Sales Books

This is the only guide you will ever need to understanding how to put a business plan together and in so doing you gain invaluable lessons on what makes business tick, from a master. I have used this book in an earlier edition, as a blueprint to attract finance for 3 ventures so I can vouch for its easy style and elegant solutions. Highly recommended whether you're starting, running or turning around a business. If you are in business you need to read this book from cover to cover and you don't need to be Einstein to understand it.

An excellent book that takes you through start to finish on the operating principles of a business and the reasons behind each process. This provides a good framework for you to fashion what is appropriate for your business given the circumstances you are in at this point in time. The book is logically laid out, explained in simple language and very easy to apply in a practical business environment. This is the best book I have read on establishing a business plan that can either be highly operational, tactical or strategic in nature or have these elements combined in a manner that meets your current needs.

I think this is an excellent and practical introduction to writing business plan.

Peter

I find this book way superior to many other books on the subject. At the same time, it approaches business plans with small boxed anecdotes and an easy-going attitude (alla "...for dummies" but a far better level). Also differences between British and U.S. accounting terms are explained, giving the book a touch of international reach. At all times you have the feeling of being in company with a very talented and experienced author.

Written for serious professionals, and assumes a modicum of intelligence, out of all the books claiming to assist in designing a business plan, this is the only one that actually comes close to anything serious. Have a look at the sample pages to see what I mean.

I am a fan of Wambaugh's but this book was weak. I found that it dragged incredibly at one point (when the cops were at the campus party and looking for the suspect) and the dialogue was boring.

There were good moments in the novel but I got the feeling that the author had had run out of new ideas and lost the humour that some of his earlier books possessed.

It is IMPOSSIBLE to read this novel and not fall in love with Officer Ludwig (a K-9 German shepherd).

UPDATE: as of August 2008 I have now read all but one of Wambaugh's novels, and of all 13 of them, this is absolutely the best, hands down.

This is Joseph Wambaugh at his best, humorous, suspenseful, and sympathetic to his police characters while not shying away from their faults, foibles, and flaws. In one of his better mysteries, the cops of Rampart Station try to solve the connections between a Nobel Prize, a Russian submarine, a useless credit card, a dead hooker and a similarly deceased sleazy private eye.

Detective Mario Villalobos tries to solve the murder of a young hooker named "Missy Moonbeam" by day while spending his nights drowning his sorrows with a typical Wambaugh cast of police and groupie characters at Leery's Saloon. Larger than life characters such as "The Bad Czech", "Jane Wayne", Ludwig the police dog, and the "Gooned Out Vice Cop" all make appearances. The thing is Wambaugh makes you actually care about these people and their situations. It is obvious that the former policeman turned author still understands and feels a great empathy and affection for the men and women who police our "mean streets".

Villalobos is one of his better drawn characters. A burned out man who drinks too much, he still possesses some great police instincts, and he is not so far gone as some of the suicidal main characters of Wambaugh's darker novels, such THE SECRETS OF HARRY BRIGHT or THE GLITTER DOME. A mixture of serendipitous luck and good police work lead to a surprising twist of a conclusion, but as with most of Wambaugh's best books, the journey and the whacky cast of characters one encounters along the way is actually more important than the destination itself.

Highly recommended. Five plus stars.

Perhaps this should be called the precinct that couldn't shoot straight. A police procedural that is spiced up with a cast of police characters that are bizarre, pathetic, crude and funny. All of them are boozers, meeting nightly at a local tavern to toss a few and exchange wild happenings of the day. Joseph Wambaugh wrote this book in 1982. It has the hip lingo of that era - a reminder of how quickly street talk becomes cliché, nevertheless a fun read. Cops on the beat, especially in L.A, always have weird but entertaining stories to tell. Besides the gritty happenings on LA streets, there are two murders to solve here. Several clever twists keep you interested throughout. A great beach book.

This is no dud, stop looking in the bookstore when you see this title and pick it up. This book moves at the same pace as a cop car running hot. It really is a good read with a lot of inventive characters and situations. There are a lot of police novels out there but this is defiantly one of the top ten percent. You will like the book from the moment you start reading.

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

A "must have" for Management Consultants in Strategy.

John Courtney
Managing Director
www.strategyconsultinglimited.co.uk

AFTER READING THIS AND SOME OTHER BOOKS FROM THE PROFESSOR DAVID A. AAKER, I'VE BECOME BETTER AT DOING MY MARKETING JOB.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I enjoyed reading this book which I found to be fascinating and enlightening. The book describes strategy and its role in ensuring that organisations achieve their mission. It is a comprehensive book on various aspects of strategy including the need to focus on customer needs, environmental analysis, knowledge management, strategy formulation, strategic positioning, strategy implementation, forecasting technologies, alliances, creative thinking, design as strategy, downstream business models, global leadership, among other informative topics.

The book is well written, well presented and easy to follow and understand. It is very practical and with many good examples and case studies. I would strongly recommend managers at all levels to read this interesting, practical and insightful book on strategy. The book is also useful and handy for strategy consultants and students doing an MBA or other postgraduate studies in business.

I got diagnosed with type 2 diabetes about 2 months ago. I wanted to know more about diabetes so I got this book. It's very informative on what diabetes is(very detailed) It's written in a clear manner. It has information on how the different diabetes medications work, it has a nutrient counter(which basically tells you how much carbs are in certain foods which is good to know), the complications that might happen if you don't get your glucose under control, why you must test frequently, and of course recipes. If you buy one book to help you understand being a diabetic chose this one!! It's the best one I've seen so far. I gave this book 4 stars because on pg. 73 it says this"To know what food causes your glucose to rise eat what you want, in whatever amount you desire." This is not good advice because if I did this my glucose would be over the 200 range. But still all in all it's a great book and I'm glad I bought it.
If you are looking for easy diabetic recipes I really like Dawn Hall's Busy People's Diabetic Cookbook. The recipes are really good.

You must check out this book I know the Doc . When I went to see him at his office he told to get the book and where to find it and how much. they ( the doc,s do not get the cash) and it is so cheap it's one of the best buys I have. So give a shot you may save you own life it help me :)

This book The Diabetic Bible has so much useful information for everyone with diabetes and their families too. It is written very well for the average non medical person to understand and it even has colored pictures in the recipe section.
Just wonderful,
Chris Lewis

I got this book as a present when I was diagnosed with Type II Diabetes and I have found the information in there invaluable. It is easy to understand, well written for the lay person and most of all has simply awesome recipes in it.

I have had friend and family diagnosed after I was and I have gotten each of them this book. Make a great beginning to any diabetic library.

My mother was just diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes and she had a million questions which I couldn't seem to find sufficient answers to on-line. I purchased this book and she's been reading it for the past week and says it has answered every question she had about diabetes and how she should be eating. She's going to be talking to a dietitian soon and wanted to have a general understanding of the disease. She highly recommends this book to anyone with diabetes.

Kent & Wertime's 'DigiMarketing' provides a great overview of the marketing landscape, which has been continously disrupted & reconfigured by innovative technologies, creativity, & business models. The authors not merely present the current trends of digital marketing along with great supporting references, but also concisely articulate the business implications of these trends & how digital marketing elements can be effectively integrated to traditional marketing initiatives. Such holistic views & insight would enable readers to unearth hidden business opportunities that can be capitalized thru digital marketing initiatives.

Excelent book. Authors seems to realy understand the subject well and have put them into an easy to understand book.

Highly recommended for anyone who is in the field, and wanting to understand a lot more about the subject.

This book provides an excellent overview of the emerging trends in the digital marketing age. It's a must read for marketing professionals looking to capitalize on advances in technologies. The authors did a great job explaining the marketing relevance of a myriad of new digital technologies without getting into all the technical details.

I hope the authors continue to update this publication as the industry is moving at warp speed. One area I'd like to see discussed in more detail is the role of Mashups in Digimarketing.

I found the discussion of consumer mashups both interesting and informative but how about enterprise mashups that mashup data from sources other than publicly available web sources? A good description of the difference between consumer and enterprise mashups can be found at: [...]

DigiMarketing: The Essential Guide to New Media and Digital Marketing

Great book. Highly recommended. Really captures many of the most important trends and technologies that are shaping electronic commerce. I have seen many of these same issues, trends and cases in other publications and books but DigiMarketing brings them all together in a highly educational manner. This is a MUST READ book for anyone who wants to stay ahead of these crucial trends

I have been looking for this kind of book for years. The term "digimarketing" immediately caught my attention. I have to thank the authors for taking the courage to write this easy-to-be-obsolete book. Wertime and Fenwick did a very good job in making all the techincal stuff become so easy to understand to most marketing managers who don't have deep technical savvy. I also love the beauty of how this book is organized. Yet what I like most is the last part of the book where you are guided to bring everything to a step-by-step implementing plan.

It is no doubt that "digimarketing" is increasingly important versus traditional marketing. It is now already "mainstream" as emphasized by the authors. Those marketing professionals who do not pay enough attention to digimarketing will soon find left far behind. And for small business owner like me, this book is extremely helpful. It captures in a very friendly manner everything that I had to read and consolidate from a dozen of other books on the similar topic. I will start implementing what I read right now! Strongly recommended!

Great book- lighthearted way for young people to think about what to do in a social situation. My kids would read it aloud in the carpool and never tired of it.

Have you always hated it when you did something and your relatives reprimanded you for it, even though you have no idea why, even when they say that it's bad manners? Well, now you will with this book! It's sort of a parody of those quizzes you find in those magazines like "Vogue" or "Seventeen" and those old, old etiquitte books. The right answers are obvious, but the wrong choices are ten times funnier! Edward Koren's pen-and-ink illustrations makes the book all the more funnier (or more disgusting--check out that kid who talked with his mouth full of corn), and Delia Ephron, who wrote an equally funny book about love, does magic to what could have been a really boring topic. By the looks of things today, nobody really pays attention to their manners anymore, do they? Do they?

I am shocked that this favorite is out of print. I am a children's librarian and the book is a hilarious read-aloud. I used to have two copies at my previous job, but now am searching for two more at my new library. This is because one will surely be taken and not returned. The waiting list for this one is mighty long

The fact that this book is no longer in print is just ridiculous. I own this book, and my friend and I used to spend hours with D.I.H.T.S.H.?, gagging with laughter! He kept asking where I got it, but I had to say it was out of print. Everyone should read this book. It's too good to pass up!

This book is one of the funniest which I have ever read. If you have kids, get it for them-they will enjoy it immensely. One of mine lent it to one of their friends at school. She never gave it back! It is funny while incorporating good points about manners. It is a great read, and I strongly advise you to buy it.

Over the years of working in the business consulting field, I have accumulated a huge library of book on sales, marketing, and business management. Most of them cover a very narrow aspect of running a small business and at many are a tad too theoretical.

Dan's book stands out as a comprehensive, very practical business manual. You can read it from any chapter. I find myself going back and referencing some parts of the book almost weekly. For instance, last week I reviewed the part that deals with hiring of the employees and contractors. Using that information, I changed my approach to advertising a position I needed to fill and now my Inbox is chock full of resumes and project samples from a great number of quality candidates.

Dramatic Business Growth isn't just the title it's what you will experience if you simply put a few of the techniques Dan offers in this book. It's like having your very own business growth expert whenever you need him. I highly recommend the book.

I find myself re-reading chapters when I need a new idea or strategy. I never come away disappointed.

The book doesn't offer the latest fads or trends that will soon be forgotten about. This book offers solid and practical advice that any business can use to improve their profits.

If you are serious about your business, you need to get this book.

As a direct result from Dan's insights and intuition I will easily generate an additional $150,000.00 in revenue this year. His idea's and strategies are well thought out and easy to implement.

I own two businesses and found this book easy to read
and full of practical ideas and strategies to grow my
businesses. Identifying the value of a customer and
thinking like a CEO were two ideas that have grown my
profits and allowed me to get some time off. A great
book for every business person's library.

Brian Erickson - Pacific Food Source Seattle WA

I've been a marketing consultant for a long time and have read a ton of books on the topic. Dan's book is in my "top 10" list. Anyone who takes a couple evenings to read it cannot help but find several handfuls of golden nuggets to implement immediately in their business. Whether the good times are rolling or we're in a recession, Dan's straight-to-the point expertise will help any business owner achieve the business growth he or she wants.

Finally, a clearly written, comprehensive book packed full of information to help women (and men) develop a business that will generate the kind of income all networkers dream of earning. Thank you Cynthia Stewart-Copier for writing such a helpful book!

"Cynthia Stewart-Copier has identified and outlined a pattern for success, that if followed, will give women the opportunity to break the chains of mediocrity and experience a life beyond their woldest dreams."

I loved this book! Cynthia has a great way of presenting information clearly, and at the same time motivating readers and helping us understand that it is possible to build up a substantial income through network marketing. Good job!

Copier has hit the nail on the head with Dream Big! Finally a comprehesive, no fluff book that deals with the specific issues women face while trying to manage a job, care for a family, and develop a business. Copier has outlined simple steps, when if followed with propell the reader to the heights of success that we all dream about when we first start out in network marketing. She has also included motivational stories from other successful women in the industry, proving once again, that there is room at the top for women in network marketing. Great book, for beginners and veterans alike.

The only thing wrong with this book is the title! It is definately NOT just for women. In fact, I took notes! Dream Big was a pleasure to read. From cover to cover it just flowed. The information that seemed primary at first, developed into a wealth of knowledge and easy to follow steps to launch the reader into success in network marketing. I really enjoyed the way Cynthia mixed the success stories with the tips, making this book fun to read.

This book has a fabulous variety of ways to use chicken and (just as important to me) a whole chapter of side dishes to complement them. The chapter on soups goes way beyond the standard matzah ball soup. I've definitely added a few new spices to my shelves because of this book, but a lot of the recipes work well with more standard substitutions. Every meal I've cooked using this book has received lots of ooh's and aah's.

Finally, a cookbook for all of us who love to eat chicken and have run out of handy recipes. We found lots of new ways to prepare our every day favorite food. Buy two copies and give one to a friend. We did!

This cookbook is great! The recipes in here are a nice change from same, repeated Hungarian-style recipes found in every other kosher cookbook. Although the long lists of ingredients and instructions might seem daunting to some, the recipes are not difficult, and so far, every recipe I've tried from the book has come out well.

My husband and I have spent many happy hours choosing, preparing and eating the recipes from this cookbook. This is the cookbook for anyone who doesn't think Kosher cooking is fun, delicious and diverse. You will be a convert!

A great selection of versatile recipes for excellent dishes. This ranks among a new generation of kosher cookbooks that is neither predominantly Eastern European nor relies on dairy substitutes.

Wonderful art and historical images. Delivery was prompt and the book was in great condition.

Other reviewers have done a good job of describing this and I agree with them. I'll just add that this wonderfully illustrated book really brought the memories flooding back.

Eric Sloane is known to many of us who love traditional country things as the superb and prolific American artist and author who gave us books with good words and even better drawings. Sloane was an accidental historian of that era of American life when agriculture was king. I cherish my copies of his A Museum of Early American Tools and A Reverence For Wood.

The Age of Barns was first published in 1967. I saw this 2001 version lying on a table in a friend's house and begged to borrow it. The sub-title is An Illustrated Review of Classic Barn Styles and Construction. It is more than that as it also shows silos, root cellars, springhouses, sugarhouses, corn cribs and smoke houses. Also shown are tools of barn builders, construction methods, types of ventilation systems and even hinge design.

Sloane shows the evolution of this most important structure with examples large and small and from many places. Medieval, English, German, American barns. Small and large log barns. The Appalachian overhung-loft barn built on two cribs, decorated Pennsylvania barns, a Georgia barn, a Maine barn, a Tennessee saltbox barn. Pent roofs, gambrel roofs, extended bays, threshing bays. Connecting barns, built so the farmer could do a winter day's chores without going outside.

I have known two barns intimately. The barn on our Wisconsin farm was a classic two-story bank barn built of stone on the lower level with hand-hewn posts and beams above, a cupola topping it off. The farmer whose death allowed my parents to buy the farm had been an alfalfa producer so the barn had huge mows that were filled both from the outside using a hay hook and from the inside where teams and wagons were taken straight in and through. The dairy herd was housed in the lower section next to the sixteen-foot silo. I pulled a lot of, um, teats in that barn.

The humble hillbilly barn at Heartwood in Missouri has two sections separated by a drive-through. In barns this design is called double-crib; in houses it is called a dog-trot. The construction is of hewn oak logs with half-dovetail corners. The logs are held off the ground only with loose stones, so early deterioration was inevitable. When the barn was still in pretty good shape we took a family photo one Fourth of July. My cousin and I hung the huge American flag that was hand-sewn by a grandmother for Lincoln's inauguration and we all posed in front of it on the ground.

Born in 1905, Eric Sloane died in 1985, walking to a luncheon in his honor celebrating his memoir, Eighty: An American Souvenir. His fine books will live on long after him, a legacy of focus and craftsmanship.

Sloane's books capture the romanticism of the past better than any picture books, and that is certainly true for his An Age of Barns. The beautiful line drawings range from evocative perspectives to working sections, giving you a good idea of how these barns worked. There are Shaker round barns, traditional gambrel barns, Amish barn raisings and a wide variety of outbuildings associated with the early American farmstead. He lovingly focuses on hinge details, stairs and ventilation openings. Sloane's eye never missed a detail, and for anyone who loves old barns this is the book to get.

This has some interesting history of early barns, especially those of New England. Drawings are well done, as usual. If you are interested in barns west of the Mississippi look elsewhere.