This superb book synthesizes the industry's best thinking on the massive upside of listening. Listen First! is an invaluable resource for marketing executives and will help organizations create real competitive advantage. —Dave Hudson, CEO, NM Incite, a joint venture of McKinsey and Nielsen «Listening is a business imperative . . . especially in a world of empowered consumers. Brands are getting built and nurtured in a very different way. This book is a must read for anyone who wants to succeed in this new world order.» —Stan Sthanunathan, Vice President, Marketing Strategy & Insights, Coca-Cola «One by one, the best marketing companies are putting 'listening to consumers' on their strategic agenda. Following each announcement, we hear . . . silence, as staff groups try to grapple with the new directive. Listen First! is a timely, unhyped, and pragmatic field guide for those exploring the world of listening.» —Ted McConnell, EVP Digital, Advertising Research Foundation; former head of Digital Marketing Innovation, Procter & Gamble «How many of you have an effective listening strategy? To help guide you in the listening maze, identify new business opportunities, and select the right partners for the development and implementation of an effective listening strategy, this book is a must and an enjoyable read!» —Prof. Yoram (Jerry) Wind, The Lauder Professor, The Wharton School «We started J&D's with a single idea – to make everything taste like bacon. All we needed now were customers. So we decided to go where the conversations were, and we've been listening ever since. We use social media to connect with our customers, promote our advancements in bacon-o-vation, and ask for their feedback on new product development. If you're an entrepreneur or run a small business, this book will give you lots of examples and terrific and practical ideas for creatively listening to your customers and growing it.» —Justin Esch, cofounder, J&D's Foods
Praise for Brand Advocates «Ignite your Advocates! Fuggetta shows you how.» —SCOTT MONTY, Head of Social Media, Ford «Creating and amplifying authentic Advocates should be front and center on every marketer's agenda. This book is a blueprint for how to turn genuine Advocates into a powerful marketing force.» —SUSAN HELSTAB, Executive Vice President of Marketing, Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts «Advocacy is the ultimate goal for every brand. And Rob Fuggetta has given us the ultimate guidebook to brand advocacy. Simple, clear, and filled with practical advice, this book shows you how to turn your enthusiastic customers into a powerful Brand Army.» —PORTER GALE, former Vice President of Marketing, Virgin America «In an era of connected consumerism, advocacy puts the word in word of mouth. Nothing is more authentic or effective. This book shows you exactly how to find and engage your advocates.» —BRIAN SOLIS, Principal Analyst, Altimeter Group, and author, The End of Business as Usual «Inspiring Advocates is one of Method's seven obsessions. Get this book and be inspired. Highly recommended!» —ERIC RYAN, Cofounder, Method «Fuggetta's equation for building great brands in the social media age is proven and powerful. Every hotel marketer should read this book.» —CHIP CONLEY, Founder, Joie De Vivre Hospitality, and author, Emotional Equations «Brand Advocates is a book every public relations professional should read. It's the definitive guide to authentic advocacy.» —AEDHMAR HYNES, Chief Executive Officer, Text 100 Public Relations «Companies aren't trusted, brands aren't trusted, and nor are your executives. People trust each other, and now they have the tools to communicate with each other using social technologies and mobile, with or without brands involved. As a result, trust has shifted to the participants. Many brands, knowing their credibility has diminished, rely on advocacy programs where trusted members of the community are given a platform and encouraged to speak. Fuggetta shows you exactly how to create an advocacy program that empowers your trusted Advocates.» —JEREMIAH OWYANG, Partner, Altimeter Group
An in-depth explanation of mezzanine finance Mezzanine finance products, which have grown increasingly popular in recent years, involve a unique and complex form of analysis because of their hybrid nature. Because mezzanine finance involves no collateral, it accentuates legal terms, term sheets, and contracts, in addition to depicting dynamics of both debt and equity. Experienced chairman, lecturer, and professor of investment banking Luc Nijs presents readers with a thorough description of product groups, structuring and pricing, and cultural discrepancies in terms of regulation and application in Mezzanine Financing: Tools, Applications and Total Performance. Nijs analyzes common triumphs and failures encountered in mezzanine financing, and he discusses techniques for risk analysis and risk mitigation. A final study of international capital markets, their products' relevance, attractiveness, and liquidity, and the effects on pure equity/fixed-income risk concludes the book. Conveys a professional's advice through case studies of various regions, industries and contexts Provides the only complete analysis of mezzanine finance as no other books take on the topic as their only subject Details an increasingly popular and globally relevant subject in finance Those seeking a detailed explanation of the complexities within mezzanine financing will encounter a professional account in Nijs's book.
A groundbreaking exploration of how to identify and fight security threats at every level This revolutionary book combines real-world security scenarios with actual tools to predict and prevent incidents of terrorism, network hacking, individual criminal behavior, and more. Written by an expert with intelligence officer experience who invented the technology, it explores the keys to understanding the dark side of human nature, various types of security threats (current and potential), and how to construct a methodology to predict and combat malicious behavior. The companion CD demonstrates available detection and prediction systems and presents a walkthrough on how to conduct a predictive analysis that highlights proactive security measures. Guides you through the process of predicting malicious behavior, using real world examples and how malicious behavior may be prevented in the future Illustrates ways to understand malicious intent, dissect behavior, and apply the available tools and methods for enhancing security Covers the methodology for predicting malicious behavior, how to apply a predictive methodology, and tools for predicting the likelihood of domestic and global threats CD includes a series of walkthroughs demonstrating how to obtain a predictive analysis and how to use various available tools, including Automated Behavior Analysis Predicting Malicious Behavior fuses the behavioral and computer sciences to enlighten anyone concerned with security and to aid professionals in keeping our world safer.
Discover the tools for knowing the costs your company should cut, without impacting its ability to deliver goods and services New from Steve Bragg, this book provides the tools for determining which costs a company should cut, without impacting its ability to deliver goods and services. It explains how to use throughput analysis in order to locate bottleneck operations in a company, which in turn dictates where capital investments should (and should not) be made. Delves into process analysis, to determine where excess resources are being used in a business process Describes the total cost of ownership, showing how a single purchasing decision actually snowballs into a variety of ancillary costs Shows how to create and use a spend management system to reduce procurement costs Shows how just-in-time systems can be used to eliminate inventory costs Cost Reduction Analysis: Tools and Strategies provides examples to show how much cost can potentially be eliminated to avoid drastic action later that can imperil your corporation's direction and future.
A companion Workbook to the text Retirement Portfolios Retirement is one of the most important parts of the financial planning process. Yet only two percent of financial advisors describe themselves as competent in retirement planning. Constructing a retirement portfolio is viewed as a difficult endeavor, and the demands facing financial advisors responsible for this task continue to grow. The pressures are particularly intense due to events such as the financial crisis and oncoming rush of retiring baby boomers. It is imperative that financial advisors be equipped and ready to create appropriate retirement portfolios. That's why Michael Zwecher-a leading expert on retirement income-has created Retirement Portfolios and the Retirement Portfolios Workbook. In the text Retirement Portfolios, leading retirement income expert Michael Zwecher provides financial professionals with complete coverage of the most important issues in this field. The Retirement Portfolios Workbook offers you a wealth of practical information and exercises that will solidify your understanding of the tools and techniques associated with this discipline. This comprehensive study guide Provides chapter summaries and end of chapter questions to the main book Test your knowledge of the information addressed in Retirement Portfolios, before you put it to work in real world situations Helps you learn to solve problems while setting up tools you can use in practice Puts the management of risks related to retirement portfolios in perspective If you want to gain a firm understanding of the information outlined in Retirement Portfolios, the lessons within this workbook can show you how.
Retirement portfolio guidance for finance professionals Retirement is one of the most important parts of the financial planning process. Yet only two percent of financial advisors describe themselves as competent in retirement planning. Constructing a retirement portfolio is viewed as a difficult endeavor, and the demands facing financial advisors responsible for this task continue to grow. The pressures are particularly intense due to events such as the financial crisis and oncoming rush of retiring baby boomers. It is imperative that financial advisors be equipped and ready to create appropriate retirement portfolios. That's why Michael Zwecher-a leading expert on retirement income-has created Retirement Portfolios. Examines how portfolios should be prepped in advance so that the transition from «working» portfolio to retirement portfolio is smooth and seamless Outlines how to create a portfolio that will provide income, continue to generate growth, and protect assets from disaster Details the differences in managing a retirement portfolio versus managing portfolios during asset accumulation years The ability to create retirement portfolios and manage their risks are skills you must possess to be an effective financial advisor. Retirement Portfolios will help you develop these essential skills and gain a better understanding of the entire process.
A comprehensive look at the essentials of Islamic capital markets Bringing together theoretical and practical aspects of capital markets, Islamic Capital Markets offers readers a comprehensive insight into the institutions, instruments, and regulatory framework that comprise Islamic capital markets. Also exploring ideas about money, central banking, and economic growth theory and their role in Islamic capital markets, the book provides students and practitioners with essential information about the analytical tools of Islamic capital markets, serves as a guide to investing in Islamic assets, and examines risk management and the structure of Islamic financial products. Author and Islamic finance expert Noureddine Krichene examines the development of leading Islamic capital markets, including Malaysia, looking at sukuks and stocks in detail and emphasizing valuation, duration, convexity, immunization, yield curves, forward rates, swaps, and risks. Analyzing stock markets, stock valuation, price-earnings ratio, market efficiency hypothesis, and equity premiums, the book addresses uncertainty in capital markets, portfolio diversification theory, risk-return trade-off, pricing of assets, cost of capital, derivatives and their role in hedging and speculation, the principle of arbitrage and replication, Islamic structured products, the financing of large projects, and more. Emphasizes both theoretical and practical aspects of capital markets, covering analytical concepts such as the theory of arbitrage, pricing of assets, capital market pricing model, Arrow-Debreu state prices, risk-neutral pricing, derivatives markets, hedging and risk management, and structured products Provides students and practitioners of finance with must-have information about the analytical tools employed in Islamic capital markets Examines all the most recent developments in major Islamic capital markets, including Malaysia Discussing the advantages of Islamic capital markets and the prospects for their development, Islamic Capital Markets gives readers a fundamental grounding in the subject, with an emphasis on financial theory and real world practice.
How honesty, competency, and caring will make you rich Throw out the sales manual. Get off the motivation elevator. Clients First is a two word miracle that can change your life. This book outlines a powerful path to riches that authors Joseph and JoAnn Callaway used to sell a billion dollars in real estate in just ten years—a feat never before achieved. Here, they explain the three keys to putting your clients first that helped them create one of the most successful realty firms in the U.S. Each of the three keys is important and can stand on its own. However, the success you can achieve when following the Clients First program can only be reached when all three keys are used in coordination. Explains how honesty ensures a strong client relationship Details the ways in which competency pervades all aspects of a client's perception of you Shows how being a caring individual can win over a client on a personal level Unlock your potential by putting these to use in your life and your business.
UnSelling is about everything but the sell. We put all of our focus on the individual purchase transaction, while putting the rest of our business actions second. We've become blind to customer service, support, branding, experiences and even product quality. Sixty percent of a purchasing decision is made before a customer even contacts you. We have funnel vision, and it needs to stop. Unselling is about the big picture: creating repeat customers, not one-time buyers. Create loyal clients that refer others, not faceless numbers. Becoming the go-to company for something, before they even need you. You don't need social media, but you can be connecting with your clients socially. Your video doesn't have to be viral in front of a million people, just contagious in front of your specific market. Content, connection, engagement. It's time to separate from the pack of noise. It's time to UnSell.