10 Secrets of Time Management for Salespeople: Gain the Competitive Edge and Make Every Second Count

10 Secrets of Time Management for Salespeople offers salespeople practical time-management tools and processes that can be applied to every major aspect of the salesperson's job. The secrets are short and easily remembered. This book is of use to any type of salesperson.

Career Press. 288pp. Paperback. Cost: $10.19

1001 Ways to Reward Employees

Helps managers take certain rewards and mold them into new management styles at their companies. The author polled companies about their favorite recognition practices, no matter how small, and came up with a gold mine.

Workman Publishing Company. 352pp. Paperback. Cost: $10.36

1001 Ways to Take Initiative at Work

Latest ideas on how to recognize employees and build momentum in the work force.

Workman Publishing C. 240pp. Paperback. Cost: $10.95

12: The Elements of Great Managing

12: The Elements of Great Managing is the long-awaited sequel to the 1999 runaway bestseller First, Break All the Rules. Grounded in Gallup's 10 million employee and manager interviews spanning 114 countries, 12 follows great managers as they harness employee engagement to turn around a failing call center, save a struggling hotel, improve patient care in a hospital, maintain production through power outages, and successfully face a host of other challenges in settings around the world. Authors Rodd Wagner and James K. Harter weave the latest Gallup insights with recent discoveries in the fields of neuroscience, game theory, psychology, sociology, and economics. Written for managers and employees of companies large and small, 12 explains what every company needs to know about creating and sustaining employee engagement

Gallup Press. 280pp. Hardcover. Cost: $25.95

2,239 Tested Secrets for Direct Marketing Success

Lead author Denny Hatch, founded Who's Mailing What newsletter and is consulting editor for Target Marketing magazine.

NTC Business Books. 368pp. Paperback. Cost: $16.47

301 Ways to Have Fun at Work

This book present hundreds of methods and activities that incorporate fun in an organization's work: hiring, training sessions, meetings, communications, awards, and teamwork. The authors asked successful businesspeople worldwide if fun played a part in their corporate culture--and, if so, how it was actually manifested in everyday life.

Berrett-Koehler Publishers. 245pp. Paperback. Cost: $12.21

<i>Capitalizing on Voice of Customer</i>: The only metric that impacts other metrics…

“Why is customer loyalty and engagement important? The biggest reason is that customer engagement is the only metric that impacts other metrics typically measured by a company. As one industry expert noted, When customer engagement slides, so do a great many other outcomes, including future sales, growth and profit. Obviously, engaged customers are the best customers for a company to have. Eight of ten executives believe their company loses sales each year because of failure to create engaged customers, and 80% say that engaged customers are critical because they recommend products or services.”

Excerpted from ‘Capitalizing on Voice of Customer,’ Published by Allegiance

Allegiance . 185 pp.

<i>Engagement: Winning the Battle for Customer and Employee Hearts and Minds</i>: The Spillover Effect

Measuring the success of a business is not as simple as saying: ‘happy employees equal happy customers.’ Happy employees can also be lazy employees. A person taking tickets at a movie theater may be happy, but it may be because he or she gets to sit around on a comfortable chair while drinking free soft drinks and eating free popcorn. Many people might be happy if their employers paid them for what is merely time spent drinking soda, eating popcorn and collecting ticket stubs.

For the above saying to be true, companies should be looking at levels of engagement as the measuring stick. We know that emotionally engaged employees feel like they are doing something valuable for their organizations and that their efforts will make a difference. Customers know when they are talking to emotionally engaged employees. The positive feelings that the employees have about their jobs and employers influence the level of service they give to customers. When these positive experiences continue to happen, then customers become engaged, and they become advocates for the company’s products and services.

While movie theaters may be an easy target when it comes to pointing out the signs of disengaged employees, it’s certainly not exclusive to this business. Employees across all industries have a major impact on customer loyalty and engagement. The mantra of ‘happy employees equal happy customers’ is real, and companies should seek emotionally engaged employees because it will be these employees who help create emotionally engaged customers.

This is the spillover effect.

Allegiance .

<i>The Enemy of Engagement</i>: Put an End to Workplace Frustration--and Get the Most from Your Employees

Frustrated employees represent 20% or more of the total workforce, leading to a major loss in performance, talent and revenue. Frustration wears down motivated, dedicated employees who really care about their jobs but can’t get the organizational support they need to get things done. Focused on making contributions, these employees often hide their frustration, leaving managers in the dark about their discontent. “Frustrated employees really want to succeed in their role, but become aggravated by organizational barriers or a lack of resources,” says Mark Royal, Senior Consultant at Hay Group and co-author of the new book The Enemy of Engagement. “Managers must ask the right questions and address the issue promptly, or risk losing top talent who care deeply about the organization.” Royal’s co-author and colleague, Tom Agnew, says that frustration isn’t just an employee issue, it’s an organizational issue, adding that “Managers must listen for clues and serve as the voice for frustrated employees.” For more information on The Enemy of Engagement, contact Andrea Friedman at 212-584-5476 or Andrea@blisspr.com

240 pp. Cost: $16.22

<i>The Social Media Bible: Tactics, Tools & Strategies for Business Success</i>: In Celebration of Collaboration

Every year numerous business books and magazine articles are written about collaboration in the workplace. It’s hard not to be in favor of collaboration, but why do some organizations do it so well and other fail at it? Is it the company culture that makes a difference or perhaps the skills of those who endeavor to collaborate? Could it be the tools used to collaborate?

Take a moment and make a list of the tools that your organization currently uses to foster collaboration among coworkers. It’s a bit challenging for many businesses because collaboration is viewed as a pathway to a result rather than a result itself. Many people think of collaboration in terms of a process to be managed rather than a set of tools to be engaged. Thus, you might say that brainstorming sessions, conference calls and company strategy retreats are among your current methods of collaboration. You might even argue that the telephone and the office copy machine facilitate collaboration. Indeed, these may be effective methods for your company, and they may lead to desirable results, but what if the process of collaboration itself became a highly valued product?

Is it possible or even advisable to get your customers and prospective customers to engage in some form of collaboration that will benefit your company? The answer is yes, but the concept can be a bit counterintuitive. After all, imagine what kinds of things your customers could say about you if you were to enable that conversation through one or more social media tools that allow them to interact with and influence one another. Talk about the good, the bad and the ugly. Ask yourself this, however: Do you gain more by sponsoring or at least endorsing this kind of conversation than you do by running from it? Excerpted from The Social Media Bible: Tactics, Tools & Strategies for Business Success, by Lon Safko and David K. Brake. John Wiley & Sons. 2009.

John Wiley & Sons. 840 pp.

A Guide to Successful Meeting Planning

This book is a complete guide to planning, negotiating, organizing, promoting, marketing, and running winning meetings for any type of organization.

John Wiley & Sons. 224 pp. Hardcover. Cost: $83.50

Access to Air Travel for People with Reduced Mobility

This publication gives an account of a joint ECMT/ECAC Seminar on improving access to air travel. It treats all aspects of the issue, from information provision, to airport and aircraft access and staff training, and offers numerous suggestions for improvements in this vital area.

European Conference of Ministers of Transport. 132pp. Paperback. Cost: Varies with seller

Achieve Sales Excellence: The 7 Customer Rules for Becoming The New Sales Professional

Every organization wants to go from good to great. Yet, despite knowing where they want to go, many companies can't find their way there. They struggle to find the one thing that matters in today's competitive marketplace. Price? . . . Quality? . . . Innovative product features? While all of these certainly influence a customer's buying decision, none of them is the most influential factor. What is? It's the salesperson. Achieve Sales Excellence examines the new paradigm of business-to-business sales. Based on the results of an innovative, fourteen-year study, this book offers unmatched insight on sales performance issues and the practices sales professionals and organizations must embrace to be a world-class sales force.

Platinum Press. 231pp. Hardcover. Cost: $15.25

Activity-Based Management: A Comprehensive Implementation Gude

Activity-Based Management shows how to transform an organization from a traditional hierarchical structure to one that is activity-based. This hands-on resource provides guidance on the planning, organizational, and implementation phases of a total activity-based program, which has proved successful at companies like AT&T.

McGraw-Hill. 400pp. Hardcover. Cost: $50.10

Advanced Methods of Marketing Research

Contains summaries of advanced research techniques. Also included in this volume are 10 papers contributed by marketing/social psychology professor Richard P Bagozzi.

Blackwell Business. 428pp. Paperback. Cost: $50.95

Advertising and Promotion: An Integrated Marketing Communications Perspective

Explores how marketers must look beyond traditional media to communicate with consumers in the changing field of advertising and promotion. Describes the shift from conventional methods to implementation of an integrated marketing communications strategy and reviews the promotional tools available to help make the transition.

McGraw-Hill Companies. 67pp. Hardcover. Cost: Varies with seller

Advertising and Sales Promotion Strategy

A comprehensive handbook on advertising and sales promotion, covering strategic and tactical issues. Includes examples of creative advertising campaigns. The four parts of this textbook cover: Introduction to advertising and sales promotion, Communication strategy, Sales promotion strategy and Planning advertising and sales promotion.

Prentice Hall. 475pp. Hardcover. Cost: $138.40

Advertising, Communications & Promotion Management

The definitive advertising and promotion management text for students at the MBA level. Emphasizes corporate communications and business products/services in addition to the traditional focus on consumer packaged goods.

McGraw-Hill Companies. 672pp. Hardcover. Cost: Varies with seller

Aftermarketing: How to Keep Customers for Life Through Relationship Marketing

Describes all of the processes necessary for customer retention at both large and small businesses. This book comes closer than any other to addressing all the elements of the New Marketing spelled out in this article.A relevant guide for managers, retailers, educators and students, Aftermarketing is applicable to product and services, consumer and industrial markets, and both the profit and non-profit sectors.

Irwin Professional Pub. 300pp. Hardcover. Cost: Varies with seller

Ageless Marketing: Strategies for Reaching the Hearts and Minds of the New Customer Majority

Ageless Marketing discusses a research project on the aging boomer generation, detailing the core values, buying behaviors, and emotional factors that are unique to the New Customer Majority. With its new research approach in profiling this lucrative market, this book is good for anyone in the marketing industry.

Kaplan Business. 384pp. Hardcover. Cost: $16.50

All you Ever Wanted to Know About Flying: The Passenger's Guide to How Airlines Fly

This is a great book for both beginner and the experienced passengers. A fun read that is also interesting and informative.

Motorbooks International. 132pp. Paperback.

American Ways: A Guide for Foreigners in the United States

Describes the basic characteristics of American culture and the ways they differ from other cultures. Useful in intercultural training for Americans. The book is organized into 22 chapters that cover just about every aspect of American life, and is insightful, accurate and honest.

Intercultural Press. 295pp. Paperback. Cost: $17.79

Analyzing Sales Promotion: Text & Cases : How to Profit from the New Power of Promotion Marketing

Uses sales data generated by in-store electronic scanners to explain sales promotion strategy and its place in an integrated marketing program.

Dartnell Corp.; 2nd edition. 226 pages. Paperback.

Associations and the Global Marketplace: Profiles of Success

Includes sections on expanding association membership internationally and reaching broader markets for conferences and trade shows. Developed in conjunction with a 1994 Smith, Bucklin study involving top executives from 54 associations.

American Society of Association Executives. 353pp. Paperback. Cost: $55.00

Best Face Forward: Why Companies Must Improve Their Service Interfaces With Customers

Best Face Forward talks about obtaining success through employee motivation. This book reveals how to determine the optimal division of labor between people and machines, discover innovative ways to combine people and machines to mediate critical customer interactions, and more.

Harvard Business School Press. 262pp. Hardcover. Cost: $24.05