Using the metaphor of a “Leaky Bucket,” Howard Shore addresses the 15 most common issues in the areas of people, strategy, and execution that drain energy, direction, and profitability from every business. Shore provides a practical guide on how to effect change and ignite growth in the leadership team in order to achieve an organization's full potential. The principles outlined in this book lead to clear and purposeful direction, a stronger, invigorated leadership team, and maximum growth and revenue, all while reducing workplace drama.
Most businesses have serious profit leaks, so when they run their marketing taps, revenue simply pours out of a leaky bucket. Readers who follow the process laid out in this guide will be able to step off the roller coaster of yo-yo sales results and get their business on a sustainable upward curve.
Small Business Survival will give you all the help you need to not just ""get by"" in the present economic downturn but to help your business emerge stronger, too. The author, Kevin Duncan, is an independent troubleshooter with a vast knowledge of many business types, writer of 5 bestselling business books, and winner of many creativity and effectiveness awards. His no-nonsense approach to the subject guides you through the key issues and questions you will face and gives you clear, practical solutions - to help ensure your business survives and thrives. NOT GOT MUCH TIME? One and five-minute introductions to key principles to get you started. AUTHOR INSIGHTS Lots of instant help with common problems and quick tips for success, based on the author's many years of experience. TEST YOURSELF Tests in the book and online to keep track of your progress. EXTEND YOUR KNOWLEDGE Extra online articles at www.teachyourself.com to give you a richer understanding of how to keep your small business afloat and going strong. FIVE THINGS TO REMEMBER Quick refreshers to help you remember the key facts. TRY THIS Innovative exercises illustrate what you've learnt and how to use it.
Most startups don’t fail because they can’t build a product. Most startups fail because they can’t get traction. Startup advice tends to be a lot of platitudes repackaged with new buzzwords, but Traction is something else entirely. As Gabriel Weinberg and Justin Mares learned from their own experiences, building a successful company is hard. For every startup that grows to the point where it can go public or be profitably acquired, hundreds of others sputter and die. Smart entrepreneurs know that the key to success isn’t the originality of your offering, the brilliance of your team, or how much money you raise. It’s how consistently you can grow and acquire new customers (or, for a free service, users). That’s called traction, and it makes everything else easier—fund-raising, hiring, press, partnerships, acquisitions. Talk is cheap, but traction is hard evidence that you’re on the right path. Traction will teach you the nineteen channels you can use to build a customer base, and how to pick the right ones for your business. It draws on inter-views with more than forty successful founders, including Jimmy Wales (Wikipedia), Alexis Ohanian (reddit), Paul English (Kayak), and Dharmesh Shah (HubSpot). You’ll learn, for example, how to: ·Find and use offline ads and other channels your competitors probably aren’t using ·Get targeted media coverage that will help you reach more customers ·Boost the effectiveness of your email marketing campaigns by automating staggered sets of prompts and updates ·Improve your search engine rankings and advertising through online tools and research Weinberg and Mares know that there’s no one-size-fits-all solution; every startup faces unique challenges and will benefit from a blend of these nineteen traction channels. They offer a three-step framework (called Bullseye) to figure out which ones will work best for your business. But no matter how you apply them, the lessons and examples in Traction will help you create and sustain the growth your business desperately needs.
If leaders aren't integrating their digital offerings into a philosophy of Customer Success, they will be defeated in the next decade, because technical excellence and other traditional competitive advantages are becoming too easy to imitate. The Customer Success Economy offers examples and specifics of how companies can transform. It addresses the pains of transforming organizational charts, leadership roles, responsibilities, and strategies so the whole company works together in total service to the customer. Shows leaders how their digital implementations will make them more Amazon-like Helps you deliver recurring revenue Shows you how to embrace customer retention Demonstrates the importance of "churning" less Get that competitive advantage in the most relevant and important arena today—making and cultivating happy customers.
"The paucity of women-led start-ups to reach the same stratospheric levels of funding, growth, and annual revenue achieved by many of the new businesses founded by men is staggering. The lack of female representation among the top-earning founders is all the more surprising when compared to the number of women who do start businesses. So many women would love to build something great but don't know the rules of the game. They want real, practical, usable tools to help them make big things happen. This book aims to bridge the gap between knowledge and practice, empowering women to secure funding and thrive in big business and finance. Sarah Dusek delves into the art and science of creating a winning pitch deck, from crafting a compelling story to using data and design to make a lasting impact. She offers real-life examples from other female entrepreneurs and stories from her own journey, both as an entrepreneur and now as an investor in other women's businesses. Thinking Bigger is for women entrepreneurs around the world who want to think bigger and understand what it will take to get funded. Increasing the number of women-led businesses is not only beneficial for individual women entrepreneurs but is also critical for building a more equal, diverse world. The world is in desperate need of women entrepreneurs who will bring their unique perspectives to solving some of the world's biggest and most stubborn problems. This book is a rallying cry to encourage women to think big, to take their seats at the proverbial tables of power, and to build their own tables if necessary"--
Marketing Professional Services is a uniquely focused, incisive and practical introduction to new business planning, marketing and selling skills for those in the professional services sector. It is for professionals who have to sell to professionals. Professionals of all types, from accountants and consultants to surveyors and solicitors who have trained in a specific technical skill will understand the power of good clear marketing practice reading this book. If you have to sell yourself and your service to clients this book shows you: * The importance of winning new business in an increasingly competitive, deregulated market * How to plan for winning new business including a full script for cold calls * The techniques, skills and resources required in order to achieve your goals focusing on the three P's of Preparation, Prospection and Persistence Individual chapters provide you with a basic grounding in separate sales and marketing issues - from prospecting and cold canvassing to direct marketing and public relations. The book includes sample interactive conversations and provides a constant source of reference for the professional sales person. It is based on long experience of training in this sector and is a short, practical and appropriate introduction to the key concepts.
Want to publish your book? Learn how--it's easier than you think! Charismatic authors and literary agents Jeff Herman and Deborah Levine Herman have successfully sold hundreds of titles and learned--through trial and error--how to write a flawless book proposal that publishers can't resist. Now you can benefit from their hard work and publishing savvy. In this new edition, they offer guidance and advice that will inspire, educate, and, most importantly, give you the necessary edge to get your book published. They explain: * How to shape your idea and create a title * Ways to get to know the market and competition * Tips on writing an effective outline, query letter, and sample chapter * The art and science of fiction and nonfiction book proposals * How ten actual proposals (included here) were successfully sold to publishers--and why "A submission from Jeff Herman always gets moved to the top . . . his new book will show you how to move to the top."--Frederic W. Hills Vice President, Simon & Schuster "This book will take writers to the highest level of proposal writing and success."--Roger Cooper Quality Paperback Book Club "If you want your proposal to ignite a busy editor's interest, read this book."--Adrienne Hickey Senior Acquisitions Editor, AMACOM Books
