Every month I pick five of the best, hottest ideas that I think will help you convince your buyers. An idea might be a great book, an incredible service, or an insightful blog post.
Here are the Top 5 Ideas for this month:
The Art of the Long View: Planning for the Future in an Uncertain World
What’s the big idea? Scenarios
With a sub-title like “Planning for the Future in an Uncertain World” you might think this book shows you how to predict the future. It doesn’t. Peter Schwartz teaches you how to be prepared for possible, alternate outcomes. Life and business can take you down many paths. Have you thought about which ones you might be most likely to travel? Are you prepared?
Schwartz teaches you to develop scenarios by looking at influencing factors, driving forces, leading indicators and other elements. A scenario is not a prediction of what will happen, it’s a prediction of what could happen. The book was written in 1991 and has a chapter entitled “The World in 2005: Three scenarios.” Read it. You’ll be spooked.
Publish a paper book, a photobook, calendar, DVD and more – yourself – on Lulu.com
What’s the big idea? Self publishing
Who controls making your ideas and stories available to the world? There was a time when the big media companies did. Now with the Internet, blogs, podcasts, and services like YouTube, the only limiting factor is you. Using Lulu.com you can write your story, upload it for free, then sell your book in paperback or hardback online.
Lulu wants to … “change the world of publishing by empowering authors to publish their work themselves for free with complete editorial and copyright control.” Combine Lulu’s wide range of affordable services with the power of print-on-demand printing, and nothing is holding you back from writing a 20 or 2,000 page story book of your own – except you!
Presenting to Win: The Art of Telling Your Story
What’s the big idea? Connect with your audience
Jerry Weissman is often called the ‘Wizard of Aaaahs’ (funny, huh?) for good reason. As a corporate presentations coach, he’s helped executives at companies like Yahoo!, Cisco, and Microsoft trim the fat and get to the point. Weissman’s techniques have helped raise billions of investment dollars in IPO (Inital Public Offering) road shows.
I especially like Wiessman for his mindset: pretend you’re in the audience, listen to your pitch, and ask “What’s in it for me?” Flow structures, opening gambits, less is more, internal linkages – these are all techniques Weissman explains simply. Jerry Weissman is a master at using simple words, pictures, and points to move people’s minds.
The Experience Economy: Work is Theatre & Every Business a Stage
What’s the big idea? Sell an experience, not a commodity
How much would you pay for a pound of coffee beans? What if they were ground or roasted & brewed – would you pay more? Now imagine a cozy nook with soft leather chairs, great music in the background, and the aroma of fresh baked pastries in the air. You, your friends, great conversation, great coffee. Now what would you pay?
Pine and Gilmore open by examining the coffee bean – when is it a commodity, when is it an experience. Sometimes their discussions can get a bit deep. However, this book is considered by all experiential marketers as the definitive, classic work. Even if you only read the points made in the margin of every page, this book will change how you engage your buyers.
Uncovering Steve Jobs’ Presentation Secrets – A post by Carmine Gallo on BusinessWeek’s website
What’s the big idea? Demo like a pro
This is a great article and short video from BusinesssWeek on Carmine Gallo’s new book The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs: How to Be Insanely Great in Front of Any Audience. Often regarded as the world’s greatest corporate storyteller, Jobs can make an audience – as one MacWorld attendee put it – “… want to run out and buy it … NOW!”
So what’s his secret to success? Gallo says Steve uses five elements each time he takes the stage:
- A headline
- A villain
- A simple slide
- A demo
- A holy smokes moment
For twenty-five years I’ve watched Steve Jobs tell and me why I needed what he was selling. I bought what he said, I bought his products … and I’ve never been disappointed in either.
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The Top 5 changes every month. So where do the old ideas go? Lost forever? No way! If you hit a dead end on how to convince your buyer, browse these Idea Lists of archived ideas:
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