Terrific Book Reviews

If you have concerns or strong views about our children’s education then click on http://www.squidoo.com/stop-stealing-dreams

At this site, Seth Godin asks the question, “What is school for?” and in his usual provocative style he makes you think... differently. He says:

“The economy has changed yet school hasn't. School was invented to create a constant stream of compliant factory workers to the growing businesses of the 1900s. It continues to do an excellent job at achieving this goal, but it's not a goal we need to achieve any longer.”

Seth Godin imagines a different set of goals and has published a 30,000 word manifesto, totally free to read, share, print and use to start what he calls “...an essential conversation on our education system.”
  Click here to read more .....

Rather like Richard Koch’s ‘The 80/20 Principle’, ‘The Other 90% - How to unlock your vast untapped potential for leadership and life’ by Robert K Cooper is a book well worth rereading every couple of years. It will remind you of things you should be investing your time on, things you should be spending less time on and some of the disciplines that will help you achieve far more in all aspects of your life.

The author points out that we tend to get caught up on the surface of things struggling along by habit or expending lots of time and effort trying to produce some small gain. As his grandfather asked him, “What about the other 90%?”  Click here to read more .....

‘Brainfluence: 100 Ways to Persuade and Convince Consumers with Neuromarketing’ is a practical guide to how the brain works and how that relates to everyday marketing ideas.

Neuromarketing studies the way the brain responds to various cognitive and sensory marketing stimuli. Analysts use this to measure people’s preferences, what customers react to and why they react the way they do to different marketing messages.

Author and neuromarketing specialist Roger Dooley has compiled 100 actionable tips and techniques backed up by the latest neuroscience research. This book is clearly indexed and it’s easy to dip into your particular areas of interest to help you better understand how your customers brains work and how this affects their decision making.

Some of the research findings will have you nodding your head in agreement; with others you will be shaking your head in disbelief. Best of all it will have you questioning your own assumptions about why people choose one product or service rather than another, why they remain loyal to one business but not to others, why they take ages to make some decisions and yet at other times make seemingly major decisions with hardly any deliberation.   Click here to read more .....

Paco Underhill, author of the wonderful book ‘Why We Buy. The Science of Shopping’ has followed this up with a review of the shopping experience in America’s Malls.

‘Call Of The Mall’ examines how Americans use the mall (shopping centre), what it means, why it works when it does and why it often doesn’t work at all well.

Paco Underhill is CEO of Envirosell whose studies of consumer behaviour are sought after by leading retailers, manufacturers and distributors around the globe. And now owners, managers and marketing specialists in shopping centres will be studying carefully the observations and conclusions of the man who has been called “the Margaret Mead of shopping”.

Here are some excerpts to give you a taste of this book.

Parking and Entering  Click here to read more .....

Not another book on branding, I thought, as I flipped open the pages of ‘People don't buy what you sell - they buy what you stand for’ a book by Martin Butler, former CEO of one of London's leading retail advertising and marketing agencies and renowned retail observer.

But at the same time I was intrigued. You see, this book was recommended to me by Jeannie Willis of the British Shops and Stores Association (bssa) when I was in the UK. And it promised case studies on some of Britain's best-known retailers including John Lewis, Carphone Warehouse, Oddbins, Topshop, B&Q, Selfridges and HMV. It would be fascinating to get behind the scenes of these companies.

But then again, most books on branding seem to be full of pretentious drivel. Could this one really be a good read? The answer is an emphatic YES. This is a must read for anyone with an interest in retailing, in marketing or who finds shopping in British stores a fascination.   Click here to read more .....

Published in 2007, ‘Retail is a University’ is based on insightful interviews, delving into the success factors and philosophies behind ten leading Australian and New Zealand retailers. The retailers are –

• Lesley and Roger Gillespie, Bakers Delight (known as COBS in North America)
• Bernie Brooks, Myer Department Stores.
• Janine Alice, Boost Juice.
• Stephen Tindall, The Warehouse.
• Gerry Harvey, Harvey Norman.
• John Ilhan, Crazy John's
• Jonathan Penshaw, Barbeques Galore, and the Just Group.
• Carla Zampatti, Carla Zampatti
• Peter Ritchie, McDonald's.

  Click here to read more .....

Seth Godin is the author of such best sellers as ‘Permission Marketing’, ‘Purple Cow’ and ‘Unleashing the Idea Virus’. I love his lively writing style and fascinating ideas but one book I’ve put off reading until now is ‘All Marketers Are Liars’.

The sub-title gives a far clearer message of what this book is about – ‘The power of telling authentic stories in a low-trust world’. The real message in this book is that we as consumers lie to ourselves and marketers need to craft their messages accordingly. He gives examples to illustrate how this happens as much in business-to-business as it does with consumer products and services saying, “In the business-to-business marketing world we like to believe that people are rational and informed. They are neither.”   Click here to read more .....

“I’ve had enough of continually pushing people to get off their butts and sell; get off their butts and be proactive about servicing their clients; get off their butts and do things without me having to nag them to do it all of the time.... Why does it have to be this hard?”

Ever heard yourself saying something like that? I certainly hear clients saying similar things far too often.

What can you do about it?

This is what Peter Rowe business coach, business improvement specialist and now business author sets out to answer in his newly released book, ‘Solving the People Puzzle – How to Attract and Engage Great People’.   Click here to read more .....

Ever wonder how the human brain works when making purchasing decisions?

‘Neuromarketing: Understanding the Buy Buttons in Your Customer's Brain’ by Patrick Renvoise and Christophe Morin is a useful resource about why people buy things and how their brain works when they make buying decisions. It is also a sales guide to assist you to sell more successfully - in presentations, marketing materials, meetings and online.

The authors tell us that people choose to buy based on emotions. Emotions are controlled by our 'old brain', the one that makes survival decisions. They claim that unless you know how to talk to your prospect's 'old brain' in the language it understands, you may be wasting your time and money. But they fail to back this up with solid research in the way that groundbreaking books such as The Buying Brain, Buyology, How Customers Think and The Science of Persuasion have done.
  Click here to read more .....

To help you make a difference in your work life in 2011 I’ve prepared for you a list of the 10 top books I’ve read in the last couple of years.

Select at least one book from this list and read it over the next couple of months.

Too busy? How about half an hour 3 or 4 times a week, just a chapter or two at a time? Skip watching the News (especially the early morning News) or reading the newspaper and spend less time on emails and surfing the net. You’ll get far more insightful information from some of these books.

Invest the time to read your chosen book with a highlighter pen and a notebook handy. In fact take Stephen Covey’s advice in ‘The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People’ when he says, “Read with the purpose in mind of sharing or discussing what you learn with someone else within 48 hours after you learn it.”

It’s a technique I’ve used for many years. I hope it works for you too. Let me know how you go.  Click here to read more .....