Growing Your Business the right way.
"Growing a Business" by Paul Hawken was my constant
companion when I first started my company 12 years ago.
I underlined, starred and highlighted countless passages
and dog-eared the corners of numerous pages. The
underlying philosophies still guide me--be in it for the long
haul, create legendary service, you can never rush the
rules of the field, and focus, focus, focus. This is
especially true in light of the Internet where everything
happens at lightning speed. But business is still about
people and relationships. Nurture them. Whenever I
meet someone about to start a business, I send them
a copy of this book. It's the best advice I can give
them: read it.
It's Your Service.
Constant learning is one of the keys to success in today’s
business. Here’s one book we’ve found to be of invaluable
help called, "Selling the Invisible," by Harry Beckwith. This
field guide to modern marketing—called a classic by Harvey
Mackay of "Swimming with the Sharks" fame—tackles one
of the most difficult concepts to communicate—your services.
When you don’t have actual products to sell, it’s tough to
get prospects to visualize what you’re offering them.
And when your products have yet to be built, you must
rely on other elements to make the sale. As Beckwith
writes in the first chapter:
"In the popular view, ‘We need better marketing’
invariably means ‘We need to get our name out"— with
ads, publicity and maybe some direct mail. Unfortunately,
this focus on getting the word outside detracts companies
from the inside, and from the first rule of service
marketing: The core of service marketing is the service
itself."
Sections of the book include "Marketing is Not a Department,"
"Planning: The 18 Fallacies," "The More You Say, The Less
People Hear," "How to Save $500,000" and much more.
This wonderful book should go on your bookshelf next to
"Ogilvy on Advertising" and Reis and Trout’s book on
"Positioning." Let us know what you think of it, or tell us
if you have a book, Web site or other resource to recommend.
A classic:
Good advice: Own the word, own the business.
One of our most frequently re-read books. Especially good
is the caution about brand-extension--it's an attractive
trap that leads to no-good and brand erosion. Many may
argue about the various laws, but the fact that it is still
quoted and talked about 13 years after its first
appearance testifies to its intelligence and insight.
With
the holidays coming books are always a fail-safe choice. Here are the
Top 5 most frequently purchased books by GolfCourseHome visitors.
Topics run the gamut from a classic game improvement book by Robert
Trent Jones to books on golf course architecture and the original golf
course design superstar, Donald Ross. 