Sales Books

One would not think that a book on Marilyn Monroe by Gloria Steinem could be any good. However, this book is that and more. A picture book published in 1986, with photogrphS by George Baris, both the text and the pictures are quite good. That is a rare combination. The pictures were taken in summer, 1962 by George Barris and continue all through the book. These pictures were never shown in close to their entirety before, so that was the main reason for the existence of this book. The photographs, especially the beach ones, are some of the best ever taken of Marilyn, looking relaxed and very girlish in the last summer of her life. She does not look like she had any problems at all, much less the ones she had. The photographs did need a showcase, and this book is a more than adequate one.

The text is surpisingly good for something that was written expressly for a photo book. Usually, in those cases, the text is neither good nore relevant. Mariyln Monroe and Gloria Steinem are an unlikely combination, but that does not mean that it diod not work. It did-fabulously. Gloria Steinem does a insightful job oif writing about Marilyn's life, and who she was. Gloria Steinem, although the queen of feminists, is not overbearing here. Marilyn Monroe was no feminist, but Gloria Steinem recognizes that, and interprets Marilyn Monroe from a feminist viewpoint without going overboard. She could so easily have overdone things as Mailer did in his book. This is Marilyn in a different light, but one that suits her. The comments are enjoyable to someone who is not remotely intetested in anything feminist. This is a good book, not just a curiosity that raises eyebrows.

i loved this book "marilyn " because of the most beautiful pictures of marilyn, these pictures were the last pictures ever taken of marilyn and they show the real true beautiful person and that is norma jeane and the glamor beautiful star marilyn monroe. these pictures show two people one the shy , beautiful, loveable, true, norma jeane and the funny , glamor, beautiful, free, loving marilyn monroe, but it really shows the true norma jeane in these pictures. this book is for the marilyn fans like me, but i am more than a fan of marilyn's , marilyn is my idol my icon and she is real . i reccomened this book to whoever loves marilyn. this is a collectible. what i did not like about this book is the author gloria she says marilyn had killed herself, which i DO NOT BELIEVE , which i beleive is not true, but i ignored that , but the pictures are amazing.

This is a beautiful photo expose' of Marilyn just six short weeks of her tragic and untimely death. As the first reader/reviewer has stated, this book was written with references to the stars' sexual abuse and family history, which lead to her emotional problems dating from adolescence. Gloria Steinem wrote this work without any 'bias' to this movie legend. I found her writing to be sensitive and understanding throughout. George Barris' photographs are as beautiful and will forever be timeless images of this very remarkable screen star of the 20th century throughout the next millenium. This book should be considered a "must have" for the Monroe fan and collector.

Gloria Steinem explores Marilyn's life through an empathic and feminist perspective in one of my favorite Monroe biographies. Ms. Steinem respectfully addresses the Marilyn's life within the context of her era and retrospectively. She also addresses the impact of Marilyn's childhood sexual abuse and family history on her functioning. Marilyn would likely be proud of this intelligent, compassionate, historical and cultural treatment. I place this book in league with biographies by Carl Rollyson, Graham McCann and Fred Lawrence Guiles. Of course, the timeless photographic images by George Barris accompanying the brilliant text are refreshing, delightful and touching. Steinem truly strives to understand Marilyn, celebrate her strengths and re-evaluate her for our times. Marilyn seems "to speak" through Steinem's insights and in Barris' photographs.

Having recently read the axe-grinding Marilyn Monroe "biography" by Ted Jordan, finding this gem by Gloria Steinem (with beautiful photograhps by George Barris) was such a relief. Whether kind or unkind, most Marilyn biographers are men; it makes sense that a woman (and a feminist) would have a much different understanding of her. Steinem pays much attention to the remaining Norma Jeane personality in the grown Marilyn, a little girl who was abandoned, abused, shuffled between the orphanage and foster homes, and married off at 16. This, Steinem writes, explains much of Marilyn's troublesome behavior: she still had the insecurities of Norma Jeane, but tried to get the love she needed by being the sex symbol Marilyn.

This larger sized paperback is split into chapters, for example: "Norma Jeane," about her childhood and background, and "Work and Money, Sex and Politics" about Marilyn's battles with the Studio, her marriages, and her affairs with powerful men. Each chapter is a complete essay unto itself. And the accompanying photographs, most taken by George Barris the month before her death, show a natural, cavorting, and thoughtful Marilyn at 36 years old.

I strongly recommend this book to anyone curious about the REAL Marilyn Monroe. In truth, she had many realities, but I think that Gloria Steinem captures the most important one.

Excellent! Loved it! Marilyn was and truly is beautiful. Every Marilyn fan should purchase this book. You won't be disappointed!

These are extremely high quality photos on very nice paper. It is like having a marilyn scrap book of photographs. I was very pleased.
The paperback I have seen recently. It seems just as nice, but I bought the Hard back so nothing would get creased or bent. Favorite one so far. I am very picky.

I love Marilyn Manroe and one of my friends knew how much I loved her so she got me this book. And I loved this book it had tons of grate pictures that a marilyn lover will love or just anyone that wants to remember her in some way or another. Or just someone that collects Marilyn stuff this would me amazing to add to your collection.

This book is one of the best books on Marilyn that I have ever seen! There are so many great photos of her from the beginning of her career until the untimely end of her life. Harvey not only includes many lovely photos of Monroe, but includes little tidbits of information about Marilyn and the photos. It is written in a very eay to read manner and since the writing is mainly centered around the photos you can easily read a little bit here and there without getting completely lost. I really enjoyed this book's content and would strongly recommend it to any Marilyn fan!

I have this book and it is by far one of the best. It has beautiful images of Marilyn. It also has a lot of information on events in Marilyn's life and things that happened during the filming of her movies. If you are a fan of Marilyn Monroe, this is a must-have!

The authors have put a lot of material together to support the main message that entrepreneurs like myself seem to overlook - it's all about messaging your brand and core values to not just one audience (customers), but to many audiences (investors, operators, suppliers).

For my startup Pay Parade ([...]), this book takes the cake for wringing the most intelligence out of pricing sensitivity testing.

Keep it up and keep on turning us serial entrepreneurs into better marketers!

The tangible value of marketing is well illustrated for both the aspiring and established entrepreneur in this perceptive, well-organized textbook by Len Lodish, a Wharton marketing professor; Howard Morgan, former vice chairman of leading internet incubator Idealab, and Shellye Archambeau, chief executive of MetricStream, a company focused on compliance and governance solutions. The co-authors succinctly show how the days of marketing as a discretionary expense are obsolete, that it is as much a business driver as operational efficiency and innovative product development. Moreover, they bring to light how marketing can shape the success of not only actual products but also a company's stock and corporate image.

The book revolves around a straightforward, cross-selling matrix, which shows that every venture has three key things to sell - products/services, shares and image - to five different constituents. These constituents include customers, the one who give money in exchange for something they want, but there are separate targets identified as users who may or may not pay, investors, employees and others such as suppliers and strategic partners. Only when there is a conscious effort to address every type of constituent across the three dimensions does a company have a probable chance toward sustaining success. More often, companies focus so much on marketing the product that little effort is made in marketing, for example, the stock to the investor. Toward that end, the co-authors delve into critical questions regarding pricing and the importance of knowing why customers will pay you for a product.

They point to smart marketers like Victoria's Secret, who investigate and experiment, learning not only what competitors charge but also precisely why customers value a particular product or service. When possible, these companies try different prices and strive to charge more if their offerings have distinctive qualities valued by customers. That's how Victoria's Secret took a simple product and repositioned it as desirable, naughty female apparel and elevated the brand into a $3.2 billion-a-year business. Through adaptive experimentation, the company has significantly changed the perception people have of an already established commodity into a relatively inexpensive way for women to feel good about themselves. Looking at price by itself, according to the co-authors, is a precarious exercise, especially when the price point is well known by the public.

The natural urge to match a competitor's price has to be counterbalanced by a heightened attention to the brand and measuring its value within a marketplace that could be changing in value itself. A company that epitomizes this broader approach is Apple, which under Steve Jobs' leadership, has figured out how to build products that transcend their functionality into a direct tie-in to people's enjoyment and sense of empowerment. Renowned examples like Victoria's Secret and Apple bring home the co-authors' points about maintaining differentiation in an evolving marketplace that encompasses globalization, corporate mergers, stricter government regulations, increasing interests for "green" issues, sensitivity around privacy and security. Lodish, Morgan and Archambeau have put together a helpful marketing primer for the future.

"Marketing that Works" is a quick read that provides very valuable insight into how to properly position your company, product, services, etc... The examples that are used are both personal triumphs (and failures) of the authors as well as companies that you've probably heard of (or should have, had the companies heeded the advice in this book).

If you are thinking big, then even one small kernel of guidance from this book will pay you back in spades and more than cover the cost of the book. I am already applying some of the wisdom the book imparts to my current entrepreneurial enterprise and can see a significant difference in how I will successfully sell my product. And when I do, I expect my company to be mentioned in the Second Printing of this book.

Marketing "works" if it creates or increases demand for whatever is offered for sale, be it a product, a service, or both. Hence the importance of Peter Drucker's widely quoted observation, "If you don't have a customer, you don't have a business." In fact, you don't have (or won't have for long) a business if you don't have enough customers who purchase enough of what you offer, for a sufficient profit. In this volume, the co-authors (Leonard M. Lodish, Howard L. Morgan, and Shellye Archambeau) explain how entrepreneurial marketing can add sustainable value to any sized company. The term "entrepreneurial" refers to a mindset that stresses speed, agility, resilience, independence, unorthodox, etc. In other words, what Jay Conrad Levinson characterizes as "guerilla marketing."

The authors carefully organize and then present their material within 14 chapters whose subjects range from "Marketing-Driven Strategy to Make Extraordinary Money" to "Building Strong Brands and Strong Companies." Along the way, they help their reader to answer questions such as these:

1. Does the market segment want the perceived value that my positioning is trying to deliver more than other segments?

2. How can the segment be reached? And how quickly?

3. How big is the segment?

4. What are likely impacts of changes in relevant environmental conditions (e.g. economic conditions, lifestyle, legal regulations) on the potential response of the target segment?

5. What are current and likely competitive activities directed at the segment?

I agree with the authors that each marketing venture must answer the "what am I selling to whom, and why will they buy?" question before it can create a successful marketing strategy and plan. With regard to the term "customer-oriented marketing," the stakeholders may also include investors, supply chain/channel partners, and employees. "Each stakeholder needs a relevant value proposition on why to stay engaged with the firm. So the same concepts of segmentation and positioning apply to them."

In Chapter 9, Lodish, Morgan, and Archambeau shift their attention to an important but often neglected element of sales: marketing initiatives that help to shorten the sales cycle, increase win rates, and protect margins. Salespeople are not marketing people. They need marketing tools to support the process of selling. For example, lead generation, target customer description, product collateral (i.e. datasheets and brochures), customized presentation materials, product demonstrations, and competitive intelligence data. Lodish, Morgan, and Archambeau offer a number of practical, cost-efffective suggestions insofar as marketing tools to support the sales process are concerned.

When concluding this valuable chapter, they observe that marketing plays a crucial, but often overlooked, role in properly enabling sales success. "From identifying prospective customers through lead generation, to providing sales tools to the sales force to handle prospect objections and close deals, marketing needs to be in lock-step with sales. Marketing needs to understand the sales process to close as well as sales does. Ensuring that the right tools are created to assist sales at each step is a critical responsibility of marketing." I could not agree more.

Presumably Lodish, Morgan, and Archambeau would be among the first to agree that it would be a fool's errand to attempt to execute all of the strategies and tactics examined in their book. It remains for each reader to absorb and digest the material with meticulous care, then select those concepts that are most appropriate to the needs and objectives of her or his own organization. When completing that selection process, I consider it imperative to keep in mind that the sales mindset and the marketing mindset are quite different, and those differences must be fully understood and (yes) respected. That said, it is also imperative that - as the authors correctly insist - "marketing needs to be in lock-step with sales" to sustain effective and productive communication, cooperation, and most important of all, collaboration if both marketing and sales are to be successful.

I must confess that I have historically had a low opinion of the marketing people that I have firsthand knowledge of. They always seemed to be overstating glad-handers, over-promising to land potential customers and not really interested in learning how difficult it is to implement their promises. When I was writing code full-time, we referred to it as the "couldn't you just" condition. As in "couldn't you just put in this feature" and ignoring any rational response explaining that while the feature appears simple, it could take weeks to add it to the software. I was personally the recipient of a marketing person telling everyone how I was negatively cynical and not a team player when I strongly voiced my objections to an absurd promise that the marketer had made to a potential customer.
Therefore, it was with a great deal of skepticism that I opened this book and began reading. It did not take long before I was sold on the ideas of the authors. They reject the over-promising and blast the world nonsense that so many marketers consider the way to sell their products. Their approach is that of the entrepreneur that lacks a great deal of money for marketing, and that you must avoid an overstatement at all costs. It is better to understate and be proven wrong than overstate and be considered (or proven to be) an unreliable fool. They consider marketing to be a way to add sustainable value to the company, much like the delivery of a quality product.
If I am ever again in the situation where I am confronting a marketing person who values unjustified hype over honest accuracy, I will give them a copy of this book, ask that they read it and then offer to discuss it with them.

This book is full of great advice for marketing your business through seminars and speeches. If you can not find this version, the 2004 India Published version is available on amazon.co.uk site and is the same except it has deleted the Resource section from pages 148-154.

Marketing with Speeches and Seminars is a comprehensive, clearly written, easy-to-follow manual for anyone who wants to sell their products/services through this medium. Everything you need to know is in the book. I plan to keep my copy on a nearby bookshelf for ready reference. by the author of The Perfect Business

In an easy-to-read style, Miriam Otte shows how to turn your expertise into marketing power for your business, and generate a continuous stream of cusotmers. Here's all you need to know to talk your way to business success. Even the terminally shy will find that marketing has never been easier -- or more fun! by Small Business Expert and Author of Working Solo

Editorial Review. Miriam Ott has done nonfiction authors a huge favor with this authoritative book. Long known as an effective vehicle for marketing books, speeches and seminars are now easy to prepare and deliver. Most nonfiction authors are experts in their fields of study, but not all nonfiction authors are educated to give presentations. Miriam Ott gives authors the tools they need to become self-educated and add an excellent profit center to their information sales. Highly recommended, especially for authors self-help and how-to titles. The National Association of Independent Publishers endorses Marketing with Speeches and Seminars, and Betsy Lampe highly recommends it. -- Betsy Lampe, Publisher's Report (NAIP)

Miriam reaches a hand out and offers direction, helpful advice, and best of all, very specific details on how to get the job done well. I would recommend this book to any small business owner. by the author of Honey, I Want to Start My Own Business: A Planning Guide for Couples

I was home at my parents house recently for a wedding of a friend. In searching for a t-shirt to wear in my sisters closet I came across a box of books she had used for a children's literature course. Among them was this book. I instantly remembered it being one of the very first books I learned to read on my own. For hours I would read this book over and over pretending I was the little boy in the book being scrubbed by all the different stations. I was so happy to find the book that I immediately grabbed it and put it in my suitcase. I can't wait to for my son to learn to read, I'm sure it will be his favorite as well!!

This was my favorite book when I was a kid back in the 70's. I purchased this for my 5 year old nephew who is learning to read. He likes it too. While the words are repetitive, it reinforces what he is learning as he reads. The pictures are the best part and it is fascinating to see this boy with his mud washing machine contraption, getting cleaned up for dinner. He truly enjoys it and I think it is his favorite too.

I have looked for this book for years, it was one of my favorites as a child. I would definately recommend it to any reader, young or old. It brings forth the imagination and carries the reader back to those delightful days when getting dirty was all that mattered.

I have looked for this book for years. My mother use to read this book to my brother, sister and me. Now that I have a two year old daughter, I wanted to share with her this wonderful book. This book is great for boys and girls. It is worth spending money on, because it can be passed down through the years. Beautiful Marvelous Mud!

This is a book that I enjoyed as a kid. It is the perfect book for a young reader. If you are lucky enough to come across this book it is a definite good deal. Any child would love to read of the boys love of mud and his amazing washing machine. With so few words and the constant repetition it is child friendly.

This is such a great song to sing and the book is a fun accompaniment, as well as the CD.
These types of books are great to bring in the car for some family fun time!

This is such a great book. I've used it with many many preschoolers and children, and the remark I always get is "again, again"...

I bought this book for my nephew and the entire family has enjoyed his singing the pages, he had it memorized in no time and he is only 2 years old!!! I would recommend this book to anyone with young children, not just for their enjoyment but for the entire family.

I remember reading this book back in kindergarten and the first grade. It was the first book I ever learned to read. I loved this book so much that I read it until I had it memorized. It's too bad the original cover is not printed in this edition. I'm going to pass this one down to my cousin, Adam, whose only 4. Hopefully, we can continue the tradition so this will be his first book he ever learns to read.

The younger loves the beautiful pictures and singing along. The older loves looking for all the little details in the pictures. They both love substituting the names of the characters for their own friends' names! Both learned their colors through this book without realizing what they were actually doing. This is one book I don't mind reading over and over.

There are many consultants in the financial services industry who can help you. However, very few are also actively producing themselves. Derrick Kinney is one of them. He writes from experience and by following his ideas, you will master the media and build an impenetrable brand in your market. Read the book. Implement the ideas. Take good care of your clients. If you follow those three steps, your business will soar.

I've been a financial planner for eighteen years and have read a lot of books on developing business. Master The Media is, hands-down, the best I've read. After, implementing Derrick's ideas I had a half-page article written about me, several short pieces in the 'Professionals on the Move' section of the paper, and a TV appearance in studio. More importantly, this has resulted in new clients and several calls for appointments. Derrick not only provides everything a financial planner needs to break into the media but he also has excellent chapters on how to land and maintain the new high net worth clients you get from your PR work. His methods have become one of the main ways I will market my firm.

Bill Garrett, CFP®, CEA®, CCPS

When done correctly, public relations can have an enormous positive impact on your business. Derrick Kinney's new book, "Master the Media to Attract Your Ideal Clients" is THE book to help you dramatically increase your income. I highly recommend it!

Derrick Kinney shares his marketing brilliance throughout this invaluable resource. This book is packed with creative, sensible and straightforward "action point" strategies that demonstrate how to master your local media right now. For the professional that desires maximum exposure, this is a must read!

As a senior business consultant, keeping in tune with business literature is a must. Rarely is a release worthy of such accolades. Derrick Kinney has written a literary masterpiece. Mr. Kinney's approach is clear, concise, and an absolute must read for those businesses attempting to master their media presence. Mr. Kinney's savvy approach for the financial professional is multi-dimensional, yet not weighed down in its intellectual approach. His personal success is a testament to this full proof strategy of mastering the media. This book is not a "must read," it is "required reading."

Admiral Semmes allows us to truly feel the times and to touch our hearts with Southern pride and honor.

The only bad thing I can say about this book is that on a very few occasions Semmes tends to get into some scholarly explanations about natural phenomena that, while interesting, slow the pace of the reading some.

Otherwise, Semmes tells of his adventures on the high seas with clarity and wit. The book's first few chapters give his legally sound (Semmes was also a lawyer) justifications of the Southern case for secession and his participation in the preparation for equipping a navy from practically nothing.

The Alabama's defeat of the iron-plated USS Hatteras and the final battle with the USS Kearsarge are there in detail in addition to the tale of her very successful commerce raiding upon the civilian commerce of the North.

Contrary to the rabid Northern newspapers of the time, Semmes reveals himself and his officers to be the gentlemanly knights of the high seas in stark contrast to the conniving Federal consuls who, in nearly every port, attempted to foil the Confederate sailors' coaling and supplying of the ship despite international maritime law that allowed it.

Semmes most effectively fought the mercantile world empire of the Union, all the while working within the confines of maritime law. (The few actions of his that were officially disputed were eventually settled in his favour.) This, again, is in contrast to the Federal navy that, under Welles' and Seward's leadership, played the bully and ignored international law when it was inconvenient.

The CSS Alabama (along with a few other CS ships) virtually shut down the US merchant marine -- a blow from which it never fully recovered. His fight with the Kearsarge proved to be the last best use of a ship that was otherwise bound to be blockaded in port by the Federal navy (that proved itself remarkably inept, apparently cowardly, and negligent in its mission to stop Semmes).

I found this book to be a refreshing insight into the exploits of one of the most interesting naval men of his era. Semmes comes across as a man that prizes duty to his beliefs as the soul motivation to his actions. This dispels any of the myth that he was a pirate as often historicaly believed.While many pages are devoted to navigation and tidal patterns,which can be a bit boring to the non-seaman, the book is excellent overall.

In another life Semmes might have been a poet or artist. Circumstances forced him to become the greatest seaman in the 19th century. I have read from an independant source that Kaiser Wilhelm insisted his high ranking officers read this book in preperation for the First World War. The Norths hypocracy is shameful. This book is by far the greatest review written by anyone on either side of the war. Sadly political correctness has kept Semmes greatness buried at this point.

The book begins with an arguement for states rights which history has failed to record as the primary cause of the civil war. He goes into a detailed analysis of his beliefs and he reflects the thinking of his times. His story then goes into detail of his exploits as the greatest privateer in the history of naval warfare. Had he been on the winning side his name would be mentioned in the same breath as Grant and Sherman. Can anyone name one US naval officer that served in the civil war? His story takes the reader from Annapolis to New Orleans to the South Pacific to Gibraltar and to the final demise of the CSS Alabama off the coast of France. His tale explains his actions and defends them with an indepth look at maritime law. He explains the laws involved with a detail and style that makes it easy for anyone to understand. His story should not be allowed to fade into past. It is something from a terrible time that should be looked at by naval officers today. He is a man to be honored, not cast away as a pirate

Being both a history buff and having grown up and lived in Miami for 20 years, I could certainly appreciate the spirit of this book. Miami is currently synonymous in popular media and culture with clubs and partying, sexy people and celebrities, and hip shops (even though this image is more descriptive of Miami Beach and South Beach rather than the city of Miami itself). Despite it being a relatively young city, though, it is still rich in its own history and thankfully this book goes beyond the present glossy, superficial party image of the city and transports the reader back to a simpler and more wholesome time. This is Miami how its founders and earliest residents knew it. Most of the "before" pictures date from the 20's and 30's, and it is really fascinating to see how things have changed. As I said, I grew up in Miami and there are places shown in the book that I never even knew existed, such as the Scottish Rite Masonic Temple and the Coral Gables Rock House. I am glad that the author explores not only downtown Miami and Miami Beach, but devotes pages of photos to other neighborhoods around Miami such as Coral Gables, Coconut Grove, Little Havana, and even Opa Locka and Hialeah (being a Hialeah native myself, I would have liked to see more than just the one picture of the racetrack, but that is my own personal bias). While the book is certainly complete, I feel maybe too many pages were devoted to certain places, such as Coral Gables and Coconut Grove for example, and perhaps some of that coverage could have been reduced and made room for other places to be shown. I am glad that the author explores little known places familiar to residents and not just the touristy areas that visitors would know, but on the other hand, some of these are a little too obscure and I would have also liked to have seen what was in some of those touristy areas, such as Bayside, the zoo, major malls, etc. Just because of those little complaints I give the book four stars, but if you don't care about these, then this might as well be 5 stars and it is still a highly recommended book.

Having grown up in Miami, I found the book particularly interesting. The pictures were excellent. I thought the captions could have been a bit more informative.

Execellent book - highly recommended, but get down here and see for yourself - what's happening to the Miami is magical and really a golden opportunity for all. Over the next few years Miami's Skyline will be transformed as builders and investors seek billions in pre-construction investments to turn the city into a the epicenter of the region.


http://realestate.1stmiami.com

If you have lived in Miami or have an affinity toward Miami, this is a must-have book. Few people in Miami like Arva Moore Parks have taken the time to document the City's rich history as the fastest-growing metropolis in the United States over the last 100 years. The "then and now" photos offer splendid matches, with interesting and informative historical notes in the caption. Great coffee-table book too!

I was born and reared in Miami, the fourth generation of my Pioneer South Florida family. I was delighted with this book, it brought back so many memories.

The old photographs are gems, and the descriptions well written and informative. I enjoyed the "then" pictures with the "now", in some instances they are almost unbelievable, the Coconut Grove Womens Club little Club House which I went to frequently is a good example, long may it survive!

If I only owned one book on Radio it would be this one. I originally bought it because we were working with a mortgage client and I quickly realized that this was not just a mortgage radio book.

As a regular writer of radio copy and buyer of radio time for clients, I'm typically skeptical of "how to do radio" books in general, they are mostly rehashed information wtih little relevancy. But not this book.

There is so much valuable information on story development, proper use of copy for radio, scheduling, ad development, production and little techniques that will make any ad come alive in a way that makes buyers buy. I'm a little bummed the title says Mortgage Radio since truly this is a radio copywriter's secret weapon . . . not matter what the product.

Blaine's easy to read style is humorous and instructive at the same time. I read the book twice because it contained so many great ideas. The second time, I took four pages of notes.

I found chapters 13 & 14 to be worth the whole price of the book alone.

This will definately be the single best addition you can make to your radio library.

I bought the cd because I wanted to get the information right away and some other reviews made it seem that the book took awhile to be delivered. The information is great. I sell radio and I totally agree with what he is saying. Before selling radio I used to buy it as the owner of a small chain of retail store. I wish I had read this book then. Radio sales people can be very confusing and no matter what station they sell for they seem to have a stat that proves they are number one. As a buyer I never knew what was a good strategy and was at the mercy of my rep. The information contained in here really does make sense and helps cut through the confusing clutter that we sales people bring.

Even though I sell radio I still approach all buys as if it was my small business. His point about owning a daypart even if it's a small audience is exactly what I had been discussing with my colleagues. I did a study in my market and found that by running an overnight schedule compared to a prime schedule as he suggested resulted in reaching 55% of the reach (radio term) but at only 12% of the cost and my frequency was huge. I guess more than anything his information validated what I had been saying. Read the book or listen to the CD's and you could apply the message to many other industries other than Mortgages. This is another book that hits the same point The 33 Ruthless Rules of Local Advertising

Don't spend money on radio without it, even though it may take a while for the book to get to you. A must-read.

Radio advertising is a hidden goldmine to those relative few who know how to use it.

Blaine Parker knows how. He's made fortunes for his "loan originator" clients. He's one of the best copywriters in the business.

Radio advertising is my business, and Parker knows more about creating profit-producing radio advertising for mortgage brokers than anyone I know (myself included).

This book would be a bargain at ten times the price.

First, the caveat. I'm an account rep for radio, and I find that Mr. Parker is a little bit hard on us as a group. True, he has a sense of humor about it, and he doesn't vilify all of us. Only the order takers. But if you're a radio person, know that going in. If you're a mortgage person, know that many of us are not the Neanderthal browed cretins he describes.



The book is easy to read, very nuts & bolts, it exhibits a sense of humor, and is likely to seem too simplistic to work. In reality, I'm starting to wonder of other advertising books are just too complicated.



This book actually helped close my first mortgage client. Using Parker's formula, we determined a position and developed a core message and wouldn't you know it: the phone started ringing almost immediately.



But there was a problem: my client couldn't close any of them. We were targeting a well-defined borrower group with a relevant message, and those people were calling. But my client wasn't competitive enough, and none of the deals were panning out.



We re-tooled the message, went after a sub-prime borrower with consumer debt challenges, and wow: in one week, he's closing six deals, one on a million-dollar property, the others around a half million. I don't know exactly what he makes on these loans, but I can guess that his return on investment is already around 1,000%.



And another reviewer said that this book could be used for radio advertising in general. I agree completely, and I'm about to adapt these "Million-Dollar Mortgage" methods for a medical client who is having serious challenges with the advertising message he's insisted on running for so long.