Book Description
CEOs regularly announce ambitious growth targets, then fail to achieve them. The reason? Their growing addiction to bad profits. These corporate steroids boost short-term earnings but alienate customers. They undermine growth by creating legions of detractors—customers who complain loudly about the company and switch to competitors at the earliest opportunity.
Based on extensive research, The Ultimate Question shows how companies can rigorously measure Net Promoter statistics, help managers improve them, and create communities of passionate advocates that stimulate innovation. Vivid stories from leading-edge organizations illustrate the ideas in practice.
Practical and compelling, this is the one book—and the one tool—no growth-minded leader can afford to miss.
Customer Reviews:
Too Good to Be True.......2007-09-13
I gotta admit I was taken in by the book, but the problem comes in when you attempt to link the NPS score to any performance measure. The academics have all but refuted Reicheld's claims. Unfortunately, statistics matter and the best way to measure something with a survey is to use a multiple item, multiple measured scale. However, NPS does have some redeeming qualities, in focusing mangement behind one number. Many academics are recommending that if you must use NPS to use it along with other traditional statistical measures.
A Great Book for Customer Service & Marketing.......2007-08-28
Fred does a very good job at explaining that your best & foremost marketing tool are your employees. His Net Promoter Score (NPS) system he has developed is an innovation for the corporate world and I believe is the way forward.
The book is well documented and gives you step by step infoon how to implement the NPS system within your company.
J C Miller.......2007-07-30
IF you want to truly find out what your customers are thinking about your business this book is a must read. It teaches you how to equate customer satisfaction into tangable profit dollars. It helps effectively use the customer feedback to get your employees delivering service beyond expectation!
It's about time to state the obvious !.......2007-07-19
We can finally begin to realize that the very customers that use our services are the same ones that resent being "surveyed" into oblivion !
Only the very best companies can sustain somewhat correct feedback to begin with. I only wondered how long it would take for business leaders to stop abusing your best customers with long questionaires that may not even be relavant to the shopping experience. This may not be the ultimate destination for determining consumer needs but it is a great start in the right direction and an opportunity to save all the wasted money on self centered and manipulated customer focus groups.
There's A Better Alternative.......2007-07-19
I wish that I could have given this book a higher rating. I loved Mr. Reichheld's impassioned admonition against "bad profits," which he defines as profits made at the expense of customers. I also agree with him that good surveys are short surveys. You might want to buy this book for these two reasons alone. The bold proclamation that he has discovered The Ultimate Question, however, is like proclaiming that the check-engine light is the ultimate dashboard gauge.
Psychometrically, the Net Promoter Score (NPS) is a difference score that is based upon a single-item rating scale, and such scores can be very problematic. Albert M. Wilburn has already pointed out that different distributions of ratings can yield the same NPS, and that these distributions "probably differ in their implications on repurchase behavior." Notwithstanding, in Appendix A, Reichheld provides some evidence the NPS approach can work, and he is honest enough to disclose that it doesn't always work. Between the admonition against "bad profits" and Appendix A, there are a lot of stories.
There is an alternative to the NPS that has a more established track record. In 1994, Bradley T. Gale published Managing Customer Value, which disclosed AT&T's finding that the ratio of the perceived value of a company's products or services to that of its competitors is predictive of changes in market share. Since then, this finding has been reproduced in a variety of contexts worldwide. The methodology that surrounds the perceived-value ratio, Customer Value Analysis, estimates the impacts of the various price and non-price attributes that drive customers' value perceptions. This methodology is best described in Customer Value Management: A Guide for Your Journey to Best-Practice Processes by Khalid Hafiz and Scott Hendricks (Houston: APQC, 2001). Buy this little book either instead of, or along with, The Ultimate Question.
Book Description
This book brings together the strategic role of the supply chain, key strategic drivers of supply chain performance, and the underlying tools and techniques for supply chain analysis. Students are able to articulate the strategic importance of supply chain thinking and support their ideas with evidence that can be built using models.
Customer Reviews:
A Brilliant Analysis of Three "Key" Interrelationships.......2007-08-08
As Sunil Chopra and Peter Meindl explain in their Preface, the purpose of their book is to help those who read it to "develop an understanding of the following key areas and their interrelationships: the strategic role of a supply chain, the key strategic drivers of supply chain performance, and [the] analytical methodologies for supply chain analysis." I think their material will be of greatest interest and value to executives who are now centrally involved in management of larger organizations' supply chains. However, I think their book will also be of substantial benefit to others who are directly or indirectly involved as strategic allies in those supply chains, those who can also help to ensure effective management of them.
Chopra and Meindl carefully organize their material as follows:
Part I: Building a Strategic Framework to Analyze Supply Chains
Part II: Designing the Supply Chain Network
Part III: Planning Demand and Supply in a Supply Chain
Part IV: Planning and Managing Inventories in a Supply Chain
Part V: Designing and Planning Transportation Networks
Part VI: Managing Cross-Functional Drivers in a Supply Chain
I was especially interested in the final part because one of the greatest challenges when establishing and then sustaining an effective supply chain is to take into full account the need to get all participants in proper alignment, especially when cross-functional resources to achieve to achieve mutually-beneficial results. In Part VI, Chopra and Meindl respond to questions such as these:
1. What is the role of sourcing?
2. How to achieve design collaboration?
3. What are the most important "drivers" of pricing and revenue management?
4. What is IT's role?
5. What does effective risk management require?
6. What are the major barriers to effective coordination?
7. How to build strategic partnerships and trust between and among stakeholders?
Many readers (I among them) will also appreciate the provision of a "Summary of Learning Objectives" and "Discussion Questions" at the conclusion of each of the 17 chapters. Credit Chopra and Meindl with fully achieving their objectives when they set out to write this book: To help their readers to understand the strategic role of a supply chain, the key strategic drivers of supply chain performance, and the analytic methodologies for supply chain analysis.
Bravo!
Book Description
For advanced undergraduate and MBA courses in Supply Chain Management.
This book brings together the strategic role of the supply chain, key strategic drivers of supply chain performance, and the tools and techniques for supply chain analysis. Every chapter gives suggestions that managers can use in practice and all methodologies are illustrated with an application in Excel. Fully updated material keeps the book on the forefront of supply chain management.
Distribution networks (Chapter 4); Sourcing (Chapter 13), discusses different sourcing activities including supplier assessment, supplier contracts, design collaboration, and procurement; Price and revenue management (Chapter 15); Early coverage of designing the supply chain network—after developing a strategic framework, readers can discuss supply chain network design in Chapters 5 and 6 and then move on to demand, supply, inventory, and transportation planning; Information Technology in the Supply Chain (Chapter 17).
For business professionals managing the supply chain.
Customer Reviews:
A good solid supply chain basics book.......2006-05-23
We use this book for supply chain training to new entrants at our firm. It is quite a good supply chain basics book - covering the topic in all its breadth. the coverage is perhaps a slightly less strategic and more technical than our needs - but that is understandable given the background of one of the authors. However, to be fair, it is the best book that we have found on supply chain management to get the people up to speed on the basics.
Price too high.......2004-08-25
What I got was a second Indian Reprint, it costs around $4 in India, but I had to pay around $35 (shippment not inlcuded in this amount)! What an arbitrage!
Good reference material for practitioners.......2003-02-17
I found this book to be a great source of reference for managers. It is not really a good teaching source, as I thought it already starts with a fair amount of assumed previous knowledge and jargon.
The sections that are most well developed are the ones on inventory management and transportation logistics, where I found examples that were directly applicable to situations I encountered in a retail environment. The portion on forecasting was not as useful, and the part on e-business seemed somewhat contrived. Overall, this is the best reference I have found that does not require a heavy amount of mathematical familiarity.
Excellent book overall but..........2003-01-08
I refered and used this book in 2 grad level courses. The first was a business school course on SCM (with an above average quantitative focus for a B-school course) and again for a fully quatitative SC Engineering course. While I was initially very impressed with the book, using this over 2 semesters has raised a few gripes.
For the qualitative issues on SCM {make no mistake, these 'fluff' aspects are very important} there is no other equal. Chopra and Meindl do an outstanding and comprehensive job. They also bring out the importance of using scientific, quantitative techniques for SCM. This however is where my gripes start.
Having brought out the importance of quantitative tools for use in SCM, they do only a moderate job on explaining these tools. For example, the chapter on forecasting (only the most simple and commonly used models are explained) is unnnecessarily complex and confusing. The topics covered are adequete but need revision. Treatment of inventory management also could be more detailed and better explained.
This is an excellent book but for more comprehensive learning (if you want an understanding of the quantitative aspects too), I think this book needs supplementing (say with course notes) or another book like "Modeling the Supply Chain" by Shapiro.
Peter Meindl - The Godfather of modern supply chain mgt.......2001-11-27
Written by one of the leading minds in the field, Peter Meindl of I2 technologies has a lot to teach. This is an excellent text and as a fellow Dallas/Ft. Worth resident, I would enjoy meeting him. If you are an MBA student with a concentration in Operations Management, this text should be required.
Meindl, a management team member of I2, has helped develop I2 into the undisputed champion in enterprise software. While SAP may have the market share with their archaic DOS based application, I2 has windows functionality and everything that matters. They have raised the bar with their supply chain knowledge, leading solutions, and collaborative knowledge in supply chain strategy. This text will give you a big step forward in becoming a Supply Chain leader.
Book Description
This exciting new textbook provides exceptional coverage of the essential topics taught in a modern operations management course. Its highly current coverage includes contemporary and relevant service theory and applications. Appropriate manufacturing applications and theory are included where relevant. The book's modern/strategic approach addresses OM from a cross-functional perspective, which views operations as linked to all other functional areas of an organization, such as marketing and finance. The strategic approach takes into consideration the integration of technology and how it changes the way a firm operates. Recognition of this current trend is the main differentiating factor for this Collier/Evans text. The book provides equal coverage of manufacturing and services theory and applications, while placing an emphasis on the integration of the value chain.
Book Description
Building on the experiences of scores of companies and hundreds of managers, J.M. Juran, the world-renowned quality pioneer, presents a new, exhaustively comprehensive approach to planning, setting, and reaching quality goals. Employing three case examples which encompass the three major sectors of the economy -- service, manufacturing, and support, he offers a practical plan for companies to achieve strategic, market-driven goals by following a structural approach to planning quality. Quality, according to Juran, has become a prerequisite for business success. He cites the loss of market share, failure of products, and waste as results of poor quality planning. Juran provides a set of universal steps which can be used in the basic managerial process to establish quality goals, identify customers, determine customer needs, provide measurement, and develop process features and controls to improve business tactics. The author gives new emphasis to setting quality goals, planning in "multifunctional" processes, establishing data bases for quality planning, motivating managers and the work force, and introducing quality planning into organizations.
Customer Reviews:
Excellent book.......2006-05-24
This is a high quality book on quality that is well written with excellent examples and illustrations to reinforce the concepts that are in the book. It explores and explains the various quality theories and processes.
Joseph M. Juran made many contributions to the field of quality management in over 70 years of his active working life. He revolutionized the Japanese philosophy on quality management and helped shape their economy into the industrial leader it is today. Dr. Juran was the first to incorporate the human aspect of quality management which is referred to as Total Quality Management.
Juran's philosophy is centred on top management involvement, the Pareto principle, the need for widespread training in quality, the definition of quality as fitness for use, the project-by-project approach to quality improvement, among others.
Quality specialists will find the book very handy as it gives an in-depth analysis of the subject with practical guides on how to apply the concepts in their organisations.
Juran provides design rigor........2005-01-06
Juran on Quality by Design offers a look into the thinking by members of the Juran Institute on the means to deliver quality products and services through a customer focused planning process. This latest Juran book is actually a replacement and expansion of one of its predecessors, Juran on Planning for Quality (Free Press, 1988). The similarities between the two books is significant enough that this new book should have been promoted as the second edition of the first. The new title is much better aligned with the intent of the discussion contained, since the earlier title made the line management audience less obvious than required for the use of the procedures contained throughout the volume.
In Planning for Quality, Juran laid out a ten-step road map for the planning of new products to meet the explicit and known needs of the customer. Using a chapter-by-chapter approach that followed the road map step-by-step, Juran explained the overall process of designing quality into the product in a fashion that makes the work useful to both line staff chartered with implementing the processes and senior management who must provide the commitment and leadership that make it all work. As each step progressed, Juran built a spreadsheet that captured the necessary process and product data needed to provide traceability from customer needs through process controls and product quality control tests.
In Quality by Design, Juran has kept to the style and organization of the former work, but the process itself has matured during the four year gap. The revised process includes only six sequential steps: establish quality goals, identify those impacted (the customers), determine customers' needs, develop product features, develop process features, and establish process controls (transfer to operations).
A seventh step, apply measurement, now appears throughout the process and affects all six of the sequential steps. In Planning for Quality, measurement was the fifth of the ten sequential steps. Ongoing measurement is an important part of the maturation that Quality by Design has gone through.
Juran's spreadsheet has also matured from one very complicated spreadsheet, that actually became quite unmanageable, to a collection of four simpler spreadsheets that each coordinate a different view of the data collected, making the planning results easier to tie back to the process. The spreadsheets constitute the raw data output of the process. Juran describes the four spreadsheets as "the interlocking input-output chain, in which the output for any step becomes the input for the next step."
The first planning spreadsheet list customers down the rows, and customer needs across the columns. The second transfers those needs to the rows and adds product features as columns. The third moves product features to the rows and adds process features as columns. The fourth spreadsheet adds process control features as columns providing full traceability from the process controls implemented back to the original customers that drove the quality planning cycle. Those comfortable with matrices will recognize that these four spreadsheets represent a five dimensional structure of information about the customer and processes. In Planning for Quality, Juran had implemented these five dimensions in a single two dimensional spreadsheet and the result was unmanageable, making Quality by Design a significant improvement.
In addition to revising the earlier work, Quality by Design expands on many issues raised earlier with an additional 200 pages of discussions that affect the implementation of the planning process throughout the organization, and several major case studies that highlight the application of the process.
The chapter on "Strategic Quality Planning" offers insights on the application of the planning process to senior management and the creation of a quality culture within the organization. The chapters on "Departmental Quality Planning" and "Multifunctional Quality Planning" highlight the use of the process within the organization for inter-departmental or intra- departmental quality action. These closing chapters offer guidance on the application of Juran's planning process, making Quality by Design less theoretical sounding than its predecessor, Planning for Quality.
Professionals with my field of information technology should read Quality by Design. Even those individuals who have already read the previous Planning for Quality will find enough incremental value to justify the overlap. The question remains: How can the process described be applied within the IT function?
To start, the planning spreadsheets can be used to map out the requirements for any methodology and standards already in place within the department. To the extent that quality control is often difficult to sell within the development methodology, the spreadsheets help illustrate how the process controls inherent in the IT process support the requirements of IT customers. Likewise, the spreadsheets will point out any existing omissions in current IT practices that may result in dissatisfied customers. This self-assessment and diagnostic use of Juran's work can be done with relatively little effort and at low cost.
Second, and requiring more resource and commitment, Juran's process can be rolled into the current IT requirements definition process to improve the level of requirements being defined by IT projects. The deliverables may have to be mapped against Juran's spreadsheets, but the result will be an increased project focus on, not just data and processes, but also the controls that need to be built into the IT system to assure that the application can be validated and monitored over the long-term. The result will be the implementation not just of new application processes, but of processes that embed the concept of continuous improvement through control of the key variables directly traceable back to customer satisfaction.
That's what Juran on Quality by Design is all about!
This book is IN DEPTH and well thought out.......2002-03-21
This book cannot be read like a 'coffee table' book. It is very challenging and at I learned a LOT even in the first 50 pages. Lots of examples, analogies and graphs/charts. If you want an in depth view of the QA process, this is THE book for you!
MARS : Great Book On Quality.......1999-02-07
Yes its really a nice book Sheikh Asi
Book Description
This exciting new textbook provides exceptional coverage of the essential topics taught in a modern operations management course. It?s highly current coverage includes contemporary and relevant service theory and applications, and appropriate manufacturing applications and theory are included where relevant. The book?s modern/strategic approach addresses OM from a cross-functional perspective, which views operations as linked to all other functional areas of an organization, such as marketing and finance, etc. The strategic approach takes into consideration the integration of technology and how it changes the way a firm operates. Recognition of this current trend is the main differentiating factor for this Collier/Evans text. The book provides equal coverage of manufacturing and services theory and applications, while placing an emphasis on the integration of the value chain.
Customer Reviews:
The many fine examples will you show that such service can be provided!.......2007-10-22
Customer service seems to be one of those things that everybody
complains about, and it is also something that rarely seems to get
better . . . yet rather give up hoping that things will ever improve, there
is something that can be done; i.e., read EXCEPTIONAL CUSTOMER
SERVICE by Lisa Ford, David
McNair and Bill Perry.
This book inspired me with its many real examples of companies
who get it right . . . such as the case with Ben and Jerry's ice cream:
* They have incredibly effective letters to customers (you'll enjoy this
story). A customer who was seven months pregnant had a midnight
craving for Chunky Monkey ice cream. She managed to persuade
her husband to brave a blinding snowstorm for a pint. Upon scooping
the ice cream into a bowl, she was most disappointed at the
sparseness of walnuts in the product. She was accustomed to many
more from past experience. She wrote the company and complained. The
letter responding to her situation was great! First, the company apologized
to her for the "wimpy, anemic, under-chunked pint." What's more, they
included a coupon for a free pint because, as the letter stated, "you have to
feed that baby." Score! They just created a customer experience.
Then there was this other example:
* An idea at Marriott Hotels costs very little, and it makes a tremendous
statement. Marriott has put together a Sweet Dreams package. It
consists of a small bud vase, a flower, and some homemade cookies.
Hotel staff members are encouraged to give it to customers who are
having difficulties that the hotel really can't fix. For example, a guest
enters the hotel complaining that she's tired, feels awful, and her
four-hour plane delay didn't help. That's the cue for the staff person
to send this guest a Sweet Dreams. While the hotel couldn't control
the circumstances regarding this guest's day, they could control how
they responded to it. And better yet, when one employee noticed
a guest with an awful cough, a box of cough drops was included with
the Dreams package. Now that's exceptional service! Don't think
for a minute that customer loyalty and word-of-mouth advertising
haven't paid for that box of cough drops.
I particularly liked the many fine exercises in EXEPTIONAL
CUSTOMER SERVICE . . . they help show you can make
a difference; e.g., by doing the following:
* Reflect back on your last five encounters with customers
(in person or over the telephone). Think through how you handled
each situation, then try and identify and write down something you
could have done to improve your response by 1 percent.
In addition, I liked the accompanying cartoons by illustrator
Tate Nation . . . they put a smile on my face at the beginning
of each chapter.
My only quibble with the book was the fact that since it
was written by three authors, I would have liked all parts of it
to have been written that way; e.g., using such terms as "we"
and "our" throughout . . . instead, too many times I'd find myself
reading "I saw" or something similar and wondering which author
actually wrote that section.
Worth a Read.......2005-04-21
If you or your business deals with customers, Exceptional Customer Service is worth a good read, or at least a good skim. The authors provide many ways of thinking about, and actually taking steps toward, improving your customer relations. Written in an informal, friendly style, I especially liked the fact that the book is mainly straight text, with few of the silly graphics or distracting sidebars so common in many similar books. And, although the book makes extensive use of real-world examples, you never feel as if the authors are name dropping. Rather, it is easy to see yourself in the examples, and believe that if these folks can improve their customer service, you can too. I guarantee that you'll come across several ideas for making customers happier so that they don't become a problem, as well as what to do if they complain.
Like many books in the common-sense business genre, ECS does go on a bit longer than it has to, although you won't miss much if you just skim rather than study the text. But don't forget to take a look at the exercises included in the book, especially if you are part of a customer service team. These exercises allow you to evaluate and improve your customer service incrementally, and without undue effort.
A Step Beyond the Others.......2001-02-10
I have been working in customer service training for over a decade now and I've seen a lot of systems come and go. Lisa Ford's insights and ideas about customer service, however, are timeless. This book represent a compilation of the customer service ideas and techniques she has talked about over the years. It's great to have all of it in one place, and in a book format. I had been looking forward to the publication of this book for a while, and I have to admit that it exceeded my expectations. Not only did it talk about what good service is, but it goes a step beyond what other books do and talks about HOW to reach the level of exceptional service in your company. The book includes self-appraisals, ideas for team exercises, and numerous examples of good service and poor service. It is well written, very cohesive and, if sincerely adapted by a company, can turn-around any failing customer service program.
Book Description
Driven by rapidly changing business environments and increasingly demanding consumers, many organizations are searching for new ways to achieve and retain a competitive advantage via customer intimacy and CRM. In this context, new strategic frameworks and cooperation with everybody along the whole value chain are needed to allow managers to deal with the changes in shopping patterns of consumers. This book presents a new strategic framework that has been tested successfully with various global companies. New management concepts such as Collaborative Forecasting and Replenishment, CRM, Category Management, and Mass Customization are integrated into one holistic approach with a view to jointly develop customer bonding and loyalty. Experts from companies like McKinsey, Procter&Gamble, Accenture, and AC Nielsen, as well as authors from renowned academic institutions, offer valuable insights on how to redesign organizations for the future.
Customer Reviews:
A must read!!!.......2004-02-27
Read this book if you wish to know how collaboration based partnership concepts like CPFR, ECR, CCRM etc will rule management approaches. This is the way forward....
Harvard Editors Are Taking CRM To a New Level.......2003-11-04
Great Book, great value. It really seems Harvard is catching up with Wharton, Kellog and other marketing champions in the academic area. This book is outstanding; it links theory and business life nicely - the case studies do their work...You can read about the newest developments in the CRM field (mass customization, collaborative customer relationship management and category management, VMI and CPFR) and you understand how to boost your business. Just do the things the other companies displayed in the book did...
I really recommend this book!
Book Description
Notable changes occurring in the global marketplace since the publication of the first three editions of this book (1982, 1987, and 1993) have included e-commerce and widespread use of the Internet, growth of supply chain management, a continued explosion of computer and information technology worldwide, development of 24-hour markets with many organizations operating worldwide, and a continued corporate emphasis on quality and customer satisfaction. Trade agreements such as North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), European Union, ASEAN and Mercosur have enabled corporations to implement regional, if not entirely global, logistics strategies. The fourth edition of Strategic Logistics Management has been significantly expanded to reflect these and the many other changes that have occurred, as well as to include state-of-the-art logistics information and technology. The basic tenets of the previous editions have been retained, but new material has been added to make the book more managerial, integrative, and "cutting edge." Strategic Logistics Management is still the only text that takes a marketing orientation and views the subject from a customer satisfaction perspective. While emphasizing the marketing aspects of logistics, it integrates all of the functional areas of the business as well as incorporating logistics into supply chain management. This book has been extensively revised and updated in the areas of technology, global coverage, and transportation. This book features brand new chapters on Supply Chain Management (Ch 2) and Measuring and Selling the Value of Logistics (Ch 17).
Customer Reviews:
Fourth Edition Selected for Graduate Course.......2002-03-12
I reviewed six different texts in preparing for a graduate level course in International Logistics at Baruch College before deciding on Stock and Lambert's Fourth Edition. This text combines currency, and breadth and depth in a way that is most relevant to the manner in which I wish to conduct the class. It provides a useful and usable reference to the students after the course is completed. Furthermore, the related web site has been very helpful in utilizing this text. I will complement the text for certain modules (i.e., E-Commerce, Culture Change, Logistics as a Career). One always needs, no matter who the author, to provide relevant current material from other sources. A big thanks goes to Stock and Lambert for this text.
Excellent Logistics Textbook.......2002-02-13
I have used this book as the primary text for my Supply Chain Management class at the College of New Jersey. My students are Junior and Senior undergraduate level students in the School of Business. The book provided excellent coverage of all major aspects of the logistics discipline.
I believe that the book would also be appropriate at the graduate school level. There are excellent case studies that can be expanded into worthwhile class discussions or projects.
The supplemental material for instructors is very helpful in preparing for lectures.
Useful concepts, but outdated in nature.......2000-07-30
I used this textbook for a recent college course. I was very disappointed because the book was published in 1992 when the computer was a novel concept "for the future of logistics management". If you can get by this "minor" point, there are other good points to be learned in warehousing and inventory managment that are useful. In short: A good reference book.
Only good as a reference book.......1999-10-04
This is not so much a text book for students, but rather a cook book for consultants. I found it boring to read and very superficial. But, as a reference guide in your professional carrier, it is probably quite useful.
This is definitely for the mathematically minded logistician.......1998-10-18
This book focusses on each and every aspect of Logistics management starting from generating an order for a product/commodity right through the manufacturing process, waehousing, inventory management, transportation and customer service. It goes into a little more detail when it comes to inventory management incorporating some basic mathematics and algorithms. It explains each and every step of the logistics "supply chain" process with great detail and finesse. This book can almost (not entirely) replace a swag of other logistics books within its genre. A perfect text for any logistics/industrial engineering curriculum.
Amazon.com
Writing for nonprofits is a juggling act. One's job might entail writing grant proposals, newsletters, thank-you notes, case statements, and Web-site material--each for a different boss. The most successful development writers take the time to both experience their causes firsthand (sleep in the shelter, go to rehearsals, visit the wilderness) and cultivate personal relationships with their donors ("people give to people"). You'll give yourself an amazing head start when applying for a grant, say Joseph Barbato and Danielle Furlich, just by following an organization's guidelines and getting your math right--it's surprising how many fundraisers do neither. Make your point once, clearly, and don't forget the human element. "You aren't just asking for money," say the authors of Writing for a Good Cause, "you are asking to help people." Barbato and Furlich, both veteran fundraisers, interviewed both grants administrators and development writers for this guide. The result is an inside view of the arcane workings of the world of fundraising that would make any novice feel more proficient immediately. Their "gotta-get-it-out-right-now, how-late-is-FedEx-open? Down-and-dirty proposal kit" is a terrific tool when there isn't time to write the "knockout, beguiling, exciting, can't-put-it-down, and surely can't-turn-it-down fundraising proposal." And keep in mind: when a donor gives your proposal the nod, say thank you. Twice. In fact, say Barbato and Furlich, "It is almost impossible to thank a donor too much." --Jane Steinberg
Book Description
Filled with tips and survival skills from writers and fund-raising officers at nonprofits of all sizes, Writing for a Good Cause is the first book to explain how to use words well to win your cause the money it needs. Whether you work for a storefront social action agency or a leading university, the authors' knowledgeable, practical advice will help you:
- Write the perfect proposal -- from the initial research and interviews to the final product
- Draft, revise, and polish a "beguiling, exciting, can't-put-it-down and surely can't-turn-it-down" request for funds
- Create case statements and other big money materials -- also write, design, and print newsletters, and use the World Wide Web effectively
- Survive last-minute proposals and other crises -- with the Down-and-Dirty Proposal Kit!
Writing for a Good Cause provides everything fund raisers, volunteers, staff writers, freelancers, and program directors need to know to win funds from individual, foundation, and corporate donors.
Download Description
From storefront social action agencies to leading museums and universities, organizations across the country are seeking funds for good causes. But even the best cause doesn't stand a chance when proposals and other materials are badly written or deadly dull. Writing for a Good Cause is the first book to explain how to use words well to win the support of funders.
The authors, who have applied their writing talents to a variety of good causes, address the full range of challenges writers in development offices face. Their knowledgeable, practical advice covers:
-- Writing the perfect proposal -- from the initial research and interviews to the final product
-- Drafting, revising, and polishing a "beguiling, exciting, can't-put-it-down and surely can't-turn-it-down" request for funds
-- Creating case statements and other big money materials -- including how to write, design, and print newsletters and use the World Wide Web effectively
Filled with tips from writers at nonprofits and suggestions from top foundation funders, Writing for a Good Cause provides everything volunteers, staff writers, freelancers, and others need to know to fashion persuasive presentations for individual, foundation, and corporate donors.
Customer Reviews:
Writer Writing For Writers.......2007-07-13
Immensely "Readable" guidelines for writing all types of fundraising materials. Barbato has written a timeless, easy to follow handbook that holds a special place on my reference bookshelf.
Writing for a good cause!.......2006-04-25
Excellent book with very practical tips on writing to get funded. There are many grantwriting books and resources available, but this is one of the better that I've found for writing persuasively for major gifts. Great practical advice on formulating winning proposals, concept papers and other grant writing tools. Definitely recommend to grantseekers of all levels.
Not just a guide to writing proposals - a guide to life.......2002-08-12
Not surprisingly, this book provides advice that -- if applied literally -- will assist you in writing excellent proposals to fund your non-profit organization's ventures.
Surprisingly, the advice contained herein -- if made more generic in your mind -- is excellent advice for entire areas of your life. Sounds hokey, true. But honestly, boiled down the advice can be listed as:
1. Identify what the problem is. Do your research until you really understand the causes of the problems and their many effects.
2. Identify how you will know when you have made the problem better. How will you know when the problem has been alleviated? What intermediate steps need to be taken? How will you measure your progress along the way?
3.Identify what tools are available, and which are still needed, to move towards a resolution, or diminution, of the problem. Be specific here. Vague generalities are useless, but the brass tacks of a solution are absolutely priceless. Who has access to these tools? Who can make difficult things easy?
4. If you are asking for someone to help you with this problem, present the whole equation to them in a light that makes the most sense to *them*. This doesn't mean to lie, or exaggerate. It only means to focus your proposal in a way that makes them see it most personally.
5. Proofread what you have written, to be sure it says what you want it to say. Then proofread it again. And again. Get it right, because it is a hard and fast representative of you. This should be true in everything concrete you put out in the world with your name on it.
Now, all of this can be applied to writing a grant proposal. And much of it can be applied to the other things in life. Filling a job position, finding a home, working out a deteriorating relationship, educating yourself or your children ... you name it.
It's so rare that a book directed at an audience of specialists resonates with so much broadly applicable truth ... and it was such a delight to find it. I plowed through this book last night, reading every word, applying its advice mentally to all sorts of issues in my own life. I am pleased to report that it opened my eyes to solutions that had eluded me until now.
Wonderfully written, amusingly told, full of great advice to writers of all persuasive materials, this book is a gem.
I put sticky notes on half the pages.......2002-08-09
I took this book, along with many others on fundraising, out of my local library. Though I'm new to raising funds, I've made much of my living writing articles and books; I wasn't sure it would have much to teach me.
This book was so startlingly useful that I had to buy it. It will likely become your most dog-eared fundraising guide.
Puts the Fun in Fundraising.......2002-07-11
When I am on deadline and desperately in need of help, "Writing for a Good Cause" is where I turn first for guidance, solace, or inspiration (seeing as how our office manager objects to open containers of alcohol at one's desk). Not only is this book full of incredibly practical writing tips in handy list form, it is also very funny and a page turner.
The heart of the book is a clear guide to how to write a great proposal, but other valuable topics are covered, including newsletters, case statements, interviews, and the like.
In one section, the authors mix genuine examples of great fundraising writing with an imaginary proposal to fund the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge. They not only convince you to help build the Brooklyn Bridge, you're ready to buy it.
The bridge is not for sale, but this book is. It is well worth its price of two fast food lunches. Buy it, read it, and be happy.
Books:
- The Wisdom of Crowds
- Total Customer Satisfaction: A Comprehensive Approach for Health Care Providers
- Truth, Lies and Advertising : The Art of Account Planning
- Turning to One Another: Simple Conversations to Restore Hope to the Future
- Under the Radar: Talking to Today's Cynical Consumer
- What Clients Love: A Field Guide to Growing Your Business
- What Customers Want: Using Outcome-Driven Innovation to Create Breakthrough Products and Services
- What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Children's Vaccinations
- Why We Buy: The Science Of Shopping
- Women & Money: Owning the Power to Control Your Destiny
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
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- Alternative Medicine Guide to Chronic Fatigue, Fibromyalgia and Environmental Illness
- Strange Fruit: Billie Holiday, Cafe Society, and an Early Cry for Civil Rights
- Superman: Our Worlds at War Omnibus
- The Mastering Engineer's Handbook
- American Born Chinese
- Turkish Grammar
- Gaap Handbook of Policies and Procedures, 2000
- The Education Gospel: The Economic Power of Schooling
- Tasmanian Devil: A Unique and Threatened Animal
General
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
The Loyalty Effect: The Hidden Force Behind Growth, Profits, and Lasting Value
The Ultimate Question
Loyalty Rules: How Today's Leaders Build Lasting Relationships
The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business is Selling Less of More
Chief Customer Officer : Getting Past Lip Service to Passionate Action
