AMACOM
Chocolate fortunes; the battle for the hearts, minds, and wallets of China's consumers.
As anyone who has ever perused a Chinese restaurant menu knows, chocolate is foreign to traditional Chinese cuisine. In this publication of the American Management Association, a former executive with two of the major chocolate companies working to secure a toehold in this huge potential market provides an insider look at the marketing challenges and strategies to entice China's new consumer class. (Annotation ©2010 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
The complete guide to hiring and firing government employees.
This guide for government managers at the federal, state, and local levels explains how to hire and terminate employees within the constraints of government human resources management systems. The book is designed to help readers look at the entire hiring process in a holistic way, and gives advice on anticipating the department's needs, recruitment, screening and interviewing candidates, and retaining desired employees. There are also guidelines on counseling problematic employees, documenting poor performance, and firing employees for misconduct or poor performance in a fair, logical, and defensible manner. The book includes numerous sample letters and memos. Liff is winner of the President's Council on Management Improvement Award. He has written other books on government careers. (Annotation ©2010 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
The communication problem solver; simple tools and techniques for busy managers.
More business problems center on issues of communication than is commonly believed. Frequently, managers deal with outward manifestations of problems while the real underlying communication issues remain unchanged. This book offers practical guidance, complete with real-world examples, for managers who want to address root causes of problems. How to form better relationships, how to provide more effective input and feedback, how to use communications skills to be a better leader, and how to create a better work environment are all covered in this book. (Annotation ©2010 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
How to write fast under pressure.
Vassallo has 25 years of experience teaching writing in corporate, academic, and government environments. Here, he offers a combination of practical techniques and inspiration for writing on deadline in all sorts of work-related situations and environments, employing the characters Speedy Didi and Mopey Moe to demonstrate effective and ineffective techniques and attitudes. He offers seven idea generators to jumpstart the writing process, then suggests an attitude that prizes volume and momentum over perfection during the writing process itself. He also gives advice on controlling the writing environment, describes habits of productive writers, and provides five-, ten-, and 20-minute fixes for improving a document, illustrated with case studies and examples. The final section has suggestions for maintaining writing productivity, prioritizing work, and preventing emergencies. (Annotation ©2010 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
The million-dollar financial advisor; powerful lessons and proven strategies from top producers.
There is more than one path to success in business. There are those who undertake a rigorous course of academic study, frequently leading to an MBA. And there are those who find those who have been most successful in business and try to emulate them. David Mullen has taken both paths, and clearly thinks that following the lessons of successful people is the best course to one's own success in business. In this book, he gathers the common themes gleaned from interviews with over one hundred financially successful people from a variety of enterprises. He has identified thirteen lessons that, if taken to heart, he believes will produce million dollar results for those who will use them as a guide to the way they manage their own businesses. (Annotation ©2010 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
Smart selling on the phone and online; inside sales that gets results.
What consumers call "telemarketing" businesses call "inside sales" (as opposed to field reps who call on prospects outside of the office through "outside sales"). Effective inside selling that produces results is demanding and complicated by various layers of regulations. In this popular manual, Feigon, president of a company specializing in inside sales consulting, offers practical, detailed advice to organizations trying to produce better, more lasting results from their telemarketing teams. (Annotation ©2010 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
Who's your Gladys?; how to turn even the most difficult customer into your biggest fan.
Creating positive bonds with customers is essential to business survival in today's challenging economy. This book looks at methodologies and underlying themes that various companies have used to generate loyalty from their most difficult customers. By focusing on the lessons learned in dealing with the most problematic customers, consultants Shuttle and Vest have identified methodologies that all companies can use to provide the kind of service that makes customers happy from the start, and strategies for solving problems when unhappiness arises. (Annotation ©2010 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
Why boys fail; saving our sons from an educational system that's leaving them behind.
Whitmire, president of the National Educational Writers Association, presents evidence from a federal study released in 2003 showing that boys fall behind in school, not because of video games or female-dominated schools biased toward girls, but because schools demand high-level reading and writing skills before boys are capable of handling them. Case studies describe successful school programs such as intensive phonics instruction, ongoing reading instruction in the middle years, breaking the curriculum into manageable chunks to help organizationally challenged boys, and single-sex classrooms. An appendix explains facts about boys, learning, education, and related socioeconomic and gender factors in plain language. The book is for educators and parents. (Annotation ©2010 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)
