800-CEO-READ Blog

Penguin starts blogging

Publishing company Penguin has started a Typepad blog called The Penguin Blog. They are only two entries in, but it will be interesting to see how these media company blogs play out. I think most agree that the typical reader has no idea what publishers they are reading. Will this help readers find their books?

Update: Two quick things...this is Penguin UK doing the blogging and they have been podcasting since October 2005.

Citizen Innovation

HBS Working Knowledge has a Q&A with HBS professor Carliss Baldwin. She has been doing work on the citizen innovation with Eric von Hippel and Christopher Hienerth. I think the piece has some interesting things to say the idea of user innovation. These three looked at the sport of rodeo kayaking and studied the evolution of equipment. I think most interesting is the inflection point where innovation is tapped out by the user community and companies enter the market and drive down costs.

If you are interested in the topic, I would also point you to the ChangeThis manifesto written by Eric von Hippel titled Citizen Innovator.

Get Back In The Box - Know Your Business Better

I have a pile of books that sits on my desk that I promise myself I will get to. Doug Rushkoff's Get Box In The Box has been there for awhile. I finally picked it up and liked what I found. Rushkoff is a little long winded in getting to his points, but I think it is worth your time. I am going to share some of the stories from the book in a series of posts.

This first topic of interest is the idea of knowing your business in deep and powerful way. This is really where the title of the book comes from. Rushkoff says companies are wasting their time looking for the next thing. What they need to spend time on what they are already doing and know it better than anyone else. He compares XM to Sirius and how they came to market.

While Sirius inappropriately applies the generic, out of the box strategies of other businesses to the specific case of a new technology and market, XM got back in the box to reinvent both radio and the business model surrounding it from the inside out.

Although Sirius was the first in space, first to IPO, and first to market, it quickly lagged behind its upstart rival, XM. The reasons are clear. While an impatient Sirius made the mistake of farming out its chip design to Lucent spin-off Agere Systems, XM assembled an in-house team of former Motorola engineers and steamed ahead. Without direct access to, or even knowledge of, their own research and development, Sirius suffering incapacitating production delays. XM, on the other hand, made its technologists central to the business and ended up innovating over and over again. And despite Wall Street's predictions that XM would forever lag Sirius, it actually made it onto the air almost a full year earlier.

XM didn't stop there. It pioneered the SKYfi boombox, MYfi personal receivers, and a variety of new distribution channels for satellite, including commercial jets and Internet streaming. XM's in-house technologists also gave it the ability to make its single best business move to date: a partnership to install XM-capable radios in General Motors and Honda vehicles. Marrying technology development with innovative business strategy, XM CEO Hugh Panero invited automakers to be part owners of the company, making them stakeholders in creating the success of XM. Panero's willingness to reconfigure XM's billing and accounting departments to mesh seamlessly with GM's (And why not? They're just spreadsheets!) was what ultimately won over the auto giant. Using similar strategies, SM has made deals to pipe its music into Starbucks, and has even convinced Microsoft to embed XM into its new Mediaplayer. Of course, knowing how your technology works makes you much more capable of imagining what your technology can do.

This lines up with the thoughts of Chris Zook in Profiting from the Core and Beyond The Core. Companies never tap out the possibilities of their core business and are instead in too much of a hurry to do something different. These efforts end in failure the majority of the time. Rushkoff points out that if you know your knitting, the possibilities are endless.

(I'll be posting on the book all week, so stay tuned...)

Lulu Blooker Prize Back

Lulu is again doing the Blooker Prize. This contest is devoted to "blooks"--books based on websites such as blogs and webcomics. This year the top prize is $10,000 and the two top category winners each get $2,500. The deadline for entry is January 15th, 2007.

Truth and Fiction in the Business World

Fortune has a blurb on two books in their Business Life section (pg 190, 7/31/2006).

They recommend The Futurist by James Othmer. Dan Pink was telling me about this book at BEA back in May. Othmer is a Young & Rubicam exec and writes about a fictional corporate guru who suddenly realizes everything he has been saying is hogwash.

The second book is The Accidental Investment Banker by Jonathan Knee. The review claims the intrigue and drama of 24 told through the true stories of his ten years at Goldman and Morgan Stanley.

Tom Peters' Management Book of the Century

If you follow Tom Peters, you know you'll get alot of big statements and exclamation marks.

Peters has declared Adams vs Jefferson: The Tumultous Election of 1800 his management book of the century.

"The point of the title of the Post and thus the anointment of the Adams-Jefferson book is that it is the clearest snapshot-recitation of this raging war over the distribution of power, the nature of man and the effectiveness of enterprises that I've ever read. The author also manages to keep the tension high, Clancy-like even. Though I know my history, at this point, two-thirds of the way through the book, I'm not sure whether Jefferson, following an apparent, paper-thin electoral victory, will be allowed to take office as the terrified "centralists" (Federalists, remember) struggle, somewhat akin to 2000, to retain their hold on, even then, the presidency and Principal Seat of Power."

I'll let you read the whole post to get his full excitement over the book.

Quick Quote #1 - The Box in the Media

From time to time, we'll post quotes from authors who get quoted in the media.

"The container came at a time when everyone in America was concerned about automation, not just on the docks. The thing that was unusual about the longshoremen was that they got compensation for the loss of their jobs, which most people in the economy did not."

Marc Levinson, author of The Box: How the Shipping Container Made the World Smaller and the World Economy Bigger quoted in How Longshoremen Keep Global Wind At Their Backs: As Trade Soars, Union Workers Prosper by Staying Up With Technological Change; Threat of a Day Without Ports (WSJ, 7/26/04).

Jack and Suzy with new book in fall

I forgot to mention Jack and Suzy Welch have a new book out in October.

I found it a little funny given the Fortune cover story.

It is going to be titled "Winning: The Answers" and published by Collins.

[I am not making that up.]

Anderson responds to WSJ Column

Chris Anderson responds to Lee Gomes' column [sub. needed] directly with a post on The Long Tail blog.

Kawasaki on The Long Tail

I think Guy Kawasaki has written one of best posts on The Long Tail. He is very complementary of the book, and lays out clearly the conditions that have to exist in your market for Long Tail economics to take effect.

It is a Must Read - The Wrong Tale: A Checklist for Long-Tail Implementations.

A little more on The Long Tail

The Wall Street Journal continues to publish commentary from folks who question The Long Tail. For the book review of The Long Tail [sub. needed], they tapped Steven Zeitchik of Variety magazine. He believes that Anderson does a good job of describing the existence of the Long Tail, but fails in convincing him of the effects it is going to have on media.

Lee Gomes today questions if The Long Tail even exists [sub. needed]. He follows up with Anderson and some of Anderson's sources and find that hits still matter. He uses the Amazon data to show that 2.7% of Amazon's titles account for 75% of their revenues.

Gomes completely misses the point. The shape of a power law curve (which describes many things in nature including distribution of cities' populations and species' sizes) is tall at the beginning. American Idol, Star Wars, and some version of N'Sync will always exist.

The point is the Tail and how the Tail is getting longer. 25% of Amazon's sales come from books you could not find in a retail store. These are sales that would not have existed, period. What is economically viable has changed and will continue to change with more aggregation of demand and digitization of content. Also important will be filtering tools that get you to finding the good content.

Fortune Says Welch Is All Wet

I am two weeks late on this story, but I thought there might be three of you who haven't heard it.

The Fortune cover story for July 31st is titled Sorry, Jack! : Welch's Rules for Winning Don't Work Anymore (But We've Got 7 New Ones That Do).

The business magazine says that the principles that worked for Welch during his tenure at GE and that are the basis for enormously popular books (most recent being Winning) don't work anymore.

Here is the breakdown:

Old Rule	New Rule
Big Dogs Own the street.	Agile is best; being big can bite you.
Be #1 or #2 in your market.	Find a niche, create something new.
Shareholders rule.	The customer is king.
Be lean and mean.	Look out, not in.
Rank your players; go with the A's	Hire passionate people.
Hire a charismatic CEO.	Hire a courageous CEO.
Admire my might.	Admire my soul.

I ignored this at first because of my bias. I am a GE alum and I think they are are an outstanding company. You don't do $150 billion a year in sales and not have a good business model.

My second problem is Fortune taking their poster boy of the last quarter century and then saying he is all wet. I realize this is a common technique of journalists and it sells magazines. You'll find your ever important quotes from other business leaders who don't agree with Welch's views (ex. Jim Donald at Starbucks said they never wanted to by #1 or #2) to bolster their case for their new set of rules.

I will give Fortune some credit for getting Welch's take on the article. I think he fires back pretty well.

In the end, I don't feel an article like this gets us any closer to being better businesspeople.

Other commentary on the article:

• Businesspundit - The New Rules: Fortune Takes a Shot At Jack Welch
• Escape from Cubicle Nation - Fortune admits Jack Welch is wrong - ranking employees really is stupid
• Patrick Altman - Ranking Employees

What Happy Companies Know

"...true humility is a form of courage. It requires people to subsume their personal needs and pretensions into causes beyond themselves. Humble leaders are those leaders willing to give away power. They recognize that more overall good occurs if they spread power through the organization or community than if they hoard power for themselves."

--Dan Baker, Cathy Greenberg, Collins Hemingway

Read more on humility and the role it plays in happy companies.

More books from DMA

Jack wrote a post a couple of weeks ago about books that John Greco, head of the Direct Marketing Association, recommended in the Wall Street Journal. In that post, Jack listed the five books that were in the newspaper edition. The online edition had five more titles we missed.

Here is the list in its entirety:

• Being Direct by Lester Wunderman
• Purple Cow by Seth Godin
• Waiting for Your Cat to Bark by Bryan Eisenberg, Jeffrey Eisenberg and Lisa T. Davis
• Call to Action by Bryan Eisenberg and Jeffrey Eisenberg
• The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell
• Blink by Malcolm Gladwell
• Freakonomics by Levitt and Dubner
• The Art of The Start by Guy Kawasaki
• 10 Rules for Strategic Innovators by by Vijay Govindarajan and Chris Trimble

Sony Reader delayed again

The Sony Reader (pics here) has pushed again says the email I just got from them. They are now promising the fall "in time for the holidays".

Reveal the code

Clotaire Rapaille, author of the new book The Culture Code, is introducing a new way to market to consumers.

To introduce him and his idea, let me start by giving  you some brain background. There are a few key parts of the brain -- the cortex ("the part of the brain that controls intelligence"), the limbic system (which controls emotions) and the reptilian brain ("only accessible via the subconscious, the reptilian brain is the home of our instincts").

In the past marketers have held focus groups to help with product development and marketing plans. Rapaille shows that these don't work because marketers are only accessing participants' cortexes. Participants are caught up in giving what they believe to be intelligent answers or they're trying to please the moderator. "It's not that people intentionally lie during surveys and focus groups; it's that they try too hard to please."

When you tap into the reptilian part, you can understand what consumers are really looking for and what they view as ultimately important. For example, Chrysler came out with a new sedan believing that gas mileage, safety and price were the most important elements to consumers. The sedan wasn't a huge success because it was "'off-Code.'" Knowing this led to the creation of the PT Cruiser.

Rapaille finds these codes by three-part sessions:

1.  Engages the cortex: "an interviewer takes the role of a 'visitor from another planet,' asking participants to help the visitor understand the product."
2. Engages the limbic system: it's storytime for participants as they tell about their product experiences.
3. Engages the reptilian brain: starts with a relaxation exercise and concludes with participants writing about their first product experience, "expressing what was imprinted into their subconscious."

Interesting. Now, what's your code?

How A Good Idea Becomes a Bad One

With all of The Long Tail love going on right now, you may want to consider Tim Wu's piece in Slate titled The Wrong Tail. He says a good thing can be taken too far.

Prahalad Keynote on IT Conversations

IT Conversations has a 32 minute audio keynote of C.K. Prahalad. In this speech, he talks about how location is no longer a barrier to innovation. The talk is titled, "Emerging Hi-Tech Ecosystems".

IT Conversations has tons of great content. We have linked to them a number of times. Here is a quick sample of people you can hear:

• Malcolm Gladwell - Human Nature (10/2004) and On Blink (03/2005)
• James Surowiecki - Independent Individuals and Wise Crowds (03/2005)
• Chris Anderson - Economics of the Long Tail (03/2005)
• Clayton Christensen - Capturing the Upside (03/2004)
• Geoffrey Moore - Orchestrating the Stack (03/2004)
• Tom Kelley - Ten Faces of Innovation (11/2005)
• Barry Schwartz - Less Is More (10/2004)
• Robert Scoble and Shel Israel - The Corporation in a Blogging World (05/2006)
• Steven Johnson - Serious Games (10/2005)
• Lawrence Lessig - Free Culture; Chapter One (03/2004)

Measure the success of your event

To help with some upcoming plans, I've been doning my event planning hat a lot lately. So I've been researching via friends, business people, books and magazines what makes a successful event and all of that good stuff. Right now I'm researching what software to use (if you have suggestions, I'd love to hear them).

Here are a few tips from Mark Stevens' article in Event on how to measure the success of your event:

FIRST: WHO TO INVITE
Those who have "the authority to make buying decisions."

SECOND: ON THE EVENT
Surprise and entertain your attendees. Don't do the run of the mill type of PowerPoint + cocktail hour event.

THIRD: AFTER THE EVENT
"Follow up with each attendee after the event to help move them closer to a sale."

--
I'm geniuinely interested in hearing your thoughts: have you been to an event that blew you away? that was so amazing you couldn't help but talk about it? what made it that way? is there anything you do at your events to make them less run of the mill?

Find us at Duct Tape Marketing

We have started writing for Duct Tape Marketing. This is old news, but it is the first time we have mentioned it here. John Jantsch asked if we would maintain a blog about small business books and we said yes.

It is called Small Business Reads. We are trying to post one or twice a week.

Our latest post is on a great list of summer reads from the National Dialogue on Entrepreneurship.

You might want to check out all the other channels running over there. They are up to 22 blogs now!

Watching the Bestseller Lists

It is very interesting to look at this week's Wall Street Journal bestseller list [sub. needed]. There are three entries on the business list outside of the regulars. This is really unusual. The list is dominated week and week out by books like Freakonomics, Blink, and Who Moved My Cheese. It makes it very difficult for new books to get on the list. So, let's look at the three new entrants and I'll give you my thoughts on why they are there.

Debuting at #2 last week and moving to #1 this week is Waiting For Your Cat to Bark? by Bryan and Jeffery Eisenberg. This is the second effort for these two. You might remember Call to Action. In this book, they are selling an idea called Persuasion Architecture. It is a customer profiling technique that is reminiscent of Meyer-Briggs Personality testing. I would attribute the location of this book on the list to Mike Drew at Promote A Book. He gets books on bestseller lists and has been involved with this one.

At number #6 is Chris Anderson's The Long Tail. We have been talking about this book for awhile and everyone in the industry expected this to be a big book. It will be interesting to see if it takes one of those semi-permanent positions on the list. You can read Jack's review here.

#15 is the interesting one this week. 48 Laws of Power is a book that has been out since 1998. Author Robert Greene writes a Machiavellian take on how to get ahead. Among the laws, "Discover Each Man's Thumbscrew" and "Strike the Shepherd and The Sheep Will Scatter." The LA Times ran a story last week on how the book is finding a strong audience in the hip-hop community. It is a fascinating article and a probable explanation for 48 Laws' visit to the bestseller list.

The only other odd item about the list (and I usually don't look this close) is seeing The World Is Flat on the general non-fcition list, but not on the business list. That discrepancy might have created the spot for 48 Laws.

Catherine Doyle's Review of The Long Tail

The Long Tail
by Chris Anderson

The future of business is selling less of more—have you updated your business plan lately?

Chris Anderson’s case for the death of mass market culture consists of three prongs:

1. The tools of production are cheaper than ever—your computer can be your editing suite, your design studio, your book production facility. You can mark your works to as small a group as you like to the world.
2. Internet sales have removed the need to have expensive retail shelf space to display items for sale. It’s much cheaper to design a website and hire a warehouse than it is to rent space in a mall. We’re no longer limited by the ability of the Gap to stock blue jeans in women’s sizes 2-10 (well, it seems that way sometimes!) A much wider range of fashions can be warehoused and send on demand to customers. While sizes and colors outside the normal distribution may not be best-sellers, they will sell enough to make a substantial profit for the manufacture.
3. Filtering mechanisms have become robust enough to help consumers make informed decisions on the multitude of options now available to them.

All of these items combine to lead to the death of the best-seller and the formulas which have worked for us for so long. Eighty percent of our sales will no longer come from 20% of the goods available. What will replace this is a system by which consumers can acquire goods and services that are much more in line with their exact tastes and preferences? Examples from music services, such Rhapsody, show the Long Tail in action as consumers use the search functions to narrow down their choice of music down to very specific format types. The low cost per track and reviews give customers the confidence to try something new. The end result is the ability to purchase music that you’re really interested in, not the entire CD with the two songs that really weren’t ready for prime time.

Many of the examples in this book deal with intellectual property, such as music, movies, and books, which can be easily digitized and sold in chunks. Lest you think that this theory doesn’t have wider application, Anderson cites the case of Kitchen Aid, which offers a much wider variety of colors of its signature mixer on its website than it does through retail outlets. Who would have thought that tangerine orange would have been a best seller for them?

Anderson was an editor for the Economist before becoming editor for Wired and it shows in his style. This book is among the most readable business book that’s come across my desk lately. Buy it or borrow it from your local library, you won’t regret the time you’ve invested.

-----
Reviewed by Catherine Doyle

Posts from Around the Blogosphere

Only Once endorses Gitomer's Little Red Books.

Slacker Manager reviews Pat Lencioni's Five Dysfunctions of a Team.

Dan Pink gives everyone some summer reading (post from 7/04/06).

What they really want

I had an interesting customer service experience yesterday. It got me thinking about what we really want as customers. But I think there's more to it than just viewing ourselves (as the customer) as being the center of the [choose noun here: salesperson, designer, waiter, etc.] universe for that split second. There's a certain amount of respect we must demonstrate to the people that are assisting us.

Here are two different perspectives:
FROM PROSPECT TO SALESPERSON

Jeffrey Gitomer has a column in Business Journals called the Gitbit. It's kind of like Dear Abby but with Gitomer and more business-focused. One of his readers wrote in about his exposure to salespeople.

What the reader wants from a salesperson:

..a salesperson and a company I can rely on. It makes my job easier if we know we have someone we can call who will make things happen for us.

My time can be spent on more important things when I have a trustworthy, reliable source.

One of my biggest disappointments is knowing that every time I order something, I will have to try a new company and possibly have an unpleasant experience.

We buyers want to come back to you for more services or products. All you have to do is prove yourself.

Gitomer's Analysis (in summary):
Don't waste your prospect's time. Tell them what they need to know. Do it truthfully. Explain how your product/service has helped others and how it could help your prospect. And, finally, understand that pricing isn't everything. People want consistency. If you prove that your product is reliable and worthwhile, price won't matter.

FROM DESIGNER TO CUSTOMER

Just as a customer is looking for a good experience, the service provider is equally doing so. Earlier this week, Seth blogged on what designers want you to know. The tips, while focused on design work are applicaple to many sorts of outsourcing (to consultants, designers, engineers, etc.). The most important being #13.

Adding -er

"I know you are already smart, fast, and good. Now it's time to become smarter, faster, and better. It's time to ask questions, slow down, and start focusing not on just your own self-development but on your contribution to your team, your organization, and the greater good." -- Karlin Sloan

Find out more about this over here on the excerpts blog.

Fast Company's Summer Reading

Our friend Lucas Conley has a piece in the July/August issue of Fast Company called "Summer Reading with a Twist." He set out to expose readers to some books that will help with their Gladwell/Surowiecki/Friedman addiction. They are books that Conley says "could have been the Blink but never quite reached their tipping point."

• Emergence: The Connected Lives of Ants, Brains, Cities, and Software by Steven Johnson (Scribner, 2001)
• Candyfreak: A Journey Through the Chocolate Underbelly of America by Steve Almond (Algonquin, 2004)
• The Ingenuity Gap: Facing the Economic, Environmental, and Other Challenges of an Increasingly Complex and Unpredictable Future by Thmas Homer-Dixon (Knopf, 2000)
• Nation of Rebels: Why Counterculture Became Consumer Culture by Joesph Heath and Andew Potter (HarperBusiness, 2005)

Oops.

It seems the topic of learning through failure is a common way as of late. "Eureka, We Failed!" was the key title for a recent BusinessWeek issue and a Forbes interview was on "The Science of Flops". Which is where I heard about the book Oops: 20 Life Lessons from the Fiascos That Shaped America.

Some of the featured "failures":

• The Dodge La Femme -- I wish I was around for this one. It sounds like quite an interesting marketing plan with coordinated raincoats and lipstick tubes. That's great.
• Ten-cent Beer Night with the Cleveland Indians baseball team and it ended in a riot.
• Leisure suits

The concluding question and comment are the best:

Forbes: It seems most of the people responsible for the failures in your book escaped the fallout.

Author Kiger: America is a place where you can do something really dumb and have a second act.

Ah. It's great to be an American with second chances.

 

Focus, Daniel-san

Lisa Haneberg's new book Focus Like a Laser Beam is reviewed today by the Miami Herald's Richard Pachter. Lisa and I recorded an interview on Friday and thought it would be good to get posted to go with the review.

If you don't know Lisa, you should start with her blog Management Craft.

Famous Finder

A review in Forbes (registration required) is the second I've seen of Killer Instinct -- Joe Finder's latest business thriller. It's the story of Jason Steadman, sales rep for a Japanese-owned electronics firm and conflicts between his boss and his morals.

If you'd like a preview, check out Joe's ChangeThis issue -- cleverly written through the eyes of his main character, Jason Steadman.

It's All About The/Your Design

Last month, Fast Company ran an article called Design Lite which talked about the proliferation of business "picture books". We have written about most of the books in the article included Unstuck, Change The Way You See Everything, and It's Not How Good You Are, It's How Good You Want to Be (we generally like them).

The book I was not familiar with was Design Your Self by designer Karim Rashid. You will find him behind the design of everything from external hard drives to soap containers to restaurants. His book is his guide to living life. I am not sure this is a business book, but there is a whole section on Work. Here are some his pearls of wisdom:

• Enrich your life with goals and anticipation. Look forward to everything. Look at every experience as a new one--even if it is a repeated event.
• If you do not like your job, quit! If you are unhappy with your job, remember there are others. You have the option to leave and find something you like better or that is more suited to you. You may not be able to do it tomorrow, but you know you will not regret trying. Even if it takes time, think of it as a journey and map it out. Do you need to take a training course, learn a language, or talk to a specialized headhunter? Find out what it takes and get on with it. Take the necessary steps. Never limit yourself. Investigate your options.
• Keep your desk neat, clean, and empty. This means you are staying on top of everything. Remove all the clutter. Designate a place for everything and store as much information as possible on the computer--not with Post-its all over the computer! Train yourself to write notes in the computer directly--even digital Post-it notes if you feel that makes the transition easier. All new addresses you receive should go straight into your address book or database. If you learn to do this consistently, you will never wonder where you put that card, wrote that number, or stuck that darn Post-it.
• Use your proper name for your e-mail address. It's efficient and logical. Don't bother with business cards; just tell people your e-mail address. Once you have theirs, e-ail them any other contact information they may need and have them do the same. That way you both have the data digitally and can copy it to your address book or PDA without fear of losing it or getting numbers wrong.

Investing in investment knowledge

If  you're an investor, BusinessWeek suggests you read: 

• Against the Gods: The Remarkable Story of Risk
• Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds
• A Random Walk Down Wall Street
• Investment Policy: How to Win the Loser's Game
• Unconventional Success: A Fundamental Approach to Personal Investment
• Stocks for the Long Run
• The Intelligent Investor: The Definitive Book on Value Investing
• Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits

 

 

David Thomson's Review of The Long Tail

The Long Tail
By Chris Anderson

When The Long Tail book was announced, I was curious as to how author Chris Anderson would expand on the concepts presented in his original article from Wired magazine. I'm pleased to report that the book doesn't disappoint.

The Long Tail is based on a feature of statistical distribution in which the "head" contains a small number of high-frequency items followed by a large number of lower-frequency items. The low-frequency items can account for a far greater aggregate of items than the "head". Anderson's argument is that in a sufficiently large marketplace, products which are in low demand can account for as many sales as the relatively few big-selling items. Amazon, iTunes Music Store and Netflix are the most famous examples of such a marketplace.

The book details how technology has provided the ability to provide consumers with access to these hitherto hidden products, and how organizations can best take advantage of the Long Tail phenomenon. As well as providing a strong, well-articulated narrative around the topic, I was pleased to see that the ideas are also well illustrated.

Along with the fascinating analyses of a variety of Long Tail markets, the book provides great insight into the key components which make such markets work. As a result, the book definitely succeeds in its goal of demonstrating how important the Long Tail is to the future of business.

This book will undoubtedly be heralded as the most important business book of the year. My view is that this is entirely justified, and you should absolutely make The Long Tail the next book you read.

-----------
Reviewed by David Thomson

Mark Howell's Review of Is That Your Hand in My Pocket?

Review of Is That Your Hand in My Pocket
By by Ron J. Lambert, Tom Parker

Question: As a member of the sales profession, are you finding that buyers are more skilful negotiators today than you’ve ever found them before? Do their companies tend to have policies in place that seem to be designed to restrict your ability to build a relationship that leads to a cozier sales opportunity? Does it seem like they may be receiving training in purchasing that is just as tactical as your sales training? If the answer to any of these questions is yes, you may find Is That Your Hand in My Pocket: The Sales Professionals Guide to Negotiating a compelling and strategic read.

Written by Tom Parker and Ron Lambert, this book is not theoretical. Instead, it is packed with very practical, easy to understand ideas and strategies, designed to give today’s sales professionals a fighting chance. Every chapter contains many illustrations taken from the experience of the authors and includes a series of helpful tips. In addition, many of the chapters conclude with a summary of the key ideas, making it easy to use as a resource for review prior to a sales call.

Perhaps the most important and helpful chapter is on preparing for negotiation. You’ll find a very carefully detailed template for a process that includes 13 well-defined questions or observations. This template is accompanied by a form in the appendix for incorporation into your organization’s strategic preparation. Following the process outlines in the template will enable you to walk into your negotiation prepared for the tactics of your buyer.

One of the most engaging chapters deals with the some of the most common tactics used by buyers “to disrupt and derail sales presentations�. Each of these tactics is fully described and a counter-tactic is explained and illustrated. Studying this chapter will help you recognize and deal with buyer tactics smoothly and professionally.

Since studies have shown that well over half of all face to face communication is nonverbal, many companies now include “body-language� awareness in their sales training, but a refresher course is always in order. Is That Your Hand in My Pocket features an overview of sixteen of the “most common nonverbal cues that occur in communication�. This chapter could easily be used as in-house training material. In fact, the authors have included a 20 scenario test that incorporates awareness of nonverbal cues and buyer tactics that could be used along with some role-play to improve negotiation skills.

And the most intriguing chapter? Definitely the step-by-step guide to turning the tables and using your new understanding of buying tactics to win the negotiation battle with your friendly car salesman. That could be worth the price of the book!

Whether you’re a sales professional interested in improving your negotiation skills or the leader of a sales team and looking for training ideas, Is That Your Hand in My Pocket is a worthwhile addition to your arsenal.

----
Review by Mark Howell

The Culture Code - You Need To Keep Reading

I was familiar with Clotaire Rapaille from the The Persuaders documentary from a couple of years ago. He had this interesting idea that everything can be boiled down and explained with a single word - The Code. For example, the American Code for doctors is HERO. The Code for hospitals is PROCESSING PLANTS. He even talks about how people and companies can be "on Code" and "off Code".

Out now is his book called The Culture Code: An Ingenious Way To Understand Why People Around The World Live And Buy As They Do. The introduction is brilliant. It lays out his history as a child psychologist and how his work with autistic children led him to what he does now. He explains the work he has done with couple of his early clients. The introduction was so good we went out and got permission to run it as a ChangeThis manifesto.

The main thing I want to tell of you about this book is Keep Reading. I found Chapter Two to be a hard section to read. He talks about love, seduction, and sex and what the codes are in various cultures. I think some of his conclusions are disturbing (i.e. the American Code for sex is VIOLENCE). I am surprised they laid out the book with this material in the front. When I read the book the first time, I stopped there.

If you stop in chapter two or three you'll miss a lot of great material. The chapters on work and money, quality and perfection, and shopping and luxury are fascinating. I would say based on the American idea of perfection that Web 2.0 is on Code.

Jack and I will always say that we are no good at picking winners, but I think this has potential. The writing is smooth, the book is built around interesting anecdotes, and the idea is intoxicating. There is a fascinating cultural aspect as well. When he explains how American Code for something, Rapaille always contrasts it with how other countries look at the same thing. The big question will be if people can get past the front of the book.

I highly recommend The Culture Code.

More on Rapaille:

• Archetype Discoveries Worldwide (Rapaille's Website)
• Leveraging the Psychology of the Salesperson (HBR, 7/06)
• Crack This Code (Fast Company, 4/06)
• America On The Couch (Newsweek - Intl. Ed., 4/06)
• Frontline: The Persuaders (PBS, 11/04)
• A Dream Life Freud Would Have Envied (NYT, 11/04)
• Mind Games (Forbes, 5/03)
• Does the Smell of Coffee Brewing Remind You of Your Mother? (NYT Magazine, 5/00)
• You Are What You Drive (Discovery Times)

Tim Palmer's Review of Is That Your Hand in My Pocket

Review of Is That Your Hand in My Pocket
By by Ron J. Lambert, Tom Parker

Is that your Hand in my Pocket is a pretty good book, although I don't feel entirely qualified to review it. The subtitle is "the sales professionals guide to negotiating." While there are sales involved in my job (and almost any job for that matter) this book is targeted directly at professional sales people which is both its biggest strength and its biggest weakness. The book is really written for (and called out by the authors) for those who deal with "professional buyers," namely those who don't really care about your relationship with them and who spend all of their time finding ways to break through your negotiating tactics.

Did I find interesting tidbits that I can apply to the sales situations that I deal with? Absolutely. Did I find things that I can apply to everyday life? Yes. In reading this book - they talk about very specific tactical negotiating strategies - identifying which strategy your buyers are using and the proper strategy to counter that strategy. Given that I don't deal with professional buyers in my everyday life I don't feel qualified to rate how effective their strategies are. I also don't worry about keeping those types of skills "sharp," so I don't feel compelled to study and read this book more than once - although many of the techniques the discuss are interesting e.g., reading body language.

Their last chapter is different from the others- it includes tips on how to buy a car (best ways to get dealers to play off of one another). It shows that I am not the ideal target audience for this book that I found this chapter the most interesting (i.e., the one that most applied to my life). In short, if you are professional salesperson you will probably find this book worthwhile - if nothing else to see how other salesmen approached the same challenges you face. If not a full-time salesperson the book is interesting but by no means a must-read.

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Reviewed by Tim Palmer

Long Tail launches today

I am posting this a little late, but The Long Tail hit the streets today. Follow all the fun on Chris' blog.

Creating The Good Life - A Review

As I mentioned yesterday, I was off on vacation last week. I made a conscious effort to take non-business books with me. The one I ended up reading was Creating The Good Life: Applying Aristotle's Wisdom to Find Meaning and Happiness by James O'Toole.

I had been wanting to read some of Aristotle's work, but found his original texts intimidating. O'Toole walks you through his journey of understanding how Aristotle's writings applied to people today. One thing that makes the book compelling is O'Toole talking about his personal journey to live a better life.

He leads with the idea of Happiness, spending time defining it in Aristotlian terms.

...Almost everyone associates happiness with the mental state of "feeling good." However, Aristotle says it is "an activity." He elaborates, explaining that happiness is the "highest of all goods achievable by actions." Apparently, happiness is something we do rather than something we feel.

I found O'Toole's book to be written in a very deliberate, well-thought out manner. He lays out all of the arguments. He shows how the current work of philosophers and psychologists supports or refutes Aristotle's teachings. O'Toole asks the reader a number of times if he/she agree and wants to continue the journey.

If you venture into the book, here are the kinds of questions you will be contemplating:

• On my deathbed, will I be able to look back and say I led a good life?
• What will make me truly happy at the end?
• What work puts me in "the zone"?
• What should I be doing now to get where I want to be in the long-term?
• What am I doing now that I should stop doing --that is, what gives me gratification but will not contribute to my lasting happiness?
• What do I need to discipline myself to do and not do in order to stay focused on what is truly good for me in the long-term?

Those are going to seem like common questions. What Aristotle (with O'Toole interpretation) lays out is why they are the right questions and why you need to invest time and energy into finding those answers.

Hugh Hoagland's Review of The Little Blue Book of Advertising

Review of The Little Blue Book of Advertising
By Steve Lance and Jeff Woll

I’m an entrepreneur with three companies in a niche in the electrical industry but I learned several things from this book written primarily for a Creative Director, Marketing Director, Ad Executive, CEO or those who want to be one or have to work with one.

The two most compelling things the book had to offer was the value of the diversity of creative people, marketing people and research people and the power of branding. Steve and Jeff keep the book interesting (it started a little slowly as they focused on the value of diversity and intricacies of office politics in the first third of the book, but they redeemed themselves pretty quickly) by sharing insights like “Brand, brand, brand� and “Customer benefit, Customer benefit, Customer benefit, p. 154�. Sounds pretty repetitious here but their case is pervasive. I looked at my literature and saw how I failed to accomplish my objectives according to their measures. I change the look of my literature too much because it bores me and didn’t remember basic marketing principles of branding to keep the look consistent. In a small company with NO marketing staff officially, it is easy to forget the principles of good branding.
Jeff and Steve remind us of the need the customer has to come away from our literature and websites with the feeling that we have empathized with them, that “Hmmm, these guys could solve my problem.� (p. 155). Appealing to basic needs (p. 6), knowing your audience (p. 17), knowing your competitor’s advertising (p. 50-52) and then micro marketing to the focused segments (p. 21) all make good sense when I listen to these seasoned advertising specialists.

Other great insights of the “Little Blue Book� is to differentiate between “muzz� and good research. I have seen a lot of large companies spend money on “muzz�. Though Jeff and Steve don’t tell you where “muzz� comes from but I would chance to offer it is a cross between “buzz� and “muzzle� in which the poor or inadequate research is spun into a “buzz� within the marketing department or within the company to “muzzle� the reality that our decisions aren’t being made on anything we are really measuring. The emphasis on consistent research and looking for trends is a good one. You won’t find much help in the “Little Blue Book� on what questions to ask to help you in your niche but the sermonizing on the need to keep the questions of surveys and other research consistent so trends can be spotted is a good one.

On writing literature and sales pieces the wonderful advice to avoid “My company’s great� statements is a good one. Though it is amazing how much advertising is just this it is clear this might “stroke egos� within the company but probably does little to sell the product. Steve and Jeff challenge us to look in a magazine and see how much advertising is just this. Their advice to “sell the benefit, advantage and feature in that order (p. 89-93)� is solid and I see even in my literature it is one I have forgotten to do.

An alternate title could be “The Little Blue Book of Brand Management.� I didn’t expect what I got as read it. Their concepts are not really new and they seem to give plenty of credit to others but the ideas are good. They do recommend using the internet for research and advertising but don’t provide much guidance on this. Containing the advice of experienced specialists, this book was a benefit for this consumer of business advice.

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Reviewed by Hugh Hoagland

Leah Graves' Review of The Little Blue Book of Advertising

Review of The Little Blue Book of Advertising
By Steve Lance and Jeff Woll

Last week I had to sit on a panel and was able to use tips I learned from The Little Blue Book of Advertising. The panel discussion led to the “What do you want to be in 5 or 10 years down the line?� I was able to answer that I wanted to be a Creative Director because deep down a person in that position has to be a damn good salesperson.

I found this book to not only be informative, but to be set up in such a way so you can retain the goods inside. It’s a great reference and will live on my work bookshelf. I thought the humor and real-life experience sprinkled throughout made the book stand out.

For me having one foot in sales and one foot in with the creative people has really been the way to go. This book explains why the creative people don’t often get along with the process/business people. Day to day I face many challenges and this book laid it out on the table why this is.

I really enjoyed how the end of the book focused on new ‘up and coming’ technology. As a loyal blogger since 2002 I was glad to see that topic discussed. The tip of always answering your comments in a timely manner is key to blogging for sure.

The only bit of advertising that was missing was events. Trade shows, conferences, hospitality functions are always ways for a company to put their brand out in the marketplace. The tips about outdoor advertising come in handy for these events—because usually there’s large signage involved. Since each of these events takes a lot of planning, research, and teamwork with the creative people I felt it would have a place in this book. When you’re at an event and getting your brand out there it’s an amazing way to put your best foot forward.

Having the book set up with 52 tips was great—really it’s a tip per week. This book is sure to be read and re-read, and I already have folks lined up to borrow my copy. I have found that I don’t want to lose my copy (a now valuable tool) so I will make them buy their own! Great job to both Steve Lance and Jeff Woll, I feel creative-types and non-creative types have something to learn from the both of them.

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Reviewed by Leah Graves

Do Blogs Help Sell Books?

For all of you publishing folks who read our blog, this post is for you.

Last year's question was "What is a blog?"

This year's question is "Should my authors start a blog?"

My answer is always "Yes." For a blog to be successful, you have to be writing on a consistent basis. To make it even better, you have to be reading other blogs and participating the community around your topic.

If you want some examples, check out Ben and Jackie at The Church of the Customer, the Freakonomics weblog, or Chris Anderson's The Long Tail blog. Or how about Malcolm Galdwell? Yes, he is blogging. Here is what Gladwell had to say:

In the past year I have often been asked why I don’t have a blog. My answer was always that I write so much, already, that I don’t have time to write anything else. But, as should be obvious, I’ve now changed my mind. I have come (belatedly) to the conclusion that a blog can be a very valuable supplement to my books and the writing I do for the New Yorker.

Ok, the next question you are going to ask is "Does it sell books?" The idea for this post came from Nick at nsputnik.com. Nick wrote a post listing the books he has purchased as the result of reading weblogs or listening to podcasts. This is one data point.

How many times have you seen books listed on weblogs? What They Are Reading...What They Have Read...What They Recommend. People love talking about books. Books are still the basis for moving big ideas.

Start thinking about what you can do with blogs. If you want to talk, give us a call or drop us note.

Travel Tip: Take Less Books

I was on vacation last week enjoying some of the Michigan outdoors.

One problem I am always faced with is deciding what to take. As you can imagine, I have no shortage of titles to choose from.

My biggest problem is I take too many books with me. I never end up reading all of them. On this trip I took four books with me and I only read one of them. Jack will only take paperbacks with him to cut down on the weight.

As you are packing for those upcoming vacations, I am recommending you only pack two books - the one you want to read and a backup. You will have more room in your bags and your shoulders will appreciate the reduced load.

P.S. And to be clear -- you should not take anything work related. Pick up a novel. Read some history about the place you are going. I read a book on Aristotle (more on that tomorrow). Expand your mind.

I found the five myths while clearing off my desk.

Friday was a good time to clean off my desk. And, of course, I found little treasures that were hidden somewhere in the day-to-day tasks and projects. Todd once claimed that his mom would send him home with articles, books and other treats when he departed.

My parents do the same; the latest was a stack of articles on business, everyday superheroes and investing. Here's one of the pieces that was in there.

Titled The 5 Myths of Management, it's on the book Hard Facts, Dangerous Half-Truths and Total Nonsense. You may recognize the book from Todd's interview with the authors.

The idea behind the book is that some of what we deem to be true is not necessarily so. Some of the maxims we follow shouldn't be followed (or at least not universally). As authors Pfeffer and Sutton say on business practices: "'If doctors practiced medicine the way many companies practice management, there would be far more sick and dead patients and many more doctors would be in jail.'" Hm. That's quite a conclusion--and slightly scary.

The Myths:

1. Financial Incentives Drive Good Performance.
   Why it's a myth: People will "'focus on what it takes to get the incentive,'" rather than what will make the successful company. Why do companies continue to use it: "'Simple intellectual inertia.'"
2. First-Movers Have the Advantage
   This is not necessarily true. Sometimes cost advantages may be more prevalent if you're the second mover. Just look at Xerox who created the first PC and Netscape with the Internet browser--both were first movers.
3. Layoffs Are a Good Way to Cut Costs
   Sure this is an easy way to knock off a few dollars on the expense report but what about employee morale and it's effect on customers?
4. Mergers Are a Good Idea
   "The vast majority of mergers fail to deliver their intended benefits--about 70 percent, according to some estimates." Of course, there's an exception to every rule but it takes work to make them successful.
5. Life and Work Should Be Kept Separate
   Again, not necessarily true in every case. Southwest Airlines aims to be one big family which includes sending employees birthday cards and congratulations cards on their annual hire date and more. The result: "Southwest attracts 30 or more applicants for every job opening."

 

Direct Marketing books

Monday July 10, 2006 Wall Street Journal's Recommended Reading column is supplied by John A. Greco Jr., president and chief executive officer of the Direct Marketing Association. He comments on "a selection of what he considers some of the best books for learning about successful marketing."

• Being Direct by Lester Wunderman
• Purple Cow by Seth Godin
• Waiting for Your Cat to Bark by Bryan Eisenberg, Jeffrey Eisenberg and Lisa T. Davis
• Call to Action by Bryan Eisenberg and Jeffrey Eisenberg
• The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell

Interesting list considering that the first book listed is published by Mr. Greco's association. Purple Cow and The Tipping Point belong on any list of marketing titles.

Jack Covert Selects: Marketing Gurus & Fast Company's Greatest Hits

The Marketing Gurus: Lessons From the Best Marketing Books of All Time
By Chris Murray and the Editors of Soundview Executive Book Summaries, Portfolio, 304 pages, $24.95 hardcover, July 2006, ISBN 1591841054.

Fast Company's Greatest Hits: Ten Years of the Most Innovative Ideas in Business
By Jim Collins (Foreword), Mark Vamos, David Lidsky, Portfolio, 352 pages, $24.95 hardcover, July 2006, ISBN 1591841186.

This month there are two compilations due out. Here's an introduction to both.

The first is a collection of 17 marketing book summaries pulled together by Chris Murray and the Editors of Soundview Executive Book Summaries. The authors are well-known "Marketing Gurus" that include Jack Trout, Philip Kotler, and Guy Kawasaki. Inside the book are some of their best ideas which have helped marketing evolve to what it is today.

You'll start with Jack Trout's differentiation lessons. Then, in the middle, you'll learn how to network with the affluent, drive your competition crazy, and cross the chasm. The journey will finish with Sergio Zyman, the guy renowned for turning his marketing mistake (New Coke) into a success (Classic Coca-Cola).

The second compilation falls along the same lines as the former. The magazine "Fast Company" has been spreading innovative ideas for over ten years; these are the best of the best. They include Charles Fishman's critique of customer service, the story behind the creation of "Fast Company" and John McCain's search for courage. As the "Fast Company" Editor perfectly states, "Times change. The power of great ideas doesn't."

If you missed these gems in their original publications, here's a chance to catch up. Take advantage of it.

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If you would like to receive the monthly Jack Covert Selects Newsletter, please visit the Newsletters area of our website. Then, sign in and check the boxes of the newsletters that interest you.

Beyond Code Special

We're running a special for the next month for Rajesh Setty's book Beyond Code. If you buy the book, you'll also receive two free audio interviews and two free eBooks.

Want more information on the special? Find it here.

For more from Raj check out his ChangeThis manifesto here.

Also, his book is being offered over on inBubbleWrap today.

Jack Covert Selects: Juicing the Orange

Juicing the Orange: How to Turn Creativity into a Powerful Business Advantage
By Pat Fallon and Fred Stenn, Harvard Business School Press, 200 pages, $26.95 hardcover, August 2006, ISBN 1591399270.

Just hearing the word advertising makes me cringe. There are few, well-directed advertisements that truly cut through the clutter and reach the intended recipients. So where does a new book from the famous Minnesota-based ad agency Fallon Worldwide fit in? In the category of those that know how to whip up memorable advertisements. Remember the cat herding ad during the '00 Superbowl? Or when Al Gore remarked, "I may not be an actuary, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night"? Both can be attributed to Fallon.

In 1981, Fallon Worldwide was created with hopes of diverting from the ad world's practice of overspending and over-messaging. Their thought was that "imagination [not money] is the last legal means of gaining an unfair advantage over the competition."

In a time where "media leverage" (buying as many placements on as many media channels as possible) was huge, Fallon created the idea of "creative leverage" based on seven principles:

• Always start from scratch.
• Demand a ruthlessly simple definition of the business problem.
• Discover a proprietary emotion.
• Focus on the size of the idea, not the size of the budget.
• Seek out strategic risks.
• Collaborate or perish.
• Listen hard to your customers (then listen some more).

"Juicing the Orange" provides examples of each of these principles--from United Airlines' reaction to 9/11 to the comeback of Lee jeans. Other than the principles, it's not a book that simply states rules or lessons. Rather, it's a book that tells ten stories that will help you with your next marketing or branding pursuit.

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If you would like to receive the monthly Jack Covert Selects Newsletter, please visit the Newsletters area of our website. Then, sign in and check the boxes of the newsletters that interest you.

ChangeThis!

I wanted to point you to the latest ChangeThis manifestos (need a refresher on what ChangeThis is, look here).

The manifestos:
24.01 Strategy and the Fat Smoker
by David Maister

Noted professional service firm advisor, David Maister, offers advice on how to fight strategic flab and make change happen within your organization. Using self-improvement efforts as a metaphor, Maister asserts that professional change only happens when each person in an organization makes the necessary, albeit uncomfortable, corrections to their bad habits, and remains committed to the long-range payoff through short-term goals.

Click here to read the manifesto.

Click here to visit the site.

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24.02 Non-Geeks are Not Morons: The Change Function Model for Adopting Technology
by Pip Coburn

Here, Pip Coburn challenges the assumptions of technologists who believe in the “if we build it, they will come� theory of technology development. Using his Change Function model (Crisis vs Total Perceived Pain of Adoption) to explain how dema happens, he contends that it is the users to whom technologists should look for inspiration, as it is the users who create the demand for new products.

Click here to read the manifesto.

Click here to visit the site.

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24.03 The Working Mother’s Manifesto: This is How We Do It
by Carol Evans

In this manifesto, Carol Evans, President and CEO of Working Mother magazine, encourages working mothers (and fathers) to ask their organizations for what they need to attain a healthy balance between work and family. She argues that now is the time, because working parents have greater leverage as the baby boomer generation leaves the workplace and companies face an employee shortage.

Click here to view the manifesto.

Click here to visit the site.

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24.04 Know the Codes: Why We Act, Buy, and Love as We Do
by Clotaire Rapaille

What is your earliest memory of coffee? What image comes to mind when you hear about a Jeep? Why are wedding traditions different in the United States from France? Rapaille reveals the unconscious motivators behind how we act and what we buy by unearthing the unique culture codes found within each of us and derived from our earliest or most enduring memories.

Click here to view the manifesto.

Click here to visit the site.

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24.05 It’s a Big, Blog World Out There: Five Quick Tips to Building a Better Blog
by Meryl K. Evans

These days, blogging is a common, if not necessary, way for a business to reach its customers. In her manifesto, Meryl Evans, long-time blogger and Internet aficionado, details why blogging is important for businesses, and how to make sure that your company’s blog is a great blog.

Click here to view the manifesto.

Click here to visit the site.

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Happy manifesto reading!

What is it about Baseball Books?

When a baseball book is done right, it is unbelievably good. I mean like Boys of Summer and pretty much anything Roger Angell wrote. Nine Innings by Dan Okrent. I could go on but...

When we created a marketing piece this year I was asked to display the ISBN of my favorite all-time book. Now this is the best book of all time! Dickens, Hemingway, Hiaasen. Who would get the call? I did spend serious thinking about this because the marketing piece was going to authors and publishers so the book had to be pretty cool or I would look goofy. My choice was another baseball book. Shoeless Joe by W.P. Kinsella. A portion of the book was made into Field of Dreams. Baseball books can capture a smell, a feeling, a mood extremely well and both Shoeless Joe and Echoing Green do that.

What has brought this rambling on? Over the weekend I finally finished another baseball book. The book is called The Echoing Green by Joshua Prager –sad to say the book is being published in September of this year b