This blog includes posts on lead generation, eMarketing, Web Marketing, SEO and other leading edge marketing techniques.
-Alan Blume
Archive for the 'Business Book Review' Category
Sell More & Work Less Now Available on Kindle – Web Selling Techniques Everyone Should Use
Posted on February 2nd, 2012 by Alan Blume
Sell More & Work Less is now available on Kindle. This web selling tips book focuses on a 4-Phase Sales Process which helps business professionals quickly learn and apply many new web sales tips and techniques to improve their sales effectiveness. Simply said, allowing them to sell more and work less. The 4-Phase Virtual Sales Process facilitates the transition to a web centric sales model offering greater profit potential, improved methods of selling and the more flexible business and personal lifestyle this affords. Readers can replicate the 4-Phase Virtual Sales Process to create their own tailored sales process using the techniques explained in this web selling tips and techniques book. I was fortunate to be assisted by three “in the trenches” coauthors, Mike Lauducci, John Scranton and Andrew Blume in the writing of this web selling tips book.
Sell More & Work Less is now available on Amazon, both in paperback and the Kindle version http://www.amazon.com/Sell-More-Work-Less-ebook/dp/B0072O3KUO/ref=sr_1_sc_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1328183749&sr=1-1-spell.
For B2B Web Marketing go to www.StartMarketingTech. For Insurance Agency Marketing go to www.StartUpSelling.com.
The 4-Phase Sales Process
Posted on January 14th, 2012 by Alan Blume
Many years ago, in an attempt to improve sales productivity and forecasting while reducing pipeline subjectivity, I created something called the 4-Phase Sales Process. It’s been very effective for my businesses and my clients’ businesses, and is a process which can be used by essentially any sales professional or business. This process provides a simple methodology to improve selling, reducing prospect subjectivity and increasing sales efficiency. The four phases (identify, qualify, present and close) create a fundamental selling foundation, which salespeople and businesses can gradually builds upon. It is an effective process for both virtual businesses and salespeople and traditional operations seeking to web enable their sales teams.
The 4-Phase Sales Process is the foundation of my new book, Sell More & Work Less: Web Selling Techniques Everyone Should Use. Salespeople and businesses can rapidly adopt and tailor this process to improve their current methods, helping quantify the sales process into a series of simple, measurable and easy to monitor steps. Within this process is something I call The Prospect Scorecard, a simple tool to help salespeople track and monitor the top of their pipeline. Some of the web sales and marketing topics in Sell More & Work Less include:
Integrated Marketing - Sell More & Work Less
* Building your prospect database and email list
* Reaching your target market through email marketing
* Leveraging warm calls for quality appointments
* Expanding reach through Social Media Marketing
For more information, go to Sell More & Work Less or The Prospect Scorecard.
Sell More & Work Less: Web Selling Techniques Everyone Should Use – Now Available
Posted on January 2nd, 2012 by Alan Blume
Sell More & Work Less - Now at Amazon
The second book is finally complete and available on Amazon. Well – at least the paper based version is available with the Kindle version to follow in the next few weeks. This book was written and published faster than my first book, Your Virtual Success, leveraging some of the new web publishing techniques now available to authors.
Sell More & Work Less is a web selling tips book revolving around my 4-Phase Sales Process which helps business professionals quickly learn and apply many new web sales tips and techniques to improve their sales effectiveness. Simply said, allowing them to sell more and work less. The 4-Phase Virtual Sales Process facilitates the transition to a web based sales model and the greater profit potential, improved methods of selling and more flexible business and personal lifestyle this affords many salespeople and businesses, aspiring entrepreneurs and existing sole proprietors. Readers can replicate the 4-Phase Virtual Sales Process to create their own tailored sales process using the techniques explained in this web selling tips and techniques book. I was fortunate to be assisted by three “in the trenches” coauthors, Mike Lauducci, John Scranton and Andrew Blume in the writing of this web selling tips book.
Sell More & Work Less is now available on Amazon, the Kindle version is expected later in January. http://www.amazon.com/Sell-More-Work-Less-Techniques/dp/ …
For B2B Web Marketing go to www.StartMarketingTech. For Insurance Agency Marketing go to www.StartUpSelling.com.
My 2011 Reading List In Retrospect, Shall We Call It “Dark Unbroken Amazonian Hornet’s Nests with Coke”?
Posted on December 17th, 2011 by Alan Blume
As an early adopter of the original Kindle, and the new and improved Kindle Fire, I find it faster, easier and more convenient to read. As noted in blogs of days gone by, I try to read a mix of books from business topics to inspirational stories to those offering rewards merely from an entertainment perspective. I like to read at least a book a month, I read 15 this year, a dozen of which are listed below, in no particular order.
- The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt’s Darkest Journey, Millard, Candice
- 50 Ways To Love Your Startup, Mancinelli, Bruce
- Mountains Beyond Mountains, Kidder, Tracy
- Dark Tide: The Great Molasses Flood of 1919, Puleo, Stephen
- Google Places Success, Towland, Chris
- Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption, Hillenbrand, Laura
- The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, Franklin, Benjamin
- The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest, Larsson, Stieg
- The Coke Machine, The Dirty Truth Behind the World’s Favorite Soft Drink, Blanding, Michael
- The Secret Life of Houdini, The Making of America’s First Superhero, Kalush, William and Sloman, Lary
- A Splendid Exchange, How Trade Shaped the World, Bernstein, William
- Sell More & Work Less, Web Selling Techniques Everyone Should Use, A. Blume, J. Scranton, M. Lauducci, A.J. Blume
These books range from truly inspirational stories of triumph over hardship (Unbroken and River of Doubt for example) to small business best practices (50 Ways to Love Your Startup). Some were fast and easy reads like The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest, while others like Franklin’s autobiography and Houdini’s life offered granular detail amidst historic context. Dark Tide and Unbroken fall under their own unique category as in, “are you kidding me – do these things really happen”? And my most recent read arguably falls into the same genre, with Roosevelt’s (of the Bull Moose variety) journey through the Amazon. The book I spent the most time reading this year, was the book which I was writing this year. With the assistance of three colleagues, we put the finishing touches on Sell More & Work Less, Web Selling Techniques Everyone Should Use this past week and hope to see it finally hit the virtual Amazon book shelves in January. Writing and publishing requires multiple read through cycles, and I expect the final cycle to happen this month. Sell More & Work Less is just over half the number of words when compared to my first book, Your Virtual Success, but the reading cycles were certainly comparable. The latter was over 60,000 words while the former, a more succinct “web selling tips book”, is only 35,000 words.
My recently purchased Kindle Fire helped me rip through The River of Doubt, the crisp text and improved user interface makes it really fast and easy to read (at least for this user). These days, I find both reading and writing enlightening and cathartic and wished that I read more when I was younger, compelling me to think of the famous Shaw quote, “youth is wasted on the young”. Will the day come that most of youths will be using Electronic Reading devices? And upon such a day will that help them read and assimilate more information? Only time will tell, then again technology may be an enabler, but it isn’t necessarily a motivator.
Three of these books were gifts (The Coke Machine, The Secret Life of Houdini and A Splendid Exchange) of the “paper” variety, the rest were downloaded to my Kindle. I can recommend all of the books on this list, though my favorites were Unbroken, River of Doubt and Dark Tide). And it is with obvious prejudice that the last item is even included on the list. As my years progress, I’m gaining momentum with writing and hope to publish another book around the end of 2012, then a novel in 2013 or 2014. The novel would be a departure for me as most of my works have been in the business genre. It’s a challenge I look forward to, mundane in comparison to the challenges faced in Unbroken or River of Doubt (or Mountain’s Beyond Mountains), but a challenge nonetheless. Sell More & Work Less will be available in January.
Sell More & Work Less To Be Released in November
Posted on August 17th, 2011 by Alan Blume
Our new book, Sell More & Work Less, Web Selling Techniques Everyone Should Use, is expected to be released in November and is currently at our publisher. Offering 101 Internet Sales Tips stratified across our 4-Phase Sales Process, Sell More & Work Less focuses on leveraging the web to help you sell better, faster and more efficiently.
Most sales cycles, particularly B2B sales cycles can be expressed in four distinct phases: Identify, Qualify, Present and Close. Each of these phases might have 5 or 10 steps, helping salespeople compartmentalize tasks, ensuring they are following a guide that helps them arrive at their final destination, a new client. The reason I refer to this as a “Virtual” Sales Process is that much of the work can or should be done virtually. Keep the car parked in the driveway, avoid planes and trains whenever possible, leverage Skype, GoToMeeting and other virtual selling tools.
Sell More & Work Less reviews many virtual sales tips and techniques including The Prospect Scorecard, a simple but effective pipeline qualification tool which can be used on a PC or mobile device. Sell More & Work Less will help sales people, business owners, sales managers and entrepreneurs focus on those activities which will optimize prospecting, qualifying and closing. For more information, read Your Virtual Success (www.yourvirtualsuccess.net), or in September, Sell More & Work Less.
When is the Last Time You Read the US Constitution – Take the July 4th Quick Quiz
Posted on June 27th, 2010 by Alan Blume
When was the last time you read this?
When is the last time you (or your children) read the US Constitution, or for that matter, the Declaration of Independence? With our national birthday just around the corner, thinking about the Constitution seems particularly relevant. It’s great to go watch a parade, but you might find it truly worthwhile to take a little time and read our Constitution. If memory serves me correctly, I read it back in my college days for a class I took on constitutional law. Recently, however, I read a great book on my Kindle, called The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court by Jeffrey Toobin. The Nine frequently referenced the articles and amendments of the US Constitution. So, after finishing The Nine, I decided to reread the Declaration of Independence and The US Constitution. I came away with two surprises: 1. The Constitution is a surprisingly short document considering all that it represents – those framers were clearly a brilliant group. 2. Even with the formality of the language of the times, you can really sense the pent up anger in the Declaration of Independence.
The real question is, how much do you know about the Constitution? If you’re curious, take this quick quiz (answers are below):
- How many Articles are there?
- How many Amendments are there (last one was in 1992)?
- What is Article 1 about?
- What is Article 2 about?
- What is Article 3 about?
- How many Amendments are there in the Bill of Rights?
- When was the Bill of Rights ratified?
- Which Amendment abolished slavery?
- Where would you find the famous quote, “WE hold these Truths to be self evident?
- How many states were required to ratify the Constitution?
- Bonus question: What is the Fifth Amendment about?
Some of the language in the Constitution seems crystal clear to me, other language seems cryptic. After reading through it (twice), it seems abundantly clear why the judiciary has so many perspectives of Constitutional right and wrong and the myriad of interpretational perspectives on the document. This document represents one of the most important, guiding principles of our everyday lives. When is the last time you or your children read the Declaration of Independence and The US Constitution? Answers to the quiz are below, if I made a layman’s error on these, I guess I’ll have to “plead the Fifth”. Feel free to send me comments, clarifications or corrections.
Answers: 1. (7) 2. (27) 3. (Legislative Branch) 4. (Executive Branch) 5. (Judicial Branch) 6. (10) 7. (1791) 8. (13th) 9. (Declaration of Independence) 10. (9) 11. (Shall not be compelled to be a witness against himself)
If you’re interested in reading something on a leading edge business topic, try Your Virtual Success (Career Press), my new book on web centric sales, marketing and business management. Available at all bookstores, Amazon and on the Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/Your-Virtual-Success-Finding-Profitability/dp/1601631014
The Art of the Start, The Time-Tested, Battle-Hardened Guide for Anyone Starting Anything – Book Review
Posted on May 21st, 2010 by Alan Blume
The Art of the Start, The Time-Tested, Battle-Hardened Guide for Anyone Starting Anything, offers readers both good news and bad news on starting up a company. The good news offered by Guy Kawasaki rests upon his background as a venture capitalist. Kawasaki is the managing director of Garage Technology Ventures, an early stage venture capital firm. According to their web site, “Garage Technology Ventures is a seed-stage and early-stage venture capital fund. We’re looking to invest in extraordinary entrepreneurs who have the ability to build great teams and great companies.” Thus the good news revolves around strategies to pitch business ideas to venture capitalists, positioning your company, writing a business plan, “making mantra”, etc. These are all important activities and based on sound advice. Kawasaki offers exercises, tidbits and suggestions on redefining thinking in entrepreneurial terms, all helpful to early stage entrepreneurs.
The bad news revolved around bootstrapping and the fact that there was only one chapter on this truly important topic. The Art of the Start seemed slanted toward the “come up with an idea, write the business plan, pitch to venture capitalists, secure early stage venture, increase sales, find additional venture, liquidation event road”. I strongly favor bootstrapping, self funding and virtual business ideas over the borrow tons of venture capital funds to succeed path, and fully understand that reader bias could have crept into this perspective.
If your entrepreneurial idea absolutely requires the significant capitalization that venture capitalists offer, The Art of the Start should definitely be at the top of your list. There is an excellent section on pitching to venture capitalists complete with the questions which are likely to be asked and suggestions on the best answers to offer would be venture investors. I found the book to be well written and thought provoking, particularly enjoying the final chapter, The Art of Being a Mensch (and the three foundations of menschhood), which you may want to read first. So, the good news is, though there are more aspects to this book than venture funding, you should definitely read this book if you’re thinking of venture capital funding. The bad news is that statistically, entrepreneurs are better off finding alternatives to venture capital funding and might be better off reading books focused on alternatives to venture capital funding. Regardless, I enjoyed The Art of the Start and found it an interesting read.
For more information on start-ups, read Your Virtual Success (Career Press) or visit: http://www.yourvirtualsuccess.net.
Book Review: The Business of America by John Steele Gordon
Posted on May 12th, 2010 by Alan Blume
Perhaps John Steele Gordon is really Flash Gordon in disguise, because I always seem to read his books at lightning speed, assimilating this 260 page trade paperback in just a few days. The Business of America was just as interesting, entertaining and enlightening as the first Gordon book I read, An Empire of Wealth. Gordon possesses an amazing ability to turn a potentially mundane historical business event into a fascinating, intricate and often ironic tale which in turn made this reader wonder why teachers, professors or colleagues failed to offer similar details of such important events. Perhaps it’s just the way in which Mr. Gordon intricately weaves the details in the story that makes the reader feel as if they can understand or empathize with the entrepreneur, magnate, mogul or tycoon of the era.
The Business of America winds through the early days of business in the wilderness, past the steamboats on the Hudson, through the industrial revolution and the California gold rush to the dawn of the American automobile industry. Gordon continues through technological advances, the business of war, to a couple of guys named David and William. David and William are garage based tinkerers with $538 in capital. Their story, like many of the stories in The Business of America, is certainly worth being retold, a story about ingenuity and perseverance, partnership and opportunity. Without giving away too much detail, I think we can all agree that David Packard and William Hewlett found a way to move their modest company out of the garage.
One of my favorite stories in this business based history of America revolves around Steamboat monopolies and Captain Cornelius Vanderbilt. Surely Vanderbilt is a captain of industry; many may not realize he was also once a captain on a Steamboat. In a matter of just a few pages, Mr. Gordon takes us from monopolies to Steamboat races, reviewing the most famous steamboat race of the day between the Vanderbilt and The Oregon, with a fast but readily understood explanation of steamboat construction and race strategy along the way. The race wager was $1,000, no small sum at that time, and came as a result of a challenge from one George Law, steamboat entrepreneur, and as the last name might infer, a lawyer. Who won the race to Sing Sing and back that day? This was just another interesting, amusing and educational tale from our talented business history bard.
I would recommend The Business of America to anyone who is interested in history or business. For those of you who have yet to read a John Steele Gordon book, I can also suggest An Empire of Wealth or A Thread Across the Ocean, both excellent business history works by Mr. Gordon. Look for reviews on these books and Hamilton’s Blessing in the near future.
The 4-Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferriss – Fact or Fiction
Posted on May 4th, 2010 by Alan Blume
I enjoyed reading the 4-Hour Workweek, it certainly offers an out of the box thinking paradigm. Ferriss takes us on a journey from his 12 hour days as the workaholic owner of a dietary supplement company to a globetrotting life of leisure and a 4-hour workweek. Along the way, Ferris reviews his perspective on the “New Rich (NR)” and “Lifestyle Design (LD)”.
The New Rich abandon the concept of deferred lifestyle enjoyment (retirement) in favor of the creation of luxury lifestyles in the present. Ferris refers to this as Lifestyle Design, meaning people who follow this path enjoy their lives now, not when they turn 65. Ferris offer a “New Deal” for the overworked and underpaid, or even for ultra successful workaholics. He calls his new deal, the “DEAL”. DEAL stands for: Definition (changing the rules of the game), Elimination (killing the notion of time management), Automation (puts the rules of cash flow on autopilot through outsourcing and other innovative means), and Liberation (mini-retirements, mobility and a luxury lifestyle for the New Rich).
Ferris does have a remarkable personal story which includes the author dropping out of Princeton, failed attempts at early entrepreneurship, a stint as an overworked and underpaid technology salesman, and the successful start-up of a dietary supplement company, albeit with the requisite 12 hour work day. Ultimately, however, Ferris escapes to enjoy a virtual, globetrotting, completely mobile lifestyle of the “New Rich”, which leads him on amazing journeys to the Far East, South America and other exotic global venues.
Along the way, according to Ferris, he learns six languages, becomes a professional Tango dancer, hosts a TV show in China, wins a national kickboxing championship, challenges some world champion cage fighters and dabbles in motorcycle racing. If that isn’t enough, he also becomes a Guinness world record holder. The 4-Hour Workweek offers a glimpse into an alternate lifestyle if not alternate reality for many, particularly for those who have fewer attachments and whose lifestyles are in greater need of balance. Ferris offers some truly innovative, out of the box approaches to the nine to five grind.
That said, there are other, more realistic approaches to life improvements available which do not require a family transplant to South America, or rapid dehydration to win a kickboxing championship. Ferriss’s extremely impressive list of accomplishments represented a disconnect for this reader, Ferriss is well beyond “above average” in abilities, he is obviously extremely talented. After all, how many people have the ability to be a cage fighter, Tango dancer and learn six languages, regardless of the extra time a lifestyle shift might afford? And how many families can take off on a sailboat for a one year trip around the world, leaving everything behind, including jobs and health benefits? And how can a family of five for example, run off to Argentina for a year or two to learn Spanish? And lastly, how many of us have a company that is earning $40,000 a month to fund such initiatives? Even with these disconnects, the 4-Hour Workweek is an entertaining, interesting and thought provoking read.
$20 Per Gallon: How the Inevitable Rise in the Price of Gasoline Will Change Our Lives for the Better – Book Review
Posted on April 10th, 2010 by Alan Blume
$20 Per Gallon: How the Inevitable Rise in the Price of Gasoline Will Change Our Lives for the Better by Christopher Steiner is a fascinating read as the author predicts in a somewhat linear price centric manner what the future will look like with rapidly rising oil prices. Like most predictive works, there are some things which seem plausible and are firmly rooted in a reasonably assumptive view of the future, and others that require a huge leap of faith and do not seem to pass my litmus test of an evolving world with technology to match. His basic premise, the inevitable depletion of oil reserves and incremental rise in gas prices seems very likely. After all, there are many scenarios in which the cost of gas can and will rise. Oil is a limited resource and production capacity actually peaked many years ago. Hurricanes can impact offshore rigs and cause prices to rise. Problems in the Middle East, which these days seem relatively certain, can cause a significant jump at any time. China and India, on the precipice of massively increased consumption is another major factor. Surely, there is a compelling case for significant price increases, which in turn, would create a cascading impact across our current lifestyles. But how would that impact manifest itself on our lifestyles?
Steiner takes the reader chapter by chapter, illustrating the changes to our lives as gas increases incrementally from current levels to $20 per gallon. He offers some fascinating prognostication including the demographic shift from suburban to urban living, changes in purchase habits, travel habits, consumption and of course driving. He also examines some very interesting innovations in fuel conservation evolution. Some of his conjecture is quite thought provoking, but in a few cases, some fundamental questions of mine remained unanswered.
For example, there are two key factors that are not truly addressed in $20 Per Gallon. First, the author presupposes that there will be no cost effective replacement for oil before gas hits $20 a Gallon, if ever. He argues that oil is so cheap, there is no alternative that could provide for this cost effective replacement. I’m not ready to buy into that argument; I believe that a combination of greed and technology (is that contemporary capitalism?) can still provide a viable solution. How about a chicken in every pot and wind turbine on every roof campaign slogan? Perhaps America will become home to 300 million consumer based wind turbines that power up each and every efficient electric vehicle, eliminating automobile gas consumption. This may sound far-fetched today, but clearly we have seen some impressive gains in this arena. Secondly, and more applicable to my ongoing theme, is the extremely positive impact of virtual business on energy consumption. Imagine the reduction in consumption if half of the current workforce worked from home instead of commuting to an office. The reduction in energy consumption would be staggering. Combine this new commuting behavior with solar, wind, hydro and emerging green technologies, and we could see a dramatic change in consumption. Will this happen overnight? No, but it certainly could happen before we see gas hit $20 a gallon. Nonetheless, $20 Per Gallon is an interesting and fun read. I particularly enjoyed Steiner’s outlook on Walmart! There are many interesting winners and losers in Steiner’s rising price scenarios, and I can certainly recommend $20 Per Gallon as a winner. And yes, I did read it on a Kindle.