The Referral of a Lifetime (The Ken Blanchard Series): The Networking System That Produces Bottom-line Results... Every Day! FROM THE PUBLISHER
Using a fable format, this first entry in Berrett-Koehler's new Ken Blanchard series of fun and practical business books offers a simple approach to getting a steady flow of referrals of prospective customers and clients. The story follows Susie McCumber, who's about to give up on her business. Before she returns to an unsatisfying job, a friend refers her to a mysterious person named David Michael Highground. This leads her to something new: treating business relationships as long-term investments (realizing the lifetime value of a client) as opposed to short-term investments (getting the sale and moving on). McCumber - and the reader - learns that investing in a system that projects integrity, character, and service will ultimately reduce stress, build self-esteem, and create a lasting, enjoyable business.
FROM THE CRITICS
Publishers Weekly
Like Who Moved My Cheese?, this book is a management tome in the form of a simple, readable narrative. This first title in the Ken Blanchard Series weaves a handful of business principles into the story of a disheartened businesswoman, Susie McCumber, and her desperation to boost her career. Along the way she meets a spiritual and corporate mentor, David Highground, who spews various prescriptions that aren't all that shocking: business is about relationships; create a massive network; "Keep in touch, consistently, personally and systematically"; and so on. Templeton, CEO of San Diego-based training firm MasterTrack, engagingly uses fiction to espouse his own company's principles (a system named High Ground, natch). It's a basic story, occasionally trite, but it's slickly written and works beautifully as something that's easy to gobble down in one sitting. (June) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.
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