Run, don't walk, to order your copy of this book. Ron Baker does for pricing our services what Montgomery did for Auditing.
What a novel idea, to get paid for the value of the services that we provide to our clients.
Ron Baker's goal, as he so aptly describes it, is "to trash time sheets forever". Keeping track of time is the biggest waste of time ever perpetrated on professionals. Accountants have become slaves to the concept of "the almighty hour". We are not selling hours but intellectual capital.
Ron takes you through every step necessary to start your trip to successful value pricing. You will learn exactly how to present this to your existing clients. You will also learn how to use a change order when there turns out to be hidden surprises that no one anticipated. He will explain the concept of service guarantees as an excellent way of gaining new clients and show you in detail how to draft service agreements to use. The book comes with a CD-Rom that has many forms and agreements referred to in the book.
I don't know too many people who are thrilled about the idea of having any work done for them without knowing exactly what the cost will be. It's like boarding an airplane in Los Angeles, flying to New York, and being told your fare will depend on how many minutes you're in the air.
Ron Baker is truly one of the very few original thinkers in the accounting profession. Listen to him; learn from him, and I promise you that you will improve your professional life and most important, your bottom line as well.

I bought this book on a trial basis, due to its cost. It came on a Friday, and I scanned it that night. I wrote the check next morning.
This book changed my attitude about my profession. I was ready to quit. Burned out, tired, frustrated, and angry.
Within one month, I had identified 5 major clients and had more than doubled the revenue from those clients. My staff is happier because they feel they are being treated as professionals and generating fees more in line with their abilities. We have "dismissed" several non-productive clients, and haven't missed the revenue. We work fewer hours at more enjoyable work and actually make more profits. It has positively affected my home life as well.

Having read the previous edition of this book for just 20 minutes I e-mailed the author to tell him that "I have seen this book described as the most important book in the profession. Without a shadow of a doubt, it will change my life."

The new chapters make this latest edition even better. Read the chapter on Total Quality Service to understand how to compete in the future. Ron Baker will completely change your views on pricing professional services. You will start to charge what you are worth with a consequent improvement in both income and self esteem.

Recently I was in a group of 70 accountants who listened to the author speak on Value Pricing for just ten minutes. At the end he received a standing ovation. In my 30 years in the profession I have never seen accountants show such enthusiasm for a speaker and his subject.

If you want to change your professional (and personal) life for the better buy this book.

Business like war requires strategy, intelligence, etc., as exemplified brilliantly by David Goldenberg in The Art of War 3: The Cannons of Commerce. This book has a foreword, 13 chapters, an afterword, three appendices, a detailed bibliography and an index. Besides its timeliness, this well-written book offers great depth and experience-based knowledge. Different people will find a specific chapter(s) particularly appealing as their circumstances change. Dr. Goldenberg has provided a concise background about Sun-tzu. Those readers not familiar with Sun-tzu's classic will find this a pioneering interpretation of one of the rare books to have survived over 2,500 years. It is one of the leading books on strategic thinking and is widely embraced book by leaders and others. The author has brought to public attention many simple but usually missed vital points such as "consumers dominate the world of commerce. Those ignorant of this harsh fact mistakenly rely on a series of fallacies." Anyone who has called the customer service for help of major organization would appreciate the quote above. The author clarifies other crucial nuances, such as "invention is not innovation. Innovation commercializes a discovery or invention." The book brings well thought out and insightful attention to bear on many important topics; among them are leadership, weaknesses and strengths, and contingencies. Decision-makers at all levels of business and government would benefit greatly by reading this book carefully, rereading it regularly and seeing that their subordinates do so as well.

For two and a half millenia, business and military leaders alike have relied on the timeless wisdom of "The Art of War," by Sun-tzu, a Chinese military strategist.

What would Sun-tzu advise corporate directors and executives if he were alive today? While Dr. Goldenberg is not the first to ask this question, he may be the first to answer it usefully.
His modern-day "translation" of Sun-tzu's sage advice brings to life timeless wisdom for an everchanging world.

Art 3 offers sound guidance on strategy, citing important legal precedent: Paramount Communications v. Time Inc. (1989)--a case outlining the traits essential for "bone fide" strategic planning, including connection to long-term mission, assessment of threats and opportunities, and ongoing monitoring of progress against plan.

But topics covered here don't all hover at the 30,000+ strategy realm. Some zoom down to earth--to shed light on operational topics such as resource allocation and markets. Innovation and competitive intelligence also receive insightful attention. Extras include appendices, including a superb one on avoiding catastrophic failure.

Corporate directors serious about their oversight duties, as well as executives desiring to steer clear of trouble, will not want to face the future without this inspired guide.

Written in a crisp style with profound depth and knowledge, Dr. Goldenberg has made a significant contribution to business strategy. There is genuine wisdom here for corporate leaders, in a radical departure from traditional Sun-tzu analyses.

For this reader the very best of this fine work is in Appendix One - Shareholder Value Debunked. If one accepts that the concept of shareholder value led to the spurious inflation of share value to increase the value of management's stock options, then our current corporate scandals may have been avoided.

Dr. Goldenberg, thank you for sharing your abundant intellectual capital!

O. Lee Duff
Anova Inc.

In an ocean of business books, Beyond e stands out as a prize catch. Too often, today's "gurus" write books that trumpet their personal accomplishments conveniently leaving out practical applications to specific business category needs. If we want real solutions, the cost raises from a $25 book to $25,000 per day consultation fee. Steve Diorio gives it all away in his book. Beyond e can also be called beyond best practices. He is the one guru I would invite to help my organization apply new technologies to our sales and marketing efforts. Read the book, pick up the phone and give him a call.

Steve Diorio has written a meaty and relevant book about selling technologies. In an age when there is so much E hype and fluff that only serves to confuse, we needed a book that was born from practical, everyday consulting and research in the offices of the best companies. The salient ideas about which Mr. Diorio expounds are absolutely critical for growth and profit. They carry with them an imperative that to ignore the protocols of this newest e technology will lead to peril and a fatal falling behind the power curve.

I read the excellent reviews in which professors recommended Beyond E. They were impressive. But, this book was written for executives and senior managers who have the very life of their corporations in the palm of their hands. It is obvious that Mr. Diorio has spent considerable time with his clients and sweat blood with them to achieve the best e-practices in marketing, promotion and selling.

I believe the book is about stretching the IT and Internet sales budgets so that busineses can grow at an accellerated rate. The book Beyond E is truly futuristic because it clearly outlines what the best companies have been doing and what the leaders of tomorrow (the followers of our leaders today) will be doing in late 2002 and in 2003. The blueprint is drawn up, the creation of dynamic selling technologies has been built, but, sadly, few understand it, and even fewer have actually implemented it. Companies like Dell Computer, IBM, Charles Swab, Amazon and e-Bay are only a few of these futuristic leaders that Mr. Diorio writes about. They "get it". How long will it take others? Mr. Diorio lays out in detail what needs to be done right now.

Mr. Diorio is like a drum major for executives to immediately order "the engineering of sustainable technology innovations into the sales and marketing process", to quote Stve Diorio. The traditional software analysts and programmers in companies are not prepared for the accelerated rate at which customer service and marketing creativity must be coded to stay abreast of changing customer needs and wants.

It is about knowing the mind of the customer and changing systems at every level of the company so there can be real-time change. I got a distinct sense of urgency in reading the book. As a management consultant, I now feel driven to alert my clients that "getting it" is urgently critical. Steve Diorio virtually screams out at us that positive results can be realized only from the implementation right now of dynamic marketing, selling and customer service e-systems.

Mr. Diorio understands how important all of these ideas are in order to create cutting edge business models and viable ways to turn IT chaos into order and opportunity. I am glad I read the book. I've recommended it to many of my clients and colleagues.

Having taught a variety of marketing courses at the undergraduate, graduate and executive levels, I am always looking for books that present the ways in which new technology (and the Internet in particular) are affecting market relationships. Often these texts are full of exaggerrated "war stories" or can be easily summarized into a few general points. Steve Diorio's book, in contrast, is current, meaty and well substantiated. He not only provides several examples of recent successes and failures but synthesizes this new information into the age old framework of serving the customer and firm by adding value to both. I highly recommend this book to any marketing professional as well as any professor who wishes to bring their marketing strategy or course content into the 21st century.

The book presents a wide range of business cases as well as scenarios where wireless technology is used or can be used. The author sometimes gets too excited about the potential of the technologies involved but she proves that, at least in some areas, wireless is revolutionizing business, creating business value by providing convenience, mobility, agility and improved data accuracy.

I probably sound like a paid endorser, but the truth is, this book is fantastic. It's written beautifully, contains riveting stories, and is packed with insights, ideas, trends, and more. It's written for anyone in business ready to cash in on the future. Wireless is the next big trend. This book shows you how to surf it to the bank. Get it. Get it right now. -- Joe Vitale, author of way too many books to list here, ...

I hesitated before buying Going Wireless because I didn't want a book about
how wireless works. Then I stumbled on the Newsweek review, read a couple
excerpts on the Going Wireless website and then bought it. My hunch was
right. This book is a real winner by cutting out the "geek speak" and
instead showing me directly how wireless can benefit my business. I highly
recommend it.

Amor provides a very good book about upcoming technologies. It also provides a good outlook on the relevant services that can be expected from these technologies. One minor issue is that he also explains technologies like GSM and SMS and not only the hype stuff like wireless lan and G3. The second part of the book is even more interesting, because it provides four scenarios that give good insight on how the world will look like in a few years time.

Daniel Amor provides a short introduction to the future that is about to happen. He provides some insight into new technologies, but more important into new business cases. He even provides simple ROI calculations, which is great. I am a professor at university and can use these cases with my students. A pity that there are only four in the book, but I found two more on his web site for free. Good work, keep it up!

After his first book, The E-Business (R)Evolution, Daniel Amor created a new book in the same style as the first one. Instead of talking too much about technology and businesses, he created scenarios, which incorporate technology and business cases and put both of them into context. The book is of interest for people that want to develop new ideas on the Internet. I am eagerly awaiting the next book.

"I read Joel & George's first book and after having worked in marketing for
the last 7 years, I can tell you that the information contained in this book
is worth 10x the amount it's priced at.

Chapter after chapter, you'll find real usable tips and
on using offline marketing methods to explode your online
profits.

If you are truly serious about building your business, then this book will
show you exactly how offline marketing can help you do it; step by step in
an easy to follow format.

Don Schnure
...

I find it fascinating when two people who are so different (George and Joel come from totally different backgrounds and have very different experiences), can come together and agree on a purpose and by doing so create a winning combination that is far greater than what they would have done individually. That's what this book is.

This books spells out how to take the traditional promotion and publicity methods from George's 30 year background and then meshes them perfectly together with Joel Christopher's online list building and profiting genius You will create a wealth-building GOLDMINE opportunity if you are smart enough to build your business as they recommend.

They cover the following major business areas:
1. Milking the media - turning free publicity into huge mailing lists
2. Turning Low-tech into High Traffic and High Sales - how to use postcards, teleseminars, books, etc. to explode your online profits.
3. Using Low-Cost/High-Return Advertising to Generate Thousands of Clicks - how to use advertising the right way.
4. Offline Networking - Building relationships using High-Tech High-Touch methods that makes people beg you to sell more products to them.

I interviewed George McKenzie and Joel Christopher on "The Inside Success Show" at separate times and I learned so much each time. The Internet is changing fast and George and Joel are keeping us up to speed.

Here's some other things you'll learn from the book:

** Why you need to learn how to do press releases and get free publicity
** What kind of low-tech methods can give you high traffic and HIGH SALES
** How you radio interviews to get thousands of new customers
** What are the pitfalls that you absolutely must avoid. 
** How you can master the "know you, like you, trust you" success formula
** And much, much more ..

Whether you are new or old at internet marketing, I highly recommend you listen to this interview and read his book.

Randy (Dr. Proactive) Gilbert
Author of ... "Success Bound"

This is a really good book that will help you through the ins and outs of publicizing your business and yourself. From press releases, to getting yourself in the media, from creating your own talk show to establishing yourself as an expert, this is a book that will help you enhance your network. The section on how Mike Litman made his book Conversations with Millionaires #1 on Amazon.com was amazing!!! Simply amazing.
The info from David Frey on writing ads was great as well. Just a well put together book that will help you rethink how you go to market and publicize your business.

I expected this to be another outdated cheerleader-type Internet book that touted the net as a great business savior while ignoring the fact that most Net-based businesses failed. I was surprised to discover that it helped me understand WHY those businesses failed, and even established a checklist for anyone hoping to still make a buck online. I think the book is guilty of not criticizing some net strategies for being short sighted, and it's also guilty of supporting some of the "free content is better" mentality that only a few Net businesses have made work. (That's why it doesn't earn five stars from me.) But still, the lessons are solid enough that this book ranks as one of those undiscovered gems that I'd recommend to anyone involved in online services. Learn the lessons.

I recently lost my job at a tech company, so I read this book looking for tips on how to remain competitive in the downturn. The funny thing is the book was written in 2001 just as the .com meltdown was heating up. Thus it starts out optimistic about the future of the net, but points out why many companies will fail. He was right about that, but I'm not sure I share his optimism that downturn cycles tend to last three years. It's worth a read though because it has good insights on how to remain in the game when times get tough. And times ARE tough right now. In general, I might have given this one four stars because it's good a bit over-detailed and of course derivitive. But I decided to give it five because it turns out to be very relative to what's happening in the marketplace today. If you're still unemployed by summertime, take this one to the beach with you.

I read this book about a month ago. I find myself thinking back to it in different business situations. Hey, does that mean I learned something? One of the better Internet books I've read in a while.

... Cairncross is a very good writer whose prose is effective and lucid regarding the Internet's impact (and future) in business strategy. However, the author doesn't shed any new insights concerning the Internet's effects and value-creating abilities... Once again, I read about the marvelous Dell Computer's JIT process and how the Internet is leveraged to deliever superior value (vs. Company/HP). Who, having been up-to-date on business literature & strategy, hasn't touched on the Dell process?

Bottom line: Good refresher course on the Internet's impact, nothing extraordinary about the book's conclusions.

As a futurist, concentrating on workforce and workplace trends, I was eager to read this book. The author is the Management Editor at The Economist magazine and resides in London. Interesting...British author published by Harvard. I discovered that the book very effectively bridges American and British concerns, and much more. It's a global look, even in the generic sense of the word, at what companies will look like in the years ahead. The metamorphosis will be evolutionary, but many of the concepts of tomorrow will be revolutionary compared to where most employers are today.

The organization of this book-the chapters and the order in which they're presented, reveals the emphasis Cairncross believes will characterize companies in the future. Right out of the box, she focuses on management, information, and technology. Throughout the book, she observes that the development and increasing use of the internet will change the way we do business. The importance of knowledge, decision making, and innovation are emphasized early on, along with recognition of the vitality of customers and brands in the years ahead.

The human side of enterprise is well covered, though Cairncross doesn't really engage this topic until chapter 4. Since my personal bias is that people are the most important component, I found this curious, but then noticed how she concentrated on different parts of this aspect in chapter 4 (Recruiting, Retaining, and Training), chapter 5 (Communities and Corporate Culture), chapter 8 (Corporate Structure), and chapter 9 (Leading and Managing). So, the field is well-covered in these interwoven chapters, but her book organization puts people just a step behind information, innovation, and technology.

Chapters on purchasing and strategic suppliers bring out the growing importance of alliances and new relationships in the company of the future.

In the beginning of the book, Cairncross suggests that readers with time constraints read chapters one and ten first to gain a perspective of her views. When more time is available, the reader can delve into the other chapters. While that strategy would be effective, there is a richness of potent observation, vivid warnings of challenges to come, and a plethora of thoughts to stimulate your thinking throughout the book.

The Company of the Future is quite well-written, as you might expect from an editor of an internationally-acclaimed magazine. This is the kind of book you'll want to read first, then share with colleagues in your own organization...and in organizations where you have existing or developing alliance relationships. The book has an index, notes, and readable text-no graphs, pictures, or other tools of book designers. This one is pure, welcome, high-grade content.

The Internet is often compared with the railways of the nineteenth century. The railway too had its initial hype where people overestimated its impact and drove its stocks to dizzy heights. Public memory is short; we have seen the repetition of this phenomenon during the last five years and this time the craze was the Internet. Railways have since survived and flourished bringing in prosperity and transforming the industrial landscape. That was in a physical world but in the new era it is the seamless flow and abundance of information that determines and controls business decisions.

While working on supply chains, what strikes me most is the proverbial "Weakest link". In most cases the structure and functioning of these chains is stunted by the lack of connectivity and information sharing between the participating entities. In dealing with such distributed systems that are outdated and hierarchical, we often tend to automate existing processes by linking isolated legacy systems rather than inventing radically new processes that are made possible by the technologies of computing and communications. To give another example, even after the advent of electric power and electric motors, the shop floors were designed to install machines as close to the source of power - the legacy of steam power! Unlearning at times is more difficult than learning.

Think of water as an important resource for survival. You are living in a self-contained village that has a small lake, which supplies just enough water for the current needs. Look at another village close by. It is on the banks of a perennial river that in addition to meeting the basic needs of water for drinking, washing and agriculture allows you to navigate and trade goods with far flung towns. Soon this village is bubbling with activity and becomes a major hub for trade. It then builds a port and also needs a small fleet of coast guard to police the lucrative waters. Now you have two options. Either migrate to the port town or connect your lake to the river with a canal to attract the excess traffic and have a small share of the business. But new businesses need new skills. You acquire some and hire the others. A quiet village is suddenly transformed. This analogy came to my mind while reading a chapter in this book that compares the internet with a flowing river that can be harnessed to ones advantage.

The best part of the book is that each chapter is devoted to a certain topic- Knowledge Management, Supply Chain, Customer Relationships, Human Resources, Corporate structure, Corporate culture and Leadership - and the impact of the Internet on these Organizational facets. "The Company of the Future" finally emerges as a multidimensional and interconnected global entity, never in isolation on any aspect of business.

Any book that Bob Bly is associated with is bound to be good--no, great! And this one is no exception.

The author explores this new, exciting medium we call email and uncovers its powerful potential for direct response selling. It leads you through the basic techniques of marketing through email. What works and what doesn't. Most importantly, it steers you clear of potential pitfalls inherent in this new medium--like how to avoid spamming, etc..

A great book on email marketing that is thorough, timely, and bound to become a classic in its field.

These authors know their stuff. They've been very instrumental in helping Ancestry.com grow to over 320,000 paid subscribers over the past 18 months. Email Marketing is now one of our largest sources of subscriptions. I recommend this book for both beginner and expert alike.

***** FIVE STARS***** Excellent..... If you are an executive looking for information on how email marketing will impact your business, you'll want to read this book.

If you want to know how the pros are using email marketing buy this book.

It details the differences between opt in permission based lists, and SPAM, and how to avoid the pitfalls that can literally kill your business. It comes complete with information on where you can find the best email lists and email marketing services in the business.

It identifies the different types of copy, formatting, text Vs HTML, rich media, etc, and provides insight into which may be best for your business. I've been asking everyone about timing of our messages. No one was able to give me a clear answer that made any sense. This book gave me great insight into the time and day that is best for me to do my email transmissions... and the auothor's information produced immediate positive results for us.

Aside from the practical knowledge, I also liked this book because the author's share the latest thinking about where this medium is going, and what steps to take today to make sure that your business reaps the rewards of the future.

This book is not just for dot comers. I would strongly recommend this book to anyone involved in the sales and marketing of their company's products and services.

This book is now the definitive resource on email marketing.

I am a small business owner who has been writing his own ads for the past dozen years or so. Simply put, if your ad is not effective, you are throwing away money -- quite literally. Mr Bly's book made me realize that I had been throwing away a lot of money, unfortunately.

I highly recommend this book. If you write your own ads, you may think (like I used to) that writing copy is "no big deal". Maybe it isn't, but there are still rules that need to be followed for maximum effectiveness, and Mr Bly does an excellent job of explaining them.

If I had to suggest improvements to this book, it would be 1. a new and updated edition, and 2. the use of some graphics. Mr Bly goes to some length to explain textually the layout of an ad, which is silly when a picture or graphic is worth a thousand words (pun intended).

But my real gripe is this: the printing is of such poor quality that I found myself washing my hands after every reading session. No kidding, it's worse than some newspaper print. This may sound a like a superficial gripe to some, but what good is great copy if the customer is left with a yucky feeling?

I can always count on Bob Bly to cut through the mumbo-jumbo of marketing communications fluff, and provide good, solid advice on how we can get our messages across successfully. He did it in "Business-to-Business Direct Marketing." And now he does it for this wonderful new medium, the Internet. Bob never forgets that the objective of marketing communications is to move customers and prospects to action. He explains how to write Internet copy that sells. Covering all the Internet media--websites, email, banner ads, newsletters--Bly gives us detailed tips and techniques on how to craft and adapt our messages to be maximally effective. And, naturally, he delivers his message with absolute clarity. Bravo to Bob Bly.

Bly's Online Copywriter's Handbook is a comprehensive guide for anyone who aspires to write the copy on their own website. He covers the fundamentals of effective online writing and goes on to share how you can adapt your existing print materials to the web. He details exactly what you need on your home page and shares effective techniques to drive traffic to your site. I particularly enjoyed his chapter on how to build a healthy e-zine. This 320 page book answers every conceivable question you'll have as you write and maintain the information on your website. This book is first rate.