Book Description
Struggling to Get Your
Foot in the Door of Big Companies?
Setting up meetings with corporate decision makers has never been harder. It's almost impossible to get them to pick up the phone. They never return your calls. And if you do happen to catch them, they blow you off right away.
It's time to stop making endless cold calls or waiting for the phone to ring. In today's crazy marketplace, new sales strategies are needed to penetrate these big accounts.
Discover how to:
• Target accounts where you have the highest likelihood of success.
• Find the names of prospects who can use your offering.
• Create breakthough value propositions that capture their attention.
• Develop an effective, multi-faceted account-entry campaign.
• Overcome obstacles and objections that derail your sale efforts.
• Position yourself as an invaluable resource, not a product pusher.
• Have powerful initial sales meetings that build unstoppable momentum.
• Differentiate yourself from other sellers.
Use these sure-fire strategies to crack into big accounts, shrink your sales cycle and close more business. Check out the Account Entry Toolkit for ideas on how to apply this process to your own unique business.
Customer Reviews:
Sales Consultant.......2007-10-04
I now know how Paul must have felt on the way to Damsacus after reading this book. This is the only book you need to get in front of Business Leaders when they are ready to buy. Jill teaches you to let companies tell you what they need, why they need it, and when they will buy it.
Sales success -- how to do it right........2007-10-02
I'd be delighted to share 2 of many successes I've had using this book. My first success was actually in the sales job interview with my current employer. Preparing for it I thought, "I know Jill has the answer to how this should be done." So I outlined my presentation according to her suggestions. Then I practiced it. And practiced it. I knew I was connecting with the Executives while presenting. When I finished they said, "Of course you can think about this before making a decision, but
we'd like to start the process right away to bring you on board."
The second one happened only 7 months later -- My employer awarded me as Most Innovative out of 150+ reps over the same product line across the U.S. Canada and India. How did they present me? I was described as an "innovative sleuth, always looking for clues to crack the code." One case was cited explaining "the CFO called back because Travis' message was about them, not us."
And I don't hesitate telling others this book explains the right way to do it.
As always, Jill, keep up the great work!
Travis
Take Your Career to the Next Level!.......2007-09-20
If you are a Sales Professional, marketer or business owner you have certainly, at some point, realized that selling to the big companies in your territory or market would take your career or business to the next level. Of course the next thought you had was, most likely, "how in the world do I get in the door?"
I find that the best advice and coaching comes from those who have been in the trenches, who have fought the battles, and who, despite obstacles and setbacks, have won. Jill Konrath is that person and Selling To Big Companies is hands down the best advice I have read on cracking the code to big company sales.
In this book Konrath delivers practical advice in an easy-to-understand format. Her ideas are easily implemented and will have immediate impact on your sales. Most importantly she will help you stand in the shoes of the Big Company buyer. And once you understand how the world works from the buyer's point of view she teaches powerful strategies to open doors, connect and deliver value that will result in big sales today and long-term relationships that continue to grow over time.
Jeb Blount,PowerPrinciples: Do You Have The Winning Edge?
WHERE IS THE BOOK IN THE FIRST PLACE?.......2007-08-31
I AM YET TO RECEIVE THIS BOOK ORDERED LONG TIME AGO
WHAT IS HAPPENING TO ITS DELIVERY
HARISANKAR IYER
This book is essential reading!.......2007-08-30
I teach copywriters and other freelancers how to build successful businesses by targeting the high-quality clients.
Until Jill's book came along, I really struggled with teaching the mindset and day-to-day realities of the target market we work so hard to get in front of.
This book is now part of my required reading list, and I refer to it throughout my coaching program. Jill, thank you for recognizing the void in the marketplace for this information!
Chris Marlow, Veteran copywriter and marketing coach, Palm Desert, CA
Book Description
The ultimate sales skill.
Without the right techniques, it's tough to get a warm reception when you're cold calling clients. This perfect source for business people offers advice on how to approach prospective customers with confidence, without fear of rejection, and with enough savvy to keep them on the phone long enough to initiate business deals and increase profits for their companies-and themselves.
Customer Reviews:
The Real Deal Book on Cold Calling.......2007-08-12
I am one of those rare folks who enjoys cold calling but I picked up this book as a companion to Closing the Sale. This is an excellent read that can better you best results or turn around your cold calling (lack of) success. In short, this is the real deal.
With Keith by Your Side, Cold Calling Works!.......2007-08-09
Despite what some talking heads may say, cold calling works. I've read both the "anti-cold calling" books as well as Mr. Rosen's books, and I can say that the arguments clearly lean in Mr. Rosen's favor. The "never cold call again" groups really address similar stuff that Mr. Rosen does, which leads me to believe that their position is more a matter of savvy marketing, driven to sell books, rather than anything revolutionary.
With that said, cold calling doesn't work...that is, unless you have a method that provides you with measurable results. And that's precisely what Mr. Rosen's book gives you. The Complete Idiot's Guide to Cold Calling, is one of those essential books that never has a chance to rest on a shelf and collect dust.
In my experience, I was stuck. I had been cold calling for a couple of years and found myself in a telemarketing quandary. Mr. Rosen's book couldn't have come at a better time. He combines a precise, no-nonsense message with words that are easy on the eyes. His book is equal parts practical guide and motivational tool. I particularly appreciated the time he commits to the psychology of selling. The emphasis on process goals (a book he should write next) is a new look at the outcome-driven goals that many of us were taught to follow.
I read Mr. Rosen's book and committed time to completing his exercises and following his techniques. Two weeks later, I scheduled five qualified appointments. Why do I say "qualified"? Before I read his book, I focused on setting up the appointment. I'd meet with prospects, but after all the driving and time spent in an office, often, the only thing I had to show for my effort was a wrinkled shirt that required dry cleaning. Using Mr. Rosen's book as a guide, matters quickly turned around for me. I met with people that were ready to close because I qualified them over the phone. I wish I had his book three years ago. (To think of all the gas I would have saved!)
If you've doubted your skills, needed some fresh ideas, or are new to the cold calling process, buy The Complete Idiot's Guide to Cold Calling. Once you do, you'll soon have a book that has a worn down spine, pages loaded with Post-its, and a cover that refuses to stay shut--just like mine.
Idiot's Guide to Cold Calling Review.......2007-07-28
This is a good book for those who are just beginning their cold calling career. It provides good techniques as well as outlooks on the reasons for cold calling. I would recommend for any novice cold-caller just getting started. However, for those who loathe cold calling, but realize the necessity of it in their business, I would HIGHLY recommend Wendy Weiss's Cold Calling for Women.
complete idiots guide to ccold calling.......2007-05-30
the best cold calling book out there. Really changed how I view about cold calling. I hated it before. Was truly stuck and terrorized by the phone. Very easy to read.
A must read if you set sales appointments over the phone........2006-12-23
As a sales professional with over 20 years of sales experience I've read many books on various sales issues I can say this is one of the best and most useful. I'm always looking for fresh ideas and Keith Rosen has really done a fantastic job in covering all the aspects of cold calling. Compared to all of the other books on cold calling this is the best I've read.
Keith's approach to the call and the to the process itself are completely professional and teaches you how to be respectful to the person on the other end of the phone. If you follow the techniques that Keith outlines you will have better success in securing more quality appointments with more prospects.
Book Description
"Cold calling is the lowest percentage of sales call success. If you invest the same amount of time in reading this book as you do in cold calling, your success percentage and your income will skyrocket."
- Jeffrey Gitomer, Author, Little Red Book of Selling
"You can never get enough of a good thing! Read this book and USE its contents!"
- Anthony Parinello, Author, Selling to Vito and Stop Cold Calling Forever
Salespeople everywhere are learning the hard way that cold calling doesn't work anymore. Yet, millions of salespeople are stuck in the past, using twentieth-century sales techniques to try to lure twenty-first century customers. There has to be an easier way to find prospects - and there is. Today's most successful salespeople are using modern technology to bring prospects to them, rather than fishing for prospects over the phone or knocking on doors.
Never Cold Call Again offers practical, step-by-step alternatives to traditional cold calling for salespeople, small business owners, and independent professionals who are actively building a client base. The Information Age presents endless opportunities for finding leads without cold calling. In fact, Frank Rumbauskas’s system brings prospects to the salesperson, rather than the other way around. Readers will find unbeatable sales advice on effective self-promotion, generating endless leads, how to win prospects using e-mail, prospecting on the Web, networking, developing effective proposals, and much more.
Frank J. Rumbauskas Jr. (Phoenix, AZ) provides marketing consultation and coaching services to firms who wish to provide qualified leads to their sales force rather than have them spend productive work time cold calling. He is the author of the self-published hit Cold Calling Is a Waste of Time (0-9765163-0-6).
Customer Reviews:
its just ok.......2007-09-04
the book is just ok
stuff you already know
however if you buy the book you will be put on Rumbauskas' mailing list and get endless emails.
Never Cold Call Again.......2007-08-29
Excellent book
Arrived right away
Packaging was great
Thank you!
Boring!!.......2007-07-14
Really did't like it... For me it was boring and after spending so much time reading, it didn't had any valuable content. Basically it tells you that you have to keep calling as a way of prospecting but focuses on alternate ways of prospecting such as e-mail, flyers, newsletters, etc.
Competitors will eat your lunch if you don't Cold Call.......2007-07-11
I gave a $60,000 sales training order to a cold caller. Our company gave a $450,000 lease to a cold calling Commercial Real Estate Salesperson. Both had excellent cold calling skills, something that is missing in 90% of all cold callers. The 90% are setup for failure because of inadequate cold calling training.
I would love to compete with a company that does not believe in Cold Calling. "Cold calling is the least expensive, quickest, and most effective way to increase business".
The issue is not cold calling but "cold calling technique". Remember that "skill = knowledge + practice". Unfortunately most salespeople do not have the knowledge of how to effectively cold call, so naturally they fail and also have high fear and call reluctance. Ineffective cold calling is a sign of ineffective training.
While you can win sales without cold calling, the author has eliminated a tool that works for those who have the knowledge of how to cold call correctly. Don't fall for his trap.
Common Sense Selling.......2007-07-09
The reason I have been so successful through my 30 years of selling is due to my approach which is, do unto others as you would want them to do to you. It is amazing to me that even in todays sales enviroment, sales managers continuely use sales tactics that have proven not to work. This book is a sale persons winning lottery ticket! Sales can't get any easier if you use Mr. Rumbauskas,Jr's book.
Linda Cassia
Owner of Gumption Inc
Book Description
Lead Generation for the Complex Sale arms you with a sophisticated multimodal approach to generating highly profitable leads. Brian Carroll, CEO of InTouch Incorporated and expert in lead generation solutions, reveals key strategies that you can implement immediately to win new customers, accelerate growth, and improve your sales performance.
You'll start by defining your ideal leads and targeting your ideal customer. Then, you'll construct your lead generation plan, a crucial step to staying ahead of your competition long-term. To help you put your plan into action, Carroll guides you step by step to:
- Align sales and marketing efforts to optimize the number of leads
- Use multiple lead generation vehicles, including e-mail, referrals, public relations, speaking events, webinars, and more
- Create value for the prospective customer throughout the buying process
- Manage a large group of leads without feeling overwhelmed
- Identify and prioritize your best prospects
- Increase the percentage of leads who become profitable customers
- Avoid lulls in the sales cycle
With Lead Generation for the Complex Sale you'll learn how to target prospects early in the buying process and make the most efficient use of sales productivity and marketing resources.
Customer Reviews:
Very Helpful At Very Short Notice!.......2007-07-20
I needed to know a lot about generating leads in a market that I wasn't familiar with. And I didn't have time to do lots of research. This book gave me just the important points I needed to know to develop a solid lead generation marketing plan. And it was very realistic about lead management, the relationship between sales and marketing, and lots of tips on how to make it better.
Tried hard to like this book, but..........2007-07-07
I tried hard to like this book but I just couldn't get there.
It is a generalist book. You would be better served to purchase books that extensively develop some of the key points. I found this one wanting.
The sales pipeline is any organization's lifeline........2007-06-06
For as long as I can remember, I have heard the assertion that "sales is a numbers game." For Brian Carroll, this means that the more qualified leads you have, the more you will sell and that is especially true of the complex sale. However, he acknowledges "unique demands" that limit the process of lead generation: fewer opportunities, commoditization is more difficult to overcome with differentiation (I'm not convinced of that, at least insofar as "big ticket" purchases are concerned), increased selling at the executive level, involving those who comprise the sphere of influence, less selling time (usually in combination with a longer sales cycle), and ROI. To these I would add that buyers are much more sophisticated in what has become a "customer-driven" sales environment. So the challenge is to initiate and then sustain lead generation for the complex sale. More specifically, Carroll, explains how to:
Build an ideal customer profile
Talk to your best customers
Build your personal prospecting engine
Develop a lead generation calendar
Act like a good financial manager
Define your goals for lead generation
Rigorously qualify
Be consistent
Develop a lead nurturing plan
Develop and maintain your own database
What Carroll provides in this book is a comprehensive, cohesive, and cost-effective program to initiate and then sustain lead generation for the complex sale. He has carefully organized his material as follows:
Part One: Fundamentals of lead Generation for the Complex Sale
Part Two: Lead Generation Tactics for the Complex Sale
Part Three: Lead Development for the Complex Sale
For me, some of the most valuable material is provided in Chapter Four as he explains why the ROI of lead generation depends on the quality of data: "There is an old expression that says if you have eight hours to cut down a tree, spend six hours sharpening your ax. So it goes with creating [and then maintaining] the marketing database for companies that specialize in the complex sale. The marketing database is crucial to any lead generation program. Experts agree that it can influence the program's success by a factor of 50 percent. Unfortunately it is still one of the most overlooked tools in many companies' lead generation strategies." Especially now when there is so much information readily available (at little or no cost), there is no excuse for not having all that needs to be known about relevant industries, client prospects, their competitors, key contacts at each prospect company (including those who comprise what Michael Boylan aptly characterizes as the "circle of influence"), the prospect company's history, and its current circumstances (e.g. nature and extent of operations, financials, what it sells and to whom).
Then in Chapter Five, Carroll shares his thoughts about another especially important subject, the value proposition, and its function within the complex sale's purchase process. In this context, I am again reminded of a conversation years ago during which someone suggested that there are three very basic questions anyone in marketing or sales must be prepared to answer. The first two usually pose no difficulties but the third one often does:
Who are you?
What do you do?
Why should I care?
Hence the importance of the value proposition. According to Carroll, an appropriate one "focuses on the contacts within your ideal customer profile. The potential customer has business issues that it needs - and wants - resolved. The potential customer must know the difference between opting for your solution and doing nothing. The potential customer must be convinced that you represent the best solution." (Jeff Thull calls it the "prime solution.") It is impossible to exaggerate the importance of carefully formulating and then effectively explaining an appropriate value proposition, especially when a complex sale is involved. Without one, the given lead generation process - however efficient and productive it may be - will simply increase the number of wasted opportunities.
Obviously, it would be a fool's errand to accumulate lots of ideas from only one source or, worse yet, from a wide range of sources and then attempt to apply each of them. There is much truth in the suggestion that a camel is a horse designed by a committee. That said....
Those who share my high regard for this book are urged to check out thee books by Thull: Mastering the Complex Sale: How to Compete and Win When the Stakes are High! (2003), The Prime Solution: Close the Value Gap, Increase Margins, and Win the Complex Sale (2005), and Exceptional Selling: How the Best Connect and Win in High Stakes Sales (2006). Also these: Boylan's The Power to Get In: A Step-by-Step System to Get in Anyone's Door So You Have the Chance to... Make the Sale... Get the Job... Present Your Ideas (1996 and still relevant) and Accelerants: Twelve Strategies to Sell Faster, Close Deals Faster, and Grow Your Business Faster (2006), and, Anthony Parinello's Selling To VITO (The Very Important Top Officer) first published 1999 and also still relevant and Getting to VITO: 10 Steps to VITO's Office (2005).
A very important read, especially for managers and leadership.......2007-06-02
This book is fantastic for sales leaders, management, and business owners. It points out that the average salesperson (in complex sales, i.e. capital equipment, business sales, etc.) must generate $1,000 in business per working hour to make their quotas. That won't happen if we spend our time in unproductive, low quality work, regardless of how important such activities may be.
This book contains the strategies and tools for creating an in-house lead generation system that will help salespeople do what they do best: sell qualified prospects. This book will help transform companies into market/sales driven enterprises, critical to success in this age of hyper-competitively. I believe this is simply one of the best books on this subject (another is "The Fundamentals of Business-to-Business Sales & Marketing"). However many of the suggestions cannot be implemented and may even run counter to the politics and management of the organization you work for. Therefore most of the ideas won't work for a salesman in the territory pounding away daily to get sales. For example, aligning business systems and the value proposition to optimize lead generation is imperative, however I can't do that alone, neither can most salespeople.
If you're an entrepreneur, a sales leader or a manager this book is a must read with sage and up-to-date advice. For the salespeople on-the-ground and in-the-field better book selections for lead generation are "Selling to Big Companies" and "Selling Against the Goal." However, "Lead Generation for the Complex Sale" does inform every salesperson about the skills needed to be successful regardless of one's position. Knowing business metrics, how to profile and evaluate prospects, increasing the value of the sales process by being a consultant and not simply a vender with PowerPoint are all critical success factors for modern salespeople. Not only will salespeople be dramatically helped by reading this book, they may be able to create upward pressure for the business and management to improve as well.
A must read!.......2007-05-06
After reading this book twice and turning the entire inside yellow with my highlighter, I purchased a copy for all of my lead managers, sales consultants and marketing team! I made it required reading but I didn't have to pull teeth, everyone on my team loved it and it has become part of our company sales bible. Thank you for the excellent insight on lead generation and nuturing. I have also been subscribing to Brian's blog for a long time and have found it invaluable, thank you!
Book Description
Who says telemarketing has to be torture, or that you have to be pushy to succeed with it? This book teaches you how to cold call using a consultative style. Learn how to feel way more comfortable making cold calls and how to prevent the urge to throw the phone out the window. Learn when telemarketing makes sense, and when it doesn't! And discover how to create effective, uncanned scripts. If you need more business, especially if you've tried telemarketing before, this is the book for you.
Customer Reviews:
Help for the Telemarketing Blues!.......2007-02-04
In I'D RATHER HAVE A ROOT CANAL THAN DO COLD CALLING! Shawn Greene captures the dread that most people who don't sell for a living feel about cold calling. They'd rather do just about anything else.
I'D RATHER HAVE A ROOT CANAL THAN DO COLD CALLING outlines a step-by-step method of approaching telemarketing. It is full of encouraging examples and provides tips and techniques to improve your chances of success. The exercises provide a chance to practice the techniques. By the end of I'D RATHER HAVE A ROOT CANAL THAN DO COLD CALLING! confidence improves, you have scripts you can use and a method to track results. The conversational tone and overall supportive attitude is just what a beginner in telemarketing needs!
This is the best, and only, book you'll need on cold calling........2006-08-30
I actually purchased "I'd rather have a root canal than do cold calling!" in April 2005, when I changed jobs and careers. There are many authors who've written books on cold calling, telemarketing, and telesales; I've purchased, and given away, more than twenty. However, no other author I've read provides the essential essence of cold calling as elegantly as Shawn Greene. Shawn's techniques are powerfully sophisticated in their simplicity and effectiveness.
This is an amazing tool - buy it, use it.......2006-06-24
This is a great way to delve into why you're having cold calling reluctance, and a source for dealing with your issues head-on. I am SO glad I bought this book, and worked with the author, Shawn Greene.
Sometimes I say I give a book one star because I can't give it zero stars. With "I'd Rather Have a Root Canal Than Do Cold Calling", I only gave it Five Stars because I can't give it an even higher rating.
This is the real deal!
This book has helped me sell more!.......2006-04-26
One of the most difficult things to do is creating and then delivering an opening statement over the phone, that results in the person you are calling wanting to engage in a meaningful conversation with you. Prior to reading Shawn's book I was using ideas to create opening that didn't feel right, weren't effective and created resistance versus interest in what I had to say. Adopting the ideas in Shawn's book has helped me fill my pipeline with enough qualified prospects to achieve, and often exceed my sales quota.
Fantastic Book.......2006-02-18
This is the right book for those who need to do cold calling for their business.
This fantastic book will make you feel more comfortable and confident making the the cold calls and less the fraustrations one always get when cold calling.
Want to have effective cold call? This is the book for you!
Book Description
Have You Found Your True Calling?
True Calling?
Yeah. True Calling.
The reason you're alive. Your personal mission in life. Your raison d'etre. Your True Calling.
If you don't have a clue what I'm talking about, take a couple seconds to complete this quick quiz: Are you doing EXACTLY the kind of work that makes you want to leap out of bed each morning excited to begin a new day? Does your work satisfy a need deep within to express yourself, your talents, your values, your unique and precious gifts? Does your work allow for a balanced life - one that leaves time for family and friends, for exercise or hobbies, for you? Are you doing what you love and loving what you do?
If you answered "yes" to all of these questions, congratulations! There's a good chance that you have achieved what the Buddhist's call "Right Livelihood." If you haven't yet found the work you were meant to do, keep reading. You're about to find your true calling - and when you find that calling that is uniquely yours, your life will be transformed. Guaranteed. "The way to find out about your happiness," said renowned mythology scholar Joseph Campbell, "is to keep your mind on those moments when you feel most happy, when you are really happy - not excited, not just thrilled, but deeply happy." Read that paragraph again. It's awesome.
Now ask yourself how you feel each day as you get ready for work. It probably sounds something like this. Your alarm clock buzzes you awake. You drag yourself out of bed, dreading another day at a job that's high on stress and short on satisfaction. I guess what I'm asking you is this: Are You Truly Happy Working In A Career That's Fulfilling And Enjoyable? Because when you really love your work you greet the day like this: You don't need an alarm clock because you can't wait to get out of bed and dive into another workday where your work feels more like play. Maybe you think it's too late. Maybe you believe that you've somehow missed your True Calling and that… well… you're not getting any younger.
Nonsense. The 19th century writer George Eliot got it right when she said, "You're never too old to be what you might have been."
Customer Reviews:
Motivating!.......2007-06-20
This workbook effectively challenges you to thouroughly look at yourself for your answers! Working through the book helps you to unwrap and find what can make you happy in the workplace - how to bring more of yourself out. It assists you in identifying your deeper (possibly hidden) talents, wants, desires and put them to WORK for you! It helps you to design your likes into work, which in turn makes work not really work anymore but just doing what you love.
Discover Your Own Life.......2007-03-15
Most of us want more than a career. We want to know "What is the purpose of my life?" Purely by accident I stumbled across Valerie Young and Finding Your True Calling. I purchased the book as part of a personal consultation with the author, but the book is effective in its own right. Add in a consult with Valerie and you may find yourself discovering your life purpose.
My background is in facilitating change in groups. It was fascinating, fun, and powerful to take similar steps through this workbook with the focus on my self and my own life. Use the workbook as an amazingly rich resource. Or, open it up and step into the often unexplored territory of your past, your potential, and your future life. It may take your breath away.
fragments of wisdom.......2006-09-25
I do find this book helpful in that there is a lot of information by different authors in it. That being said, it really isn't in a "workbook" type format. If you are looking for a "workbook" to help you work through personal issues, such as interests, fears, doubts, etc. to help you make decisions, this one isn't as "fluid" as some of the other works out there. However, this book can introduce you to some of the personalities of the best of the best motivators out there, and you can then buy one of their sole works that is more "fluid". I probably would have only given it 3 stars, but it is very interesting, and the author has done a very good job of assimilating what she presents.
Finding Your True Calling.......2006-09-19
I have been trying to figure out what I want to be when I grow up for many years now, and have gone through several 'traditional' career counseling processes and indeed several 'traditional' careers, but nothing seemed to fit. Finally, I went through Finding Your True Calling by Valerie Young and realized why nothing had fit, that I needed to look beyond the 'traditional' and that I could find a way/ways to make a living that fit with what I want out of life. Going through the exercises, reading the information, and especially reading about the experiences of others who have searched and have found/are finding their callings, has helped me find focus and solidify my resolve. I am now well on my way to living the life I was meant to live.
There are many resources for those who do fit the 'traditional' career mold, but for all of us who think/know there must be more, resources are much harder to find. Finding Your True Calling provides just such a resource, and I am truly thankful I found it. If you think/know there is something more, that life has more to offer, you owe it to yourself to go through Finding Your True Calling.
Action Plan for New Life and Work Options.......2006-07-04
After many years, many tests, and many registration fees to obtain my Professinal License, I found myself in a great job that I just hated. I did not "fit" into their social culture and I found my brain just worked differently than others in my Profession. What to do? I had reached the big 50 age bracket and was feeling despondent over making any kind of a job change. After all, I had invested a great deal of time and effort into this career. Was it time to quit or to work part-time?
Keeping an open mind, I started reading Valerie Young's book. This book offers wise advice and the contributions of several experts in the field, but it was the worksheets that made the difference. Once I opened up the wordprocessor, followed her directives and poured my heart out into black & white text, well, it all made sense. I was able to analyze and understand myself, from the child through adult, including my dreams, creativity and rewarding experiences. Valerie has provided a forum to allow you to quiet the beast of negative voices in your head and to design the next phase of your life. Be sure to do the worksheets! Thank you, Valerie, for the tools that inspire me into my next phase of life. I now have a clear insight into how to phase-out of my full-time profession and to phase-into work that is more suited to my natural talents.
Book Description
Why do we work so hard at our jobs, day after day? Why is a job well done important to us? We know there is more to a career than money and prestige, but what exactly do we mean by "fulfillment"? These are old but important questions. They belong with some newly discovered ones: Why are people in business more religious than the population as a whole? What do people of business know, and what do they do, that anchors their faith? In this ground-breaking and inspiring book, Michael Novak ties together these crucial questions by explaining the meaning of work as a vocation. Work should be more than just a job -- it should be a calling.
This book explains an important part of our lives in a new way, and readers will instantly recognize themselves in its pages. A larger proportion than ever before of the world's Christians, Jews, and other peoples of faith are spending their working lives in business. Business is a profession worthy of a person's highest ideals and aspirations, fraught with moral possibilities both of great good and of great evil. Novak takes on agonizing problems, such as downsizing, the tradeoffs that must sometimes be faced between profits and human rights, and the pitfalls of philanthropy. He also examines the daily questions of how an honest day's work contributes to the good of many people, both close at hand and far away. Our work connects us with one another. It also makes possible the universal advance out of poverty, and it is an essential prerequisite of democracy and the institutions of civil society.
This book is a spiritual feast, for everyone who wants to examine how to make a life through making a living.
Customer Reviews:
Bad defense of free-market.......2006-08-21
I'm writing this review to balance the far-too-positive ones above. I was forced to read this book for a college course. The book is simply not well-written nor is it a convincing defence of the free-market system.
An example of the incompetent writing: "A fourth truth about callings is also apparent: They are not usually easy to discover" (p35) You are not supposed to contradict your own sentence. This is an example of confusing, bad writing.
In much of the book, the author just repeats self-serving corporate public relations boilerplate, up to the point of unwitting self-parody. On page 22 he praises another saint of capitalism: "Kenneth Lay, chairman of. . . Enron. "I grew up the son of a Baptist minister. From this background I was fully exposed to not only legal behavior but moral and ethical. . . the most satisfying thing[] in life is to create a highly moral and ethical environment. . . ."
The worst thing is that the book contains nothing new. There is not a single new idea proposed that I saw. Novak simply rehashes trite, clichéd material. At one embarrassing point, he compares modern American business CEO's to the Greek soldiers at Thermopylae, holding off the barbarian hordes. As if CEO's, with probably not a day of physical labor in their lives, trying to manipulate their stock price, were the equivalent of men fighting to the death to save their civilization. But at least we know that the author is 'well read' (as if Thermopylae weren't in every Western Civ course already)
The main argument consists of Novak putting the word "ethical" in the same sentence as "business", as if this somehow proved anything. He also wastes much space reciting the well-known example of Andrew Carnegie; as if anyone doesn't know it already. We get it--one wealthy person gave his money away (while the other 99% kept it in trust funds for their own future offspring).
Novak then attempts to drop every clichéd literary allusion possible. He quotes Ben Franklin; de Tocqueville; and the Bible--as if the Bible couldn't be used to justify ANY point on economics, capitalistic or communistic. He also is wrong, consistently. He states that capitalism is only 200 years old (pg 84); of course, it is far older than that--for example, the anciet Romans had corporations (collegia); double-entry bookeeping dates at least from the middle ages. Capitalism the *word* itself may date from about 200 years, but the idea behind it is far older. Novak confuses the beginning of a word's usage, and the concept behind it.
He claims only leaders in democracies are forced to take responsibility for their decisions (p89), saying rules like Pinochet ruined their economies. (When in fact, Chile's elected ruler than Pinochet helped overthrow was the actual socialist-communist who would have opposed Novak's point of view.)
He gratuitously throws in an allusion to Robinson Crusoe, calling him 'mythical' (pg 65), and pointing out that nobody is self-sufficient. Of course, Robinson Crusoe was a fictional *character*, but was closely based on a real person, Alexander Selkirk, that did live self-sufficiently on a deserted Island for many years, creating his own miniature society. In any case, a novel like Robinson Crusoe is not a 'myth', therefore its character is not 'mythical'. Novak cannot write.
The only reason this book is bought so much is that colleges assign it to business students. For a true defense of free-market economics, try Ayn Rand's work, Murray Rothbard, F. Von Hayek, or Ludwig von Mises.
Student of Life.......2002-11-02
The view going in is very different than the view coming out. Novak's idealism helped to encourage me in my own. I read this book as an undergraduate business student struggling to find the balance that I saw in between greed and good. I so enjoyed his language, examples, and message that I recommended it to my Business Ethics professor. Last I heard, he was planning on using it as one of the textbooks. I gave it a 4 star rating because although it was a good read, it could always be better. Let's leave some room for improvement.
stimulating book yet many issues to be discussed further.......2000-07-12
After finishing this book, i got the impression that the author has touched something about the philosophical grounding on capitalism, however, the book is not deep enough in analysing these grounds. 1 the moral basw which the author inspected is of the christian ( or rather ) catholic culture, the reasons of the christian culture is the most suitable one to suit with the capitalism are not yet fully explained 2 its hidden presumption on pratising ideal capitalism is having a good government, good smaall societies to support the neighbours or citizens, good law system etc, but if i live in a place full of corruption, business law system not well developed, what should i do? he does not suggest any means 3 the model which he inspected is the usa, he also studied catholic, i would rather say, it is like, when someone got a hammer, all things can be solved by using it 4 i cannot agree more than that, doing business must have moral and courage if you have interest in discussing with me in this book or others, pls email me
BRINGING IT ALL TOGETHER.......2000-01-03
This book was reccomended by a friend and I was fascinated by the title. The book is a quick read with many references to socio-economic theory and the Catholic way. The book was written by Mr. Novak, a distinguished author who grasps both the economic and theological apsects of modern day business activities. He does a good job of portraying work as a means to help the common good of all society.The idea that being productive as a person in business can benefit others in unseen ways is worthy. Even business can work in its' self interest while helping advance society. Business as a calling tied together many aspects of faith, work and finding meaning in a career. This book should be on the must read list of every young MBA or CEO.
Business is a morally serious calling and Novak proves it........1997-01-16
Novak uses antidotial evidence to show how business can be
and often is a virtous enterprise. However his feelings
about free market capitalism and the business community
are somewhat navie and idealistic. Antidotes are used to
support the fact (often forgetten by social critics) that
business leaders contribute a great deal to society. I
believe this is a good book to read if you are taking a
college course in Economic philosophy or business
administration.
Book Description
An action-plan for self-fulfillment that helps people find their true calling in life
This practical and inspirational guide helps Christian men and women of all ages identify and use their God-given gifts to find purpose, direction, and joy in their life and work. Based on their years of counseling and experience, Kevin and Kay Marie Brennfleck offer action-oriented tools and a proven methodology to help readers develop the decision-making skills they need to discover and live the life that God intended, maximizing the synergies between ministry, work, and spiritual gifts.
Kevin and Kay Marie Brennfleck (Pasadena, CA) are nationally recognized experts in career counseling, work satisfaction, and productivity. Their Web site, www.ChristianCareerCenter.com, is the most visited Christian career site on the Internet.
Customer Reviews:
Live Life Now.......2005-09-01
Has some great insights into growing into a new job/life and is an easy read.
A Worthwhile Book.......2005-05-24
I find this book inspiring and uplifting! A book that will touch the hearts and minds its readers! Its abundant life renewing principles are a paragon example of a worthwhile person in more ways than a million!
Everyday People Making an Extraordinary Impact
Simeon Johnson
Live Your Calling A practical guide to Finding and Fulfiling.......2005-03-22
This book is exacty what I have been looking for. I am the director of Career Services at Azusa Pacific College and it has been difficult to find a sophisticated book that brings Gods calling together with the pragmatic aspects of finding a career. I highly recommend this remarkable book to use with individuals, classes on life planning or in small groups.
Live Your Calling.......2005-02-28
Live Your Calling provides tremendous help in understanding your life's calling. Practical, helpful, motivational. Excellent for young adults who are trying to make significant decisions regarding career choices and direction.
A great resource for individuals, schools, and churches........2005-02-27
The practical information, assessments, and helps in "Live Your Calling" offer encouragement and hope as people seek the best way to use their personal strengths and gifts in their life work. This unique book can be used by individuals or for small group study (a small group study guide is included), as my church is doing. It is appropriate for young people making career decisions for the first time and for adults who want to review their mission in life.
Book Description
MAKE SURE YOUR FIRST CALL ISN'T YOUR LAST!
Everyone in sales knows how to sell -- if they can get to the buyer. But in today's selling climate, the road between seller and buyer is frequently blocked with layer after layer of objections, distractions and delays. Now, America's #1 Corporate Sales Trainer shares his proven techniques for getting through all that interference to make the sale.
In this powerful program, Schiffman provides sound advice and proven strategies for cold calling -- the technique used by salespeople everywhere to make their appointments and increase their sales exponentially.
Customer Reviews:
Full Of Strategies, Tactics and Techniques.......2007-09-16
This is a terrific CD program which is narrated by Schiffman himself. This is of benefit because you can hear the techniques demonstrated by a skilled master of the art of telephone cold calling.
The beginning of the program is spent setting up the context of the different strategies which could be employed to generate activity and first appointments.
In addition, the listener is introduced to skillful telephone techniques that really do work in getting appointments with customers, by successfully completing the "dreaded cold call". This process is very well explained and demonstrated.
The program is complete because it addresses the objections head on. "I'm not interested", "Send me more information in the mail" or "what is this all about" are only a few of the objections that can be over turned. Overcoming objections will become quite effortless and simple using these strategies and techniques. These techniques are also effective during any sales call to turn around certain objections when they arise.
This is a great program. Get it and listen to it repeatedly while in your car travelling between sales calls.
Eliot Hoppe
Author - Selling: Powerful New Strategies for Sales Success
Excellent guide for people fearing cold calling.......2006-01-28
I found the tape highly useful. I would strongly recommend to sales people wanting to start cold calling or improve the process. Just nake sure that you take notes and than act upon those.
It may seem simple, but it works!.......2003-11-25
I have seen some reviews that criticize Schiffman's techniques as being too simple and too sophomoric. I have to disagree. Just because a method is simple, doesn't make it null and void. Schiffman gives a sales person, who needs to have face-to-face meetings in order to sell product, very simple and repeatable procedures on how to set appointments and overcome objections to the appointment. After listening to the tape, you would think that you could come up with those steps on your own. But if you could, you wouldn't be surfing the internet looking for a book or tape.
I have listened to Schiffman's tape so many times, I can repeat it myself. I have practiced and used his techniques, and they work. Plain and simple. I have not had anyone not take me seriously when I got the appointment. In addition, the "hang up during the voicemail" technique works like a champ.
Don't listen to the guy who has to have a method developed by a PhD in order to validate it. Get the tape, listen to it, master the technique and just do it. My batting average went way up after I started using these techniques. My call back percentage increased too.
Not if you're calling anyone important.......2001-02-13
I bought this because other reviewers had said great things about it. Maybe it works if you are a salesperson who calls 800 random people a week. But when you fewer than 10 named accounts and are in larger sales, this is not the tape you need. His big secret to getting appointments is this: "Hi Mr/Ms Whoever, I'm so and so from company x. I want to make an appointment with you to talk about [enter product/service here]. You do want [enter benefit here], don't you?" I can't imagine that most people can't come up with that themselves. The moral of the story is: If you're selling life insurance, this might be of some use, since he lets you know almost everyone you use this technique on will say no, so you don't feel so bad when you're rejected. If you're selling anything else, save your money. Try "The Power To Get In" by Boylan.
Great for Beginners or Veterans.......2000-01-28
Steve Schiffman gives a quality effort in overcoming the myriad of objections that any sales representative faces. His practical approach deserves applause. I would recommend this for anyone just learning the ropes of the sales process or the road warrior who needs to brush up on his or her skills.
Book Description
Cold calling is one of the most awkwardand unsuccessfulways to obtain clients in business. Now Joanne S. Black shares her proven 5-step Referral Selling Methodology, so no businessperson ever has to make a cold call again. In this unique and practical guide, Black offers a tutorial on how to differentiate you from your competitors, make favorable impressions on current clients so theyll refer their acquaintances, and set a hook that will leave them wanting more. NO MORE COLD CALLING provides selling scripts, presentation techniques, troubleshooting advice, and a host of helpful insights to increase any sales forces productivity.
Customer Reviews:
If You Want to Increase Sales..........2007-05-30
read this book! Joanne Black offers a fresh perspective about how to use referrals to build revenue in today's competitive market. Simple, yet powerful, the book offers a step-by-step approach to implementing a system that works.
How to Get More Referrals.......2007-01-29
If you're not asking for and leveraging referrals to increase your sales, you're making a big mistake. This is especially true in today's corporate environment where decision makers seldom answer the phone, roll all calls to voicemail and never call you back.
In No More Cold Calling, Joanne Black outlines a pathway to build your business via referrals. She very pointedly differentiates between hopeful networking versus strategic referral generation. She stresses the need to:
- Clearly define your ideal customer.
- Focus in on their critical business issues.
- Know your value proposition and ROI.
- Invite others to open the door for you.
For those of you who have read my book (Selling to Big Companies), you'll find this to be a perfect compliment since it tackles a subject I only briefly touch on. And, if you hate to ask for referrals, you need to read No More Cold Calling too.
No More Cold Calling.......2007-01-09
For highly skilled and experienced salespeople, this book is especially incredible. It provides breakthrough thinking. I have been a successful cold call person for 20 years. I have a library of over 300 books on selling and marketing. I own a national marketing agency. This system, though simple, is brillians.
Interesting approach to an age old topic.......2006-09-11
I found the authors approach interesting and applicable. While it is an age old topic, it is certainly not an easy one. She lays things out in a manner that is understandable and easy to take action on. The book offers how to advice that is similar to what has been said before but the approach is a good one and as with most things, if it is to be its up to me. Enjoyed it though.
Putting the personal back into the art of sales.......2006-07-26
Much of the current day thinking and practice about sales is based on talking to as many people as possible, quickly, with the idea that these brief encounters will result in the desired clients. No More Cold Calling puts the personal and the thoughtfulness back into the art of sales. This is a very grounded and practical book, with much wisdom.
Books:
- Semiconductor Device Fundamentals
- SPIN Selling
- Starting an Online Business For Dummies, 4th Edition
- Successful Dissertations and Theses: A Guide to Graduate Student Research from Proposal to Completion (Jossey Bass Higher and Adult Education Series)
- The Art of Living: The Classic Manual on Virtue, Happiness, and Effectiveness
- The Bible of Options Strategies: The Definitive Guide for Practical Trading Strategies
- The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Bible, Third Edition
- The Cubicle Survival Guide: Keeping Your Cool in the Least Hospitable Environment on Earth
- The Emotional Intelligence Quick Book
- The Handbook of Fixed Income Securities
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- Communicating for Results: A Guide for Business adn the Professions
- Think Two Products Ahead: Secrets the Big Advertising Agencies Don't Want You to Know and How to Use
- Streetwise Finance and Accounting: How to Keep Your Books and Manage Your Finances Without an MBA, a
- Shifting Into Higher Gear: An Owner's Manual for Uniting Your Calling and Career
- Skin: The Complete Guide to Digitally Lighting, Photographing, and Retouching Faces and Bodies
- Through the Cracks
- The Strongest NIV Exhaustive Concordance
- 2000 Business Owner's Tax Savings and Financing Deskbook
- The Economic History of Latin America since Independence
- The Summer After June
General
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
Lead Generation for the Complex Sale: Boost the Quality and Quantity of Leads to Increase Your ROI
Value Forward Selling: How to Sell to Management
Questions That Sell: The Powerful Process for Discovering What Your Customer Really Wants
The Fundamentals of Business-to-Business Sales & Marketing
Selling Against the Goal: How Corporate Sales Professionals Generate the Leads They Need
