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: #237836 in Books
• Published on: 2006-04-28
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 288 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780471783930
• Condition: USED - LIKE NEW
• Notes:
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

Review
The author shares his original system for getting more clients by following seven self-promotion strategies. You’ll gain the confidence to authentically market yourself and your services and tap into a bountiful supply of referrals. (Realtor Magazine, July 2006)

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, 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, 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

Not for salespeople but for consultants and other business people who need to get "projects" booked
This book isn't as bad as some reviewers have written or as good as others have raved about. This book isn't for salespeople and because of that I was disappointed. This book is for professionals that have to "book themselves," such as public speakers, lawyers, accountants and the like. In some ways if you don't already know what this book teaches you better get a job. However, as the E-Myth points out there are plenty of people that are good at what they do but are clueless about how to get themselves business. If you fall into this category this is a good book to read and implement.

Port's book is long and at times wordy but a fun and easy read. There are diamonds here but you have to mine through a lot of ore to get at them. The book is well written and conversational. I can see why Mr. Port has a successful career. This book is perhaps a good first read if you're considering starting your own business or want to get more clients. For a solid and measurable program I recommend "Get Clients Now" by C. J. Hayden or "Get Business to Come to You" by Sarah and Paul Edwards.

A book that's a solid beginning
I met Michael Port live at a conference and have heard him on several teleseminars. I've seen him on Sex and the City (he got to give a somewhat brotherly kiss to Sarah Jessica Parker after they lounge around the cushions of Bed Bath and Beyond.

Therefore I read BYS knowing that Michael Port is good-looking, charismatic and smart, with a warm, well-trained voice. He could read the phone book and sound convincing. And he's a brilliant marketer. Who wouldn't kill for package names like Book Yourself Solid and Think Big Revolution.

So readers approaching Book Yourself Solid may well be wondering, "Will hanging out with the Beautiful People make me beautiful too? If we take Michael's courses and buy his books, will we also become charismatic and wildly successful?"

Maybe.

BYS works best as an overview: what's involved if you're thinking of starting a client-driven website-based business. For a true newbie, or even someone in the started-but-struggling phase, BYS will give glimpses of what might be, not a stand-alone how-to.

I recommend starting Book Yourself Solid (BYS) on page 31. Chapters 3 and 4 are the best in the book and I would recommend the book to my own clients just to get those chapters.

Chapter 2, Branding, takes readers through a set of self-awareness exercises that (while a bit touchy-feeling) can help newbies differentiate themselves from the pack. Chapter 4, how to talk about what you do, showcases Port's strongest point: relate your business to the client's needs not your own processes.

Skip the pages of testimonials, which don't seem to come from people who actually used the BYS program as clients. I believe pages like these actually detract from a book's credibility (although the decision to include them may be the publisher's, not the author's).

Chapter 1, Red Velvet Rope Policy (now there's a brilliant phrase), will be helpful for those who have already started growing their businesses. Newbies take awhile to learn how to differentiate the duds.

Chapter 2, Finding a Target Market, offers good advice, but I would have liked to see stronger warnings against targeting a market that might have a need but not a willingess to buy. In my experience, choosing the wrong market is the number one mistake most newbies make.

For most of the rest of the book, Port presents a selection of mostly excellent tips and ideas. Apparently he (or his editor) had trouble choosing what to include and what to omit, so reading through the chapters can feel like seeing the world through a telescope that quickly becomes a microscope, and vice versa. For example, on the one hand, we're given great detail about the level of handshake to offer at networking events; on the other, we get a general list of networking groups with no how-tos for choosing among them. We're given detailed advice on choosing an article topic but a short paragraph on submitting queries to magazines -- a topic that has filled many books.

"Choosing a web designer" gets a short paragraph and a reference to the listing on the BYS resource site. I would recommend starting a website project with a copywriter (sure - I'm biased!)and making sure the design doesn't overwhelm the copy.

The BYS section on ezines includes a number of useful micro-tips, but I'm surprised Port didn't refer readers to Alexandria Brown, the Ezine Queen, the way he refers bloggers to Andy Wibbels. Some exercises seem a little forced: "What format would you use for your ezine."

And likeability -- a topic on which Port should be the quintessential expert -- actually gets only one example: a contrast between an outgoing on-time person and a careless person who arrives late. An author who ends teleclasses with, "I love all of you, and not in a weird way, I promise" can do better than that.

Finally, I would like to discover more about Michael Port himself. When a book's cover art is the author's full-length photo, readers expect biography. We do learn his father is a psychiatrist, he started working as an actor and he quickly became a business person with a Midas touch. But where did he go to college? What made him consider acting? And what obstacles did he encounter along the way?

Bottom Line: Most likely anyone who's selling a service through the Internet will find something of value here. It's more of a Michael Port sampler than a how-to book, a potluck buffet rather than a sit-down dinner. Delicious surprises, but you have to put them together on your own. A few items that should be served only to small dinner parties and yes, just a few that should have remained in the kitchen.

Slick and vapid ... maybe I read a different book?
I've just finished Book Yourself Solid, and then checked out the reviews on Amazon. My jaw dropped. I can't believe people gave this book 4-5 stars. I started to wonder if I was reading the same book as these folks. A slick sales job promoting many of his products and websites under the guise of offering information, the only person this book helps is Michael Port.

Michael misses at a number of levels in this book by either going too deep into information ("have a firm handshake"; "have a website". Wow! Thanks, Mike), or by not going deep enough "have an affiliate program.")

Unless you're intested in lining Michael's pockets with more money, I would recommend avoiding this book. Or, if you use Michael's approach as a template for your own business, that'll work too ... if you can avoid the pitfalls.