Showing results by publisher "Ascent Audio" in Marketing & Sales

List the hottest buzzwords in business today and "analytics" is bound to come out near the top. But to most people, analytics implies complex tools and technical experts manipulating massive amounts and varieties of information (i.e.,"Big Data"). But complex Big Data analytics isn't the only game in town. And many people don't realize that a business doesn't need data scientists and complex tools to derive useful information and valuable benefits from any amount of raw data.

When people hear The Cloud, they think of cloud computing, just a sliver of what The Cloud is today. The Cloud has grown: it represents the consummate disruptor to structure; a pervasive social and economic network that will soon connect and define more of the world than any other political, social, or economic organization.

In Customer Love: Great Stories about Great Service you will explore 24 unforgettable stories about phenomenal customer service. Each chapter will ignite your thoughts and inspire new ideas that you can use to take your customer service to the next level. Share this audiobook with your employees and watch the creative ideas flow. Utilize the ideas behind these creative narratives to grow your business - and remember "if you do something good for one customer, they'll tell 100 other people."

Mobile has reprogrammed your customers' brains. Your customers now turn to their smartphones for everything. What’s tomorrow’s weather? Is the flight on time? Where’s the nearest store, and is this product cheaper there? Whatever the question, the answer is on the phone. This Pavlovian response is the mobile mind shift - the expectation that I can get what I want, anytime, in my immediate context. Your new battleground for customers is this mobile moment - the instant in which your customer is seeking an answer.

Each of us pitches ideas every day. Sometimes we sell our ideas to a small room full of skeptical colleagues. Sometimes we pitch to a boss, or a board of directors, a new organization, or for the contract of our dreams. Regardless, it all boils down to the act of stirring someone to join you - to agree to follow you. Yet we consistently underestimate how critical it is to recognize the needs, spoken and unspoken, of the decision maker. Decisions are made by people, and people have needs and agendas.

In our increasingly complicated and data-driven world, many new developments are so complex that only experts comprehend their nuances. But what they don't grasp is how to tell the world about them. Communicating technical content to nontechnical listeners has fast become a critical 21st-century skill. Explaining what you do and why it's important drives funding, policy decisions, media exposure, public awareness, and customer adoption.

Shift your strategy downstream. Why do your customers buy from you rather than from your competitors? If you think the answer is your superior products, think again. Products are important, of course. For decades, businesses sought competitive advantage almost exclusively in activities related to new product creation. They won by building bigger factories, by finding cheaper raw materials or labor, or by coming up with more efficient ways to move and store inventory - and by inventing exciting new products that competitors could not replicate.

Rethink your business model to incorporate the power of "user" experiences. What’s the Future of Business? will galvanize a new movement that aligns the tenets of user experience with the vision of innovative leadership to improve business performance, engagement, and relationships for a new generation of consumerism. It provides an overview of real-world experiences versus "user" experiences in relation to products, services, mobile, social media, and commerce, among others.

Social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Pinterest are changing the way consumers make purchasing decisions...and tapping into these online communities has become a necessary part of any integrated sales strategy. Citing enlightening research and real-world examples, this smart, practical guide presents listeners with a detailed methodology for growing sales and expanding their customer base using social media.

Most companies today realize the imperative to connect with their customers, employees, and partners through social technologies - Facebook, Twitter, Google+, YouTube, and elsewhere. But a huge challenge is still in the way: How to build programs and teams for accomplishing all that. While organizations have been fixated on how to use the latest social tool, they've lost sight of how to create a business strategy capable of adjusting to the next wave of technology around the corner.

Think of your to-do list at work. Chances are the most important tasks require you to work with others - and the success of those endeavors depends on the effectiveness of your collaboration. According to management expert Leigh Thompson, collaboration that is conscious, planned, and focused on generating new ideas builds excitement and produces what she calls a "creative conspiracy". Teams that conspire to organize themselves, motivate one another, and combine their talents to meet creative challenges are the hallmark of the most successful organizations.

Most companies still operate as if they control their customers. But, in today's market, it's really the other way around. Customer CEO confronts the new market reality that customers choose which companies to do business with completely on their own terms. This effectively inverts the power, control, and direction of decision-making; to survive in this new landscape, organizations must quickly adapt.

A groundswell is sweeping through your customers. Right now, they are writing about your products on blogs and recutting your commercials on YouTube. They're defining you on Wikipedia and ganging up on you in social networking sites like Facebook. These are all elements of a social phenomenon - the groundswell - that has created a permanent shift in the way the world works. Most companies see it as a threat. It's time to see it an opportunity.

How did Apple rebound from a decade-long slump? By creating a product, the iPod, that transformed not just the company, but the entire music industry. How did Whole Foods turn itself into a supermarket empire? By challenging the sacred cows of the food business. And how did Dove differentiate its line of beauty products? By creating the concept of "real beauty". In Big Think Strategy, Bernd Schmitt shows you how to "think big" by sourcing and implementing bold ideas that change markets.

You've heard of the burgeoning consumer markets in China and India that are driving the world economy. But do you know enough about these new consumers to convert them into customers? In The $10 Trillion Prize, bestselling author Michael J. Silverstein and The Boston Consulting Group colleagues in China and India provide the first comprehensive profile of the emerging middle class, primed to transform the global marketplace.

Ideas are arguably the most valuable asset in an information-based economy. But how do you find the best ideas - the kind that can boost careers, change organizations, and ramp up the value of projects? Why do some people seem to come up with these ideas whenever they need them? In this myth-busting audio book, the authors reveal that great business ideas do not spring from innate creativity, or necessarily from the minds of brilliant people.

Imagine a system that allowed you to make money almost effortlessly, so that you could spend your time with friends and family, follow your dreams, or pursue other goals without worrying about where your next paycheck is coming from. Now imagine if all you needed to make that happen were a computer and an Internet connection. If you can imagine it, you can achieve it - with Your Portable Empire.

Taking behavioral economics from the cocktail party to the boardroom, with dramatic results Books like Predictably Irrational and Nudge have brought behavioral economics into the mainstream. But while we all marvel at how different-and weird-real people behave compared to the "rational actors" of traditional economics, in the end we go back to business as usual.

Trust Agents has been widely acclaimed for its new approach to online marketing. Now, in this revised and updated edition, social media veterans Chris Brogan and Julien Smith show you how to tap into the power of social networks to build your brand's influence, reputation, and profits. Combining high-level theory and practical advice, they deliver actionable strategies and real case studies that show how social media can positively impact your business.

These two masters of marketing want to pass their most powerful success strategies on to you! Learn to: slash marketing costs and boost profits by making your business as green and ethical as possible; easily turn your customers, suppliers, and even competitors into your unofficial sales force; understand how to turn business acquaintances into powerful joint-venture partners; cut your advertising budget and build revenues using social media, traditional media, and the power of your own brain - even get paid to do your marketing; and more!