A d d u c e n t

I want to share with you an experience that I had with my firm, Software 2000+, LLC, using a book as a tool for marketing.  There was a client I worked, that I helped with strategic marketing and the sale of their products and services (embedded chip technology).  The CEO of this company wrote a book to show how different they were, than other companies that provided similar products and services.

My first thought was that the book would not be a very valuable tool.  I was wrong. 

I found that a book was an excellent tool that got me in the door with Fortune 100 and Fortune 500 companies and helped greatly with securing significant contracts (and sales) for the company.  I apologized to the CEO for my initial misgivings about using his book as a Sales & Marketing tool and now know from personal experience how powerful they are in helping a company establish its brand and making it stand out from the crowd and competition.

In fact, about five years later, I had occasion to refresh my contact with one Fortune 100 company CIO, who immediately remembered the book and recalled how impressed he was by it as being a “difference maker” when it came to deciding what company to use for its technology and solutions.  The "memory" of that book helped me to develop contact with that CIO on another opportunity.

Recently I was watching a news show that had a reporter covering a food related Trade Show in New York City; the reporter made a point of focusing on one particular participant at the show. 

Why the special focus on one company amongst hundreds? 

When they went up to the booth and met the CEO of the company, he made a point of showing and telling the reporter about the book that they wrote about their company. The book in great detail and pictures spoke (and showed) the quality of their products, their commitment to industry leading customer service; everything that defined them as attractive and appealing to their target market.  The interest and focus that the book brought them from this report, amounted to an “extended TV commercial” that they did not have to pay for. 

The bottom line?  I’m a believer.  Books work as Sales & Market builders.