Customers First: Dominate Your Market by Winning Them Over Where It Counts the Most

THE RIGHT PHRASE FOR EVERY SITUATION . . . EVERY TIME

You've heard it a million times: "The customer is always right." But let’s face it--sometimes the customer is misinformed, confused, or downright difficult. The ability to handle such customers is what separates the serious professional from the average employee.

Perfect Phrases for Customer Service, second edition, provides the language you need for everyday customer service situations--and includes simple, effective techniques that can help you meet even the most demanding customer needs. Master the most effective words and phrases for:

• Defusing bad situations before they get worse
• Handling complaints patiently and professionally
• Satisfying customers and increasing sales
• Building long-term relationships with important customers

What is most important to your success as a sales or business professional? Is it education, experience, product knowledge, job title, territory, or business dress? Is it your company's reputation, product, price, marketing collateral, delivery lead times, in stock ratios, service guarantees, management strength, or warehouse location? Is it testimonials, the latest Forbes write up, or brand awareness? Is it the investment in the latest CRM software, business 2.0 tools, or social media strategy?

You could hire a fancy consulting firm, make the list longer, add some bullet points, put it into a PowerPoint presentation, and go through the whole dog and pony show. But at the end of the day there will be only one conclusion… None of the above! You see, the most important competitive edge for today's business professionals cannot be found on this list, your resume, or in any of your company's marketing brochures.

If you want to know the real secret to what matters most in business, just look in the mirror. That's right, it's YOU. Do these other things matter? Of course they do, but when all things are equal (and in the competitive world we live in today, things almost always are) People Buy You.

Your ability to build lasting business relationships that allow you to close more deals, retain clients, increase your income, and advance your career to rise the top of your company or industry, depends on your skills for getting other people to like you, trust you, and BUY YOU.

This break-through book pushes past the typical focus on mechanics and stale processes found in so many of today's sales and business books, and goes right to the heart of what matters most in 21^st century business. Offering a straight forward, actionable formula for creating instant connections with prospects and customers, People Buy You will enable you to achieve a whole new level of success in your sales and business career. You'll discover:

• Three relationship myths that are holding you back
• Five levers that open the door to stronger relationships that quickly increase sales, improve retention, increase profits and advance your career
• The real secret to making instant emotional connections that eliminate objections and move buyers to reveal their real problems and needs
• How to anchor your business relationships and create loyal customers who will never leave you for a competitor
• How to build your personal brand to improve your professional presence and stand-out in the market place

No Thanks, I'm Just Looking gives anyone the inside scoop on how to skyrocket their selling career with a system of easy-to-learn practical money-making steps. By saving countless hours of trial-and-error experience, readers will be able to focus on the things that really work. Considered to be retail guru Harry J. Friedman's personal collection of proven selling techniques, No Thanks, I'm Just Looking includes all the tips and humorous anecdotes that have made him retail's most sought-after consultant.

No Thanks, I'm Just Looking delivers the tricks of the trade from an international retail authority.

• Author is the most heavily attended speaker on retail selling and operational management in the world
• These groundbreaking high-performance training systems have been used by more than 500,000 retailers, from small independents to the likes of Neiman Marcus, Cartier, Billabong, La-Z-Boy and Godiva, to routinely deliver more sales
• Friedman created the number one retail sales and management system used by more retailers than any other system of its kind in the world

Managers don't get paid for what they do but rather for the performance of their people; therefore, a manager's most important job is coaching behaviors in order to improve performance. In People Follow You managers will learn five easily understood and implemented levers critical to influencing the performance of the people they lead. Ultimately, people follow people that they like, trust, and believe in. Understand how to build stronger relationships with direct and indirect reports that lead to loyalty, higher productivity, and long-term development.

Relevant to middle and high level managers, People Follow You provides a foundation for managing people. Practical lessons help managers employ winning interpersonal skills to move others to take action.

• Learn how to leverage the basics of interpersonal relationships to inspire others to take action
• Get a simple and actionable formula for connecting with employees and indirect reports and gaining their buy-in through the use of personal power vs. the power of authority
• Discover the fundamental on-the-job coaching skills that deliver instant performance improvement
• Author Jeb Blount is the most downloaded sales expert in iTunes history; his Sales Gravy and Sales Guy audio programs have been downloaded more than 3 million times

Michael Hyatt, one of the top business bloggers in the world, provides down-to-earth guidance for building and expanding a powerful platform.

To be successful in the market today, you must possess two strategic assets: a compelling product and a meaningful platform. In this step-by-step guide, Michael Hyatt, former CEO and current Chairman of Thomas Nelson Publishers, takes readers behind the scenes, into the new world of social media success. He shows you what best-selling authors, public speakers, entrepreneurs, musicians, and other creatives are doing differently to win customers in today's crowded marketplace. Hyatt speaks from experience. He writes one of the top 800 blogs in the world and has more than 100,000 followers on Twitter. His large and growing platform serves as the foundation for his successful writing, speaking, and consulting practice.

In Platform, Hyatt will teach readers not only how to extend their influence, but also how to monetize it and build a sustainable career. The key? By building a platform. It has never been easier, less expensive, or more possible than right now. . .  The book includes:

• proven strategies
• easy-to-replicate formulas
• practical tips

Social media technologies have changed everything. Now, for the first time in history, non-celebrities can get noticed-and win big!-in an increasingly noisy world.

Endorsements:

"I've known Michael Hyatt for more than a decade, and during that time I've seen him master just about every social media platform that's hit the scene. He's used blogging, Facebook, Twitter and more to expand his personal platform from a successful book publisher to a leading national brand of his own. Trust me, this guy knows what he's talking about-so pay attention!" -DAVE RAMSEY, New York Times Best-selling Author, Host, "The Dave Ramsey Show"

"A generous book from a man who knows what he's talking about. Michael Hyatt has built a platform, and you can too." -SETH GODIN, New York Times Best-selling Author, We Are All Weird

"Platform is absolutely essential to delivering value. As a big fan of Michael Hyatt, I'm excited he's sharing this with you. Your job? Learn about this and implement it. Your success depends on it." -CHRIS BROGAN, President, Human Business Works, New York Times Best-selling Author

"Michael Hyatt is the authority on creating a platform in our crowded world, and Platform is the definitive, step-by-step guide to building a platform-from the ground up. If you're longing to become a true influencer in this world, Hyatt can teach you how. With Platform, Hyatt's done the near-impossible: create a guide even more useful than his wildly popular blog!" -CLAIRE DIAZ ORTIZ, Social Innovation, Twitter, Inc.

"I have watched Michael Hyatt build his own platform from the ground up to become one of the largest in the world. And he has done so with the strategies and tips he outlines in this very practical book. Any author, speaker, or small business owner who wants a blueprint for getting the attention and visibility they want, needs to read this book." -JOHN C. MAXWELL, New York Times Best-selling Author, and Leadership Expert

"Michael Hyatt is a pioneer in social media who is now generously sharing his 'secrets' with those of us who have been marveling at his success for many years. Whether you are a seasoned writer, blogger, speaker and social media enthusiast, or just now starting out, this book will help you take that next step and begin to build a platform of your own." -DAN T. CATHY, President & COO, Chick-fil-A, Inc.

"In today's world, having an idea isn't enough to land a book or record deal, get a movie made or find funding for your startup.  You need a platform: A connected following that's ready to try, buy and spread the word. Finally, in a single book, the blueprint for your platform is revealed by blog wunderkind Michael Hyatt.  You'll finish this book slowly, because his simple but powerful advice will interrupt you with go-do-it-now urgency. Read it and expand your influence." -TIM SANDERS, Former Chief Solutions Officer at Yahoo, Author of Today We Are Rich 

"When I finished the last page of Platform, I realized I had more actionable notes from the book than from any other business book I've read in years.  This is the definitive guidebook for building an online presence.  Michael Hyatt, one of the pioneers of social networking and blogging, shares his successful blueprint for raising your visibility.  Learn from his experience and save yourself time, money, and frustration by following his step-by-step advice." -SKIP PRICHARD, President & CEO, Ingram Content Group, Inc.

"Yes, talent, desire and passion are key elements for success as an author, musician, artist, coach or speaker. But this book identifies the elephant in the room-the other 90% of the process necessary to have a voice in today's arena."  -DAN MILLER, Creative thinker at 48Days.net and  Author of, 48 Days to the Work You Love

"For the last five years, if I ever had a question about platform building, social media or standing out amidst the clutter, I turned to one place-Michael Hyatt. As an author who turned a blog into a book and made countless mistakes along the way, I couldn't get my hands on Platform fast enough. Michael Hyatt has written THE handbook to one of the biggest cultural revolutions in the last fifty years." -JON ACUFF, Wall Street Journal Bestselling Author of Quitter: Closing the Gap Between YourDay Job & Your Dream Job

"Michael Hyatt has given much of his professional career to helping others achieve their potential. And he helps others by pioneering a way and then teaching people his way. In Platform, he's accumulated the best of his counsel and advice. If you'd like to expand your influence, read Platform and then read it again." - DONALD MILLER,  New York Times Best-selling Author of Blue Like Jazz