Filled with plenty of hands-on tips, techniques, and practical advice, this book will show you how to turn your dreams into a profitable and rewarding consulting business!Inside, you'll discover how to Assess your skills, abilities, and area of consulting expertise Polish your problem-solving and proposal-writing skills Collect data, analyze research, and provide your clients with valuable feedback Develop recommendations, present them with confidence, and assist with the implementation Deal with all the logistics of setting up your home office, establishing fees, and drafting contracts Build your business through client referrals and new client contacts Stay one step ahead of your competition with the latest trends in technology

    The subjects covered include accounting, business history, business law, economics, entrepreneurship, ethics and social responsibility, finance, marketing, operations, organizational behavior, personal development, quantitative and qualitative research and strategy. It includes thorough explanations and examples of the "break-even analysis," used by MBAs for making cost, volume, pricing and profit decisions, as well as analysis of the emergence of brands in developing countries.This fourth edition includes a new concept for each chapter, including crowdfunding, digital marketing, business incubators and the 80/20 principle. It provides coverage of the key optional modules: Mergers and Acquisitions and International Business, and features new case studies on Heinz, Adidas, Puma, Nike, and Shell.  With a range of free online resources for readers to revise and test their knowledge, this bestselling guide is packed with models, international case studies and practical applications of key theories, placing MBA skills within reach of all professionals and students.

    If you're one of the millions of people whose skills are the 'product, ' you know that you cannot be successful unless you bring in clients. The problem is, you're trained to do your job--not sell it. No matter how great you may be at your actual role, you likely feel a bit lost, hesitant, or 'behind' when it comes to courting clients, an unfamiliar territory where you're never quite sure of the line between under- and over-selling. This book comes to the rescue with real, practical advice for selling what you do. You'll have to unlearn everything you know about sales, but then you'll learn new skills that will help you make connections, develop rapport, create interest, earn trust, and turn prospects into clients.Business development is critical to your personal success, and your skills in this area will dictate the course of your career. This invaluable guide gives you a set of real-world best practices that can help you become the rainmaker you want to be.Get the word out and make productive connections Drop the fear of self-promotion and advertise your accomplishments Earn potential clients' trust to build a lasting relationship Scrap the sales pitch in favor of honesty, positivity, and value Working in the consulting and professional services fields comes with difficulties not encountered by those who sell tangible products. Services are often under-valued, and become among the first things to go when budgets get tight. It is now harder than ever to sell professional services, so your game must be on-point if you hope to out-compete the field. How Clients Buy shows you how to level up and start winning the client list of your dreams.

    A new generation of multibillion dollar brands have been built without spending a dime on traditional marketing techniques. No press releases, no PR firm, and no billboards in Times Square.It wasn’t luck that took them from tiny start-ups to massive success. They have a new strategy, called Growth Hacking. And it works.In this e-special, bestselling author Ryan Holiday shows how the marketing game has changed forever. He explains the growth hacker mindset and provides a new set of rules—critical information whether you’re an aspiring marketer, an entrepreneur, or a Fortune 500 senior executive.

    That’s the breakthrough message of TOMS’ One for One movement. You don’t have to be rich to give back and you don’t have to retire to spend every day doing what you love. You can find profit, passion, and meaning all at once—right now.    In Start Something That Matters, Blake Mycoskie tells the story of TOMS, one of the fastest-growing shoe companies in the world, and combines it with lessons learned from such other innovative organizations such as Method Products, charity: water, FEED Projects, and TerraCycle. Blake presents the six simple keys for creating or transforming your own life and business, from discovering your core story to being resourceful without resources; from overcoming fear and doubt to incorporating giving into every aspect of your life. No matter what kind of change you’re considering, Start Something That Matters gives you the stories, ideas, and practical tips that can help you get started.   Why this book is for you:  • You’re ready to make a difference in the world—through your own start-up business, a nonprofit organization, or a new project that you create within your current job.• You want to love your work, work for what you love, and have a positive impact on the world—all at the same time.• You’re inspired by charity: water, method, and FEED Projects and want to learn how these organizations got their start. • You’re curious about how someone who never made a pair of shoes, attended fashion school, or worked in retail created one of the fastest-growing footwear companies in the world by giving shoes away.• You’re looking for a new model of success to share with your children, students, co-workers, and members of your community. You’re ready to start something that matters.

    A comprehensive guide to service marketing furnishes tips and advice on how one can apply one's business knowledge to any area of sales and marketing, from a home-based consultancy to a multinational brokerage firm.

    The book contains a series of short chapters filled with examples, data, and insights that challenge questionable assumptions and much conventional management wisdom. Each chapter also provides guidelines about how to think more deeply and intelligently about critical management issues. Covering topics ranging from managing people to leadership to measurement and strategy, it’s good organizational advice, delivered by Dr. Pfeffer himself.

    Concerned that Starbucks had lost its way, Schultz was determined to help it return to its core values and restore not only its financial health, but also its soul. In Onward, he shares the remarkable story of his return and the company's ongoing transformation under his leadership, revealing how, during one of the most tumultuous economic times in history, Starbucks again achieved profitability and sustainability without sacrificing humanity. Offering readers a snapshot of a moment in history that left no company unscathed, the book zooms in to show, in riveting detail, how one company struggled and recreated itself in the midst of it all. The fastpaced narrative is driven by day-to-day tension as conflicts arise and lets readers into Schultz's psyche as he comes to terms with his limitations and evolving leadership style. Onward is a compelling, candid narrative documenting the maturing of a brand as well as a businessman.Onward represents Schultz's central leadership philosophy: It's not just about winning, but the right way to win. Ultimately, he gives readers what he strives to deliver every day - sense of hope that, no matter how tough times get, the future can be just as or more successful than the past, whatever one defines success to be.

    How many times do you come away from a situation and think you could have handled it better? The realization that you should have used different words or said things in a different tone which might have produced a more positive result or avoided friction. How often have you felt frustrated at your inability to state your case and to explain your thoughts well enough for the other person to grasp your point?Make no mistake - talk is our most precious commodity. Human interaction and face to face communication came long before social media websites, e-mail and texting. Yet more and more people have lost the art of conversing effectively and successfully as the 'screen' replaces conversation. Talkability provides tried and tested suggestions to help you get your points across and make things happen.

    It is more than a book about brands, and contains many sound lessons for strategy and the role of leaders.­­Michael E. Porter, Harvard Business SchoolPractical, psychologically astute, and clearly written, this book has much to offer business folk of all stripes.­­Publishers Weekly

    For anyonewho wants to thrive in this new order, this requires a revolution in thinking--a steady stream of disruptive strategies and unexpected solutions. "Disrupt" "Think the Unthinkable to Spark Transformation in Your Business" shows how to generate and execute those solutions--a disruptive approach for a disruptive age. Author Luke Williams demonstrates his experience creating disruptive products and services at frog design, one of the world s leading innovation firms. Williams combines the fluid creativity of "disruptive thinking" with the analytical rigor that is indispensable to business success. The result is a simple yet complete five-stage process for imagining a powerful market disruption and transforming it into reality. Using many examples and a book-length case study of Little Miss Matched, Williams shows how the more unexpected an idea, the smaller the number of competitors, and the more successful the company that brings it to market. He walks through generating a disruptive hypothesis, defining a disruptive market opportunity, creating multiple disruptive ideas, shaping them into an actionable solution, and persuading key stakeholders to adopt or invest in the solution. "Disrupt "offers readers a systematic way to redefine the future of a company, catch entire industries by surprise, and leave competitors scrambling to catch up."

    Psychologists have discovered that our minds are ruled by two different systems - the rational mind and the emotional mind - that compete for control. The rational mind wants a great beach body; the emotional mind wants that Oreo cookie. The rational mind wants to change something at work; the emotional mind loves the comfort of the existing routine. This tension can doom a change effort - but if it is overcome, change can come quickly.In Switch, the Heaths show how everyday people - employees and managers, parents and nurses - have united both minds and, as a result, achieved dramatic results:- The lowly medical interns who managed to defeat an entrenched, decades-old medical practice that was endangering patients (see page 242)- The home-organizing guru who developed a simple technique for overcoming the dread of housekeeping (see page 130)- The manager who transformed a lackadaisical customer-support team into service zealots by removing a standard tool of customer service (see page 199)In a compelling, story-driven narrative, the Heaths bring together decades of counterintuitive research in psychology, sociology, and other fields to shed new light on how we can effect transformative change. Switch shows that successful changes follow a pattern, a pattern you can use to make the changes that matter to you, whether your interest is in changing the world or changing your waistline.

    They have fought for competitive advantage, battled over market share, and struggled for differentiation. Yet, as this influential and immensely popular book shows, these hallmarks of competitive strategy are not the way to create profitable growth in the future.In the international bestseller Blue Ocean Strategy, W. Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne argue that cutthroat competition results in nothing but a bloody red ocean of rivals fighting over a shrinking profit pool. Based on a study of 150 strategic moves (spanning more than 100 years across 30 industries), the authors argue that lasting success comes not from battling competitors, but from creating "blue oceans"—untapped new market spaces ripe for growth. Such strategic moves, which the authors call “value innovation,” create powerful leaps in value that often render rivals obsolete for more than a decade.Blue Ocean Strategy presents a systematic approach to making the competition irrelevant and outlines principles and tools any company can use to create and capture their own blue oceans. A landmark work that upends traditional thinking about strategy, this bestselling business book charts a bold new path to winning the future.

    Joe is a true go-getter, though sometimes he feels as if the harder and faster he works, the further away his goals seem to be. And so one day, desperate to land a key sale at the end of a bad quarter, he seeks advice from the enigmatic Pindar, a legendary consultant referred to by his many devotees simply as the Chairman. Over the next week, Pindar introduces Joe to a series of “go-givers:” a restaurateur, a CEO, a financial adviser, a real estate broker, and the “Connector,” who brought them all together. Pindar’s friends share with Joe the Five Laws of Stratospheric Success and teach him how to open himself up to the power of giving. Joe learns that changing his focus from getting to giving—putting others’ interests first and continually adding value to their lives—ultimately leads to unexpected returns. Imparted with wit and grace, The Go-Giver is a heartwarming and inspiring tale that brings new relevance to the old proverb “Give and you shall receive.”

    In this straightforward how-to, he offers down-to-earth guidance on crafting an effective and meaningful online platform.In Platform, you will learn how to:Extend your influence, monetize it, and build a sustainable career. Get noticed and start earning money in an increasingly noisy world.  Learn to amplify, update, polish, and organize your content for success.Platform goes behind the scenes into the world of social media success. You’ll discover what bestselling authors, public speakers, entrepreneurs, musicians, and other creatives are doing differently to gain contacts, connections, and followers and win customers in today’s crowded marketplace.With proven strategies, easy-to-replicate formulas, and practical tips, this book makes it easier, less expensive, and more possible than ever to stand out from the crowd and launch a business.