Free Prize Inside. Seth Godin. ISBN 1591840414. 2004. This followed The
Purple Cow and preceded All Marketers are Liars. This book actually
said something and was worth the time spent. He gives us an incentive to
the next big marketing idea. Easy (typical Seth) read. However there
are some very good ideas in here and marketing /sales types will find it
useful. His pedigree is exposed a bit more here and that is also
useful. Summertime read. You may find it remaindered, I did.

Reg Nordman – rnordman@rocketbuilders.com
Check out our Rocket Readings at
http://rocketbuilders.blogspot.com/

Book reviews for the business side of the technology industry.

The Dollarization Discipline. Jeffrey Fox. 2004. ISBN 0471659509. I
finally got to this one. Author of How to Become a Rainmaker , itself a
classic, Fox has articulated the basics of relating the product benefits
to real dollar values for clients. This method is very valuable at
setting pricing, bringing customer value to the light, holding back
price cutters, retaining margins and customers as well as obtaining
mainstream customers. Methods include what I call the PeopleSoft sell,
ROI sell, value sell,and many others. It covers products and services.
This is a sales tool that your marketing department will also find very
valuable, in fact you will need their help to build this. One more step
in building up the science of sales and marketing. IN running the
present market readiness program ( go2 market strategies) we found a few
holes in the sales documentation area, this being one of them. If you
need to be concerned about revenue, this is a book for your library.
Easy read, easy to understand, not trivial to do well. Enjoy. free
treat for you – Short segments from Seth Godins Free Prize inside.
http://www.sethgodin.com/bull/downloads/BullMarket.pdf

Book reviews for the business side of the technology industry.

The Only Sustainable Edge. John Hagel III and John Seeley Brown. 2005.
ISBN 1591397200. An academic look at the impact of globalization, that
challenges what we could say is conventional thinking. The ways to meet
the ongoing competitive pressures all business face is laid out here.
But the tome is not for the faint of heart. It seems to take forever to
digest. They believe that it is paramount to strategically address
talent development, specialization, connectivity (loosely coupled) and
coordination ( process chains and enablers) The number of authors who
are giving us roadmaps to international success is getting quite large.
The gist is that open borders and open competition is good for everyone.
They also point out that in early days the American manufacturers
freely ignored copyright on British inventions, just like the Chinese
have been doing for awhile.

Book reviews for the business side of the technology industry.

Your Marketing Sucks. Mark Stevens. 2005 . ISBN 1400081696. This is the most truthful book on marketing ever. “If the moola you spend on marketing isn’t growing your business and bringing in more moola in return, then you have marketing that …sucks.” Stevens is very clear and concise. “Stop throwing thousand-dollar bills out the window and camouflaging spending as marketing-demand that the money spent on marketing bring in more money in return.” Even better, “Fire your advertising agency if it even thinks about applying for a Clio or other creative award.” Awards do not generate moola for you who is paying the bill. This is a terrific book for any CEO who wonders if he is just throwing money at the wall with his creative/advertising/marketing budget. If you are not getting clear metrics reflected by increased bottom line dollars – then the money is wasted. Al Trout told us that advertising is dead and PR is alive. Stevens gives very concrete examples for you and I to see this clearly and a plan to remedy things immediately. Our company already adopted revenue-focussed marketing for 2 quarters and it works. A keeper and a true reference book

All Marketers Are Liars. Seth Godin. 2005. ISBN 1591841003. This is one
of his better tomes. In order to say that marketers are liars he means
that they are story tellers. You tell a story that fits and resonates
with the target, then you comply authentically in everything you do to
support the story. Oh, and the story better be true and reamin true
This differs from telling the target everything and achieving nothing.
A library keeper, altough it is very short and always overpriced. It was
just about perfect for a holiday weekend where I was not supposed to
work.

Book reviews for the business side of the technology industry.

Best read on marketing all year
The Marketing Playbook. Zagula and Tong.2004. ISBN 1591840384. Here is one of the two best books for me for 2004. This plus Christensen makes a go to market specialists day! Lots of the content is allover their blog, http://marketingplaybook.com/ But the book is a library keeper. If you have been around the product launch block at least once, you will really see the merit of the content of this book. The two authors developed and launched MS Office, Backoffice, NT Server and other key MSoft technologies. Learn from their chronicled mistakes, which go beyond the obvious. And hey they are both VCs now! You can also catch them in various talks in Seattle still. They keep it simple, straight forward, and no not easy, since this involves very hard work to get it right! Easy, fast read, that I will reread a few times. Thanks to Troy for pointing this one out to us!

Book reviews for the business side of the technology industry.

The World Is Flat. A brief history of the 21st century Thomas l.
Friedman. 2005. ISBN 037429. I like books written by good journalist.
This book is required reading if you have a business, children,
investments, or a desire for personal growth. This is an insightful perspective changing book. Easily the most relevant book I read this year. Why have China, India and other countries been able to so rapidly create an explosion of middle class wealth, using the recent convergence of technologies and events on the world global supply chain scene? Why has not Mexico done the same? Why should we worry about Pakistan, Sudan, Iraq and Saudi Arabia? Why is having oil a curse? What are the implications for Canada , Why is our productivity such an important issue? We are in a marathon and it seems Canada is resting and looking backward (and Roger Banister is passing us in the other side). This book is full of hope, insight and challenge to our generation. Plus it is very easy read, but it is a good size. Every Politician should read this one.

Book reviews for the business side of the technology industry.

Everything I needed to know about business…I Learned From A Canadian. Len Brody and David Raffa. This is a reader’s book.The initial reviews led me to believe it was a series of interviews with ho humm Canadians. But the jewel in the book is that the authors took the time to set a context first before introducing each personality. This is very important as there are some real nuggets in the context. I was very intrigued by the words of Craig Dobbin (CHC Helicopter), Rob McEwen (Goldcorp) , Jeff Skoll ( Ebay), Moshe Safdie (Habitat/Vanc library) and Ben Weider( Weider – Kick sand in my face?). Easy read.

Book reviews for the business side of the technology industry.