Sales Books

In an ocean of business books, Beyond e stands out as a prize catch. Too often, today's "gurus" write books that trumpet their personal accomplishments conveniently leaving out practical applications to specific business category needs. If we want real solutions, the cost raises from a $25 book to $25,000 per day consultation fee. Steve Diorio gives it all away in his book. Beyond e can also be called beyond best practices. He is the one guru I would invite to help my organization apply new technologies to our sales and marketing efforts. Read the book, pick up the phone and give him a call.

Steve Diorio has written a meaty and relevant book about selling technologies. In an age when there is so much E hype and fluff that only serves to confuse, we needed a book that was born from practical, everyday consulting and research in the offices of the best companies. The salient ideas about which Mr. Diorio expounds are absolutely critical for growth and profit. They carry with them an imperative that to ignore the protocols of this newest e technology will lead to peril and a fatal falling behind the power curve.

I read the excellent reviews in which professors recommended Beyond E. They were impressive. But, this book was written for executives and senior managers who have the very life of their corporations in the palm of their hands. It is obvious that Mr. Diorio has spent considerable time with his clients and sweat blood with them to achieve the best e-practices in marketing, promotion and selling.

I believe the book is about stretching the IT and Internet sales budgets so that busineses can grow at an accellerated rate. The book Beyond E is truly futuristic because it clearly outlines what the best companies have been doing and what the leaders of tomorrow (the followers of our leaders today) will be doing in late 2002 and in 2003. The blueprint is drawn up, the creation of dynamic selling technologies has been built, but, sadly, few understand it, and even fewer have actually implemented it. Companies like Dell Computer, IBM, Charles Swab, Amazon and e-Bay are only a few of these futuristic leaders that Mr. Diorio writes about. They "get it". How long will it take others? Mr. Diorio lays out in detail what needs to be done right now.

Mr. Diorio is like a drum major for executives to immediately order "the engineering of sustainable technology innovations into the sales and marketing process", to quote Stve Diorio. The traditional software analysts and programmers in companies are not prepared for the accelerated rate at which customer service and marketing creativity must be coded to stay abreast of changing customer needs and wants.

It is about knowing the mind of the customer and changing systems at every level of the company so there can be real-time change. I got a distinct sense of urgency in reading the book. As a management consultant, I now feel driven to alert my clients that "getting it" is urgently critical. Steve Diorio virtually screams out at us that positive results can be realized only from the implementation right now of dynamic marketing, selling and customer service e-systems.

Mr. Diorio understands how important all of these ideas are in order to create cutting edge business models and viable ways to turn IT chaos into order and opportunity. I am glad I read the book. I've recommended it to many of my clients and colleagues.

Finally a book that doesn't force-feed you candy-coated customer experience stories that are interesting but don't tell us anything we do not already know.

Having read most of the more celebrated sales and marketing books of the last decade, this one actually has some substance behind it. I was thoroughly impressed by the amount of research and experience that stands behind this book. Instead of providing a few nice anecdotal cases about customer-centricity or customer loyalty, this book provides a comprehensive view of how technology is changing sales and marketing practices throughout an organization and across all brands. Most importantly, it provides you with actionable insights into modern sales and marketing best practices.

If you have been as frustrated as I have with the superficiality of recent sales and marketing books, then you should definitely give this one a try.

Having taught a variety of marketing courses at the undergraduate, graduate and executive levels, I am always looking for books that present the ways in which new technology (and the Internet in particular) are affecting market relationships. Often these texts are full of exaggerrated "war stories" or can be easily summarized into a few general points. Steve Diorio's book, in contrast, is current, meaty and well substantiated. He not only provides several examples of recent successes and failures but synthesizes this new information into the age old framework of serving the customer and firm by adding value to both. I highly recommend this book to any marketing professional as well as any professor who wishes to bring their marketing strategy or course content into the 21st century.

Steve Diorio, outlines in 12 ways how technology is transforming the way the customer and the company will interact in the future. He has done an outstanding job of making sense out of all the e hype over the last three years and makes clear what works and what fails as e business becomes more of a digital business strategy. I highly recommend his book to any executive that is thinking about building a sustainable business strategy.

Glenn Gaesser, Big Fat Lies (Gurze, 2002)

Do yourself a favor-- find this book and read it as soon as possible.

The first two sections of this book show a study in selective reasoning by the medical establishment. Gaesser provides a mountain of evidence that all we've been told by the insurance industry, the medical industry, and the fitness over the last half-century or so regarding weight loss is a lie. We hear some of it now and again on the news, especially how low weight is linked to osteoporosis, but you've never seen this much of it together all in one place. Gaesser's position is that exercise, not weight, is primarily responsible for a person's health, and that "exercise" as we know it today (high-impact aerobic exercise) is not the be-all and end-all foisted upon us. All of which points out why overweight and obese people should be reading it (and popularizing it), and they are its target audience to be sure, but Gaesser makes a lot of noise about the normal- or underweight unfit, too.

The first two parts of the book are the theory, the third part is the practice. Gaesser provides a simple, easy-to-follow exercise regimen suggestion, infinitely customizable for the average person, and dietary suggestions without ever proposing a diet per se; his goal is to steer us towards eating healthier rather than rationing out what we can and can't eat. Again, the thin will benefit from following his guidelines just as much as the overweight. It's all common sense, of course, but he does point out a number of things that may surprise the average grocery shopper (for example, the actual amount of fat to be found in whole milk, which is staggering).

The book's only real flaw is stylistic; Gaesser, not to much surprise, has adopted the medical-jargon use of "overweight" and "underweight" as nouns rather than adjectives, and it's enough to drive the average stickler up the wall. It is certainly not, however, enough to put anyone off reading this. It may be the most important book you read all year, and should go on the short shelf of sacred books next to Peele's The Diseasing of America. **** ½

Read this book before you try one more plan to get thin. It helps you see that, for most people, losing weight is an aesthetic decision, not a health one. You can look at yourself more kindly, realizing that you are not ruining your health, unless you actually do have a weight related condition. You can look at other big folks more kindly- be honest; you know you judge others!- realizing you have no more idea of whether they are unhealthy than their thin counterparts-as if it was any of your business! But, really, the facts helped to loosen the hold this topic had for me. There are other books that go farther with appearance acceptance, but this one is a great start to feel confident it's really okay to go there!

I learned the truth about both Weight Tables and Diets, as well as the importance of Nutrition and Exercise. In this book, Dr Glaesser explains the historical context of the American Weight Tables and their formation by Met Life Insurance Company. His extensive research has shown that people with higher weights can be fit and sometimes even fitter than the ones that actually fit into the prescribed weight tables. For me this is a startling finding. I am relieved to learn that Glaesser recommends allowing our bodies to equilibrate around our natural set point rather than yo-yo dieting to try to attain a weight that we have been taught is optimal. In depth discussions of good vs bad types of body fat are also informative and further make Big Fat Lies a good and instructive read.

I'd love to have a case of this book so that I could gift one to every health care professional who has made snap decisions on their patients based on visible fat. Well, I guess I'd need more than a case of them, wouldn't I... because that tendency is far too prevalent.

I am a healthcare worker, and have long had a love/hate relationship with my fat body. Yes, I do think obesity exacerbates preexisting illnesses; but I don't believe fat causes illness in and of itself. Looking at comparative studies of people who are of moderate weight and even thin who have the same dietary and exercise patterns would be a more useful guage than immediately assuming that weight loss will magically make health problems disappear. Many times, it doesn't.

Recently the New England Journal of Medicine published a study that claimed that weight loss could extend your life by a (staggering) five to nine months. Wow. Whoopee.

What if being overweight could be healthy? Apparently, it's not the pipe dream the majority of the world and researchers would like us to think. In Big Fat Lies, Glenn Gaesser unlocks the myths about obesity specifically the biggest of them all "obesity kills". Glenn is a graduate of the University of California and taught at UCLA and the University of Virginia so he isn't just blowing smoke up our fat butts.

He feels the obsession of a person's weight needs to be dropped mostly because weight loss is no guarantee for improved health. With his book he hopes to reshape your thinking on the various aspects of body weight and health, I think he will. Obviously, some facts are unquestionable if you eat only bad food and don't exercise you're in trouble. But overweight people can be strong and healthy; sometimes stronger and healthier than their slim counterparts.

With simple truths and simple facts Glenn explains how our expectations of body weight have been directed by insurance companies, the diet industry (30 billion plus industry), the fashion industry and of course media appeal. He thinks we should be focusing on metabolic fitness instead of weight. He discusses in great detail his views on metabolic fitness.

Glenn succeeds in taking the focus off weight. Instead he sheds light on the importance of physical activity over "exercise". The purpose of the physical activity is not to lose weight but to be healthy by moving. Lo-Carb-ers will not be impressed with the Nutrition for Metabolic Fitness section but I like how he encourages adding instead of taking away. According to him "No foods are strictly off limits."

A lot of what's discussed are the studies ignored over the last 20+ years showing body fat is not the problem. "Fat in the arteries and fat on the body are different and not necessarily related." Study after study becomes a bit tedious after a while but it is still good to know there's more to the studies than "obesity kills." For sure this book won't appease the die hard skeptic but for those of us who are obese, eat our fruits, veggies and continue a daily bout of physical activity, at least we know for sure it isn't all in our head. We're healthy.

I'm sure when you are finished reading Big Fat Lies you'll have a different view on the role of fat in your life. Pun intended. Reviewed by M. E. Wood

My title says it best. Twenty-four hours with this book was like Manna from Heaven! It answered so many of my questions, yet managed to raise (and answer) questions that I didn't know to ask. Best of all, not only does the author advocate the POD-life, he lives it. Thanks to his insights and my additional research on the topic, my company will also thrive in the POD world! Thanks Bruce!!!

Author Bruce Batchelor, a publisher and consultant, has done a nice job of distilling his wisdom into 180 pages that spell out how an author can successfully market a book. Using examples from his experience as a publishing industry pioneer and the advice of many top selling authors, Batchelor provides the reader with a smart and sound format on how to market your book.

This is a morale builder, a practical and encouraging how-to for selling books in an industry completely transformed by digital technology. Most authors set out to be writers, not marketers, and, faced with repeated rejection of their work by a series of publishers, turn only reluctantly to self-publishing. While past guides to self-publishing have dwelt on the art of haggling with bookstore owners over credit for returned books (how much scuffing of the cover is too much, etc), Batchelor reveals surprising new opportunities, and shows how authors take advantage of the changing situation. He notes, for example, that publishers have traditionally rejected manuscripts on the basis that they are written for audiences that are "too narrow." The internet has turned that upside down by making it practical to identify and sell to niche audiences. Thank goodness! This book is stuffed with information about the changing structure of the publishing business, who does what, relative costs, how to figure out what to do, and then how to go about it. This is what the overwhelmed author needs to figure out a rewarding course of action. Good stuff.

It often comes as a shock when newly published authors discover that they must bear most of the burden of marketing their books to the general reading public -- even if they are fortunate enough to be published by one of the major New York publishing firms like Random House, Simon & Schuster or Penguin-Putnam. For self-published authors that marketing responsibility is completely theirs. Most authors are aware of the many 'how to' books that are available to them for the purpose of helping them master the craft of writing, There are also instruction books on turning raw manuscripts into finished books. What is not so obvious is that there are a number of excellent instructional guides for authors on how to market their books after they have been published. One of the best of these marketing manuals is "Book Marketing De-Mystified" by Bruce Batchelor, the man who founded Trafford (Canadian based and one of the larger POD companies servicing North America) and is widely acknowledged as the creator of the print-on-demand (POD) publishing process that has shattered the book publishing monopoly of the traditional publishing firms by allowing anyone to easily become their own publisher. This 167-page compendium of practical advice offers an especially 'user friendly' introduction to the art and science of book marketing because of its conversational style, it comprehensive coverage of book marketing issues, and Bruce Batchelor's unique perspective. It should be noted that the Midwest Book Review is positively cited (page 120) as a resource for authors and independent publishers. "Book Marketing De-Mystified" is especially useful in terms of its discussion of where to sell books, price/value setting, personal sales, paid advertising, sales promotions, publicity and public relations. Simply stated, every author and every small press publisher needs to have a competent marketing plan -- and Bruce Batchelor's "Book Marketing De-Mystified" specifically and effectively addresses that need.

Reading this book is like having the pieces of a puzzle come together! I started my book 18 months ago and after reading BMD I was inspired to finish it and make a marketing plan that reflects my goals and is actually achievable. Whether you are an indie POD author or working with a big name publisher, this book provides a wealth of information that helps anyone understand the publishing world. It is full of specific information, real ideas and examples and it really gets you thinking about how you might market your own book. A must have for any author.

What a book! I recently saw Mr. Deming's presentation at a national conference in Dallas. After his presentation, he did a book signing and I bought The Brand Who Cried Wolf. I had it read from cover to cover by the time I got home the following day! This is one of the most inspirational and TRUE books I've ever read. Mr. Deming has not invented anything new here. What I mean is, the processes and ideas are already out there, but the way in which he explains them - with the stories and the humor and the compassion - it's just incredible. I found myself captivated by his style and message during his presentation and the same thing happened reading the book. It's just full of wonderful ideas that you can immediately apply to your personal and professional life. I am buying a copy for every member of our customer service department. Whether you're a professional wanting to improve your organization, or an individual wanting to improve the relationships with those around you, this is the book! I highly, I mean HIGHLY recommend it!

This book reads more like a fast paced, New York Times best selling story, rather than a business book. Don't get me wrong, this is definitely a business book. In fact, probably one of the best business books I've read in many years. But it doesn't read like one. It's fun, full of incredible ideas and processes, inspirational and incredibly transfomational. When reading this book, I felt like I was having a conversation with the author. That's how he writes. As if he's standing there having a one on one discussion with you. Because of Mr. Deming's ideas and unique processes, I have already changed the way I approach situations and relationships, both personally and professionally.

My favorite chapter is chapter eight. This is where he teaches the reader how to truly understand their own brand. No faking, no veneer as he puts it. No pushing hot buttons to make a sale. Just understanding who you are and then creating sincere and unique interactions with those around you. This in turn will get people to trust you forever and become your evangelists. I also love his take on the ripple effect. As he writes "Your actions generate far reaching ripples." He tells about the real effects of our actions, both positive and negative, then he gets into a true story about Sears that is both eye opening and absolutely hilarious!

This book is going in every office in our organization. It's a fast read and one you'll want to read over and over again. I highly recommend this book to anyone with the sincere desire to improve their personal and professional image. Or as Mr. Deming puts it- your Brand.

Deming's message is a must read for anyone who has competition. How do we make our competition irrelevant? How do we create customers for life? The Brand Who Cried "Wolf" delivers a proven and effective approach to develop lifelong customer relationships. If you want to create a leadership position in this experience economy -you must read and re-read this book and then act on the wisdom Deming skillfully presents!

Chandler

Wow! What a great book. It arrived this afternoon - never intended on finishing it this evening. After reading the first chapter, I was hooked. It's that good! This is the second book on branding I've read this month. The first was "Footnotes" by Kenneth Cole. That book, also excellent, shows the finished product. In "The Brand Who Cried Wolf", Deming shows you how to get there... and stay there. Whether you run a large corporation or a home based business, you will learn a great deal from this fun read. Just like Disney, Deming understand the power of a good story. Each of the ten chapters cleverly starts with a brief fable to illustrate a key point. Deming then follows up with countless up to date examples of how companies succeed, and more importantly, fail to achieve success in branding and customer satisfaction. Deming really hits the nail on the head with his comparison of Costco and Walmart.
This is a very well written book filled with stories to inspire. The type of writing that obviously comes from years of experience and a passion to help others. As Deming mentions in chapter eight, "you can't fake sincerity".
To sum it up - Don't think you need to be a business owner to buy this book. This is a great lesson of customer satisfaction and communication skills for anybody who interacts with others on a daily basis. Deming seems well versed in what it takes to form a successful relationship - both personal and business. I'm just glad he took the time to share some of his insightful stories with the rest of us.

I'll admit that I was a bit skeptical when I first felt that the title of this book didn't sound grammatically correct to me (I'm the guy muttering "It's 15 items or FEWER" to my wife, every time we're near the express lane at the supermarket) - I thought that the right title should have been "The Brand THAT Cried Wolf." But, Deming quickly and convincingly explains that "The Brand" is more than an inanimate corporate symbol ... it's my company, it's my department, it's me ... and, thus, deserving of the "Who" in his title. Deming uses a pleasing blend of children's fables (which, I will admit, were enjoyable to get caught up on and, in some cases, to read for the very first time), business cases, hypothetical situations and personal experiences and anecdotes to put his principles into meaningful perspectives. I continually found myself playing a mental game of "Can You Top This" with Deming every time he gave examples of unique, emotional, memorable business experiences that caused him to become, as he would put it, a "Brand Evangelist." Likewise, I found myself playing the same game (probably with a little more fervor) whenever he gave his examples of such poor service that caused him to become a "Brand Antievangelist."

Coincidentally enough, just 2 days before reading this book, my family and I rented a movie that seems to be a perfect and real-life exemplification of Deming's "You-Are-Your-Brand" hypothesis: "The Pursuit of Happyness." Based upon a true story, it's about Chris Gardner, a down-on-his-luck salesman who can't buy a break, even after he is given the "opportunity" to compete against 19 other unpaid interns at a stock brokerage for 6 months for one permanent position. His successes started only after he began creating unique experiences for his prospects and clients rather than just those typically provided by such brokerages. His first big "splash" took awhile, but the ripples that resulted got him the business he needed to beat the other 19 and earn the job. (I wish that I had read this book first!)

Definitely a good, fast and worthwhile read. And definitely not you father's book on branding. And that, here, is a good thing.

Let's face it...sooner or later we all have something to sell in business and life, whether it's to help launch a new business, re-energize an existing one or to sell an idea. Elisa's book helps you do it all with great examples, easy-to-digest advice, and lots of passion! You'll want to keep this handy reference around whenever you feel stuck and in need of a fresh perspective on your next sales endeavor.

A key to success is to create a message that inspires others to help you succeed. Elisa explains how to share this message with others so you can achieve more. Her clear, insightful secrets show us how to use the resources we have to attract attention to our goals.

I am a highly trained engineer for the first time selling my services as a consultant. With The Break Through The Noise tools, I crafted my message not in terms of engineering-ese, but in terms of actions and experiences my customers would get. As a result, CEOs of major companies (e.g. revenues more than $50M) replied to my email solicitations and fowarded my messages to their staff.

As the Sales and Marketing executive for a small engineering company, I was having trouble converting some of our more effective Marketing efforts into specific Sales opportunities. I was successfully getting myself into professional and social situations where Prospects abounded, but competitors abounded there as well. Because I wasn't able to "Break Through the Noise" typical in those environments, I often couldn't generate enough interest on a Prospect's part for him or here to seriously consider us for a major project.

Then I read "Break Through the Noise," a tight, applicable-to-all-industries, tip & technique-packed instruction manual on how to connect with even the most reticent or distracted of Prospects. (And few Prospects are as reticent or distracted as our target customer, the middle-management engineer!).

Read this book, and you'll never engage in "hand-to-hand" Marketing the same way again.

Elisa Southard and her great book: Break Through the Noise helped me to succinctly articulate what it is I do. So many words, so many ideas, so much noise -- she helped me wade through the muck to find not only one pearl, but an entire strand, all the while keeping those I want to reach in mind.

Breakaway is a refreshing, common sense book that provides fresh, new ideas about performance improvement, and the value of employees. This book describes how important a competitive edge is in today's market place, and provides the tools to help you succeed!

Breakaway lives up to its promise (and premise) of delivering value and expertise fast and clean. No-nonsense, practical, with suggestions of surgical precision to guide organizational transformations.

Don A. Johnson
Principal,
The Clarity Group, Inc.

Breakway was clearly written by an author who has been in the trenches, growing a company and working with people. From its elegant organization to its intuitive set of theories Breakaway reinforces what we all know to be true - that a principled approach to business will achieve the best results. This book should be on every business person's must-read list.

Breakaway is a must-read book for anyone in the corporate world who has responsibility for human resources, employee development, sales and marketing management, and for top corporate executives.

The main theme of the book is that in order to break away from the competition in today's ever-changing economy, an organization must effectively develop employees to deliver value to the customer faster than the competition does. After analyzing how organizations currently train employees and the deficiencies associated with this type of training, Fred goes on to define a new method for bringing employees to proficiency faster and more successfully than traditional training methods.

The first several chapters of the book document a new model for human performance and the three rules for accomplishing peak performance. The first rule - Establish a proficiency threshold - describes how to determine the point at which an employee is equipped to deliver the promised value to customers quickly. Fred clearly describes the questions that managers must ask in order to define the proficiency threshold and discusses the relationship of the proficiency threshold and the value chain.

The second rule - Accelerate the accumulation of experience - includes a discussion of how people really learn, describes the four phases of learning, discusses how traditional training methods leave the accumulation of experience to chance, and how to manage the accumulation of learning. Using an example of training copper splicers to become fiber optic cable splicers, Fred demonstrates how to successfully manage the accumulation of experience in relation to training.

The third rule - Measure the cycle time to threshold proficiency - describes the metrics used to measure the how fast an employee can be trained to arrive at the proficiency threshold. Fred goes into some detail on how to measure the overall proficiency of the organization, and redefines the learning curve as the proficiency curve.

In the last half of the book, Fred describes how to "put it all together". Recognizing that no two companies are the same, Fred compares and contrasts the styles of two very different companies. What emerges is that there is no set of rules for achieving organizational proficiency, rather there are a set of key concepts that managers must be aware of in designing fast, effective, successful development programs.

In summary, this book is very readable, indeed it is designed "...for the business leader, to be read in the time it takes to fly from Chicago to San Francisco or Denver to Miami." True to one of the key concepts, the book is clear, concise and to the point.

About the author:
Charles L. Fred is a thought leader in performance improvement and an expert in learning speed. He is the founder and CEO of The Breakaway Group, which provides seminars and workshops to teach the concepts described in Breakaway. Formerly the CEO of Avaltus, a leading provider of e-learning services, he has also directed major change efforts in both the manufacturing and service industries, has consulted to successful companies around the globe, and has been a frequent speaker to major business forums and groups of senior executives over the past twenty years. Once a nationally ranked NCAA track athlete, he continues to compete in corporate races across the country. He lives in Centennial, Colorado, with his wife, Julie, and their three teenage children.

Review by Richard D. Turnquist.

What has really changed in our world in the last two decades? Time has sped up and surpassed all the other busienss variables in importance. These days time is more important than money.

To win in business, you must break away from the pack and stay ahead by serving your customers extraordinarily well. "Speed-to-proficiency is more than a theoretical advantage; it is the most devastating competitive weapon in a world where the competitive forces of scale, automation, and capital are subordinate to the power of a proficient work force."

I enjoyed this book, right from the first sentence -- "This book is designed for the business reader, to be read in the time it takes to fly from Chicago to San Francisco or Denver to Miami." Breakaway is an easy read with a vital message. Read it.

After a recent visit to Bremen in Germany, and souvenir t-shirts for the grandkids, I decided to purchase copies of the "Bremen Town Musicians" as Christmas presents. I am very pleased with my purchase. I am impressed with the quality of English used, which would surely be of benefit to young ears. Also, the text included some lesser-used words such as 'hound, lute, minstrels', great for vocabulary building. Young minds absorb so much, so let us give them worthwhile things to soak up. The text also lends itself to reading aloud with lots of expression and drama, always enjoyed by children. The illustrations are simple but superb, plentiful and complements the text beautifully - a great help for young readers. I can't wait to read to them on Christmas Day!

The illustrations and text aren't very compelling, and neither my nieces nor I are very interested in this book. We'll swap it away soon.

The illustrations are delightful for this traditional story. A great gift for any child or adult.

My children and grandchidren love this story. I bought the book to read to my youngest grandchild, who is 2 and a half. We love both the story and the pictures. We also have fun braying, barking, meowing and crowing like the heroic animals in the story. When her dad was her age we lived in Germany and visited Bremen and saw the statue of the animals.

Some animals were going to Bremen Town to be musicians. On the way they saw some robbers. They kicked them out and the animals never went to Bremen-Town.
The donkey kicked the robber with his hind legs, that is why I liked the book.

Did you ever feel stuck in your job with the feeling you were not fulfilling your destiny?

Did you ever feel that even though you were giving it your all at work you weren't getting noticed by those who count (boss, clients, co-workers)?

Did you ever feel like you were stuck doing tasks that you were unsuited for or that you didn't like to do?

If the answer to any of the above questions is "Yes!" then I recommend that you pick up a copy of career coach Sherri Thomas's book, Career Smart: Five Steps to a Powerful Personal Brand.

When I read Career Smart the one point that came out to me in every chapter was that your career isn't your job title; it is what you make yourself out to be. Sherri Thomas calls this "your own personal brand".

To come up with your own personal branch you have to assess yourself in a thoughtful manner, looking at your experience, skills and what you want to do and like to do. Then you basically have to define a brand for which people will know you by professionally and to a certain extent personally. In a sense you are positioning yourself as the company and industry expert on the field that you have branded yourself in. The author gives a load of examples on how go gain the knowledge you may need, target and increase your networking contacts, and to get known by writing reports, articles (for newsletters and industry media) and by power networking (creating circles of influence, mastermind groups and speaking at industry events).

Sherri Thomas gives examples from her own successful career of how this all works and assures the readers that this will work for them as well. The reader can see from her own experience that careers aren't defined by your titles but rather than by the work that you do. When you successfully brand yourself you start attracting more of the projects and jobs that give you a feeling of satisfaction rather than the work that brings you down. This also leads to high income and prestige.

Much of what Ms. Thomas has put forward in her book is common sense but the nuggets are ideas you might not have considered before or maybe put in the back of your mind and never tried. So if your career is in a rut, or you just feel that you could be doing better than you are when it comes to overall satisfaction, I recommend spending the time and money to get this book. If you are not where you want to be or your don't have a feeling of fulfillment in your job you have nothing to lose and everything to gain!

Sherri presents a clear path to defining your personal branding and proceeds to share with you how to stand out from the competition. She also offer further help on her website if you request personal career coaching. She gives sound advice which she has used successfully for herself and others. Career Smart is concise and very easy to follow. Each step is laid out in a manner that helps you progress toward your goal of a more rewarding career.

Personal branding is about projecting who you really are instead of settling for what you get. Taking time up front to establish what you're all about and then seeking the job or even career that match your characteristics creates a foundation for success and happiness. We spend a substantial amount of our adult lives working. That time can be very rewarding and fulfilling with just a little planning. This book takes you through the steps to establishing what you are about and conveying that message to prospective employers or clients. It is laid out in a logic fashion with each section building on the previous. It starts by having you define who you are now, what you are looking for, and the best way to send that message. That's enough right there, but the book heightens this further and drives you to think outside the box and shrug off limitations. After reading this, I felt energized and eager to do what I want and should do and make more money in the process.

Whether we know it or not, we all have a personal brand. When people look at us, we portray a certain image. While we go about our daily business, we exhibit certain personality traits and talents. Even what we chose to do says something about our values.

For most of us, the main problem is that our brand is fuzzy. The way we look, the activities we undertake, how we act, and the talents we use tend to lack any sort of connection. Mostly that is because we lack clarity on who we are, what we want to portray to the world, and how we are going to accomplish this things.

Career Smart seeks to help define a personal brand that will describe you and your unique qualities, even if you don't think you have anything worthwhile to brand. The author then shows how you can use this brand to further your current career path whether you are looking for work, in a job you hate, successful but looking to move forward, or looking to move into an entirely different career.

It seems as though everyone I talk to knows someone or has been laid off, downsized or is looking for a job because of the economic and credit crisis. Sherri Thomas shares her secrets to powerful personal branding, how to send the right messages, networking, and how to put yourself in high demand with clients, managers and potential employers.
Now is the time to work on your branding and presentation so that when an opportunity comes along, you are ready and ready to beat the competition.
Sherri provides us with strategies, best practices and lessons she has learned to help us all be successful and be a leader in our chosen field.

Just to let you know, there is a new edition of this book available; The DNA Selling Method: Strategies for Modern-day Sales People (From Great Moments in History).

I'm not active in sales myself at the moment, but I can see the importance of the lessons in this book. I know I learned much more in the section about presenting than I ever did in my college speech class.

The way Mr. Hansen compares selling strategies to historical stories makes reading the book, and remembering the details, very easy and enjoyable. He doesn't try to complicate things with so many modules and formulas etc., instead telling things as they are. By giving examples, historic and personal, and explaining his reasoning, you feel more inclined to follow his advice than if he just said 'do this' (the 'because I say so' kind of a deal like you get in many textbooks).

The DNA Selling method itself is simple, straightforward -- and extremely important.

Discovery-Qualification
Need-Problem
Ascertain-Pain

Basically; make sure the prospect is qualified (by asking essential discovery questions), find out what they need, see how much it would hurt them to not purchase what you are offering.... Mr. Hansen includes many sample questions and scenarios so you can pick the ones that fit you (and your company) best.

This book encompasses all the elements in the DNA Selling method, but there are three more books where Mr. Hansen takes important parts of the cycle to go into more detail:
Power Prospecting (From Great Moments in History)
Winning Sales Presentations: Presentation Strategies for Modern-day Sales People (From Great Moments in History)
Sales-side Negotiation: Negotiation Strategies for Modern-day Sales People (From Great Moments in History)

I actually read this book a few weeks ago and am purchasing it for a colleague.

This book is phenomenal. The sales methodology taught in this book is absolutely priceless. When I engage with clients, I now do so with purpose and clarity. I am able to gain the knowledge I need to effectively move my prospect to the next level in the buying process while keeping the customer confident and comfortable in their buying experience.

The DNASelling method, in particular, is the most brilliant qualifying and interviewing strategy I've seen. However, it's not for the casual sales rep. I know from experience. I consider myself fortunate to have been involved in a training that Mr. Hansen conducted. He trained our entire sales organization in The DNASelling method and it was immediately obvious who implemented the training and who didn't. 6 months after his training, the top 7 reps were all diehard users of Mr. Hansen's system. For anyone who has read this book, they will tell you that it is for elite sales professionals, not average sales representatives.

I do not recommend this book for someone looking for the traditional fluffy, "motivational" milquetoast sales book. This guy is hard core about winning and he outlines exactly how to do it.

If you want to take your sales skills to the next level - I know, you are already the best and so am I - but seriously, if you wonder how effective your current methods are and want to "be all that you can be," I recommend this book. You know how some books really change you for life, this will be one of them.

I just started in my first sales position this year. Reading this book and learning about the DNASelling Method has given me tools to be successful right from the start. I love the way Mr. Hansen uses historical strategies to explain best sales practices. I particularly enjoyed the section on overcoming prospecting fears. These tools have given me the confidence to cold call. This is a great book and I highly recommend it.

I thought I had 21 years of sales experience; turns out, I had ONE year of experience 21 times. From the novice to the veteran sales guru, there is something in this book for everyone. I have read dozens of sales books and there are counter-intuitive principles in this book that you simply won't find anywhere else. Plus, I really enjoyed the historical examples, they are entertaining and easy to remember.

This was without reserve the best Christmas music and movie review book I have ever read. The comments were both intelligent and funny. The whole book was both well researched and entertaining. The world is a better place because of this book.

CHRISTMAS'S MOST WANTED is a reference book about Christmas customs, traditions, songs, films, evergreen trees, music, cards, foods, and a lot more.

Do you associate a certain film with Christmas? Well, this book gives detailed information in the chapter called Holiday Movie Classics. Some of the old movies mentioned are: Holiday Inn (1942), Christmas in Connecticut (1945), It's A Wonderful Life (1946), The Bishop's Wife (1947), Miracle on 34th Street (1947) and White Christmas (1954). With each film, a brief summary of the storyline is given and all of the actors are named. I have to say that was my favorite chapter.

You can also learn about the tradition of mistletoe, sending cards, singing carols, how Santa's reindeer were named and questions you never even thought to ask!

The book answers a lot of questions and I thought it was well researched, but this is primarily a secular book so don't expect many religious topics. Most of the religious references are in the chapter called Nollaig Shona which is Merry Christmas in Irish. The two references that I found to the Magi (Wise Men or Three Kings) was in a paragraph about the song, "Twelve Days of Christmas." In the song, the Twelfth Day is the Epiphany, the day that the Three Kings brought gifts for the Baby Jesus. (That's the reason that many of us leave our Christmas trees up until, January 6, which is the twelfth day of Christmas). The other reference was about a piece that was done by Dave Brubeck.

The word Christmas comes from two words put together. They are Christ's Mass.

Once you get this book, you may not want to have another Christmas without it.

In more than 280 pages, the authors discuss all things Christmas as they pick their "Top 10" in categories ranging from mistletoe to carols, from rangifer tarandus (reindeer) to animated cartoons. The choices are necessarily subjective, and much of the text is funny, filled with references to pop culture, music, TV and film. Pick your idea of the 10 worst Christmas songs on the radio, and see if your list compares with theirs.

The authors include scads of trivia and the inside scoop on holiday history and traditions you may never have heard of.

As you enjoy the nostalgia you'll also find useless but fascinating stuff like this: Somebody figured out that Santa has to visit 91.8 million homes in 31 hours, which means he has to make 822.6 visits per second and travel at 650 miles per second. Whew!

This would be the perfect book to have on hand for guests at Christmas, and it would make a great conversation-starter. It's fully indexed, and the bibliography includes quite a few Web sites for follow-up.

This book will definitely put you in the Christmas spirit as you learn everything you wanted to know about Christmas but are afraid to ask! I highly recommend this as a read for yourself and a stocking stuffer for others.

This book is a real treat. It's a lot of fun to read about all the different kinds of trivia in here. I love holiday music, and it talks about all the great ones, and some new ones I haven't heard of before! And the movies and cartoons, brings back a lot of childhood memories.

Tons of short, fun, interesting snippets of holiday information. Just perfect to pick and read for a few minutes. This book is the perfect holiday "bathroom" book, and I don't mean that in a bad way. There's something in here for everyone, and tons of short, fun, and interesting trivia about Christmas. As the other review said, you can read a chapter or two then come back to it later.

Leave it out for guests to read, too. It makes Christmas more fun!