn't care to have that stigma for all of us. I hold two bachelor degrees, like my job and take it serious!

I grew up with people like Ben Hamper in a place which was much like Flint. For the first couple years of my adult life, I did the kind of work he did. What he describes is the tail end of a lifestyle; the lifestyle of the shop rat. It's dirty, monotonous and smelly. Many of the people you work with are either below average in intelligence or in sanity. Drugs, booze and having no concept of "forethought" are fundamental parts of the culture. It's nihilism with a rivet gun. If you come from a place like that, chances are, your only way out is via a jail cell or a career in the military. Or, you could win a workmans comp suit. Which is presumably how Ben got out.

I miss rust-belt working class america. It's a hard life, and it doesn't have much in the way of rewards, but the people who make it up are genuine in ways that others are not: they have a lot of heart and spirit. Ben's book brought it all back in a great galloping rush of memories. If you've ever wondered what the factory working classes are, or at least were like (back when we had factories); read the book.

Even though he died in 1998, everything in this book is still valid.
From little simple tips like allowing a little extra time to get somewhere to making sure you have gas in your car so you won't forget to put some in when you are rushed to controlling phone call interuptions this book is chock full of little tips.
Even things like putting your keys in the same spot to having your doors keyed to use the same key, he just keeps on offering ways to save time and hassle that you can avoid if you listen to him.
One of the pioneers of real estate infomercials, he speaks to you on how to enjoy your life.
Shortly before he died he was sued with frivolous lawsuits, so ignore the ignorant reviewers that talk about that. He set up his estate so they couldn't touch his wealth. Good for him. Glad to know Givens kept his money shielded from buzzard lawyers.
Learning how he overcame a hard childhood to go on to live a life most would only dream of should inspire you to do the same.
All in all, a good combination of both inspirational reflecting on his growing up to practical advice once he had made it as an adult.

This is one of the best "self-help" books I have ever read. I am
re-reading it in case I missed something.

Like his financial books, Charles Givens offers a no nonsense system for becoming your best. You will learn how to flatten your fears, generate goals and add several hours of productivity to your day with more free time for fun to boot.

The tape is an overview. The book is very thorough.

Highly recommended along with Stephen Coveys 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.

Interesting that some people are surprised that Charles Givens produced this audio tape program and the book of the same name--SuperSelf; interesting because this is how Givens started way back in 1975 with his first company The Success Motivation Institute which was incredibly successful. SuperSelf is a program designed to take back control. To destroy the control others or events have over our emotions and the direction of our lives. To stop waiting for our ship to come in and go out and swim to it. Not to wait for things to happen but to make thing happen. Not to find ourselves, but to design ourselves. To take the action in our lives to make our dreams into reality.SuperSelf will show you how to design the rest of your life to become the best of your life and to live your dreams.

I read a classic self-development book on my recent flight called, Super Self Doubling Your Personal Effectiveness by Charles J. Givens. Charles is one of the long-time motivational speakers and rags to riches type person that people like to read about. Often I find these people to be somewhat shallow but the basic message is right.

In the book he shares a number of success strategies. The first one is to learn from the experience of others rather than your own. In my opinion, this is true wisdom and this is something that I still seek.

Charles Givens' outline is very basic and is what you would see in almost any self-help book:

1. Have dreams and goals. (I always thought the difference between dreams and goals is that goals were dreams with action)

2. Develop strategies to achieve these.

3. Practise â" consciously and continuously apply the strategies at every opportunity.

4. Habits - as I have often said before, we become what we repeatedly do.
Results, with these new skills and abilities, you will achieve results.

I would not make it as linear as that, I would make it into a circle. As results start to happen, then new dreams and goals need to be set. I feel a need to constantly revisit goals.

Overall this is a great book and I would highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in improving themselves and achieving goals in life.

His program takes it right from the goal setting through the time management area. It is a great refresher on what we need to do to be successful. I always seem to need this. I know what I should do but I frequently fall back into not doing it. books like this challenge me to once again play at the top of my game all the time.