C Brit Beemer is the founder and CEO of America's Research Group, a Charleston based market research firm. In Predatory Marketing, Beemer shares perspectives he has gathered from interviews with thousands of customers over the past 20 years. Some of the information he shares is fascinating, and the marketing philosophy he espouses is rock solid, but ultimately this book disappoints.

The basic premise of the book is that to gain market share, marketers must steal customers from their competitors. Beemer backs up this premise with some compelling research showing trends such as:
- In 1980, the average consumer expected to visit 3.5 stores before purchasing an appliance or electronics item. In 1990, the number was down to 2.8, and in 1995, it was down to 2.1.
- He asked consumers if any store came to mind first in a series of different categories. In 1983 38% or respondents said no. In 1996, that number was down to 6%, indicating that the number of consumers without a preference, or 'up for grabs' was ¼ of what it was in 1983.

As you can tell from the statistics cited, Beemer's main experience and area of expertise is retail marketing. He offers dozens of anecdotes from his work with retailers all across the country. He mentions other kinds of marketing here and there, but it is clear that he doesn't have the same depth of data or experience. For example, in discussing a survey about the importance of a knowledgeable sales person, he says 'While our study was limited to retailing, I believe this thinking applies also to non retailing industries'.

However, the biggest disappointment in the book is from the lack of depth in the examples and case studies. Never is a case study or example more than a single page, and often they are only a paragraph or two. Countless times I was left wanting more detail or more information. In a number of cases, the examples he cites aren't even on target for the topic he was discussing. The worst offender in this realm was an example in his chapter on niche marketing.. Through the chapter, he offers some good advice for niche players, then at the end he says 'There is still another problem that a niche player faces: He may be so focused that he can't see the forest for the trees.' Then he launches into a story about a long standing retailer that was having a very difficult time attracting new clients. Ultimately they found that the reason was that in the 10 years he had been in business, a tree grew over and covered the store sign. After the tree was removed, business picked up dramatically. Very amusing, but what does this have to do with niche marketing? It was as if he had an anecdote, and decided he needed to use it somewhere.

I found three chapters in this book to be of particular interest. In chapter 1, he lays out the importance of research, and some guidelines for doing research right. He cites several examples of business executives who were convinced that they knew their businesses, only to be proved wrong by the consumer. He makes a compelling case that asking your customers isn't enough, since people tend to avoid confrontation, they won't tell you what's wrong. However, a skilled researcher can get to a customer's true concerns and opinions.
In chapter 7, he lays out the 'Predatory Marketing' strategy. This strategy comes from his basic premise that in order to get new customers, you must take them away from your competitors. The methods he suggests for doing this tend to be superior value, service, and selection. He goes into a fair level of detail about what he means by each of these.

Finally, in chapter 10 he wraps up with the prevailing theme of the book, that 'Every marketing plan will ultimately fail.' Even successful marketing plans fail because conditions change. Competitors change their strategies, new competitors emerge, customers' tastes change, and new technologies make products or strategies obsolete. Indeed, as Beemer points out, 'The only constant is change.' I found this statement sobering to say the least. Even so, he points out that if you are armed with this knowledge, you can anticipate change and respond to it. Your strategies and tactics will have to change as conditions change in order for you to stay successful.

Should you buy this book? If you are a retailer, or closely connected with retail trade, you will get some valuable information and insight. If you are doing other kinds of marketing, you can still get some interesting perspectives from this book, but you should probably treat it more as a 'skim' focusing on chapters 1, 7, and 10, then as a 'read', and put this one on your "optional" list.

We are told that "the purpose of the book is to tell you how to get information, and most important, [how to] analyze it so that you can make the right decisions....So the main theme of this book is not to promote research -- it's to inform you of ways to find out more about your customer, your competition's customers, and trends in the marketplace." For Beemer, "predatory" is a synonym for proactive: "I'm a firm believer is taking an offensive -- rather than defensive position; marketing is always an offensive weapon." Recall John Newbern's comment: "People can be divided into three groups: those who make things happen, those who watch things happen, and those who wonder what happened." To these Beemer would probably add a fourth group: Those who wait for something to happen and then respond too late (if at all).

The title of Predatory Marketing is somewhat misleading. it really does not suggest strategies to "win today's customers" which require what the word "predator" denotes or even suggests. On the contrary, the advice offered is highly ethical as well as immensely practical. Many of the suggestions have previously been offered by others. Nonetheless, reminders of key points can often have substantial value.

One of the book's greatest benefits consists of a series of ten "Consumer Mind Reader" analyses of trends as well as tendencies which reveal consumer preferences are as well as the reasons for them. Another substantial benefit is derived from a series of check-lists and multi-step sequences which suggest how to implement the information provided.

Marketing either creates or increases demand for whatever one offers. For those whose organizations compete in a flat or declining marketplace, only increasing share will enable them to achieve sybstantial growth. Leaders of these organizations will probably derive the greatest benefit from Predatory Marketing.

As Jeffrey Gitomer correctly suggests, "customer satisfaction" occurs on a transaction basis. One bad experience and the customer is gone...perhaps forever. "Customer loyalty" must be earned over time so that, when a customer has a bad experience, the relationship with that customer is not necessarily destroyed.

Predatory Marketing places great emphasis on a thorough understanding of both current and prospective customers. Such understanding is even more important, obviously, when attempting to "capture" customers from competitors. Reading Predatory Marketing will assist such initiatives.

If you are or wish to be in the marketing field, read this book. More information is packed into here than in dozens of other volumes I've read. Just save the money and the inane information overload and buy Predatory Marketing today!

This was a real disappointment. If you have read the "show me how to sell" books on selling, like Selling for Dummies, Closing For Dummies, The sales Bible, or Selling is a Woman's game, you'll be disappointed too. This book is all talk and no action. It tells you how and doesn't give examples to show you how. IT is bland and boring and only for peole who like to read Text books. Stick to the action stuff!

My sales manager was God, he took me from nothing to a couple of thousand a month. He recommended this book, I read it, and within six months I was the sales manager and set a record for Utah and Colorado states with a 75 year old company. Criticize the title or the content, but I provide better customer service and close more sales since heeding it's advice. I've cold called every 10 or more employee private company in Salt Lake City and Denver and did better than anyone else had in 75 years. Thank you Mr. Shook.

This book doesn't just give you cheap tricks, which are re-used in every other book. Hardball breaks new ground with its current and proven sales processes, and tells you exactly how to do it. In my opinion, this could just as easily been called the Sales Bible.

I was gravely disappointed in this book. Most of the advice is common sense. Much of it is contradictory. Item #56 is "Work Overtime" (unpaid!). Item #80 is "Get a Life (After Work)". Item #128 ("Be a Good Corporate Citizen") urges the reader to donate 20+ hours/week to charities approved by the company and the boss. What planet does the author work on? It must be a planet whose rotation about its axis and revolution about its Sun create 750 days a year, with each day having 42 hours. In Item #88, "Make a Generous Donation During Your Company's United Fund-Raising Drive," the author admits to "personally reviewing contributions made by virtually all employees at headquarters." Just how does the author, as top manager, know that an employee with a "low" contribution doesn't have heavy personal obligations, such as the nursing-home or hospice care of aging parents? Does charity not begin at home? Item #164, "Be Generous with the Gifts You Give Your Boss," suggests what would have been career suicide where I worked for 29 years. When I was a boss, I was never offered a gift by an employee. Had I been, I would have refused it with a stern lecture about "influence-purchasing."
The book has no index to the 169 short (1-2 page) chapters; it should.

Mr. Schonberg has explained in very clear, numbered statements, what you can do with just a bit of effort to put yourself in a positive light with your boss. Some of the points may seem to only apply to the executive but most can easily be put into use at any job level. Time is money, don't waste the bosses money by wasting time on the job. Don't badmouth your former employer. Stay current. All easy to do and all simply explained. After all, the sooner you read the book the sooner you can score points with your boss.

+AH4-The title is somewhat misleading in the sense that all the pointers given (usually in the form of one pagers) are also applicable to your employers, coworkers, even personal relationships. A lot of the items are relationship builders, others are tips for improving efficiency, and yet others reminding us that we are all human. Some of the advice may seem trivially obvious, but those are the ones that somehow we forget!

The title is meant to reflect that ultimately a large part of your career+AH4-+AH4- progress depends on your boss and your relationships with him/her. A good advice, but not to be overstated (and the book certainly does not overstate it). Ultimately "there are no shortcuts". This books just provides the tools to make the path a lot smoother. Cheers.+AH4-

I got this hoping to find some new ideas on how to help more people get our services. Mr Girad is talked about quite highly in sales circles. I commend him for his acheivements. This book may work well for small ticket items, but I personally found it offensive. It treats prospects as if they are incapable of having independent thought, and enjoy being manipulated. The single redeeming idea I got from the book was how well he kept in touch with past sales. By the way...Since Mr Girad did so well in his sales career, I would recommend to him to hire someone to read his books for him in the future. His monotone voice is distracting.

I have read some of the reviews for this book and thought I would throw in my 2 cents. I have had the audio version of this book in my car for the last two years. I imagine it is like having your successful uncle ride along with you, giving you information and tips you immediately understood were priceless but did not have time to write down or were desperate to remember later. Sure his information is very basic. Yet, it serves as a constant reminder to any sales professional that selling is really about understanding some very rudimentary motivations and making sure your product/service meets those needs. Oh by the way, thanks Joe - I am #1 in my territory and customer referrals bring in a constant flow of new business.

Author Joe Girard provides a view of traditional sales strategies. He presents every step in the sales process and offers advice about every obstacle that you are likely to encounter. While his impressive credentials and experience qualify him to speak and write about successful sales techniques, these strategies, as presented in this book, may backfire when used on today's savvy consumers. Nearly every one of the author's suggestions involves obvious sales one-liners, maneuvers, and psychological tricks that today's marketing-saturated consumer is either immune to or would see right through in an instant. Although written in great detail with plenty of useful examples, this book serves best as an adjunct to other reading material on the subject. We at getAbstract recommend this book to anyone who has to sell a product or service and wants basic information.

This is a very interesting book that should actually be revised as the edition I have is from 1993. Still, this is a very interesting work for anyone who wants to invest in franchising. It brings 10 in depth profiles, including Pizza Hut, McDonalds, Midas, 7 Eleven, and interviews with the founders of this quite known trademarks. They analyse the profile of possible investors, and investors should do the same about this business model and trademarks profile. This is a good start.

THE IBM WAY is a book by Buck Rodgers, VP marketting of IBM. This is a must read book for all professionals, who want to enter into the field of marketting, human relations or other processes, as managers in future. It tell us the inside story about the building blocks which laid the firm foundation of the Big Blue, which is IBM, today, the world's one of the largest company. Buck Rodgers has poured all his experience with IBM in this book. The book describes the IBM's journey over so many years starting from the scratch and reaching at the top. Buck has quoted various incidences from his life in IBM, which educate a reader about the basic human relations principles. For marketting persons, it proves as a guide on crisis management.

The book has some good tips on getting your voice mail messages returned, but a great many of these tips involve deception. I don't need to read a book on how to come up with whopper stories-that comes easily for most people. While lying may get someone to return your calls-that is not the reason for your call. You want to build a relationship on a solid foundation-lying to clients does not work!

This book is packed with fun and creative ways for having people get back with you. I personally used some techniques and was surprised how effective they were.