I recently finished Andy Sernovitz's new book, "Word of Mouth Marketing: How Smart Companies Get People Talking". Actually, I finished it a while ago, but haven't had time to do a full blog review.

The book is a quick read - 4hrs total, give or take, and it's packed full not only of WOM theory and a bit of history, but also with some concrete ideas from real WOM marketers and a checklist or two to boot. I love checklists!

The really "shocking" thing about this book, is that it's not one of those "wow, wouldn't it be cool if our company could do that" like "Blue Ocean Strategy, but rather, a book about WHAT EVERY BUSINESS SHOULD ALREADY BE DOING WITH THEIR MARKETING. Seriously, let's look, at what the book tells me to do.

You need the Five Ts. Talkers, Topics, Tools, Taking Part and Tracking.

• Talkers: Find people who will talk about you
• Topics: Give people a reason to talk
• Tools: Help the message spread faster and farther
• Taking Part: Join the conversation
• Tracking: Measure and understand what people are saying

Andy has another tidbit that worth the price of the book (or a visit to his site). The Word of Mouth Marketing Manifesto:

1. Happy customers are your best advertising. Make people happy.
2. Marketing is easy: Earn the respect and recommendation of your customers. They will do your marketing for you, for free.
3. Ethics and good service come first.
4. UR the UE: You are the user experience (not what your ads say you are).
5. Negative word of mouth is an opportunity. Listen and learn.
6. People are already talking. Your only option is to join the conversation.
7. Be interesting or be invisible.
8. If it’s not worth talking about, it’s not worth doing.
9. Make the story of your company a good one.
10. It is more fun to work at a company that people want to talk about.
11. Use the power of word of mouth to make business treat people better.
12. Honest marketing makes more money.

Thanks Brian for the advance copy of Lead Generation for the Complex Sale! I've already started digging in and will post a review here shortly.

"Lead Generation for the Complex Sale : Boost the Quality and Quantity of Leads to Increase Your ROI" (Brian Carroll)

Perfect timing for a great topic.

Having just finished reading Hugh Hewitt's delightful book, "In, But Not Of : A Guide to Christian Ambition" it's only fitting to link to the eBible story... (Thanks to Sean Ammirati for the tip on the book)

TechCrunch did a quick summary of the eBible beta site and I too would love to see a 'bible' search across all religions.

While I've never publicly discussed religious views on the site, and don't plan to, Hugh's book is a brilliant read and can be done in one night. It's the kind of book that I wish I had gotten in college (the book wasn't around then anyway).

Technorati Tags: bible, hugh+hewitt

Will at weblogg-ed pulls a quote from the new book “The Wealth of Networks“ and links to the book's Wiki. Every good book should have a wiki. In true participant economy fashion, if we all have a way to contribute to the wisdom surrounding a particular book, the value of that books grows over time.

Just a thought...

Technorati Tags: The Wealth of Networks

I've been a fan of Getting Things Done for some time, but I always struggle to follow...I guess that's the same with any cult or religion...we're always straying off the path.

I caught this post today by Mark Frauenfelder on what he feels is the real essence of GTD - I concur, and it's changed my outlook - simplified things, if you will.

...from page 19:

"The real issue is how to make appropriate choices about what to do at any point in time. The real issue is how we manage actions."

According to Mark, that's the GTD process in a nutshell. It's about setting up a system that allows you to quickly review every single thing you want to do -- large (writing a book) and small (changing the wiper blades on your car) -- so you can decide on the best next physical action you can take to elicit the changes in your life that you desire.

Technorati Tags: Productivity, Getting Things Done, GTD

Todd and the 800 CEO Read crew have a new project called 'In Bubble Wrap' where you can sign up and be eligible to win a business related prized each day (just books, so far, which is awesome...) just by answering a couple of questions and submitting your info.

Check out http://beta.inbubblewrap.com/

I love books and I love reading. So it's only natural that I'm geeked about the new book discussion group that's forming within the Green Bay Young Professionals Network, Current.

Each month, we'll have a different book to review. On Monday, Oct. 24th, we'll be discussing Never Eat Alone by Keith Ferrazzi. It's a great read and is really the kind of book that begs to be discussed in a group setting. More to the point, the book is about networking and relationships, so it's only fitting that a social setting is where you might get the most value from the book.

Not being one to sit idly by, I'll be discussing Improv Wisdom : Don't Prepare, Just Show Up by Patricia Ryan Madson on April 25th, 2006

Links:

• Current
  
• Current Reading Group
  

I finally finished my copy of David Teten & Scott Allen's book
The Virtual Handshake. Simply put, the book is a masterpiece on networking for success in career, personal, spiritual and other realms of life for at least the next decade. As networking moves online (yes, not everyone networks online yet - they will soon though) this will be the guidebook in traversing that world.

While the book struck me as interesting and wonderful, I was pleased to see the topic of altruism brought up thoughout the book. One of the things that I've always felt strongly about is that your efforts in business and in networking must be driven by altruistic motives in order for you to be successful. In simpler terms, the more you give, the more you get. This point is not lost on David and Scott. In fact, they call it out several times throughout the book, but more in the later chapters. In the second to last chapter on Volunteering, I think this quote sums it all up

Well said. In fact, when people ask, "how can I seperate myself from the crowd," in the context of a job hunt or just wanting to differentiate, or even to get skills to swith careers, I have one word. Volunteer. For more on the subject of Altruism, I recommend Matt Ridley's book, The Origins of Virtue

This is a nice segue into another must read, an upcoming book by Tom Rath called Vital Friends. Why? Well, the very premise of the book and the first chapter start out from the volunteer's perspective. Volunteering at homeless shelters in hope of seeing just one person emerge from the homeless cycle and 'make it.' Vital friends talks about the absolute necessity of 8 types of relationships and explores the simple fact that no one person can be all types of people to you. In short, it's your altruistic motives, as well as the motives' of your friends that make a strong network a source of joy, power and life long progress.

[UPDATE] Fast Company has a great exerpt that literally sums up
The Virtual Handshake in one page...