Customer Reviews

Energize Growth NOW: The Marketing Guide to a Wealthy Company

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I had the distinct pleasure of receiving an advance copy of Lisa Nirell's new book Energize Growth NOW: The Marketing Guide to a Wealthy Company. I've read a number of business books on how to "energize" growth and build your company, but all too often they read like a theoretical, academic methodology that would take a rocket scientist to follow and implement. Nirell avoids that problem with simple, down-to-earth steps that, if followed, will definitely place you on the right track for moving your business to the next level. It'll also position you well to be able to exit your company properly with a sale or acquisition in the future. Regardless of how you view your end-game, you'll be much better off for having read and followed Nirell's advice.

Contents:
Running on Empty; Brains, Beliefs, and Growth Blunders; Say No to the Good, and Yes to the Great; Increase Your Wealth Quotient; The Path to Planning; The Inside Job; What's on Your Dashboard; Design Your Dashboard; Plan Your Brand; More Revenues, Fewer Clients; Future Energy Sources - How to Grow Your Wealth Quotient with Social Media; Appendix A - Sample EnergizeGrowth Plan; Appendix B - Sample ProfitCents Report; References; About the Author; Index

There were so many ideas in Nirell's writing that stood out in her approach. One of the biggest was the imperative to "write down your plan." She recounts many situations where business owners had various "good ideas" about where they wanted to go, but were stagnating in the process of getting there. The simple words "show me your written business plan" was all it took in many cases to uncover the fact that the owner had no concrete ways to get to where they needed to be. Once that task was tackled, often the growth started immediately, as the person had a plan to follow and track. Seems very simple and intuitive, but all too often is left undone.

Another common pitfall for the small business owner is the idea of delegation. Generally, the owner is the commodity being sold, be it a consultant or a professional position. Time spent doing non-value-added tasks takes away from time that could be spent billing clients and growing the business. You may *like* to do the billings or the books yourself, but you could hire someone to do it for less than you'd bill. Therefore, saying "no to the good, and yes to the great" can offer up an instant spike in your time and energy that can be devoted to growing your business. This concept also applies to figuring out what your business offers that is better than anything else out there... your "hedgehog." Once you know where your most profitable parts of the business lie, then you can start trimming out the parts that don't contribute to your growth.

Obviously, there are many more parts of Nirell's plan, and I could go on about it for a long time. But suffice it to say that her advice is practical and personal, and has been validated with many of her clients over the years. This is a book that will stay on my business shelf for personal reference. Should I ever find myself truly running my own business, I plan on getting things started on the right foot with Energize Growth NOW.

At last a business coaching book that understands the challenges entrepreneurs face at various levels of their business growth and offers practical, realistic and challenging solutions to stimulate action and moving forward.

Lisa Nirell has written from a point of experience and lessons learned, both in her own career and business as well as with the many small and mid-size clients she has worked with in building the businesses they want.

I loved that each chapter was full of logical steps to solve the various problems encountered - but there was also the mind set of reality checks and balances.

A massive proponent of delivering value based business and avoiding 'commodity mindset' the Chapters 7 & 8 about the 'Dashboard' are written around defining what stage of growth you are at and then defining the relevant measures are golden, and worth purchasing the book just for this wisdom.

But there is so much more. A surprise for me was that there is an Eastern philosophy theme that particularly comes thorugh in the chapter about your Wealth Quotient - sometimes its not about the revenues and the next $.

A well structured and thought through book, it can be easily read, but might take a little longer to master - definitely one that you will want to add to the bookshelf and return to on a regular basis - my pages are already marked and margins written in and will continue to be added to.

One piece I felt missing was a final summary chapter, but this does not detract from the book and there are also additional downloads and resources from her site [...] that just add to the value.

This is great information melding marketing and strategy in strategic planning. Lisa's book brings some considerations into focus that traditional strategic planning tends to ignore. If I were counseling someone who was considering starting a new business or wanting to change direction, I would recommend this book as a "mini MBA" course for strategic and marketing planning. It oozes practical application in every chapter!

I'm a professional business coach and have worked with hundreds of organizations over the past 15 years. The vast majority of these companies always say they want to grow their organization. When I go through an analysis of their business very few are truly focused on growth, actually in words only. Lisa Nirell's book not only is focused the growth of an organization but ideas and tools which are easy to understand and implement in any business. From Key Performance Indicators down to elevator speeches and everything in between. Simple ideas that will begin to move your company forward quickly and painlessly

Lisa has written a book about a subject that is badly needed at this time...GROWTH!! We are spending way too much energy on survival when we need more focus on how to grow our business in the global economic world we live in today.

She provides us with a roadmap on how to make the journey, a set of processes to work by and a set of tools to use and adjust to our own special needs. A book such is this will be a great reference guide now and in the future.

I have read tons of books that take a retrospective or big picture view of what companies have done right or wrong. While many of these books have been great 'reads', they have offered little practical advice for budding entrepreneurs and seasoned business people alike looking to create a practical business plan that pays attention to marketing. This book is easy to read and offers a simple and straightforward way to look at your business. Most importantly it forces you to pay attention to your ideal customer and gives you tools to help you identify and reach them.

The author addresses the key areas that should be included in any business plan and breaks it down so you can do the process yourself. Buy this book if you are looking for inspiration, a new approach to marketing, and want to create a plan that you can use and implement for yourself.

Lisa writes not only from her strong background in Marketing, but also from her heart. She truly wants her audience to be Energized to attain signficant results! This book is spoken from solid experience, and a heart for people. A great read that must be underlined as you go!

You and I no longer have the luxury of waiting and reflecting. We must learn as we GROW and now is the time, this is the place and we are the ones who must make it happen. Let Lisa Nirell be your guide. Buy and apply this book now!

Nearly every entrepreneur faces a threat to the survival of their business that is so severe they have to wrestle with getting business, any business to survive. Sometimes this causes them to refocus their business on what the marketplace really wants from them. But too often it results in a loss of focus because they chase after too many things that are too different from each other to provide any synergistic effects. When you go after everything you are really chasing nothing. Too many young businesses crash and burn because they chased growing top line revenues without ever getting a handle on bottom line income until it was too late.

Lisa Nirell's new book, "EnergizeGrowth", provides a course in how to focus you business, your efforts, and your marketing program by identifying what your business really needs to be about. Going after too many good ideas is simply not good enough when you have limited resources, as every young business does. You need to find the great idea, the best option you can find. This option is often not obvious not because it is so arcane, but because of your mindset and the hypnotic effects of what you are presently focusing your attention on. Nirell takes you through exercises to help you see yourself, your business, your market, and your customers in fresh ways. Her book is filled with anecdotes from real world companies and how they dealt with the problems you are probably also facing.

By working through her book you end up with a dashboard that is tailored to your company's needs and the information you need to do something about it. You will also get a good handle on forming your brand and taking action on building it in solid ways. I really like her focus on getting more revenue from fewer clients because you have the right focus rather than pursuing a scattershot desperate acquisition of any piece of business you can grab.

A worthwhile read for anyone who needs to rethink their business and marketing focus.

Reviewed by Craig Matteson, Ann Arbor, MI

I think Ms. Nirell's book does an excellent job driving home the message to all of us crazy, out of balance entrepreneurs to step back, take a breath and (how to) proactively re-ignite the flame within. I thought the book provided terrific insight (almost like a virtual coach) around both strategic planning & promoting our personal brand. I particularly enjoyed the DASHBOARD section.