Product Description
What’s Your BQ? It could be the most important question you can ask and answer if you are running a business in today’s competitive landscape. Consider the fact that that 80% of new brands fail upon introduction and another 10% fail within five years. With the heightened competition and consumer savvy of the 21st century, it is imperative that every business owner knows how to build a competitive advantage into their brand. The book will give y… More >>
#1 by Dann T. Allen on June 28, 2010 - 1:22 am
I highly recommend this book to anyone who is in the field of branding, marketing, business strategy or customer experience! Sandra simply (and humorously) articulates an easy, straightforward methodology for brand building. The real world examples reinforce the necessity and ultimately, the benefits of using this methodology. It’s something that every business leader can use, and company size does not matter. I personally have found it beneficial in my Customer Experience strategy work – to deliver on the brand promise. A very inspiring, engaging and practical book!
Rating: 5 / 5
#2 by Scott Sorrell on June 28, 2010 - 3:01 am
Wow! What a gloriously painful experience!
After using the first 25 pages to completely eviscerate my business using her brilliant Brand Quotient model, author Sandra Sellani then guided me through several exercises to put my business back together like the Six Million Dollar Man: “better than I was before — better, stronger, faster.”
Sellani taught me to think in brand-new ways. When I started her “What business are you in” exercise, I thought I knew the answer. But she took me to a whole new level, showing me that I’m not actually in the business of corporate sales training, which was the obvious answer. Instead, the true (but not-so-obvious) answer emerged when I finally wrote “I’m in the business of giving executives hope that their inexperienced, ignorant, lazy or otherwise ineffective salespeople can be turned into a crack team of self-motivated, profitable sales professionals … or at least that they’ll prospect a little more, follow up once in a while, ask for the business periodically, and not leave so much money on the table!” It’s nothing I’ll use as a tagline, of course, but the knowledge of what I’m really selling — hope — will serve me well the next time I’m closing a deal with a company president!
“What’s Your BQ” also taught me that a lot of the differentiators I thought I had were not differentiators at all (did I mention evisceration is painful?). But all hope was not lost, because the book also helped me achieve some mental breakthroughs on true differentiation, which promise to make “Mr. Charge Higher Prices” even more profitable — and that’s the whole point, isn’t it?
Finally, there are 35 mini company case studies which comprise the bulk of the book, and each is capped off with a short list of insightful questions that allow you as the reader to relate your own business back to the strategies and strengths of the example companies (meaning, yes, you turn up plenty of your own weaknesses — ouch again!).
I highly recommend this book. Every businessperson should read it, be they executive, entrepreneur, salesperson or marketing professional. I take that back — every businessperson should DO this book. If you merely read it and don’t do the often uncomfortable exercises, you’re wasting your time because it will then come across only as a “good” book, instead of the GREAT book that it really is.
Scott Sorrell
“Mr. Charge Higher Prices”
CEO, Sales Adrenaline
http://SalesAdrenaline.com
Rating: 5 / 5
#3 by T. Sawyer on June 28, 2010 - 4:09 am
Whether you are a marketeer or not, anyone in business will appreciate the thoughtful approach Sandra Sellani has put into her book about knowing your brand quotient. In her book, she analyzes many companies, some name brand and some not, about what they have done to further their brands and what has worked. For anyone trying to build a brand, this book provides amazing insights and case studies. As a PR person who has worked with many name brand companies, I highly recommend it.
Rating: 5 / 5
#4 by Kenny Jackson, CCIM on June 28, 2010 - 6:14 am
We recently started a new business venture and “What’s your BQ” was an excellent tool in helping us define and communicate our business model. This book reminds you to slow down and really work through the process of how to communicate your competitive advantage. You only get one chance to make a good first impression so take the time to get it right!
Kenny Jackson
Redfish Advisors LLC
Managing Principal
[...]
Rating: 5 / 5
#5 by Robert Deigh on June 28, 2010 - 8:42 am
Sellani has chosen some very interesting organizations with which to illustrate the points she makes in her excellent book about building a strong and lasting brand. This should be on the shelf of anyone involved in marketing, sales, public relations and advertising.
Rating: 5 / 5