General Books

Yes!: 50 Scientifically Proven Ways to Be Persuasive

Noah J. Goldstein, Steve J. Martin, Robert B. Cialdini

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 75 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Small changes can make a big difference in your powers of persuasion

What one word can you start using today to increase your persuasiveness by more than fifty percent?

Which item of stationery can dramatically increase people's responses to your requests?

How can you win over your rivals by inconveniencing them?

Why does knowing that so many dentists are named Dennis improve your persuasive prowess?

Every day we face the challenge of persuading others to do what we want. But what makes people say yes to our requests? Persuasion is not only an art, it is also a science, and researchers who study it have uncovered a series of hidden rules for moving people in your direction. Based on more than sixty years of research into the psychology of persuasion, Yes! reveals fifty simple but remarkably effective strategies that will make you much more persuasive at work and in your personal life, too.

Cowritten by the world's most quoted expert on influence, Professor Robert Cialdini, Yes! presents dozens of surprising discoveries from the science of persuasion in short, enjoyable, and insightful chapters that you can apply immediately to become a more effective persuader. Why did a sign pointing out the problem of vandalism in the Petrified Forest National Park actually increase the theft of pieces of petrified wood? Why did sales of jam multiply tenfold when consumers were offered many fewer flavors? Why did people prefer a Mercedes immediately after giving reasons why they prefer a BMW? What simple message on cards left in hotel rooms greatly increased the number of people who behaved in environmentally friendly ways?

Often counterintuitive, the findings presented in Yes! will steer you away from common pitfalls while empowering you with little known but proven wisdom.

Whether you are in advertising, marketing, management, on sales, or just curious about how to be more influential in everyday life, Yes! shows how making small, scientifically proven changes to your approach can have a dramatic effect on your persuasive powers.

The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference

Malcolm Gladwell

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 933 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

"The best way to understand the dramatic transformation of unknown books into bestsellers, or the rise of teenage smoking, or the phenomena of word of mouth or any number of the other mysterious changes that mark everyday life," writes Malcolm Gladwell, "is to think of them as epidemics. Ideas and products and messages and behaviors spread just like viruses do." Although anyone familiar with the theory of memetics will recognize this concept, Gladwell's The Tipping Point has quite a few interesting twists on the subject.

For example, Paul Revere was able to galvanize the forces of resistance so effectively in part because he was what Gladwell calls a "Connector": he knew just about everybody, particularly the revolutionary leaders in each of the towns that he rode through. But Revere "wasn't just the man with the biggest Rolodex in colonial Boston," he was also a "Maven" who gathered extensive information about the British. He knew what was going on and he knew exactly whom to tell. The phenomenon continues to this day--think of how often you've received information in an e-mail message that had been forwarded at least half a dozen times before reaching you.

Gladwell develops these and other concepts (such as the "stickiness" of ideas or the effect of population size on information dispersal) through simple, clear explanations and entertainingly illustrative anecdotes, such as comparing the pedagogical methods of Sesame Street and Blue's Clues, or explaining why it would be even easier to play Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon with the actor Rod Steiger. Although some readers may find the transitional passages between chapters hold their hands a little too tightly, and Gladwell's closing invocation of the possibilities of social engineering sketchy, even chilling, The Tipping Point is one of the most effective books on science for a general audience in ages. It seems inevitable that "tipping point," like "future shock" or "chaos theory," will soon become one of those ideas that everybody knows--or at least knows by name. --Ron Hogan

The New Rules of Marketing and PR: How to Use News Releases, Blogs, Podcasting, Viral Marketing and Online Media to Reach Buyers Directly

David Meerman Scott

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 106 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

The Internet has profoundly changed the way people communicate and interact with each other. But it has also changed the way businesses communicate with their customers (and those who they want to be customers). In the old days, companies could only communicate through the filter of expensive advertising or media ink placed by a PR firm. Today the rules have changed entirely.

The New Rules of Marketing and PR shows you how to leverage the potential that Web-based communication offers your business. Finally, you can speak directly to customers and buyers, establishing a personal link with the those who make your business work. You can reach niche buyers with targeted messages that cost a fraction of your big-budget ad campaign. Rather than bombard them with advertising they’ll likely ignore, you can focus on getting the right message to the right people at the right time.

When people visit your company’s Web site, they aren’t there to hear your slogan or see your logo again. They want information, interaction, and choice—and you’d be a fool not to give it to them. This one-of-a-kind guide to the future of marketing includes a step-by-step action plan for harnessing the power of the Internet, showing you how to identify audiences, create compelling messages, get those messages to the right people, and lead those consumers into the buying process. Including a wealth of compelling case studies and real-world examples, this is a practical guide to the new reality of PR and marketing.

Influence: Science and Practice (5th Edition)

Robert B. Cialdini

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 126 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Seven good ideas over-worked poorly presented 2 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

I did not buy the book to find out how to schnook the unsuspecting, but that's pretty much what I learned. Or learned a -bit- of. After reading Woodward and Denton's far superior Persuasion & Influence in American Life, Cialdini's work seems like densely worded overkill attempting to concretize a mere seven worthwhile, but very simple concepts.

These seven concepts could have easily been dealt with in a magazine article: 1) Conditioned, co-dependent, people-pleasing "reciprocation;" 2) post-purchase "committment" to fend off cognitive dissonance; 3) peer-conscious, approval-seeking, run-with-the-pack "social proof" in place of actual evidence; 4) acquiescence to seduction or "liking the friendly thief;" 5) socially conditioned acceptance of "authority;" 6) anxiety-driven fear of "scarcity" (or not getting what we want because we think it won't be available "next time"); and 7) the "instant influence" created by informational overwhelm and perceived lack of time or resources to examine the evidence for and against a decision.

If Cialdini dealt with these at such length with concrete examples that were more easily grasped, I might have given this -three- stars, but his writing style is so opaque, it flows like molasses in winter on the south shore of Lake Ontario. Hey! It's cheap, but even so, I'm scratcing my head as to why "over one million copies [have been] sold!" ...unless most of them were bought by used car salesmen, stock brokers, real estate agents and telephone solicitors.

Editorial Review:

Influence: Science and Practice is an examination of the psychology of compliance (i.e. uncovering which factors cause a person to say “yes” to another's request).

Written in a narrative style combined with scholarly research, Cialdini combines evidence from experimental work with the techniques and strategies he gathered while working as a salesperson, fundraiser, advertiser, and in other positions inside organizations that commonly use compliance tactics to get us to say “yes.” Widely used in classes, as well as sold to people operating successfully in the business world, the eagerly awaited revision of Influence reminds the reader of the power of persuasion.

Cialdini organizes compliance techniques into six categories based on psychological principles that direct human behavior: reciprocation, consistency, social proof, liking, authority, and scarcity.

The Now Habit: A Strategic Program for Overcoming Procrastination and Enjoying Guilt-Free Play

Neil Fiore

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 94 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

The "unschedule" is the best day planner ever 5 out of 5 stars.
7 of 7 people found this review helpful.

Please stop beating yourself up long enough to read this book. I have gotten more done on languishing projects in less time and had much more fun in my life since applying the "Unschedule" instead of my former process that began with an impossible to-do list followed by a day of procrastination and an evening of regret and guilt (sound like fun?). This is a new way of thinking about planning your time that not only works but makes you enjoy your time more. If you have any guilt over things you haven't done (calling all writers!) read this book and take a sigh of relief.

Editorial Review:

Originally published by Tarcher in 1988, The Now Habit has sold more than 58,000 copies, and is as relevant as ever!

Author Neil Fiore offers the first comprehensive strategy to overcome the causes of procrastination and to eliminate its deleterious effects. His techniques will help any busy person get more things done more quickly, without the anxiety and stress brought on by failure to meet the workplace's pressing deadlines.

This revised, redesigned edition includes a new introduction and a section that provides strategies to understand and deal with the complex role technology plays in procrastination today.

Guerrilla Marketing, 4th edition: Easy and Inexpensive Strategies for Making Big Profits from Your SmallBusiness

Jay Conrad Levinson

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 28 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Not Exactly...... 2 out of 5 stars.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful.

On page five, bullet point three: Mr. Levinson states, "Traditional marketing is geared toward big business.... The soul and spirit of guerrilla marketing - is small business: companies with big dreams and tiny budgets." However that was not my experience reading this book. Instead he seemed to promote laborious and expensive marketing tactics. I thought I was going to be reading a book about low / no-cost, surprise attacks, launched in the dead of night with no warning. Instead what I read was kind of stale, old school stuff.

For example; Chapter 3, The Sixteen Monumental Secrets of Guerrilla Marketing, starts with the sentence, "If you're a guerrilla, these sixteen secrets are not secret to you at all." OK, then why am I reading this book? Then the secrets end up being more general philosophy rather than tactics, such as commitment, investment, consistent, confident, patient, assortment, subsequent, etc., etc. In my opinion, he spent too much time making things rhyme and not enough into research into successful low / no-cost product launches or common themes and marketing techniques that sky-rocketed the success of the Zero to Two-Hundred-Mile-an-Hour companies. That's what I call a 600 pound Marketing GUERRILLA.

The chapter on MiniMedia Marketing was mildly interesting but nothing new as of the fall of 2007.

Then you have MaxiMedia and everything here costs some big bucks, sorry Jay I'll pass..

I'm not going to say that this book is without merit; it has good stuff in it if you haven't been in the sales and marketing business very long. It's a book that the novice can learn a good deal from, but more and more the younger aggressive person learns most of these things on the go and has picked up 90% of this stuff in a year or two in the business. If you are just starting or are unfamiliar with sales and marketing; then by all means get this book and dive in. However, the title Guerrilla Marketing implies something completely different to me than a book of general principles and tactics on the subject of marketing.

Editorial Review:

When Guerrilla Marketing was first published in 1983, Jay Levinson revolutionized marketing strategies for the small-business owner with his take-no-prisoners approach to finding clients. Based on hundreds of solid ideas that really work, Levinson's philosophy has given birth to a new way of learning about market share and how to gain it. In this completely updated and expanded fourth edition, Levinson offers a new arsenal of weaponry for small-business success including

* strategies for marketing on the Internet (explaining when and precisely how to use it)

* tips for using new technology, such as podcasting and automated marketing

* programs for targeting prospects and cultivating repeat and referral business

* management lessons in the age of telecommuting and freelance employees

Guerrilla Marketing is the entrepreneur's marketing bible -- and the book every small-business owner should have on his or her shelf.

Little Red Book of Selling: 12.5 Principles of Sales Greatness

Jeffrey Gitomer

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 113 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Little Red Book Review 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

This book is well written! I love it! I'd read anything from this author. The illustrations make the book easy and fun to read.

Written for those who have attention deficits? 1 out of 5 stars.
0 of 1 people found this review helpful.

I sent this book back. It is written in bullet points and different types of fonts and in bold. It seemed to be yelling out car salesmen pitches. Good for those with attention deficits?

Activity Management is Dead 1 out of 5 stars.
0 of 1 people found this review helpful.

I read the first line of the most recent review of this book and that is all it took for me to decide how I would explain what is wrong with this book. The reviewer said the book would help you make those 10 additional sales calls in a given day. This is old school thinking and so is this book. This is the very reason many people dislike sales people. They waste your time. Modern sales is about thinking first. Thinking where you fit. Thinking where you bring value. Thinking specifically what that value is. Then stay there. By doing that, you will no longer allow yourself to think of success as making 10 more sales calls in a day. It's about results. Count results, not sales calls or hours. "Did you get it done?" is all that matters. I'd rather make one meaningful call with a prospect that I know provides me with a ninty percent chance of success than 100 calls, hoping I'll find one opportunity for success. And this also is the key to work-life balance.

Editorial Review:

Salespeople hate to read. That's why Little Red Book of Selling is short, sweet, and to the point. It's packed with answers that people are searching for in order to help them make sales for the moment--and the rest of their lives.

The 29% Solution: 52 Weekly Networking Success Strategies

Ivan Misner, Michelle R. Donovan

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 36 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Sucess is just a phone call away. 5 out of 5 stars.
8 of 8 people found this review helpful.

In Ivan Misner's comprehensive guide The 29% Solution: 52 Weekly Networking Success Strategies he answers the question eery entrepreneur needs to know.

* Learn networking goals
* Managing time
* Separating clients
* Team recruting
* Putting others first
* Creating a networking database
* Meeting people who are in the know
* and more

But most importantly it teaches you in a common sense fashion and the importance of networking all laid out in a simple step-by-step manner that will get the most out of your business.

Editor of the highly recommended novel: Fates by Georgiou Tino: Best of 2008

Editorial Review:

In many ways, success at networking is the uncommon application of common knowledge. Most people understand that networking is important to their success--they just lack a step-by-step process to get the results they want. Almost no one really implements a comprehensive methodology that will build a business through networking. Thus, the need to network is 'common knowledge,' and the development of the methodology required to be successful at it is the 'uncommon application.'

By reading this book, you will experience the true essence and meaning of networking. The 29% Solution gives you the answers to two conflicting questions that a business owner or salesperson faces every day: How can I tend to my existing clients while at the same time network for new business? and, Should I place higher value on my current clients or on new clients?

Marketing Management (13th Edition) (Marketing Management)

Philip Kotler, Kevin Keller

Amazon Price: $130.67 List Price: $173.33 By: Prentice Hall Amazon Marketplace: 72 new & used starting at $89.00

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 8 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

New Edition Marketing text book 3 out of 5 stars.
0 of 1 people found this review helpful.

I purchased this book because it was required text book for my MBA class. It was well written and have many useful information there. The case studies are very informative.

Best Prices on Textbooks!!! 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

Best prices on textbooks!!! Will defintely buy all my textbooks on Amazon!!! Received when promised!

good but not great 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

This book tries to cram too much into each chapter, often breezing over incredibly deep topics in a way that is only confusing.

For instance, one chapter on data analysis mentions linear regression but doesn't speak at all to what it is. If I had not taking a Quant course recently I would have been completely lost.

This seems to happen the most frequently at the ends of chapters. It seems as if they cover all the main points and then Kotler et. al try to cram all their other little notes and tidbits into overly dense paragraphs just before concluding.

Also if you're a student who has to take the accompanying tests created by Prentiss Hall, expect the questions to come literally word for word from the test, rather than asking concept questions. I felt like I was back in gradeschool.

On the plus side, the book constantly gives breakout examples of the topic being discussed as applied in real life to actual businesses. Where many texts would continually reference the same handful of examples, the companies featured in this book vary widely in size, industry, and other features, giving a good, broad look at marketing as a whole, not just in the US but globally.

Editorial Review:

Kotler/Keller is the gold standard in the marketing management discipline because it continues to reflect the latest changes in marketing theory and practice.

Topics covered include brand equity, customer value analysis, database marketing, e-commerce, value networks, hybrid channels, supply chain management, segmentation, targeting, positioning, and integrated marketing communications.

For marketing professionals who place special emphasis to creativity and imagination in marketing management.