Best Business Book Reviews By Paul Simister

We have more things to do than time to do them in and this is why these summaries of well known books can be so useful. They capture the big ideas without the padding.

Summary: The E-Myth Revisited: Review and Analysis of Gerber’s Book

I have a love and hate relationship with the full book, The E-Myth Revisited.

Will the summary have the best bits without the worst? Yes, it’s excellent and I gave the summary a full FIVE stars rating in my review on Amazon.co.uk.

Here is my book summary review.

An excellent summary that gives you the important ideas of Michael Gerber without the irritating bits

I believe The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It is one of the most important small business books ever written. I recently wrote a blog article about the 12 best business books for business owners and it was the first I mentioned. Not because it provides all the answers but it does a great job of highlighting the problems and their causes. [continue reading…]

We have more things to do than time to do them in and this is why these summaries of well known books can be so useful. They capture the big ideas without the padding.

Summary: E-Myth Mastery: Review and Analysis of Gerber’s Book

I had mixed feelings about the E-Myth Mastery book by Michael Gerber.

When I reviewed the summary on Amazon.co.uk, I gave it a rating of Four Stars, the same as for the full book.

Here is my book review.

Summary without the dreadful bits but light on the good bits

Gerber’s earlier book, “The E-Myth Revisited” was strong on important concepts for business owners but it was light on details. The full version of this book puts that right by sharing important parts of the E Myth coaching course for a fraction of the price.

Unfortunately the full book has a major problem for anyone who found the syrupy story of Sarah and her All About Pies bakery business uncomfortable reading. There is much more here along with other self indulgent nonsense. [continue reading…]

The full title of this book by Oren Klaff is

“Pitch Anything: An Innovative Method for Presenting, Persuading, and Winning the Deal“.

In my review at Amazon.co.uk, I gave it a rating of Four Stars. This means I think it is good.

Here is my book review.

A fascinating approach to making a pitch about your business

A psychologist turned marketer recommended this book to me because of the way it links marketing back to the way our brains work and I read it with interest.

The author raises finance from investors and institutions by pitching a business idea. The suggestion is that the method can be transferred over to B2B and B2C sales with great success but I’m not convinced. That may be because I have a built-in bias against pitch selling, preferring a much more consultative sales approach to trying to understand what the customer needs. Some of the ideas can be incorporated into a sales presentation with good effect and without being obviously manipulative. [continue reading…]

When I reviewed

Why People Buy by John O’Shaughnessy

on Amazon.co.uk, I gave it a Four Stars rating which means I consider it to be good.

Here is my book review.

A revealing book about consumer theory written for practitioners and academics but it’s nearly 30 years old

I’m fascinated by understanding why people buy what they buy, when they buy it and how they buy it. Generally I feel that far too much of the literature on sales and marketing ignores the buyer and his or her motivations.

This book was first published in 1987 and it was written for both marketing practitioners and for academics and students of consumer behaviour. [continue reading…]

The full title of this book by Rick Ott is

“Creating Demand: Move the Masses to Buy Your Product, Service, or Idea“.

In my review on Amazon.co.uk, I gave the book a Four Stars rating. This means I think it is good.

Here is my book review.

A book to make you think about your marketing but it was written before the Internet

This is an interesting book, even though it dates back to 1992 because it offers a different perspective than you see in most marketing books. It is also well written and easy to read.

First, it recognises the important difference between creating demand and servicing existing demand. The second issue is much easier because you just need to direct the buyer’s attention to your product and service and present the benefits in a convincing way along with an attractive offer to sample your product, perhaps with a risk reversal strategy so that the buyer knows he or she can get the money back if not happy. [continue reading…]

The full title of this book by Bill Glazer is

“Outrageous Advertising That’s Outrageously Successful: Created for the 99% of Small Business Owners Who Are Dissatisfied with the Results They Get“.

In my review on Amazon.co.uk, I gave this book a rating of Four Stars which means I consider it to be good.

Here is my book review.

Are you brave enough to try these outrageous methods?

The title promises “Outrageous Marketing” and the contents is likely to shock you to your core if you haven’t seen American style, over-the-top, direct response marketing before.

First a bit of background. Bill Glazer was a long term student of direct marketing & copywriting “legend” Dan Kennedy as he managed his men’s clothing store and he eventually became Kennedy’s partner in Glazer-Kennedy, a business selling marketing advice and training to small businesses. If you’re new to Dan Kennedy, the place to start is probably The Ultimate Marketing Plan 4th Edition which introduces you to his thinking and isn’t really about preparing a marketing plan. [continue reading…]

We have more things to do than time to do them in and this is why these summaries of well known books can be so useful. They capture the big ideas without the padding.

Summary: Money-Making Secrets of Marketing Genius Jay Abraham and Other Marketing Wizards: Review and Analysis of Abraham’s Book

This Mr X Book about Jay Abraham’s methods was famous and notoriously expensive but can the valuable secrets in the book be captured in a much smaller summary?

The simple answer is NO. I rated the full book at the Five Stars level but this summary only gets Four Stars in my review on Amazon.co.uk.

A 4 Star Summary of a 5 Star Hugely Expensive Marketing Book

This is a summary of a very famous book. “Money-Making Secrets of Marketing Genius Jay Abraham and Other Marketing Wizards” is better known as the “Mr X Book“.

I need to explain the background.

Jay Abraham is a genuine marketing genius and legend and he became famous in the 1980s and 1990s for selling hugely expensive three day seminars for $5,000 and elite five day seminars for three to five times that much. This was possible because he had a record of achieving explosive growth for businesses. [continue reading…]

We have more things to do than time to do them in and this is why these summaries of well known books can be so useful. They capture the big ideas without the padding.

Summary: The Tipping Point: Review and Analysis of Malcolm Gladwell’s Book

The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell was one of those books that received plenty of publicity and there was a feeling that you had to read it.

I prefer the summary to the full buck and gave it an extra star with my Four Stars rating on Amazon.co.uk.

Here is my review of the book summary.

A nice summary of the main concepts of how ideas can be encouraged to spread virally

Some years ago many people were saying that The Tipping Point was a great book.

I read it and was disappointed as I explained in my 3 star review. The analysis of how ideas spread was interesting but the book was guilty of being padded out much too much. [continue reading…]

The full title of this book by Dr Andy Williams is

“SEO 2017 & Beyond: A Complete SEO Strategy – Dominate the Search Engines!“.

In my review on Amazon.co.uk, I gave the book a Four Star rating. This means I think it is good.

Here is my book review.

Packed with sensible advice on how to improve your SEO in a Google friendly way.

This is a very good book about search engine optimisation and the importance of following Google’s guidelines both to the letter and to their spirit.

The author tells how SEO used to be easy in the good old days before the Panda and Penguin crackdowns because someone in the know could take the steps needed to get onto the first page of Google with relative ease and with effort get into the top spots for all but the most popular phrases. [continue reading…]