Knowledge

Fear, curiosity, exhaustion, loyalty, paranoia, optimism, rage, and revelation--not quite the kind of emotions that are anticipated or discussed when leaders embark on organizational change, but exactly the kind to expect, says Jeanie Daniel Duck in her treatise on the human element of growth. The Change Monster examines how to effectively plan for, address, and manage the least predictable and perhaps the most important aspect of a successful transformation.... [ read more ]

Get the expert perspective and practical advice on big data The Big Data-Driven Business: How to Use Big Data to Win Customers, Beat Competitors, and Boost Profits makes the case that big data is for real, and more than just big hype. The book uses real-life examples-from Nate Silver to Copernicus, and Apple to Blackberry-to demonstrate how the winners of the future will use big data to seek the truth. Written by a marketing journalist and the CEO of a multi-million-dollar B2B marketing platform that reaches more than 90% of the U.S. business population, this book is a comprehensive and accessible guide on how to win customers, beat competitors, and boost the bottom line with big data.... [ read more ]

"The Complete Idiot's Guide to Marketing Basics" tells you everything you need to know about positioning and marketing your product. With step-by-step instructions on putting together promotional plans, you'll use the customer intuition you develop to target your project more effectively.... [ read more ]

In his new book, Counter-Intuitive Selling: Mastering the Art of the Unexpected, Bill Byron Concevitch reveals a secret to sales success in today’s highly competitive sales world – doing the exact opposite of what your competitors are doing and the exact opposite of what clients expect. Concevitch’s unique approach provides specific action steps and techniques that are designed to help you establish new habits that lead to sales-winning behaviors and results.... [ read more ]

Revealing the groundbreaking results of one of the most in-depth management studies ever undertaken, The Carrot Principle shows definitively that the central characteristic of the most successful managers is that they provide their employees with frequent and effective recognition. With independent results from HealthStream Research, and analysis by bestselling leadership experts Adrian Gostick and Chester Elton, this breakthrough study of 200,000 people over ten years found dramatically greater business results when managers offered constructive praise and meaningful rewards in ways that powerfully motivated employees to excel. ... [ read more ]

In this book, author Gerald Zaltman builds on research from desciplines as diverse as neurology, sociology, literary analysis, and cognitive science in order to give insight into what happens within the complex system of mind, brain, body and society as consumers contemplate their needs and evaluate their products.... [ read more ]

Marketing expert Celia Rocks has written a truly compelling book that will help you discover the brilliance that shines through your company, whether it's a smaall start-up operation, a consulting firm or a multinational corporation with thousands of employees. Forget reactive marketing strategies and canned plans. Brilliance Marketing relies on creative intuition and common sense-qualities you and you rteam already have in abundance!... [ read more ]

The Wallet Allocation Rule is a revolutionary, definitive guide for winning the battle for share of customers' hearts, minds, and wallets. Backed by rock-solid science published in the Harvard Business Review and MIT Sloan Management Review, this landmark book introduces a new and rigorously tested approach--the Wallet Allocation Rule--that is proven to link to the most important measure of customer loyalty: share of wallet.... [ read more ]

Innovations change and improve the status quo in small ways but this book explores what happens when they improve the status quo in a big way. The aurthors argue that sustained leadership comes from making creativity a broad, enterprise-wide cpapbility that is on all the time.... [ read more ]

Is it possible that the way to win in business is to give employees exactly what they want? Yes. As RESPECT reveals, managers and organizations who give their employees what they want outperform those who don't. This is no hunch it's a fact based on more than 25 years of global research. Drs. Jack Wiley and Brenda Kowske have amassed a research database unlike any other, and it all started with this simple question: "What is the most important thing you want from the organization for which you work?" Organizations that apply this research have more engaged employees, more satisfied customers, and better shareholder returns. It all boils down to seven key elements, summarized by the acronym RESPECT. These are the seven things that employees really want: Recognition, Exciting Work, Security, Pay, Education, Conditions and Truth.... [ read more ]

12: The Elements of Great Managing is the long-awaited sequel to the 1999 runaway bestseller First, Break All the Rules. Grounded in Gallup's 10 million employee and manager interviews spanning 114 countries, 12 follows great managers as they harness employee engagement to turn around a failing call center, save a struggling hotel, improve patient care in a hospital, maintain production through power outages, and successfully face a host of other challenges in settings around the world. Authors Rodd Wagner and James K. Harter weave the latest Gallup insights with recent discoveries in the fields of neuroscience, game theory, psychology, sociology, and economics. Written for managers and employees of companies large and small, 12 explains what every company needs to know about creating and sustaining employee engagement ... [ read more ]

Incentive programs aren’t new. For years, incentives have been used to motivate employees, dealers and customers. But CFOs and purchasing managers now scrutinize incentive programs because they can adversely affect production, fulfillment, and accounts receivable. An incentive program is like a garden hose. Twist the faucet, the water shoots out. But lots of garden hoses have cracks. You don’t want an incentive program that leaks like an old garden hose. Bob Dawson, a nationally recognized expert on incentive return on investment (ROI), brings a unique perspective to incentive program management. His book shows you how to approach incentive programs as an investment rather than just throwing money at ill-chosen merchandise and trips. The book is filled with true stories of programs that succeeded using Dawson’s method and many that failed without it. A running case study shows how Dawson helped a manufacturer earn substantial returns on their incentive program investment.... [ read more ]

With this guide, trainers and managers now have a one-stop reference for practical evaluations of the best videos on the market, written by the practicing trainers, consultants, and line managers who use them. Paper. DLC: Employees Training of.... [ read more ]

Our work with hundreds of public and private sector groups and teams across the United States and Europe suggests that leaders need a practical, well researched model for team building. The Rocket Model provides leaders with sound practical advice on how to improve group and team dynamics. The model is both descriptive and prescriptive it can be used to diagnose team functioning and make specific recommendations regarding how to launch new teams or to improve the performance of more established teams.... [ read more ]

As management trends and fads swirl around us, it's easy to lose sight of the basics. In fact, a manager's responsibilities always boil down to selecting, directing, evaluating, and rewarding people. Get these not-so-easy pieces right, and management success is virtually guaranteed. That's why this engaging book will be embraced by seasoned managers and novices alike. It provides a structured framework for developing and fine-tuning the only four skills they ultimately need. For each of the elements, Don Marshall reviews the key issues, discusses the pros and cons of various practices, and offers candid advice on what works best. This lucid approach is both time-saving and liberating: The Four Elements of Successful Management shows managers how to focus on the big picture -- where the major gains are made -- rather than the complicating details. For a succinct and timeless "short course" in the fundamentals of management, no other guide even comes close.... [ read more ]

The headlines shout out – where are our leaders! Is every leader who flies high bound to have their wings clipped? Mike Singletary and Rick DeMarco answer this question with a resounding "No!" To find out why, read "The Leadership Zone." The book is full of Mike and Rick’s life-lessons. They provide a map on how to overcome perhaps the most profound challenges we face as a country and in global corporate America: 1) Why is there such a lack of true servant leaders? 2) Why do so many perceived leaders go through melt-down and disappoint families, businesses, constituencies and countries?... [ read more ]

In The Hummer and the Mini, Waters explores the new trend landscape and urges companies to stop looking for the one right answer in their industry. There are many good ways to design products, develop a line of goods, merchandise a store, or craft a marketing message. You can thrive by selling huge cars (the Hummer) or tiny ones (the Mini). You can turn something old into something new and desirable (the Vespa) or turn a commodity into a luxury (In-and-Out Burgers at the Oscars). You can even customize a product designed for the masses (personalized postage stamps) or sell less as more (Minute Clinics).... [ read more ]

Be it time, money, opportunities lost—the cost of finding and hiring a new sales person is significant. Expert sales strategist Kathy Graham-Leviss takes the woes out of recruiting sales people and introduces a research-based, five-step formula for hiring, developing, and retaining top sales talent.... [ read more ]

Maybe you're in sales...or marketing...or communications? Maybe you're a writer. Maybe you're even a CEO. Whatever your title, you're one of the hundreds of thousands of professionals who communicate for a living-and you're struggling to get your message heard in a noisy and crowded marketplace. Yes, you know what you want to say and who you want to reach. No, you don't have writer's block and you certainly know how to construct a sentence. So what's the problem? The audience you're writing for is going, going, gone... Today's consumer doesn't want to read anymore-they're already overwhelmed by overflowing e-mail, millions of Web pages, and 24/7 news proliferation. Your Attention, Please. is the new strategy guide for communicating to the reluctant consumer. It shows you who the new audience is, how to reach them, and how you must communicate differently-or risk losing mindshare and marketshare. ... [ read more ]

In today’s highly competitive world of complex sales, commoditization of your brand is one of the greatest dangers. You must differentiate yourself from the competition—or you will lose out. And the way to do that is through customer engagement. Rather than sell your own corporate story and brand message, you need to tell customers their story—the one in which they are the heroes and they achieve success. Erik Peterson and Tim Riesterer have been developing and honing their Power Messaging sales technique for more than 20 years, and now they reveal all their secrets in Conversations That Win the Complex Sale. Presenting a catalog of facts or playing 20 questions with prospective customers is the surest way to lose the sale. Peterson and Riesterer provide the tools you need to recraft your message into a compelling story that wins more deals.... [ read more ]

Business-to-Business Marketing Research is written by proven research powerhouses. Drawing upon their collective years of experience, the authors examine topics unique to B2B, equipping readers with the tools and the techniques for effective research. The book spotlights new techniques related to focus groups and in-depth interviews, as well as the impact of data mining and other computer and technology-driven types of research. an accompanying CD enables users to apply the tips and techniques to live data.... [ read more ]

In "Private Label Strategy: How to Meet the Store Brand Challenge," Nirmalya Kumar and Jan-Benedict E.M. Steenkamp describe the new strategies for private labels that retailers are using, and challenge brand manufacturers to develop an effective response. Most important, they lay out actionable strategies for competing against--or collaborating with--private label purveyors. Packed with detailed international case studies, valuable visuals, and hands-on tools, Private Labels enables managers to navigate profitably in this radically altered landscape.... [ read more ]

From New York Times bestselling authors and renowned leadership consultants Adrian Gostick and Chester Elton comes a groundbreaking guide to building high-performance teams. What is the true driver of a thriving organization’s exceptional success? Is it a genius leader? An iron-clad business plan? Gostick and Elton shatter these preconceptions of corporate achievement. Their research shows that breakthrough success is guided by a particular breed of high-performing team that generates its own momentum—an engaged group of colleagues in the trenches, working passionately together to pursue a shared vision. ... [ read more ]

Today's brands face an apparent choice between two evils: continue betting on their increasingly ineffective advertising or put blind faith in the supposedly mystical power of social media, where "likes" stand in for transactions and a mass audience is maddeningly elusive. There has to be a better way . . . As Lennon and McCartney wrote a half century ago, money can't buy you love. But in today's world, where people have become desensi­tized-even disillusioned-by ad campaigns and marketing slogans, that maxim needs an update: Money can't even buy you like.... [ read more ]

Non-monetary incentives and recognition programs are an area of employee motivation that is often overlooked. Yet, a strategic focus on non-cash rewards, such as additional time off, "employee of the month" awards, achievement certificates or trophies, and celebratory meals, can generate significant return on investment in employee engagement, performance improvement, and financial results. Strategic Reward and Recognition brings together theory and practice to guide HR professionals, consultants, and senior leaders in developing a clear strategy in developing and implementing the most effective reward programs for their organizations. Author John Fisher provides good practice examples from all over the world, different sectors, and large and small organizations. ... [ read more ]