Yet few companies are facing this reality. When they don?t, a lingering malaise sets in.? More than ever these days, the sales process tends to be a war about price?a frustrating, unpleasant war that takes all the fun out of selling. But there's a better way to think about sales, says bestselling author Ram Charan, who is famous for clarifying and simplifying difficult business problems. What the customer wants you to know is how his or her business works, so you can help make it work better. It sounds simple, but there's a catch: you won't be able to do that with your traditional sales approach. Instead of starting with your product or service, start with your customer's problems. Focus on becoming your customer's trusted partner, someone he can turn to for creative, cost-effective solutions that are based on your deep knowledge of his values, goals, problems, and customers. This book defines a new approach to selling?which Charan calls value creation selling?that while radical is nonetheless practical. VCS has been battle-tested in companies in a variety of industries, such as Unifi, Mead-Westvaco, and Thomson Financial. It will enable you to: ? Gain a deeper knowledge of your customer's problems ? Understand how your customer's company really makes decisions ? Help your customer improve margins and drive revenue growth ? Connect sales with other key functions such as finance and manufacturing ? Come up with new customized offerings ? Make price much less of an issue VCS gets you out of the hell of commoditization and low prices. It differentiates you from the competition, paving the way to better pricing, better margins, and higher revenue growth, built on win-win relationships that deepen over time. Someday, every company will listen more closely to the customer, and every manager will realize that sales is everyone's business, not just the sales department?s. In the meantime, this eye-opening book will show you how to get started.

    

    In this fun and thoughtful follow-up to his bestselling Rules of the Red Rubber Ball (2007), Carroll switches the playing field to the workplace, where innovation, motivation, engagement, and teamwork are the headline issues. Drawing on "play profiles" from thought leaders, change agents, and business leaders, he explains how to bring a sense of play into the workplace to stimulate creativity, encourage risk-taking, achieve goals--and have a great time doing it.Fully illustrated, with 31 profiles of successful "players" including ESPN president George Bodenheimer, bestselling authors Seth Godin and Malcolm Gladwell, Food Network host Duff Goldman, South Bronx activist Majora Carter, renowned author Paulo Coehlo, and many others

    

    “As individuals grow frustrated with the burdens of owning, caring for and storing too much stuff, they are looking for ways to minimize that stress. They are also experiencing a need for meaningful connection and community.”The membership-based business is a problem-solver for both businesses and individuals. It spares people from the duties of ownership, and provides a feeling of commonality and affiliation. For businesses, it offers the opportunity to create a “forever customer” who remains loyal and participatory, even as the company shifts and changes. Membership allows for building direct relationships, and continuously generates a data stream that can be tapped for a variety of purposes.Ultimately, it provides the cache’ of belonging.

    Once powerful companies that haven’t gotten the message are faltering, while others, new and old, are thriving. In disarmingly simple and provocative terms, Treacy and Wiersema show what it takes to become a leader in your market, and stay there, in an ever more sophisticated and demanding world.

    Full of case studies and personal reflections by leaders of exceptional companies, this book is designed to help anyone transform their run-of-the-mill business into an extraordinary company-whether you operate a multinational corporation or a mom-and-pop shop. Calloway doesn't offer any mumbo-jumbo or flavor-of-the-day buzzwords, just simple lessons that lead to real, proven results.

    In The Pursuit of Wow!, Tom Peters offers readers the words, the tools, to survive in tumultuous business environments. In his groundbreaking book, In Search of Excellence changed the way business does business. Now it’s time to take the next leap into the cyberstage era. Getting to a place called excellence is no longer the idea. You’ve got to take that leap, then leap again—catapult their imaginations, blow their mindsets—in a word, wow! them. Once more the unconventional Peters stimulates corporate thought processes. Along with the best of his columns, Peters includes questions and rebuttals that come from readers and listeners, as well as his own candid responses. A must-read for every business person.

    This new edition has been thoroughly revised and updated. There are two brand new chapters on the Internet, a new section entitled Handling Complaints Directed at You and another new section that turns the tables and discusses how the reader can complain effectively. More relevant than ever in today's constantly connected world, when customers can complain instantly, 24/7, and broadcast their dissatisfaction around the world if they choose to, throughout the text has been heavily revised, with a wealth of new examples, tools and strategies.

    W. Marriott, Jr., The Spirit to Serve distills years of hard-earned wisdom and experience into twelve timeless lessons that managers at any level can implement in their own business lives.

    

    But it's hardly ever like that. The big idea isn't an act of God. It's an act of daily life. Simply put, the idea that will make millions starts with an observation.A carpenter gets tired of almost losing a finger every time he slices a bagel. Bam! The Bagel Guillotine. A mother is frustrated that her pantry is full of stale food because the packages don't close. Bam! Quick Seals. Howard Schultz notices on a trip to Italy that there are coffee bars on almost every corner. Bam! Starbucks. None of them had a barrel of cash. None of them had a ton of experience. They had a big idea and the will to follow through.In The Big Idea, Deutsch draws not only on his own tremendous focus and expertise, but on that of dozens of the successful entrepreneurs whom he has interviewed, to help you create your own enterprise. From the "Gut Check Moment" to "Mom Power," The Big Idea takes aspiring entrepreneurs along every step of the way. The Big Idea is your road map to the American dream.

    But often, a company's published accounts offer clues to impending disaster, providing you know where to look. Through the forensic examination of more than 20 recent stock market disasters, Tim Steer reveals how companies hide or disguise worrying facts about the robustness of their business. In his lively style, he looks at the themes that underlie the ways companies hide the truth and he stresses that in an assessment of a company's accounts, investors should always bear in mind that the only fact is cash; everything else - profit, assets, etc - is a matter of opinion. Full of invaluable lessons for investors, the book concludes with some trenchant observations on what is wrong in the worlds of investment, audit and financial regulation, and what changes should be introduced.

    Marketing must help customers realize value. Whether you’re marketing a membership program, a complex managed services offering, or a cloud-based solution, Subscription Marketing gives you creative marketing strategies for nurturing customers long after the initial sale.

     Find inside the revolutionary new way to plan a business to create a professional business plan that will help you identify the most effective business strategies for your situation. Take this step to starting your business, achieve independence, and become your own boss. HOW THE BOOK WORKS 1) You will start by learning how to write just a 3-sentence business plan that is so compact that it focuses on only what's most important 2) You will turn the 3-sentence business plan into a 1-page plan 3) Turn the 1-page plan into a professional business plan 4) After you have your business plan, this book gives you skills to make you a stronger entrepreneur BENEFITS OF THIS APPROACH - Write a higher quality business plan with more effective strategies - Complete your business plan faster - Avoid confusion and frustration WHAT KINDS OF BUSINESS IS THIS BOOK FOR This book is designed for businesses like local services, freelancing services, eCommerce, affiliate, self-branded businesses, innovative start-ups, and one-person solopreneur businesses. WHY THE APPROACH IN THIS BOOK IS BETTER To help you learn the business planning process from the ground up, this book gets you started with a very basic business plan and helps you expand it as you make your way through the book. This leads to less confusion and frustration and are more likely to finish your business plan faster and have it be better. THE BOOK IS STRUCTURED AS A BUSINESS PLAN TEMPLATE One of the chapters in this book is structured as a business plan template with examples for what to write in every section of the business plan. By the end of that chapter, you will have a professional business plan. This book combines theory, templates, and practical examples so you can get the best of all worlds and write your own business plan right as you go through the book. Whatever your learning style might be, this book will be effective for you. MADE TO BE SIMPLE If you find business planning confusing and complex, this book will make it simple for you. It is written in simple and clear language to help you create a great business plan with effective strategies. TRY THE BOOK FOR YOURSELF Invest in your future. Get this book now, start creating a great business plan today so you can start your dream business faster. RECENTLY ADDED IN THE LAST EDITION OF THE BOOK - Business plan example since many people commented that they wanted a business plan example. - Bigger variety of smaller examples across different businesses - Common planning mistakes so you can avoid them PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS FOR THE REAL WORLD A business plan is just a document. While this book will help you create a fantastic business plan document, it will also prepare you for real world business execution. Get this book today and learn to write a business plan, create effective business strategies, and take the step to make your business a success. BENEFITS OF THE BOOK - Step-by-step guidance for writing section of a business plan - Evaluate your target market: Is it big enough? Is it lucrative enough? - Identify and profit from choosing the most effective monetization strategy for your business - Master business planning concepts like the cash flow sta