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.

Cold Calling for Chickens. Bob Etherington

Published by Cyan Books (Marshall Cavendish)

Buy it now from Blackwell Books

Something for the coward in all of us!

Have you ever had to make a business call absolutely cold? It sends shivers down the spines of otherwise fearless salespeople and causes fainting fits among sales trainees.

Well, Bob Etherington has been doing it for years and he knows all about the fear and how to handle it. Notice ‘handle’ not ‘eliminate’. The great strength of this book is that it allows you to remain a chicken and still succeed.

According to Bob, 85% of business goes to the 5% of people who know the secret of successful cold calling. Which makes this a very important book indeed.

Having established that we are to remain ‘chicken’ the author begins the process of showing us how to use our fears to make us ‘one of the best’ in the cold calling field. He does this by first ‘marking out the chicken run’; showing how to figure out what works best for your product or service and how to be convincing on the telephone.

The next section of the book is called ‘The big secret of successful chickens’ and here he reveals how we can get everything we desire in life. Mr E is deadly serious about the ‘everything’ bit and I have to say he makes a very convincing argument for his system.

The final two sections are concerned with persuasion and how to hang on to your customers – and keep them buying.

Part sales training, part personal development, all fascinating and could change your life (in a positive way!). I think you should probably buy it – especially if you are in sales or run your own business.

Discover the Simple way to Success in business, Richard Walters

Published by Harris Walters


Great tips for business owners

The eagle-eyed will have spotted the absence of an ISBN number above. I have a rule only to review books that have some kind of distribution, however feeble, and that generally rules out anything without an ISBN. However I am making an exception in this case because I believe this to be a very useful piece of work.

Harris Walters is a firm of accountants and, according to his biographical notes, partner Richard Walters has written a number of books for the business market.

Why do I like this book so much? Because it keeps the promise of the title – it is SIMPLE. Simple to understand, simple to read and simply covers the basics.

Mr Walters begins by getting the reader to consider what he or she really wants by asking “what is the most important thing to you about being in business?” Being different, asking the right questions, taking one step at a time and13 other vital steps are covered in the first few pages. I fact, in a total of less than 110 pages we cover sales and marketing, business management, people skills and vision and innovation. And it is done succinctly and SIMPLY.

Small enough to slip in your pocket, this book will repay its reading many times over. Not available on Amazon or even, so far as I can find out, from good booksellers, you will have to contact Harris Walters direct and part with about a tenner ($20) for your copy.

Well worth the trouble – http://www.harriswalters.co.uk/

YES! Noah J Goldstein PhD, Steve J Martin, Robert B Cialdini PhD

Published by Profile Books

Buy it now from Blackwell Books

Getting your own way – but with subtlety!

I have long been a fan of Cialdini’s theories ( he is the academic who found a great way to jump the queue at the photocopier; see ‘Influence’ and its sequels) so I was delighted to come across this gem of a book though I have not previously heard of his co-authors.

Subtitled ’50 secrets from the science of persuasion’ it is exactly that – a bunch of tips for getting your own way. Each short chapter outlines an actual event involving (sometimes accidental) persuasion techniques; it goes on to look at relevant research and propose practical applications.

Persuasion, the authors claim, is a science and not an art. Fair enough, even though the theories have been developed by psychologists and psychology is widely regarded as a non-science. The important thing is that all the techniques discussed in this book have been shown to work more effectively than begging, threats or chance. So, if you are in the persuasion business (and who isn’t?) this will prove a useful handbook for you.

From persuading hotel guests to re-use their towels more often (and then more often still!) to showing which common office item can make your influence stick (clue!) the authors provide fascinating tales and practical ideas. They rely not on anecdote but on solid research to illuminate the influence strategies that will ease your passage through your business, consumer and home lives.

There is no room here to discuss all of the tips, but among my favourites are the three-word change that shattered a twenty-year-old sales record, the aforementioned sticky influencer and how similarities can make a big difference.

Buy this book for fun, out of curiosity or as a business investment – but buy it!

Sales Promotion, Roddy Mullin & Julian Cummins

Published by Kogan Page

Buy it now from Blackwell Books

How to create campaigns that work

This is the 4th edition of the late Julian Cummins’ comprehensive work, the latest two editions having been revised by Roddy Mullin.

This book is regarded as essential reading both for students of the subject and experienced practitioners wanting to stay abreast of developments in sales promotion issues and techniques.

Sales promotion is probably used more than any other type of marketing effort and when one reads the numerous case studies in this volume it becomes easy to understand why – properly implemented, sales promotion ‘just works’.

The first nine chapters deal with the issues – among them marketing purpose, what the discipline can achieve, how to create and apply promotions and the legal considerations.

The second half of the book consists of a further six chapters on the various techniques available. The more exciting chapters, they deal with off-the-shelf offers and joint-, price-, premium- and prize-promotions respectively. The final chapter is saved for an examination of international promotions.

Complete with a plethora of case studies – 50 in total - plus self study notes and questions, this is about as comprehensive an introduction to the subject and text book as can be imagined. Little wonder it is a core text of the Institute of Sales Promotion’s diploma course.

How to get clients to come to you, Nigel Temple

Published by Words at Work

Buy it now from Blackwell Books

‘Temple’ supported by seven pillars

Marketing consultant and author Nigel Temple goes back to basic principles for this well-balanced work. To the very experienced there will be little that is new but Mr Temple puts the basics across clearly and even for the ‘old war horses’ there will be some very useful reminders of what they should be doing.

This book is aimed at you if you have ever wondered just who your customers are (or should be), what really is your ‘USP’ or how to get your message across.

Borrowing from the field of sports psychology, he begins by urging the reader to develop his or her ‘inner marketer’, developing a vision and the confidence to reach for it.

Subsequent chapters deal with such things as creating your marketing plan and what Mr Temple calls client attraction laws. Among these is a fascinating piece on reciprocity – giving potential clients something really useful such as relevant information instead of the usual self-promoting leaflets. This is on the grounds that they are then more likely to ‘reciprocate’ by giving you something useful – their business.

Internet marketing is covered, of course, and we also get some useful advice on low-cost promotional techniques; writing effective copy and the one everyone seems to forget – taking action!

There is also a useful appendix on analysing your competition; again something that seems not to occur to many businesses.

Altogether a useful short introduction to marketing from a man who has trained thousands in the subject and has a client list of over a thousand companies in Europe and Asia.

E-MAIL Selling Techniques (that really work!), Stephan Schiffman

Published by Adams Media

Buy it now from Blackwell Books

Everything you ever wanted to know

Billed as America’s No1 corporate sales trainer, I remember Mr Schiffman as the author of ‘Telephone Selling Techniques – that really work!’ And I have to say that they did.
Now at least two decades later we have this comprehensive guide to a new era in selling.
Described by Stephan as a compilation of concepts and principles developed over a long period of time, the book is crammed with good advice for all who struggle with the ‘instant’ world of cyber space.
Beginning with an explanation of the basic differences between selling now and selling in the last century, he shows how communication has changed, how emailing is different, sometimes irritating, and why it can seldom stand alone.
He goes on to develop a concept of selling as a series of ‘next steps’, covering relationships, buying signals (yes, you get those with email too!) and, importantly, creating the ‘perfect’ email.
In a final short section we are treated to a list of 22 unforgivable mistakes – most of which I confess I have made.
Mr Schiffman clearly understands the technology; I am sure this book will prove as useful in the Internet age as his last was in the telephone age. If you use computers and email for business (and who doesn’t today?) get this book – Stephan Schiffman will show you how to do the business.