Whale Hunting Women by Dr Barbara Weaver Smith

You may be asking what whale hunting has to do with women and why we’re talking about this in the 21^st century. I was curious when I first heard the title too – but I can guarantee that this book will surprise you. I’ll share the full time which will give you some insights into the content. This book is titled Whale Hunting Women: How Women Do Big Deals.

We get used to long books that go on and on about a topic – but Whale Hunting Women gets right to the point. I couldn’t find any “fluff” in this book, but there is a lot of great content to help you. These are some of the chapters in this book –

· How Women Hunt Whales.

· Only a Minnow (In a Sea of Whales).

· Small Company Looking Big.

· Small Fish Hunting Whales.

· Radical Culture: Take a Rival to Lunch.

· Radical Culture: Money is Cheap.

· Radical Culture: Kill Some Commandments.

· Who Do You Trust?

· Whale Hunting Resolutions.

Women are uniquely qualified to “hunt whales” because they listen, align and empathize. Men can learn these qualities too – but women are usually raised to have these traits. That gives them a boost in the “whale hunting” concept.

For people who aren’t familiar with whale hunting – the entire village was involved in preparing for the hunt and the right combination of skilled people were necessary for the hunt. Imagine having several people in a small boat and having to hunt and kill a whale – then you have to row the boat to get the whale home. They had no “modern conveniences” like radar, radios, motors and other things to help them bring home the whale to help the people in their village. Today we have many tools to make a whale hunt easier, but we still need a skilled team filled with members who all contribute to the hunt.

Dr Barbara Weaver Smith helps the reader understand that small businesses can look bigger and they can compete with big companies to get the big clients. This is where the team you assemble will make the difference and give you an edge. In the current economic climate, using the tips in Whale Hunting Women allows us to compete with the “big boys” by building our team in creative and productive ways to attract the big clients without piling on additional financial obligations of hiring more staff members.

These ideas are just the beginning of the information that is included in this information packed book. As you read through this book we recommend that you take the time to work through the journal pages. I always like it when the author creates review exercises or journal pages that prompts the reader to dig deeper to learn more and to start applying what they are learning.

If you are a business woman or business owner who would like the tools to take the business to the next level – I highly recommend this book. If you have a woman in your life that is in business and she wants to set herself apart from the crowd – you need to buy this book for her. It is available on www.thewhalehunters.com along with much more information about Dr Barbara Weaver Smith and Whale Hunting Women.

The Entrepreneurial Author: Surviving Tough Economic Times By Jay Conrad Levinson and David L Hancock

The Entrepreneurial Author: Surviving Tough Economic Times
By Jay Conrad Levinson and David L Hancock
Foreward by Rick Frishman

When I started doing promotional work, I was always given a limited budget. This meant that I had to get creative and that was one of the things that really appealed to me about promotional work. So, for a long time I was doing “guerilla” marketing – without knowing it. When I was asked to do a review for the new Jay Conrad Levinson book I was very pleased. Since David Hancock is a co-author, that made me even more interested in this book because I’ve enjoyed his entrepreneur author blog. David and I share many thoughts about how authors, especially business book authors, should approach their promotion. Many of these thoughts are included in the pages of The Entrepreneurial Author. Let me say in the beginning that this book is good for many entrepreneurs – not just authors.

Many books are coming out about how to do business in tough economic times and it seems that approach will be useful for the foreseeable future. So, our challenge is to find books that have quality and useful content. I was very pleased with the content in The Entrepreneurial Author. If you are a fan of the Guerilla Marketing books – you will enjoy this book. If you are an author who thinks your publisher is going to do all your promotion – you may not like the content, but you will learn a lot.

When you have a book on the market, you have created a product that you want to sell – that makes you a business person. So, all authors need the “entrepreneurial author” mindset. That is what this book is all about. In tough times, the people who approach their work with the right attitude, have a better opportunity to succeed. If you’re an author – do you approach your writing and book promotion as a business? If not, you need to read this book.

There are a number of great chapters in this book which are geared to working and promoting in a tough economy – such as: Tough Times Don’t Have to be as Tough as You Think, Importance of Stressing Value, Using Consent Marketing Now More Than Ever, Community Involvement During Tough Times, Attracting New Business During Tough Times and Online Marketing in a Shaky Economy.

Additional Chapters Include:
Free and Almost Free Marketing.
The Importance of Service During Tough Times.
Making Yourself the Talk of the Town.
Freebies That Can Lead to Serious Profits.
Getting Extra Mileage From Your Marketing.

I always advocate creativity and ingenuity in promotional efforts and tough economic times makes that even more important than usual. These are the times when we need to show potential clients that we offer great value. We also need to build our credibility for clients and that is a great reason for a business person to write a book.

This book starts at the beginning and helps you see the various options that are available to authors and can help you find the one that is best for you. Too many writers dive into publishing without doing sufficient research and it is amazing how much money this can cost you. The chapter on Tough Times Don’t Have to be as Tough as You Think is easily worth the cost of the book and it offers opportunities for authors and other business people. These tips help you reduce “the cost of marketing while reinforcing the customer relationship”.

I like books that draw you into the content and help you use the information within the book. The Entrepreneurial Author contains Exercises and Action Steps in each chapter to help you dig deeper into the content and also to actually take steps to start doing the work you need to do.

Guerilla Marketing is very much about using your mind and creativity instead of a big advertising budget. What better time could there be to learn how to promote effectively on a tight budget? The content is great and the time is definitely right – to learn to be an entrepreneurial author. Are you ready to take your books and your promotion to the entrepreneurial level? If you realize this is the time – you need to read this book ---- now. I think you will be astounded by how far you can take your writing career and your business by using the information in this book.

Nikki Leigh – Author of Book Promo 201: Harness the Power of the Internet with Web 2.0 and Social Media Marketing

How to be a Sales Superstar by Mark Tewart

How to be a Sales Superstar: Break All the Rules and Succeed While Doing It
by Mark Tewart

Every aspect of our daily lives are affected by sales, even though we may not think in those terms. When you buy any product or service, various sales people are involved in the background. Even your utilities are affected by the sales process. Sales people have gotten a bad “rep” for years, but that isn’t necessary. We all know people in the sales industry that are superstars. The question is – how do you become a sales superstar? Mark Tewart is a definite expert who has the answer to this question and he is sharing his thoughts and tips in his new book “How to be a Sales Superstar”.

In these tough economic times, its even more critical for people to make a living. A ho-hum sales person very likely will not survive in this economic climate. A sales superstar will not only survive, but he or she has the opportunity to thrive – even in tough times. That’s what Mark Tewart can help you do in the pages of How To Be A Sales Superstar.

I have many favorite parts in this book, but I really appreciated the fact that Tewart shows you how to improve your overall life – life skills, people skills, promotional skills and yes, sales skills. He explains that improving your sales skills is a great start, but it is not enough to make you a superstar. You also need to work on improving your own life, your outlook on life, how you relate to and communicate with other people and much more.

I’ve always loved to read and it was interesting that Tewart mentions continuing to learn is motivating. The people who continue to work to learn and to improve themselves, do seem to be motivated to do and accomplish more. Have you found it easier to do more when you have more information to use? He includes a quote from Jim Rohn, it says – “If you motivate someone and you don’t educate them, all you have is a motivated idiot.”

He discusses the need to set goals and to have a clear vision. How hard is it to accomplish something when you have no goals to work toward and no vision of where you’re headed and how to get there? He doesn’t just say you need to set goals and have a vision, he shows you how to do both of these things which are critical to your success.

Another quote that seems especially useful in this difficult time – “When you go to work on yourself and get better, it’s amazing how much better your customers get.” How can you work on yourself to improve your skills and your outlook – to help you get better customers? These are two more quotes that I really liked. “Allow no limitations, no excuses, and no reason not to ask and receive. When you open the door to your positive belief system, you close the door to scarcity.” This is a thought that I’ve shared with many people who worked with me over the years, “You don’t get paid by the hour, you get paid for the value you bring to the hour.” If we all adopted that attitude, would we be motivated to work harder and better?

Mark Tewart explains why over 90% of salespeople underachieve. Are you in the 90% or the 10%? If you’re in the 90%, you need to read this book. The book includes a wide variety of marketing ideas. It also contains a list of questions to use and questions to avoid. I’ve always believed that we learn so much by learning from mistakes that others have made. Mark Tewart shares plenty of do’s and don’ts. He gives you examples of how to meet and greet customers, how to work with them, how to talk with them, how to understand what they are actually trying to tell you and much more.

For anyone that wants to learn how to excel in sales and in their life, I highly recommend that you need to read this book. Tewart gives you invaluable tools on how to improve your quality of life, your personal relationships, your promotional skills and to move your sales skills to a superstar level.

Bounce! by Barry Moltz

Bounce! Failure, Resiliency and Confidence to Achieve Your Next Great Success by Barry Moltz

We all love to share our success stories in business. But, there is so much to learn from our failures. One key to learning from our failures is to be prepared for failure, develop the humility to deal with problems and to develop the keys that we need in order to be resilient.

Bounce! This seems to be the year where people discuss resiliency and how to bounce back. I’ve personally reviewed four or five books about improving our lives, making needed changes and moving on. The full title of this book is Bounce! Failure, Resiliency and Confidence to Achieve Your Next Great Success. Its an inspiring title and the book is very good. When we think of failure, we need to also think about bouncing back and starting over

In the United States and in other countries around the world people are facing very tough economic times and it doesn’t appear that will change drastically in the near future. We see huge companies failing and/or being taken over by the government or being sold on a pretty regular basis. If multi billion and multi million dollar businesses are failing, doesn’t it make sense that other businesses consider that failure is possible and to be ready for the possibility? No one is saying that failure is inevitable, but develop the mindset and skill set that make it easier for you to face failures and the situations we encounter as a business faces tough times.

Barry Moltz built his original business reputation at IBM. That’s where I initially heard about him, but he decided to leave IBM and start his own business venture. At one point in the book, Moltz mentions how his stature and income increased each year while he was at IBM and he had the mistaken opinion that the trend would continue even when he left IBM. That’s something I’ve heard from people who left a fulltime job to begin their own business. That can be one of the first things to rattle a new entrepreneur. The steady paycheck and job security disappear overnight.

Moltz gives the example of a rubber band ball that is created by wrapping rubber bands and creating a ball. Each band increases the size and strength of the ball. Through the pages of Bounce!, he shares the key “bands” we need to create sufficient bounce. They include:

Environmental and Cultural DNA – Attitudes in your country and associates about success and failure have an impact on how you view these elements of business.

Humility – Humility has the ability to lift us up or to pull us down. If you fail, will you wallow and brood over it or will you understand that people fail and pick yourself up and move on?

Face Your Fear of Failure – Failure is always possible. No matter how qualified or prepared we are in business, it is always possible to fail. Its best to be prepared for that possibility. If we never fail, that’s wonderful. But, if it does happen, be ready to deal with it.

Give Up Shame About Failure – This is not simple, but it is necessary. Once you decide to stop feeling shame over failure, tackle the things thrown at you by others. Some people will be obnoxious about any failure, but you need to be convinced it’s a temporary situation and move forward.

Failure Offers a Choice – How many people do you know that are stuck in a “no win” situation because they decide to stay in a failing business instead of admitting defeat? Give yourself the choice to say, “It’s not working” and get out of a losing situation. Make the choice to fail and move on to something better.

Be Careful About the Risks You Take – As your decision making skills improve, you are better qualified to make careful decisions and to limit the potential for risk and failure. Make sure that you understand the full risk and the full benefit of any major decision you are going to make.

Refine and Improve the Process to Improve the Outcome – Business goes through cycles and its important to understand that the processes we use make a difference in the outcomes we get.

Develop Patience About Success and Failure – We must be realistic and many times we don’t succeed as quickly as we hope. So, patience is needed. Set realistic goals and work toward these. Even when progress is slow, goals and benchmarks enable us to see the progress that is being made.

Develop Your Own System to Measure Your Success and Failure – Most people realize that just having money is not a guarantee of happiness. Decide what you need to feel successful. No one else’s idea of success should guide you – what makes you happy? Once you know that answer, strive to be happy.

Place Value on Action and Progress – Read the book, but then realize that you need to make things happen. Your experience is a great way to build confidence and the humility to face the tough situations and to move on to bigger and better things.

Those points are the key elements that the book covers and is built around. The longest chapter in the book, is Chapter 5 Forget the Archetypes: Messy Lines Teach Humility. At first glance this was interesting and a bit confusing because we all know that strong entrepreneurs need confidence, to be self assured and to be strong. So, why did Moltz include such a long chapter about humility? He discusses ego and how it does and does not help a business person. He discusses how humility is crucial is facing problems and failures in a way that helps us start over and rebuild or future.

There is so much great information in this book, but I highly recommend that no one skip the last chapter, Read This Book – Then Throw It Away. He makes great points including the fact that planning is great and needs to happen, but we also know that you will never succeed or fail until you take the leap and actual work to make it happen. Anyone who is waiting for the “perfect” time to start will be waiting forever. There is never a “perfect” time.

Do sufficient research and planning and learn to make sound decisions. Then develop true and positive humility and move forward. It’s also critical to realize many great people have failed, some failed in huge ways. The great people, large and small, are the ones who pick themselves up and start over. There is always another possibility and another opportunity. Will you move on and find your next opportunity?

Email Marketing for Complex Sales Cycles by Winton Churchill

Direct mail and email marketing have gotten a bad rap for many years. But, when the email marketing is executed properly, the results can be fantastic. That is the sort of email marketing that Winton Churchill talks about in this book. It’s not just a simple email being sent from time to time, but it is an email system that gets definite and positive sales results for your business.

The complete name of the book is Email Marketing for Complex Sales Cycles – Proven Ways to Product a Continuous Flow of Prospects and Profits with Effective, Spam Free Email Systems. When properly formulated and executed, an email mailing system can generate additional sales for your company – quickly.

We’re all familiar with the long drawn out and unpredictable sales methods. How many times have your sales people spent endless hours coddling sales leads? How often do these hours generate few sales? You know that isn’t cost effective, but every body does cold calling, trade shows and similar sales approaches. Or do they? You won’t need to continue these unpredictable sales strategies after you read and apply Email Marketing for Complex Sales Cycles by Winton Churchill.

To illustrate the wealth of information in this book, these are some of the topics–

· Email Marketing is Not About Spam.

· Email Marketing… Relatively Easy and Extremely Powerful – When You Do it Right.

· Change your Mindset, Change Your Future.

· Six Special Needs of Complex Sales Cycles.

· Three Critical Stages of Success.

· Unhooking – The Process of Un-Training Your Brain.

· Four Ways to Identify and Qualify Legitimate Prospects.

· The Rapport Sequence.

· Eighteen Essential Components Simplified.

· Seven Damaging Mistakes Many Executives Make.

· Eight Indispensible “Fast Track” Strategies.

Recipients have mental blocks about spam and supposed junk mail. So, the first thing to realize is that Winton Churchill isn’t talking about spam or junk mail. In various places throughout the book, he admonishes the reader to find a quality list. This helps you get better results because those lists contain people who want to receive information about a product or service that is similar to yours.

Email marketing is reasonably easy, but you need to understand why it works and how it works. The complex sales cycle is a powerful sales tool and Churchill helps you learn how to use it properly. Are you one of the business people who spent your budget on an address list, but didn’t know how to properly use the list? This book is for you. Just having the list isn’t enough. You need to reach the people and determine who needs your product or service. You also need to build up a rapport with these people in order to lead them to make a purchase.

The email complex sales cycle allows you to screen these potential clients, show them that you are an expert in your field, demonstrate ways that you can help them and lead them to your business to make a sale. That does not mean that every one on the list will become a client, but when you start with a targeted and qualified list, your chance of making the sale increase. Once you have the right list, work on the cycle of messages that prove your credibility and illustrate how you can fill their needs.

In several of the chapters, Churchill addresses the mindset and that re-training are necessary to make email marketing work. The content of this book helps you get past the preconceived ideas about spam and to see the strategic way that a complex sales system works.

I enjoyed the entire book and I really enjoyed the sections on how to identify qualified prospects, how to simplify the eighteen components that are necessary and learning about common mistakes. I learned long ago that we can learn through past mistakes – the ones we make and the ones that other people make.

Finally, the eight “fast track” strategies are very useful. We all want to fast track our sales cycle, but it needs to be done correctly. Throughout the book, Churchill explains that we can ruin the sales cycle by pushing too hard to fast, so learning how to effectively “fast track” the program is helpful and will help us avoid mistakes.

My copy of the book has all kinds of information highlighted for future reference. I found many great ideas and tips that I will use. As I was reading the book, I also noticed an idea forming to use email marketing for a client’s business. I hadn’t thought about the approach before, but it made so much sense as I read Email Marketing Solutions.

The content could inspire you to make radical changes in the way your sales force finds and how they handle sales leads. Think of the time and money you could save with a more effective sales prospecting system for your business. Let Winton Churchill show you how to make these changes and how to increase sales that are generated for your company.

Winton Churchill will tour the blog-o-sphere September 15 to October 10. For more details, visit www.virtualblogtour.blogspot.com

What the Best CEO’s Know by Jeffrey Krames

With all the focus in the last several years on corporate scandals, are there any CEO’s who can teach us something? There are, and their stories are included in What the Best CEO’s Know by Jeffrey Kramer. We cannot deny that there have been an unusual number of corporations who find themselves on the wrong side of the legal system, but that is not the case with every CEO.

What traits are needed to be a top CEO? How do you build a business that can weather the inevitable storms that will come? The stories of these men will inspire you, help you analyze your abilities as a CEO along with learning how to improve your effectiveness in business. Some of these men survived personal and business pitfalls, but established durable companies.

You are given the chance to “Assess Your CEO Quotient” by using questions to evaluate your performance and your business. These unique features offer you the opportunity to learn improved ways to handle your business.

Six Traits That Connect 7 CEO’s

1 – “Outside-In” Perspective – This perspective requires the ability to analyze varying aspects of the target market. The organization must focus on and satisfy the market.

2 – “Evangelical Leadership Gene” – A common mistake that people make, is to confuse this trait with charisma. A CEO must arouse enthusiasm and devotion.

3 – Importance of Culture and the Difficulty in Changing Culture – Some CEO’s create a fun, family culture in their businesses and others opt for a culture of a healthy fear of competition and failure.

4 – “Next Generation” Companies – Top CEO’s must anticipate what the market will need and how their business can fill that need. They need to have vision about what will be needed.

5 – “Implement Best Idea” – Some people must take credit for all good ideas. These CEO’s realized that a good idea should be utilized, no matter who originated the idea.

6 – Advance Leadership Body of Knowledge – These men understood the knowledge of a leader should always increase and improve their performance.

Focus Your Business Around the Customer

Michael Dell was a Fortune 500 CEO at 27. He realized any product needed to fill the customer’s need. His system eliminated the need to stockpile items. Each system is custom built to meet a specific customer’s needs, after the order was placed.

He learned an expensive lesson, when a new product was designed without consulting the public. After this setback, Dell returned to the principle of listening to his customers. They realized a profitable use for the internet was placing orders online. This also collected information from customers and freed employees for other duties. These things help Dell to maintain a competitive edge and rock bottom prices. By eliminating the middleman and inventory, he held prices down and ensured a higher profit. Focusing on the customer and satisfying them multiplied potential profits and made Dell a company to watch and learn from through the years.

Create an Authentic Learning Environment

Imagine being promoted to CEO in an established company and the best move is to totally reorganize the organization? This is the situation that confronted Jack Welch as CEO of GE. To make the situation worse, key vice presidents and thousands of managers didn’t see a problem.

Welch needed a better learning environment to reorganize GE, but his first priority was to cut expenses. The company needed to be financially stable before the education could be implemented. The training would be costly, but the cost would be offset through increased productivity and more effective management of the companies which made up GE.

Welch knew a key source for valuable ideas could be competitors. He encouraged his employees to actively search for ideas in any place. Employees were rewarded for bringing ideas to his attention. New ideas were celebrated within the company and the best were shared in a company newsletter. He felt the employees needed to share information and this enabled them to understand how the company operated and their part in the process.

GE spent billions to train their employees, but their revenues proved this was a worthwhile endeavor. When Welch took over as CEO in 1981, the total market capitalization was $13 billion. While this was a very respectable number, the value in 2000 was an impressive $596 billion.

Focus on Solutions

What if you were chosen as the CEO of a company founded by Thomas Edison. If that isn’t intimidating enough, the previous year the company posted the largest annual loss to date - $8.1 billion. How could one person remedy the problems in that company?

At one time, IBM was the largest computer company. As the CEO, Gerstner’s first priority was to stop the financial bleeding. The last CEO wanted to break up the company, but Gerstner planned to keep the company together. The decision was to expand and make IBM a full service computer company. The existing customer base needed more and the new plan would enable IBM to capitalize on long term and loyal customers by satisfying more of their needs.

Each part of the company needed to be involved in this restructuring and expansion to make it a success. Gerstner also went to the customers and asked for their input. In the past, IBM became arrogant about their business position. They developed the mindset that they didn’t need to study their competitors or talk to their customers to maintain their position.

Gerstner turned to Jack Welch for help. He “shocked” the company into understanding the situation by cutting expenses by $1.5 billion in six months. The original idea was to sell products, but under Gerstner, they needed to provide solutions. One of Gerstner’s primary goals was to increase research and development. The researchers put their emphasis on finding and creating ways to solve their customer’s problems.

Prepare the Organization for Drastic Change

Intel developed and manufactured microchips. They discovered that limitless information could be stored without needing more space, the potential was limitless. But, a Japanese company found the same answer and could make the chips cheaper. This shook Intel’s foothold on the market. It took three long years, but Intel bounced back. They shifted from microchips to microprocessors and regained their footing in the industry. This decision by Andy Grove put the company in a profitable position and positioned the company to become a giant in the industry. He viewed the company in a brutally honest way and saw what was needed. It was a drastic answer, but it was what the situation needed. He found this answer by thinking like a person outside the business.

A small defect was found in a chip. He had two possibilities, one was to convince the public it was a small problem or he could replace the part. Grove decided to replace the parts, which cost the company $500,000,000. Andy Grove helped Intel survive several large crises by insisting that there was no place for complacency within the company. Regular meetings with managers help everyone keep an eye on potential problems and deal with many before they become large problems. A healthy fear also needs to be instilled in employees. This will keep them watchful for trends that can harm the company and their future.

Harness the Intellect of Every Employee

Bill Gates became involved in the computer industry at a key time. He was able to get in on the ground floor and build his business while the industry was young. His belief that every employee had something to contribute was a key to forming an idea driven company and that gave an employee the confidence to come to him about the potential of the internet. An employee noticed how Cornell students were using the internet for more than research, and he brought the information back to his employer.

Create a Performance Driven Culture

Airlines were especially hard hit after the September 11 terrorist attacks. Even in these tough times, the CEO for Southwest Airlines showed a profit for three decades. Herb Kelleher’s strategies contributed to that success. Southwest originally flew commuter routes in Texas and grew into a $5.7 billion business.

There is little conventional thinking at Southwest Airlines. These ideas begin with the low pricing structure and include the policy of no assigned seats. The overall attitude creates an incredible loyalty among employees. In 2000, fuel prices that had tripled and that could threaten the company. Each employee found ways to save $5 a day, in 6 weeks they saved $2 million.

The company hiring policies are a little unorthodox, but people’s attitudes play a big part in their hiring decision. The attitudes they want include: “cheerfulness, optimism, decision-making ability, team spirit, communication, self-confidence and self starter skills.” Kelleher told his people to focus on service and pleasing the customer. He believed if you give excellent service and satisfy the customer, profits will follow.

Learn from Competitors, but Remain Faithful to the Vision

Sam Walton started with a small retail store and created a mega store. He had a trial and error process, but he learned from each mistake and continued to make changes throughout the years. He admitted that he “borrowed” ideas from competitors. He kept an eye on their product selection, prices, customers and service. Walton understood to keep an eye on the competition and to learn from them.

Many people have a hard time comprehending Walton’s most prevalent idea – the belief that lower prices bring higher profits. He bought products at very low prices because he bought in such bulk. Then he sold more than others and the profit grew. Look down the aisles of your local Wal-Mart. Most products are represented on the shelves, but there are only a couple of types of each product. Limiting the depth of selection gave Walton a wide breadth of products.

Summary

What common threads are seen with these seven CEO’s? Each one knew customers were a key to their success. They needed to supply a product the customer wanted and to do it better than their competitors. To do this, they needed to study their competition, use good ideas and improve on the bad ideas. These men knew a good idea was important, no matter where it originated. Many rewarded their employees for sharing good ideas and didn’t penalize bad ideas. The CEO’s acknowledged some of the best ideas came from employees.

Through the “CEO Quotient” questions in each chapter and practical examples, each CEO or small business owner can find invaluable tips. Even if you have heard the idea before, these men may procide a different slant on it that would benefit you and your business to reach heights you didn’t think was possible.

Transforming Power by Hugh Ballou

Transforming Power by Hugh Ballou

Hugh Ballou has over 40 years of experience as a choir director and has worked with small organizations and large organizations. I believe the largest had 12,000 members. Now, you may be asking yourself what a choir director knows about transforming power and how he can help entrepreneurs. That’s an interesting story.

As I’ve spoken with Hugh Ballou and as I read some of the articles and his book, it became very clear to me that the situations he faced with the choir members, the religious structure and the members of the congregations often reflect the situations we face in business. This is especially true when we talk about implementing change in any type of organization. This experience has given him a unique perspective when he deals with businesses and other organizations that need to make changes.

First, some detail about the structure of Transforming Power. The book was compiled by collecting personal experiences from over twenty different people who experienced a transformational change. Hugh Ballou hand picked the people that are included and asked the people to share a transformational story that would be beneficial and that would inspire others. Those stories are included in this book.

I looked up a couple of definition for “transformational change” -

A shift in the business culture of an organization resulting from a change in the underlying strategy and processes that the organization has used in the past. A transformational change is designed to be organization-wide and is enacted over a period of time. - www.businessdictionary.com

A qualitative change and an event that occurs when something passes from one state or phase to another. - www.thefreedictionary.com

In the introduction, Hugh Ballou reminds us that each of us see the transformation from our own perspective and so each experience that is shared in the book, is told from that person’s perspective. There are interesting consistencies throughout the book that help illustrate how the need for transformational change can be a universal situation. Each story inspires and encourages leaders to begin the transformational process within their organization. This enables you, the reader, to begin to make a difference for the people who work with you and to the organization as a whole.

Over the years, I’ve noticed that people see “leadership” in many different ways. However, this is not talking about someone who was just put in charge of a group. A leader is much more than a manager or supervisor. A true leader accepts the challenge to help the people they lead. Our leadership can also help other people learn how to lead and to create a more positive and encouraging environment. The first step in this process is to realize if we need to make a change in ourselves. How can we honestly ask others to make a change, if we’re unwilling to make changes first?

There are key qualities that all transformational leaders should have. They include:

Sharing responsibilities.

Promoting creativity.

Clearly defining goals.

Effectively delegate to others.

Coach others in an effective way.

Celebrate accomplishments within the group and/or the organization.

Provide knowledge and education where needed.

Value the individuals in the group and/or organization.

Be a model of leadership.

A true leader can be a very powerful and encouraging person. However, something interesting that stood out to me as I read the book was that each story showed us some concern, vulnerability, fear etc. We each have concerns about change and especially major changes. The people who contributed to this project showed us those very human traits. I found it encouraging to realize those traits are common in this sort of situation.

Several of the experiences showed how people tell us they want change, but once the change begins, we see another side to them. It’s important to understand that sometimes they want a change that will make things better for them. Change is one of those times when you will experience growing pains – or we could call them changing pains. Any change will bring some difficulties within the process and as the change is happening. True and lasting change takes time and a transformational leader needs to be prepared for the complete journey.

As a leader is leading the group through a change, they have the opportunity to create a “community” feel and approach to the project. This community atmosphere has the power to create a synergy that is very beneficial to the change that is happening and the people who are involved. It isn’t productive to approach these changes in a dictatorial way. Leading and using the community approach is much more effective and lasting than a dictatorial approach. The community attitude also allows others to step up and be involved in many aspects of the changes that are being made.

Effective communication, delegation and planning are key to a change. When you begin a change, do you communicate the ideas? Do you find qualified people for delegated responsibilities? Are thorough plans developed to assist the change go smoothly? These things help the change process. There may be problems along the way, but leaders who take these initial steps have a higher chance for success.

All these points are illustrated very effectively in Transforming Power. A number of the examples relate to church situations and I enjoyed reading how effectively these approaches and techniques can be used in any organizational situation. Is your group or organization in need of change? This is a book you must read and you will be able to apply many of the examples that are included in your business, church or organization. For a special offer during August 2008, visit www.transforming-power.com.

NOTE - For more details about Hugh Ballou – visit www.hughballou.com. Book information available at http://www.amazon.com/Transforming-Power-Transformational-Encouragement-Inspiration/dp/0881775312 For full tour details, visit http://virtualblogtour.blogspot.com/2008/06/transforming-power-virtual-tour-with.html

A SPECIAL BONUS TO EACH PERSON WHO PURCHASES TRANSFORMING POWER TODAY – Hugh Ballou has compiled a list of great FREE bonus gifts for anyone who purchases Transforming Power today. To see a sample of the items that are being given away, visit http://www.transforming-power.com. Just buy a copy of Transforming Power, return to this page and click to submit your invoice number to receive the web page link to download all of these gifts for FREE.

Nikki Leigh – Author, Publicist and Tour Coordinator

www.nikkileigh.com – Book Promo 101: Learn the Basics of Book Promotion

Get Noticed Get Referrals by Jill Lublin

How many times have you heard that you need to make a name for yourself? That’s something I’ve heard in many different contexts over the years. Get noticed, get referrals and networking – these are all powerful strategies that all business people should utilize.

Jill Lublin writes in an easy to understand manner that walks you through the process of getting noticed and getting referrals. This book focuses on getting noticed and networking in the real world, not on the internet. (But, I hear that her next book will deal with online promotion.)

Are you one of the entrepreneurs who feels that networking and generating referrals is something you could never do? Let’s think about that for a minute. What is a referral? Last time you saw a great movie or discovered a new restaurant, did you tell your friends about it? That is a referral. Have you ever had a friend recommend a doctor or a show? That is a referral. Getting and giving referrals can be just that easy. When people know you and understand what you do, it is easy for them to give you referrals.

Why do you want referrals? That’s easy, referrals are a great way to find new clients for your business. But, I’m getting ahead of myself. Sorry, I do that when I talk about referrals and networking because I’ve seen the “magic” in action and it is wonderful for your business.

First you need to get noticed. That is the first thing that Jill Lublin helps you understand in her book. Take a few minutes and think about your business. How many times have you gotten what you need through a recommendation from someone else? It could be a location, a supplier, an advertiser or clients – any of these things can be recommended by another person. These are referrals.

We have to put forth the effort to “get out there”. This means that you have to get noticed through meeting people and interacting with them. Jill gives some great pointers on how to do this. One of my favorite points was “to be completely there”. This simply means that you need to focus on the person you meet and really get to know them. Don’t scan the room for “someone better”. You never know which person could be a key to your future, so focus on each person individually and get to know them. These are the first steps in beginning to build new business relationships.

Throughout the book, Jill Lublin gives us Action Plans. These are at the end of each chapter and they help the reader implement the information they have read. What good is the information if you can’t figure out how to use it in your business? She also provides a wonderful Client Worksheet to give us an idea of what matters we should discuss with a new client. This is only a sample, but could be used to develop a checklist that is appropriate for each of us. The checklist is only a part of the information in Chapter Two about how to deal with clients effectively.

One of the chapters I included was about myths and misconceptions. There are so many myths in business and she chose fourteen common misconceptions and explains why they are not true. It’s a short chapter, but it can be an eye opener.

Where can you go to get noticed and to start this process? Chapter Six gives plenty of examples of where to go and she even suggests that you can start your own group. Once you get “out there”, you need to make a good first impression. Before you go to those networking meetings or the chamber of commerce mixer, read chapter seven. Jill Lublin takes you step by step through the process of making a great first impression and getting started on the road to referrals.

Some advanced networking information includes:

Chapter 8 – Goals, Intentions and Strategies Chapter 9 – Cultivate the Media Chapter 11 – Focus, Focus, Focus Chapter 12 – Always Keep It Real Chapter 15 – Be Flexible and Keep Your Options Open The book contains a wide variety of information to help you get noticed and get referrals, but one of my favorite chapters is number fourteen – Service Makes a Difference. I don’t know about you, but I feel outstanding customer service is a thing of the past in many businesses today. Its sad, but how often have you gone into a business, emailed a business or called a business and been ignored or put on hold for an extended period of time?

Getting Noticed and getting referrals is a great start, but once you have the customer, you must knock their socks off with great customer service. Jill Lublin gives us the ten commandments of business, she tells us to be pleasant, respond to customers, encourage people to come back and to use heart centered marketing. Those are the subheadings in chapter fourteen, but I’ll let you discover the hidden treasures about how to give outstanding customer service.

I recommend this book for any business person who needs to learn how to get noticed. Even if you are getting noticed, are you getting referrals from others? If you aren’t getting referrals and your aren’t networking – you’re missing a big piece of the entrepreneurial puzzle. Jill Lublin’s new book can give you the networking pieces of the puzzle that you’re missing. You can learn much more about Jill Lublin and Get Noticed… Get Referrals at www.jilllublin.com and http://virtualblogtour.blogspot.com/2008/06/jill-lublin-author-of-get-noticed-get.html

Beyond Booked Solid by Michael Port

Recently I was contacted to read and review Beyond Booked Solid by Michael Port. Earlier he released Book Yourself Solid and this latest book is about the next steps in running and owning a business.

I've written a number of books and have been running a variety of businesses for twenty years. I've had many experiences of my own and I've read many books on the topic of business management. So, I went into the book with the expectation that it would be similar to all those other business books I'd read. My expectations were way off base.

I really enjoyed the book and found many points that I had experienced myself. There were many things mentioned in the book that I know for a fact - work. There were some places in the book where Michael Port was very clear that if the reader didn't follow his instructions, they simply would not move their business forward.

I had to smile as I remembered the number of times I told that to business owners I worked with or business partners who refused to make necessary changes. The author showed a good sense of humor throughout the book and the style was very conversational, which I prefer. I like the writing style to speak to me, not preach at me.

Some of my favorite topics included: preparing for the future, being creative (my favorite section), building blocks for business, measure your objectives, how to get things done, how to develop business systems (one of the best pieces I've read on this topic), how to hire and outsource, building alliances and partnerships, and creating balance in your life.

In the last chapter, Michael Port included personal experiences from a variety of business people that showed what is possible and how to take a simple business idea and then build it into something much bigger and more successful.

I highly recommend this book for a business owner and/or manager who is working in a busy business, but wants to take it to the next level. Its very easy to be overwhelmed in business and in real life when a business grows. But, apply the many invaluable tips and suggestions that the author shares with you and the business and your life should improve. I'll keep my eyes open for the next book by Michael Port.

Nikki Leigh
Award Winning Author and Publicist
www.nikkileigh.com