Marketing Your Services : For People Who Hate to Sell [Paperback]

Rick Crandall (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 10, 2002

To many people, marketing means personal selling or advertising, imposing oneself on others, and trying to get people to buy something they may not want. Rick Crandall debunks these myths in Marketing Your Services, a grassroots guide to marketing and building relationships with customers to achieve success. Directed primarily to entrepreneurs, small business owners and solo service providers, the book offers more than 1000 practical tips that can help make a marketer out of anyone who wants to serve customers better. Crandall intentioned this book as a marketing crash course specifically for service providers – from lawyers to freelance writers, from carpenters to landscapers. All of the basics of marketing are explained in easy-to-understand terms. Helpful hints, tips and suggestions are illustrated through examples with which non-professional marketers can easily identify. The overall tone is conversational and reassuring. The expanded & updated edition reflects a thorough revisior including a change in organization, so the book begins with chapters on marketing basics -- like advertising, sales, and publicity -- then moves into more focused chapters addressing professional and relationship building methods. A new chapter on online marketing is included and examples of effective online marketing techniques and strategies are woven in throughout. Self-motivation is given more extensive coverage, international examples have been added as have more specific examples from service business start-ups. The lengthy appendices have been updated to include new templates and examples.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Small business marketing is often represented as a sales technique to get people to buy: this service-oriented approach advocates paying attention to serving customers rather than selling services. Use this as a beginner's guide to marketing processes and applications: it covers everything from free publicity to business networking opportunities. -- Midwest Book Review --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From the Back Cover

Updated with new tips that guarantee profitable results!

"Required reading for anyone who is in the business of providing services."
--Jay Conrad Levinson, author of Guerrilla Marketing

Whether you are a new business or an established service provider, it's likely you hate the idea of selling and are convinced that the "p" in promotion stands for pushy. As a result, your client base is static or you are not attracting the best clients. Inject new life into your business and improve your bottom line without losing a shred of self-respect. In Marketing Your Services, you'll find comprehensive explanations of all the key ways to attract business without ever resorting to humiliating "hard-sell" tactics.

This popular guide has been completely updated to include the latest ideas on Internet promotion and low-cost or no-cost tactics. The "Action Agendas" give you ideas you can use immediately The hundreds of real-life examples, dignified strategies, and hands-on exercises offered in this go-to guide will inspire even the most reluctant self-promoter to tap the marketing genius within. You'll learn how to:

• Jumpstart a campaign with one-minute marketing plans
• Plan and execute effective advertising that fits your budget
• Generate instant word-of-mouth with free publicity
• Cultivate relationships with your customers rather than "cold-call" for new clients

Marketing Your Services also includes material from:

• Ken Blanchard, author of The One-Minute Manager
  
• Peter Drucker, author of The Practice of Management
  
• Tom Peters, author of In Search of Excellence

Follow Rick Crandall's down-to-earth advice and create marketing plans that suit your personal style and honestly address client needs. With an effective, reliable marketing routine in place, you can free up time to devote to your number one love--providing the service itself!

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill; 2 edition (October 10, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0071398716
• ISBN-13: 978-0071398718
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 7 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #319,441 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Must-read for anyone trying to promote a service business!, October 2, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Marketing Your Services : For People Who Hate to Sell (Paperback)

I've just started a consulting business and I have no marketing experience. I've also realized this business is more than consulting, I need to learn how to sell myself!

Most marketing books focus on "product" marketing - a lot of their methods do not apply to service marketing. This book is fun to read and applies marketing methods specifically to service businesses and provides real-world actions you can take today to promote your business with little or no money! I've already implemented some of the methods. I love this book!

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Don't Bother, September 19, 2007

By 

S. Atman (Southern California) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Marketing Your Services : For People Who Hate to Sell (Paperback)

This book is being returned. I wanted something written by someone who doesn't like to sell but learned to do it in spite of him/herself. This book was obviously written by someone who loves to sell, and will do anything to promote. If you don't believe me, look at the people who have reviewed this washed out excuse of a book. Most books here at Amazon are reviewed by people with either names or nicknames, but all the Five Star reviewers of this book go by the name "Reader." The exception is Joe Vitale, who will do and say anything for a buck. I wish I'd read all the reviews before buying -- I would have avoided this book.

Yes, I sound crabby. I'm angry that I was suckered by another badly-written misrepresented book.

Avoid it. There are better titles with superior information reviewed by people other than the author's friends.

19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Marketplace Of Great Marketing Ideas!, August 31, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Marketing Your Services : For People Who Hate to Sell (Paperback)

     Do you desire to go online to sell your products and services? Every day people go online with the hope of successfully marketing the products and services they have to offer the world. How about you? Are you in need of a consultant to provide some winning solutions? Rick Crandall has written Marketing Your Services to offer some fresh ideas that will help you to effectively market yourself.

     Crandall, who wrote 1001 Ways to Market Your Services, offers detailed coaching throughout this book to equip readers with the know-how they need to succeed. Readers are encouraged to take advantage of everyday opportunities such as current events, community affairs, and the media to gain an audience and prospective clients. Clever, thoughtful, and honest advice is a valued commodity these days. Humor is important too! Crandall offers it all here!

     The book includes chapters dealing with a variety of marketing strategies, such as seeking free publicity, networking, referrals, public speaking, writing, publishing newsletters, and using telephones, fax machines, and the Internet. An appendix offers 105 great marketing ideas that will get anyone noticed quick! Although the book does not deal entirely with online marketing, every matter discussed in the book can in some way be directly applied to the online community.

     Reading through this book will give readers plenty of great marketing ideas. The author's warm personal approach makes this book believable and very easy to read. Entrepreneurs offering any product or service, regardless of their levels of experience, can put this marketing book to effective use. Highly recommended!