Sticky Wisdom

Published by Capstone

Buy it now from Blackwell Books

The revolution starts here

How would you like to switch on your ‘creativity’ any time you wanted? Or help everyone in your organisation (your life!) be more creative? According to the unnamed authors (all staff members of the organisation ?What If!) there is a step-by-step how-to-do-it guide – and Sticky Wisdom the book is it!

There are, the book tells us, six behaviours that can be seen in all creative people and teams;

Freshness
Greenhousing
Realness
Momentum
Signalling
Courage

Unsurprisingly, Sticky Wisdom is divided into six chapters (plus an introduction, a ‘call to arms’ and an index) that explore the behaviours and guide the reader towards their implementation.

Is this just another book of to do lists? Not entirely; though it contains lists a plenty. Let’s face it, we would all like a simple template that could be applied and provide instant positive results. Not only for creativity but for all the other challenges that face us in life and business. So the authors have tapped into a universal desire for quick fixes. However they are codifying what their organisation does, very successfully, for a number of impressive clients; Microsoft and ICI for example. While I don’t imagine either of these organisations is completely immune from snake-oil salesman their presence on the client list does make the arguments put forth at least worth spending a little time on.

Like the company the authors work for, Sticky Wisdom is a bit off-the-wall but a good read and with some interesting ideas that could make a big difference if you are prepared to put in the not inconsiderable effort that will be needed. Proving yet again that there is not really any short cut to success beyond winning a lottery, Sticky Wisdom has found a space on my bookshelf.

Beat the Recession: proven marketing tactics, Carol A E Bentley

Published by Sarceaux Publications, Dorset, England.


139 Proven Sales Letter Writing, Direct Marketing & Business Development Tactics Make Short Work of Recession Fears

So says the jacket blurb for Carol Bentley’s second book – and she backs it up with a money back guarantee if you buy direct.

Carol is a well-known copywriter who also writes a blog all about marketing (and sales and other stuff) for small businesses. This volume is a distillation of that blog plus comments she has received on various postings and a whole section of ‘guest blogs’ from other (mainly Internet-based) marketing experts.

Apart from the advice in the ‘guest blogs’ the book contains 139 business tips aimed at improving profits. And it has something that raises its potential value to any small business exponentially – links. The book is heavy with them; links to all kinds of clever material from all kinds of sources; I’d be willing to pay the cover price just to get the links!

It is not possible, in a short review, to cover everything that Carol talks about in over 400 pages but here is a taster:

· Marketing
· Web marketing
· Selling techniques
· Networking
· Time management
· Writing sales letters
· Cold calling
· Joint venturing
· Referrals
· Prospecting

You can get Carol’s book in all the usual outlets – but if you follow this link http://www.bentleybtr.com/ you will be able to get the ebook version as well as the printed book. This means you can use the many links direct from the ebook instead of having to key them laboriously in to your web browser. And if that is not enough, Carol gives you a whole year to evaluate the material and take a refund if you are dissatisfied!

No matter what you got for Christmas, give yourself a New Year’s gift that should pay for itself over and over again.