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Hardcover
243 pages
ISBN 9781591843115 Published May 2010
Portfolio
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Posted Sept. 3, 2010 11:10 a.m. by dylan
In - 800 CEO Read Blog
➻ Chris Guillabeau's The Art of Non-Conformity will be released on Tuesday—a book I hope everyone reading this blog will pick up. On his blog yesterday, he briefly discussed Seth Godin's departure from traditional publishing before laying out the Strategy, Tactics, and the Plan for the Next 97 Days he has devised for entering the publishing arena that Seth is leaving. And his plan is the only plan that has ever succeeded: think big; work hard. Responding to the notion that “The only authors who sell books anymore are those who have popular blogs,” he writes:
Where does a popular blog come from—does the blog fairy descend from the sky with a passionate group of readers, all eager to support a new writer?
It's a valid question, and we are glad this dedicated, unconventional (indeed, dedicatedly unconventional) individual has taken a step into traditional publishing, and we wish him the best on his Unconventional Book Tour.
If you'd like to learn more before picking up a copy of his book for yourself, you can read the interview Callie Oettinger did with him over at Steven Pressfield Online, or dig into some of his online offerings.
➻ Scott Stratten's UnMarketing also comes out next week, and in true social-media guru fashion, he did a 140-character interview on Twitter with new PR pros. Some advice:
@ssiewert: How can young pros/Gen Y apply their years of personal experience online to achieve business objectives?
@unmarketing: You have the advantage, since you’re already online. Be yourself, have an opinion but also be humble. You don’t know everything yet.
➻ The Bullish on Books blog had a great guest post from our dear friend Erika Andersen today, entitled You’ve Been Laid Off – Now What? She used the space to discuss how, once you declare an intention, or "put up your sail to catch the wind you’re looking for—it makes you available to other winds, as well." And Erika knows. She is one of the best advisers in country and the author of two outstanding books, Growing Great Employees and Being Strategic, the latter of which was recently made into a PBS special (Check your local PBS listings for the airtime, or purchase the DVD at shopPBS.org).
➻ The Economist recently took a look inside The innovation machine, reviewing Vijay Govindarajan & Chris Trimble's book recently released on the topic, The Other Side of Innovation. From the article:
Many would-be innovators deal with the trade-off between efficiency and innovation by rejecting traditional management entirely. They repeat mantras about “breaking all the rules” and “asking for forgiveness rather than permission”. They set up skunk works (small, autonomous units with a remit to innovate) and mock the boring corporate types who write their pay-cheques. But again this is counter-productive. Mocking the corporate establishment only encourages it to starve you of resources.
They also touch on Warren Bennis's Still Surprised: A Memoir of a Life in Leadership briefly, and thought it looks like a great book, I think they did so only to have an excuse to introduce the topic of innovation by writing "Today there is no hotter topic in management theory than 'sperm in the air.'"
➻ Bob Sutton, author of the soon-to-be-released Good Boss, Bad-Boss, wants to know... Is Your Boss A Certified Brasshole? And he has devised a test for you to find out.
➻ Mitch Joel, author of Six Pixels of Separation, writes a twice-monthly column for the Montreal Gazette and Vancouver Sun. His most recent post discussed the 10 Best Books For Back To School Business Reading, and his list is very solid:
- Brains on Fire: Igniting Powerful, Sustainable, Word of Mouth Movements by Robbin Phillips, Greg Cordell, Geno Church and Spike Jones, John Wiley & Sons
- Business Model Generation: A Handbook for Visionaries, Game Changers and Challengers by Alexander Osterwalder, Yves Pigneur & Tim Clark, John Wiley & Sons
- Extra Lives: Why Video Games Matter by Tom Bissell, Pantheon
- The Future Arrived Yesterday: The Rise of the Protean Corporation and What it Means for You by Michael Malone, Crown Business
- Macrowikinomics: Rebooting Business and the World by Don Tapscott & Anthony D. Williams, Portfolio
- Marketing Lessons From the Grateful Dead: What Every Business Can Learn From the Most Iconic Band in History by David Meerman Scott & Brian Halligan, John Wiley & Sons
- MicroMarketing: Get Big Results by Thinking and Acting Small by Greg Verdino, McGraw-Hill
- Open Leadership: How Social Technology Can Transform the Way You Lead by Charlene Li, Jossey-Bass
- The Referral Engine: Teaching Your Business to Market Itself by John Jantsch, Portfolio
- The Upside of Irrationality: The Unexpected Benefits of Defying Logic at Work and at Home by Dan Ariely, HarperCollins
I personally think that if you have read all of these books, just go ahead and forgo going back to school and get on out there and start conquering the world.
➻ The 16th edition of The Chicago Manual of Style went on sale this week, but you can get the original edition (1906) for free. Head on over to Papercuts to figure out how.
➻ "In addition to being a bullfighter and magician, he's a lazy river, a slow moving train, a future hall-of-famer playing through the pain, he's a grizzly bear." And his son is a book reviewer.
The Referral Engine
Posted April 12, 2010 4:08 a.m. by jon
In - 800 CEO Read Blog
John Jantsch, author of Duct Tape Marketing and the blog of the same name, has a new book coming out shortly on Portfolio. Titled, The Referral Engine: Teaching Your Business to Market Itself, the book shows small businesses how to harness the power of customer referrals; how to do work that inspires them, how to ask for them, and how to create a whole community of marketers excited about telling others about your company.
In advance of the book's release, I asked John a few questions inspired by reading it. His answers give brief glimpses into the book's ideas. Be sure to check it out when it becomes available. Or, pre-order a copy here today.
Referrals are often thought of as hard to get/ask for, yet people have an inherent need to give them. How can a company tap into that?
The first step is to adopt an expectation mindset. If every person in the organization started thinking about creating an experience that would prompt every customer to refer and then the sales folks started talking about referrals during the conversion process and had a set process to go back and ask for referrals, they would simply happen more often.
How can a company truly know if their lack of referrals is based on a boring business, or a weak strategy to build referrals?
The best way to truly know anything about your business is to ask your customers. Ask them why they chose to do business with you, ask them why they stay, what you do that they value, if they refer you and why. The answers to these questions, particularly if you push for more than "you provide good service," may reveal that you either have a remarkable business that needs to communicate the little remarkable things that customers appreciate or you need to find a way to differentiate your business in a way that will get people talking.
How big of a role should technology play in referral generation?
Technology is a great leverage tool for referrals. In other words, it can help speed the level of engagement and deepen customer relationships, but it must be used in balance with face to face interaction in order to build the level of trust often required to stimulate referrals. Blending high tech with high touch tactics is a great way to create a competitive advantage while making use of every form of communication and follow-up available.
What are some tips for hiring and training "marketers" who aren't in marketing positions?
Everyone in the organization that comes into contact in any way with a customer or prospect is in a marketing position. The first step is to acknowledge that fact and start hiring people with customer experience in mind. Most humans an be taught the technical aspects of the job, but it's much harder to teach people to serve and be curious. Make marketing training a part of your standard routine for every employee - make sure they know how to talk about your organizations ideal customer, core difference and even this month's new product launch.
How can a company find the balance between aiming for results and simply doing good work - or, what's the difference?
You know, I'm not sure there's a huge difference. In my book The Referral Engine, I profile a number of companies that generate referrals spontaneously. The common thread that runs through all of these organizations is that they are simply more referable - they do little things that make people talk. Most of these companies didn't really focus on any single way to generate referrals. Having said that, I believe the real pay off is in blending being highly referable with a systematic way to remind, stimulate and activate referral networks.
