Principled Profit: Marketing That Puts People First (Paperback)

~ (Author), Robin MacRostie (Illustrator)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Marketing consultant Horowitz (Grassroots Marketing: Getting Noticed in a Noisy World) offers the latest addition to the deluge of morally-centered business tomes. In one way, it's an overturning of traditional corporate wisdom-see your competitors as your allies, not your adversaries, Horowitz suggests-but it's also something we've been hearing an awful lot of lately: build meaningful relationships with your customers, view your employees as your partners and so on. Nevertheless, the arguments are all sound and illustrated with the customer-obsessed success stories of ventures like Saturn and Nordstrom. Horowitz is at his best when displaying his canny understanding of the media world, advising how to fit your business's message with the media's need to produce timely, relevant stories. But it also feels like the author is trying to riff on too many ideas, as he skips from thoughts on bartering to copywriting to investing. If readers don't mind following the occasionally meandering structure, they'll find this to be a bountiful source of marketing tips.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

A must read for anyone who wants to understand the new way of business and doing it well. -- John Kremer, author 1001 Ways to Market Your Book

A must read for anyone who wants to understand the new way of business and doing it well. -- John Kremer, author 1001 Ways to Market Your Book<br /><br />Combines the best of marketing and relationship theory with real-world examples and practical advice. -- Melany Rigner, editor Writer's Digest Magazine<br /><br />Horowitz's call for ethics in the business world is just as relevant to the world of public management and politics. -- Robert B. Reich, Former U.S. Secretary of Labor<br /><br />If you're interested in success, you need to read this book. -- Sheldon Bowles, co-author, with Dr. Ken Blanchard, Raving Fans and three other books<br /><br />People want to change the paradigm toward cooperation and people-centered behavior... I am delighted to recommend this book. -- Jack Canfield, CEO, Chicken Soup for the Soul Enterprises<br /><br />[Principled Profits] challenges traditional marketing methodology and suggests a more socially conscious [strategy]. --Various Endorsers

Combines the best of marketing and relationship theory with real-world examples and practical advice. -- Melany Rigner, editor Writer's Digest Magazine

Horowitz's call for ethics in the business world is just as relevant to the world of public management and politics. -- Robert B. Reich, Former U.S. Secretary of Labor

If you're interested in success, you need to read this book. -- Sheldon Bowles, co-author, with Dr. Ken Blanchard, Raving Fans and three other books

Marketing consultant Horowitz (Grassroots Marketing: Getting Noticed in a Noisy World) offers the latest addition to the deluge of morally-centered business tomes. In one way, it's an overturning of traditional corporate wisdom-see your competitors as your allies, not your adversaries, Horowitz suggests-but it's also something we've been hearing an awful lot of lately: build meaningful relationships with your customers, view your employees as your partners and so on. Nevertheless, the arguments are all sound and illustrated with the customer-obsessed success stories of ventures like Saturn and Nordstrom. Horowitz is at his best when displaying his canny understanding of the media world, advising how to fit your business's message with the media's need to produce timely, relevant stories. But it also feels like the author is trying to riff on too many ideas, as he skips from thoughts on bartering to copywriting to investing. If readers don't mind following the occasionally meandering structure, they'll find this to be a bountiful source of marketing tips. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --Publishers Weekly

People want to change the paradigm toward cooperation and people-centered behavior... I am delighted to recommend this book. -- Jack Canfield, CEO, Chicken Soup for the Soul Enterprises

Shel Horowitz's book shows how honest, ethical marketing can lead to big profits. Principled Profit promotes effective ways of marketing that are founded on honesty and integrity. I think this is a wonderful thing. Too many people in business think that just because it's 'business' they can do whatever they want in order to succeed. It's a strange image: people kiss their kids goodbye in the morning, hug their spouses and then, once at work, throw away all the individual values and principles they hold so dear in their homes and in their communities. The excuse? "It's just business." That's not good enough. What happened within companies like Enron and WorldCom has illustrated how badly things go wrong when we hide under the protection of, "It's just business." Shel's book shows us a different path. He shows us how to make money while still standing by our personal values. He demonstrates how honesty and decency can be the foundations of marketing success. Here's how he puts it in his introduction: "Too many businesses see marketing as a weapon of war. They think that to succeed, they have to climb over their competitors, fool their customers, and herd their employees into constricted conformity. I think that's just plain wrong." He uses numerous examples, case histories and quotations to illustrate and demonstrate how effectively one can market by putting aside all notions of 'war' and 'winning'. You'll find examples drawn from large businesses and small, with everything in between. That's the beauty of this book and Shel's thinking: he stands on honesty and integrity, while at the same time offering practical, proven ways in which to market effectively. --Nick Usborne, Excess Voice

[Principled Profits] challenges traditional marketing methodology and suggests a more socially conscious [strategy]. -- ForeWord Magazine

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Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: Accurate Writing & More (June 5, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0961466669
• ISBN-13: 978-0961466664
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.8 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,035,471 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Practical, refreshing, and deceptively simple, February 1, 2004

By	T. Jonas - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

As an advertising major in college turned off from the profession's focus on selling of products people don't really need, as a consumer all too often exposed to screaming car dealership commercials and bait-and-switch tactics, and as a new business owner... I was definitely interested in what Shel Horowitz had to say in this book!

The very first sentence, on the very first page, was sheer delight. As it happened, that page (and the five pages following it) contained endorsements and blurbs by the very well-known in the marketing field... and here's how the author introduced them: "Many of these blurbs are shortened for space reasons... The complete versions are posted at <http://www.principledprofits.com/blurbs.html>." My goodness! How many times have I, as a movie and book consumer, been deceived by three words taken completely out of context of a review? Not this time! This first sentence promised an entirely new approach.

The book includes practical advice ("Run your business in alignment with your core values; don't try to be something you're not") as well as practical statistics (i.e. "Gay and lesbian purchasing power is about $400 billion"), both of which a business owner can certainly use. While the practical advice may sometimes seem simple, in reality it is not. Using the example above, how many times, purely in a social setting in which literally nothing is at stake, are people tempted to try to be something they're not? How much more so when one's livelihood is on the line? The author's reminder is both apt and profound, and something to be taped to the top of one's computer monitor.

The author's marketing strategy is also both strong and logical. "I create marketing that has the prospect calling me!" is a typical example. Again, on first approach it seems simple---but few marketers take the time to really create the draw or pull that will create action in a consumer who really does need the product or service. Instead, we have announcers shouting to us over the radio that they will not be undersold! What difference does a car dealership's competitive ambition not to be undersold make to me as a consumer? Nada. On the other hand, last year while I was half-mindedly watching mortgage rates dive even lower, I received a simple, thoughtful letter from a mortgage broker giving me concrete information on how much I could expect to save at a certain interest rate compared to my current interest rate, how I could pay for the refinancing closing costs, and the steps to take to contact him to do it. I did refinance with that mortgage representative.

Some of the advice given in the book is fairly standard, but many other suggestions are both practical and new. And it's refreshing to see an author writing about turning down a sale when it's not right for him---and not necessarily for the reasons one might think.

CONS (1) Initially, I wished for less examples from the author's career and more from other companies. I did get that wish later on in the book (he cites some very interesting examples, in fact, such as Rosenbluth International, which "will go so far as to open a new branch office, just to serve a new account"); it just can take patience to get there. (2) The author extols two techniques which just did not ring right: flattering a prospect/playing into that person's ego, and putting time pressure on a person when it might not be the right time for the person to buy the product. These stood out all the more because the rest of the book is not like that. (3) One begins to wish the author would stop mentioning his other book, as one begins to feel that one is a sitting duck for a repetitive sales pitch. Enough already!

PROS (1) This book led me to question things I never thought to question, but should have; for example, the sentence "We need to gain market share" (read: we need to take some market share from a competitor). (2) The book serves as a great reminder where to put one's priorities. Beyond integrity and personal satisfaction (which is, after all, why we live life), for instance, the author quotes the CEO of Southwest Airlines, who reminds us, "Market share has nothing to do with profitability. Market share says we just want to be big; we don't care if we make money doing it. To get an additional 5 percent of the market, some companies increased their costs by 25 percent." (3) A balanced approach to many issues; I respect an author who gives both sides of the story or both pros and cons to an approach. (4) The book uses examples with which everyday consumers and readers will be familiar; for instance, a grocery store chain that pioneered the reservation of parking spaces for pregnant customers, and the office supply chain which rearranged its stores to steer its customers to the right technology for what they needed (I believe that's Office Depot).

(A note on the rating: The lack of half-stars on the rating scale didn't give me a good option for an accurate rating. At the time of this review I have only given 5 stars to one book, and not many four-star reviews, either. This book is above average. If I could have given a rating on a scale from one to ten, I would have given it a 7.)

The author makes a bold statement in Chapter 3: "Does the last chapter mean there's no place for salespeople anymore? Not at all---but it does mean that some businesses don't need a sales force if their marketing is properly effective." Bravo!

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Feel Good About the Marketing You Do!, February 1, 2004

By	Marion Gropen "publishing consultant" (Gropen Associates, NY, NY United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is the sales and marketing book for the folks that don't want to feel sleazy about the whole process. Shel Horowitz shows how to sell more while doing good for the world and feeling good about yourself and your efforts. He gives specific, practical examples of people and organizations that are doing the things he advocates, and talks about ways to adapt the techniques to a variety of situations.

I purchased this book because I had seen samples of Shel's advice on the publishing community lists to which I subscribe. (That participation is, in fact, a perfect example of the kind of conduct advocated in this book.) I wanted to learn more about how to market my own consulting company. I did, and it works.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Win/Win Marketing Does Work, Really, February 21, 2004

By	Kitty Werner "katinvermont" (Waitsfield, Vermont United States) - See all my reviews

True win/win marketing is the ideal everyone in business should strive for. Shel Horowitz's Principled Profit, Marketing That Puts People First is the definitive book on the art and practice of win/win marketing. He shows you how to create marketing that not only helps your own business, but by helping another business simply passes around success that enhances every business or situation it touches.

Horowitz not only practices what he preaches, he lives it. With true examples, he shows how the system works for just about every business situation imaginable. He shows that even helping your competition can help you help your own business.

Perhaps "principled profit" should be made the new mantra of business. Practicing Principled Profit bodes well for business, as well as in our personal lives. What a wonderful world this could be!

Well recommended for anyone, not just business people, looking to make a positive mark in this world.

Kitty Werner, author, The Savvy Woman's Guide to Owning a Home; How to Care For, Maintain and Improve Your Home, published by RSBPress.