Product Description

Book Yourself Solid–now in paperback–is a complete instructional guide for startingn and growing a successful service business. It gives you simple, yet effective techniques for creating relentless demand and endless leads. It includes more than 200 proven marketing strategies for attracting new clients, earning more referrals, and building profitable, long–lasting professional relationships. If you want to take your service business to the next level, start here and Book Yourself Solid.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #57826 in Books
• Published on: 2008-05-27
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 288 pages

Review
"...thought provoking book" (BrandChannel.com, February 16th 2009)

From the Inside Flap
According to the Small Business Administration, ninety percent of service businesses will fail within the first five years. They fail not because they don′t offer great services and products, but because the owners are extremely uncomfortable with traditional marketing and sales. The result is a frustrated, isolated, and overwhelmed business owner who does not know there is an entirely different, highly successful approach to marketing and sales available—and it′s laid out in the pages of Book Yourself Solid.

Book Yourself Solid is based on Michael Port′s proven system for getting more clients. And it works. In fact, ninety–three percent of business owners who have used the system have experienced a thirty–four percent increase in their total number of clients and a forty–two percent increase in sales in the first year alone.

Original, wildly inspiring, personal, and provocative, Book Yourself Solid is an easy–to–follow road map for starting and growing your service business based on seven core self–promotion strategies. Through verbal and written exercises, you′ll not only learn how to develop a strong marketing plan and brand identity, but you′ll also learn why self–promotion is absolutely critical to your success—and how to do it with passion and purpose. Even if you hate the idea of marketing and selling yourself, this practical, inspirational guide will lift you up and give you the confidence you need to comfortably and authentically market yourself and your services, tap into an endless supply of quality referrals, and watch your business grow.

If you′re a seasoned professional, you′ll find the fresh ideas and tactics you need to keep bringing in new business for years to come. If you′re a novice service professional looking for a complete business building system, you′ll have the keys to unlock long–lasting business prosperity, security, and abundance for yourself and your family. Once you make a name for yourself using the seven core strategies for self–promotion, you′ll be able to run a profitable, meaningful, and absolutely booked–solid business overflowing with as many clients as your heart desires.

Book Yourself Solid is a one–of–a–kind, step–by–step guide to building a successful service business from the ground up. These proven methods have helped thousands of service professionals realize their dreams. And they will do the same for you.

From the Back Cover

Praise for Book Yourself Solid

"Lead generation and conversion is the heart of any marketing enterprise, and Michael Port′s ingenious and practical system is among the best I′ve seen. Read this book and transform your business!"
—Michael E. Gerber, founder and Chairman, E–Myth Worldwide, and author of The E–Myth Revisited

"Do your homework! This is not a conceptual, theoretical look at how to succeed as a service professional. Instead, it′s just what you need if you′re stuck and you′d rather invest in your future (by doing the right kind of work) than complain about it later."
—Seth Godin, author of All Marketers Are Liars and Permission Marketing

"Going out on your own can be scary. But this book is a welcome antidote to that fear. It brims with savvy advice and nearly overflows with practical, hands–on exercises. Once you absorb the wisdom in these pages, you′ll be ready, willing, and eager to fashion a more rewarding work life. Michael Port is the guy to call if you′re tired of thinking small."
—Daniel H. Pink, author of A Whole New Mind and Free Agent Nation

"If you′re even slightly uncomfortable with the idea of networking, marketing, or selling, this is the book for you. Book Yourself Solid gives you everything you need to fill your business with ideal clients. Before you′re even finished reading the book, you′ll be inspired to take action!"
—Ivan R. Misner, PhD, founder and CEO, BNI, and coauthor of Masters of Networking

"Wow! I never expected this book to be so good. I love how it focuses on getting your ideal clients—and more than you can imagine possible. An excellent, inspiring, practical guide to outrageous success!"
—Joe Vitale, author of There′s a Customer Born Every Minute

Customer Reviews

How to "let" a client find you
The owners and employees of client-based businesses often end up doing it all, providing the service or product, managing the office, and handling sales and marketing - often the entrepreneur's least favorite chore. Now, you can learn to love it or at least to do it well with less pain. Author Michael Port cites many applicable marketing activities that you probably already know about, but he pulls them together in an organized manner supported by lists of questions and answers. He begins with the foundation of your business, including your motivation and area of specialization. Then he teaches you how to build credibility with clients. Next, he covers marketing and outreach, including tactics for promoting yourself. The book's concepts are easy to grasp and implement, including advice for conquering online marketing. You may already be carrying out some of these strategies, but this book can take you to the next level. We recommend it to those who want new clients badly enough to make sales and marketing a regular part of their jobs for a few hours a week. If you are a new entrepreneur, this resource will help you learn the art of rainmaking.

Excellent Advice on Selecting Clients; Weak on Marketing and Sales

Whenever I work with entrepreneurs, one of my first tasks is to have the budding billionaires come to grips with those they would love to help . . . and those who give them migraines. Pick the first group as your target and good things follow. Pick the latter, and well, you'll wish you were in some other line of work.

Clearly, Mr. Port has learned that lesson and he does a masterful job of helping the reader identify what kinds of clients to go after. I don't believe I've ever seen as good a description of how to go through this process anywhere else.

You can capture those lessons from chapter one about creating a red velvet rope policy (referring to those ropes that doormen at clubs use to keep out those who won't help the club's image).

From there, unfortunately, the book goes downhill. People without a background in marketing (most professionals . . . those who will be reading this book) will begin to flounder with the injunction to figure out why people buy what you are selling. You are told to look to their urgent needs and compelling desires. There are examples, which are fine, but the process will seem opaque to most.

By the time readers arrive at the sales cycle process, they will have mostly gone off the track. It's too bad. With more care to teach the marketing and sales cycle sections, this could have been an outstanding book. As it is, Mr. Port clearly demonstrates a good understanding of the subject. He just isn't as good as he needs to be at explaining what he means.

Poor & indicative of reviews here on Amazon
I bought this book because the reviews were favorable.

This book is not worthy of 4.5 stars; it's boring and full of, well, not very much. I couldn't find anything actionable for my business in this book by Chapter 4 so eventually put it down.

Having purchased several hundreds if not thousands of pounds worth of business books off Amazon I'm now of the belief that a vast majority of the initial reviews are somehow related to the author's network (that's why a large majority have 4 or 5 stars).

I've now started only buying books I can read the "Look Inside" preview or Kindle samples because, as is the case in so many business texts, the writing style is critical. In hindsight, applying this process to BYS would have pre-emptied the disappointment and time wasted.