Book Yourself Solid: The fastest, easiest and most reliable system for Getting More Clients Than You Handle can, even if you hate marketing and sales tips
Book Yourself Solid: The fastest, easiest & most reliable system for the clients Getting More Than You Can Handle Even if You Hate Marketing & Sales
Description: Original, wildly inspiring, personal & provocative is into book yourself SOLID follow a simple schedule for starting & growing a service business on seven core self-promotion strategies. The audience will learn how into develop a strong marketing plan & brand identity, why self-promotion is absolutely critical for their success & how into do it with passion & purpose.
Rating: 
List Price: $ 29.98
Price: $ 16.01
Link
Related posts:
- Duct Tape Marketing: The World’s Most Practical Small Business Marketing Tips Guide
- Guerrilla Marketing, 4th Reprint simple and inexpensive strategies for making big profits from your small business
- Investing in apartment buildings: a reliable stream of income and build a long-term wealth
- Essentials of Corporate Finance (The McGraw Hill Book Co Series in Finance, Insurance and Real Estate)
- The Money book for the Young, Fabulous & Broke
Tags: book, Clients, easiest, even, fastest, Getting, Handle, hate, Marketing, More, Most, reliable, sales, Solid, System, Than, Tips, Yourself
July 7th, 2010 at 6:14 am
Review by Dr Cathy Goodwin for Book Yourself Solid: The Fastest, Easiest, and Most Reliable System for Getting More Clients Than You Can Handle Even if You Hate Marketing and Selling
Rating:
I met Michael Port live at a conference and have heard him on several teleseminars. I’ve seen him on Sex and the City (he got to give a somewhat brotherly kiss to Sarah Jessica Parker after they lounge around the cushions of Bed Bath and Beyond.
Therefore I read BYS knowing that Michael Port is good-looking, charismatic and smart, with a warm, well-trained voice. He could read the phone book and sound convincing. And he’s a brilliant marketer. Who wouldn’t kill for package names like Book Yourself Solid and Think Big Revolution.
So readers approaching Book Yourself Solid may well be wondering, “Will hanging out with the Beautiful People make me beautiful too? If we take Michael’s courses and buy his books, will we also become charismatic and wildly successful?”
Maybe.
BYS works best as an overview: what’s involved if you’re thinking of starting a client-driven website-based business. For a true newbie, or even someone in the started-but-struggling phase, BYS will give glimpses of what might be, not a stand-alone how-to.
I recommend starting Book Yourself Solid (BYS) on page 31. Chapters 3 and 4 are the best in the book and I would recommend the book to my own clients just to get those chapters.
Chapter 2, Branding, takes readers through a set of self-awareness exercises that (while a bit touchy-feeling) can help newbies differentiate themselves from the pack. Chapter 4, how to talk about what you do, showcases Port’s strongest point: relate your business to the client’s needs not your own processes.
Skip the pages of testimonials, which don’t seem to come from people who actually used the BYS program as clients. I believe pages like these actually detract from a book’s credibility (although the decision to include them may be the publisher’s, not the author’s).
Chapter 1, Red Velvet Rope Policy (now there’s a brilliant phrase), will be helpful for those who have already started growing their businesses. Newbies take awhile to learn how to differentiate the duds.
Chapter 2, Finding a Target Market, offers good advice, but I would have liked to see stronger warnings against targeting a market that might have a need but not a willingess to buy. In my experience, choosing the wrong market is the number one mistake most newbies make.
For most of the rest of the book, Port presents a selection of mostly excellent tips and ideas. Apparently he (or his editor) had trouble choosing what to include and what to omit, so reading through the chapters can feel like seeing the world through a telescope that quickly becomes a microscope, and vice versa. For example, on the one hand, we’re given great detail about the level of handshake to offer at networking events; on the other, we get a general list of networking groups with no how-tos for choosing among them. We’re given detailed advice on choosing an article topic but a short paragraph on submitting queries to magazines — a topic that has filled many books.
“Choosing a web designer” gets a short paragraph and a reference to the listing on the BYS resource site. I would recommend starting a website project with a copywriter (sure – I’m biased!)and making sure the design doesn’t overwhelm the copy.
The BYS section on ezines includes a number of useful micro-tips, but I’m surprised Port didn’t refer readers to Alexandria Brown, the Ezine Queen, the way he refers bloggers to Andy Wibbels. Some exercises seem a little forced: “What format would you use for your ezine.”
And likeability — a topic on which Port should be the quintessential expert — actually gets only one example: a contrast between an outgoing on-time person and a careless person who arrives late. An author who ends teleclasses with, “I love all of you, and not in a weird way, I promise” can do better than that.
Finally, I would like to discover more about Michael Port himself. When a book’s cover art is the author’s full-length photo, readers expect biography. We do learn his father is a psychiatrist, he started working as an actor and he quickly became a business person with a Midas touch. But where did he go to college? What made him consider acting? And what obstacles did he encounter along the way?
Bottom Line: Most likely anyone who’s selling a service through the Internet will find something of value here. It’s more of a Michael Port sampler than a how-to book, a potluck buffet rather than a sit-down dinner. Delicious surprises, but you have to put them together on your own. A few items that should be served only to small dinner parties and yes, just a few that should have remained in the kitchen.
July 7th, 2010 at 6:28 am
Review by Russ Emrick for Book Yourself Solid: The Fastest, Easiest, and Most Reliable System for Getting More Clients Than You Can Handle Even if You Hate Marketing and Selling
Rating:
This book isn’t as bad as some reviewers have written or as good as others have raved about. This book isn’t for salespeople and because of that I was disappointed. This book is for professionals that have to “book themselves,” such as public speakers, lawyers, accountants and the like. In some ways if you don’t already know what this book teaches you better get a job. However, as the E-Myth points out there are plenty of people that are good at what they do but are clueless about how to get themselves business. If you fall into this category this is a good book to read and implement.
Port’s book is long and at times wordy but a fun and easy read. There are diamonds here but you have to mine through a lot of ore to get at them. The book is well written and conversational. I can see why Mr. Port has a successful career. This book is perhaps a good first read if you’re considering starting your own business or want to get more clients. For a solid and measurable program I recommend “Get Clients Now” by C. J. Hayden or “Get Business to Come to You” by Sarah and Paul Edwards.
July 7th, 2010 at 6:47 am
Review by Tom Carpenter for Book Yourself Solid: The Fastest, Easiest, and Most Reliable System for Getting More Clients Than You Can Handle Even if You Hate Marketing and Selling
Rating:
The idea Michael Port puts forth about integrity is eye opening. He teaches that, if you work for people whom you cannot serve with your full ability, you lack integrity. In other words, if you have clients who sap you of energy because they are not “your” kind of clients, you cannot do as good a job for them. This is enlightening – even if you don’t fully agree with it, it makes you think about your clients and work in a different way.
Some of his ideas are available elsewhere, but I haven’t seen a gathering of these ideas together into a system as well structured as this. I really believe this book is the best you can get if you’re a service professional. I’m beginning to restructure some of my own marketing plans based on the lessons taught in the book.
As a final thought, the idea of attracting clients with a no-cost-of-entry offer that leads to a low-cost-of-entry offer that leads the client deeper into your solutions and offerings is worth the cost of the book times ten thousand. If you are a service professional selling your own services, you have to read this book this summer!
Tom Carpenter, Author: Wireless# Certification Official Study Guide and CWSP Certification Official Study Guide
July 7th, 2010 at 7:32 am
Review by Tim Warneka for Book Yourself Solid: The Fastest, Easiest, and Most Reliable System for Getting More Clients Than You Can Handle Even if You Hate Marketing and Selling
Rating:
I’ve just finished Book Yourself Solid, and then checked out the reviews on Amazon. My jaw dropped. I can’t believe people gave this book 4-5 stars. I started to wonder if I was reading the same book as these folks. A slick sales job promoting many of his products and websites under the guise of offering information, the only person this book helps is Michael Port.
Michael misses at a number of levels in this book by either going too deep into information (“have a firm handshake”; “have a website”. Wow! Thanks, Mike), or by not going deep enough “have an affiliate program.”)
Unless you’re intested in lining Michael’s pockets with more money, I would recommend avoiding this book. Or, if you use Michael’s approach as a template for your own business, that’ll work too … if you can avoid the pitfalls.
July 7th, 2010 at 8:30 am
Review by S. Elizabeth Marshall for Book Yourself Solid: The Fastest, Easiest, and Most Reliable System for Getting More Clients Than You Can Handle Even if You Hate Marketing and Selling
Rating:
After seeing the last review, I must ask: Did We Read the Same Book Yourself Solid??? I not only have a marketing and sales background, but I have read almost all the books on getting clients for service professionals, including CJ Hayden’s book and the works of Harry Beckwith. Not to mention Seth Godin, Michael E. Gerber, Robert Middleton and other marketing experts. Obviously, Michael’s style is remarkable – and that unique approach prompted the support of Tim Sanders, Michael Gerber and Seth Godin. Taking a unique and novel approach will always attract some scoffers, yet that does not speak to the work itself, but about the preferences of each individual reader.
Book Yourself Solid has transformed my business and the businesses of my clients. Why? It helps service professionals get it right from the start – by building a strong foundation, a core message and a clear picture of the clients they want to serve. And, unlike many marketing books out there, Michael has demystified what it means to market your services. As a business coach, I have observed that the large majority of coaches and consultants despise the idea of having to market and sell their services. After discovering Michael’s Book Yourself Solid principles, my whole perspective shifted. Now, marketing and selling is something I truly enjoy – because it means that I am reaching out to the clients I am meant to serve. Book Yourself Solid not only teaches you the marketing strategies every successful business owner knows, but it invites you to pursue you true calling by standing in the service of others.