Direct Marketing Rules of Thumb: 1,000 Practical and Profitable Ideas to Help You Improve Response, Save Money, and Increase Efficiency in Your Direct Program

Book Description

A goldmine of tested DM tips and techniques. DM guru Nat Bodian's latest direct marketing tool crams 40 years of experience into a treasure drove of response-driven strategies for racking up sales by mail, phone, and space advertising. Exhaustively indexed to make fast access easy, Direct Marketing Rules of Thumb packs 1,000 priceless time and money saving ideas you need to: prepare, use, and evaluate every DM component--from headlines to offers to credit and collections; locate, select, time, and test top-selling mailing lists for business, professions, medicine, consumers, charities, and more--plus work with list brokers, managers, and compilers; land your share of the $300 billion telemarketing business--including getting started, finding help, preparing scripts, targeting top prospects, selecting lists, and more; sell successuflly through card decks; snag the best prices on paper, printing, production, and mail shop services; create and place low-cost DM space ads; much, much more.

Customer Reviews:

Excellent Reference Book.......2007-07-09

Excellent Reference Manual. This will stay on my bookshelf for easy referencing at all times.

An awesome resource for publishers and booksellers.......2005-04-14

This is an amazing resource for ideas. It should be on every bookseller's bookshelf. I keep it handy for when I am hungry for creative ideas.

Like all of Nat Bodian's books, it's top quality and full of great information, packed with 59 chapters in 400 pages. While it is pre-Internet, you will be hard-pressed to find a more thorough treatment of the direct marketing topic.

This book is in the same league with John Kremer's "Book Marketing Made Easier" (bookmarket.com) and E Haldeman-Julius's "First Hundred Million" (100millionbooks.net). Both are PACKED with ideas, the latter also packed with proven sales numbers for what titles did and did not sell. Both are also out of print unfortunately. Kremer's book can be picked up used and is well worth the money. The other is available in digital format but is largely unavailable except for hundreds of dollars, if you can find it.

If you have a chance to pick up any of Bodian's books, do it! I love them.

Handbook of Small Business Valuation Formulas and Rules of Thumb/Third Edition

Average customer rating:

Very Handy Book

Handbook of Small Business Valuation Formulas and Rules of Thumb/Third Edition
Glenn Desmond , and John A. Marcell
Manufacturer: Valuation Pr
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Raising Capital | Small Business & Entrepreneurship | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
Similar Items:

Valuing Small Businesses and Professional Practices (Art of M & A)
Handbook of Business Valuation

ASIN: 0930458060

Customer Reviews:

Very Handy Book.......1999-06-11

Gives Industry rules of thumb for various businesses. It also discusses valuation factors to consider in many businesses. My only complaint is that the last version I have found is 1993.

Average customer rating:

Rules of Thumb for Business Writers
Great reference book

Rules of Thumb for Business Writers
Diana Roberts Wienbroer , Elaine Hughes , and Jay Silverman
Manufacturer: McGraw-Hill
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Writing | Reference | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Running Meetings & Presentations | Skills | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

Merriam-Webster's Concise Handbook for Writers
Rules of Thumb with 2002 APA Update and Electronic Tutor CD-ROM
The McGraw-Hill 36-Hour Course in Business Writing and Communication (36 Hour)
Crisp: Powerful Proofreading Skills: Tips, Techniques, and Tactics (Fifty-Minute Series)
Thomson Advantage Books: How to Write for the World of Work

ASIN: 0071457577

Book Description

Rules of Thumb for Business Writers offers busy professionals solutions to most on-the-job writing challenges. Brief, to-the-point chapters cover all the basics, including reports, resumes, speeches, memos, letters, and PowerPoint, with tips for meeting deadlines and managing paper flow. This edition contains new information on Internet research and communications technology, with examples, sample documents, and a resource list.

Customer Reviews:

Rules of Thumb for Business Writers.......2005-06-07

Book Review

Rules of Thumb for Business Writers By Diana Roberts Wienbroer, Elaine Hughes, Jay Silverman; McGraw-Hill, Two Penn Plaza, 212.904.5951, NY 10121; www.books.mcgraw-hill.com; ISBN 0-07-145575-7; May 2005; 223 pages

Reviewed by G.A. "Andy" Marken, Marken Communications Inc., andy@markencom.com

We may be slightly over enthusiastic about Rules of Thumb but this could be as enduring as Cutup & Center's Effective Public Relations book that is now in its unbelievable eighth edition.

But unlike Cutup & Center, the three authors cut a much wider swath across one of the most widely covered used and abused business tools...clear, concise and effective business writing. Perhaps it is too much to hope for but the ready availability and ease of use of email has only accelerated the use and acceptance of poorly constructed sentences, stilted and acronym laden correspondence, embarrassing grammatical errors and a toleration of poor spelling and punctuation.

Rules of Thumb isn't a textbook that should be read for classwork and then put in your professional library to gather dust. This is a workbook. One that you should read a couple of times and put into practice. It should be a part of your mentoring and staff training program to help ensure that PR people properly use a vital tool in their daily practice...writing. The discipline and guidelines the authors provide will also spill over into your verbal communications activities.

The book will probably never become a standard for use in business classes or a basic requirement in MBA programs and that's a pity because there is a decreasing number of assistants whose job it is to clean up and improve business correspondence for managers and executives.

Most of us today have our own computer(s), a low-cost printer sitting on the credenza and Internet access. As a result it is too easy for us to write our own letters, our own business proposals, our own management reports, our own editorial and management emails and even prepare our own PowerPoint presentations. All without the use of standard software tools like spell and grammar checkers.

Rules of Thumb is an educational, reminder and reference tool that seems to have been written just to help people avoid embarrassing grammar, punctuation, style and spelling mistakes. "Facts" will probably get in the way of every public relations practitioner and his or her boss picking up, reading and using the book - "I know how to speak and write good so I don't need a fundamental book on business writing!"

But the brutally honest fact is that we all need to work at writing more effective letters, emails, proposals, newsletters, resumes, articles and yes even news releases. The authors also give a wide range of work-saving shortcuts you can put to work immediately on using Word, PowerPoint and even writing for websites and blogs.

The authors have compiled an excellent set of bulleted lists of easy-to-read and remember guidelines. They have painstakingly developed hundreds of practical guidelines that make it easy for you to clearly understand the concepts they present.

Now in its second edition, the authors provide a large volume of insightful information and guidelines to help you improve the quality of your written work as well as how to write your correspondence more quickly and with better results. As if all of this isn't enough, the authors have also done a lot of research for you and included a valuable resource directory to enable you to more quickly and effectively find the information you want and need on the web.

Nothing in Rules of Thumb will make you suddenly say "Viola!!!" It won't be an epiphany to open the floodgate of your creative writing. But it will be a book you'll want to read a few times and revisit as a refresher course again and again.

If nothing else think of it as a working guide to help you find a bigger, better and higher paying job somewhere else...or get the promotion you've been angling for.

That should motivate you to take a serious look at Rules of Thumb....

#######

Great reference book.......2000-01-15

Rules for Bus. Writers is an excellent quick reference to keep handy at your desk. Plenty of material for beginners as well as advanced writers. I liked the quick tips and good resources. I'd rate it "concise and helpful plus very easy to use" - it's a short and to the point guide. You don't have to wade through long passages of chitchat and padding to get the help you need. Highly recommend it!

Average customer rating:

Starting a business

Business Rules of Thumb
Seth Godin , and Chip Conley
Manufacturer: Warner Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Business Life | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

The Rebel Rules: Daring to be Yourself in Business
Marketing That Matters: 10 Practices to Profit Your Business and Change the World (Social Venture Network)
Peak: How Great Companies Get Their Mojo from Maslow

ASIN: 0446370266

Customer Reviews:

Starting a business.......2007-04-26

Purpose: 1.the project focused on the methods and means by which executives make business decisions. The research group discovered that executive decision makers use their intuition or past experiences as the chief influence in their decision making. Personal rules of thumb were the overwhelming favorite instrument used by these executives in navigating through business life.

Starting a Business
1. Limit the number of primary participants to people who can consciously agree upon and contribute directly to that which the enterprise is accomplish, for whom, and by when.
2. Define the business of enterprise in terms of what is to be bought, precisely by who, and why.
3. Concentrate all available resources on accomplishing two or three specific, operational objectives within a given period of time period.
4. Prepare and work from a written plan that delineates who in the total organization is to do what, by when.
5. Employ key people with proven records of success at doing what needs to be done in a manner consistent with the desired value system of the enterprise.
6. Reward individual performance that exceeds agreed upon standards.
7. Expand methodically from a profitable base toward a balanced business
8. Project, monitor, and conserve cash and credit capability.
9. Maintain a detached point of view
10. Anticipate incessant change by periodically testing adopted business plans for consistency with realities of the world marketplace.

Other Starting Business Rules:
1. The less time and money it takes to start and manage a company, the more likely it is too survive.
2. In starting a new business select a small or medium community where reputation can be built quickly.
3. Happiness is a positive cash flow
4. The key elements for a successful new venture: 1. Experienced management team 2. Potential for becoming a significant company 3. Technical excellence 4. Sound, sensible business-plan 5. Focused strategy 6. Sense of urgency.
5. Venture capitalist rank of importance: 1. Management team (30-50% Local, 60-90% National, and 50-60% manufacturing) 2. Location 3. Product/services 4. Marketing/Finance plans
6. Fear engenders conformity and is a powerful barrier to creativity. Try to reduce the importance of fear of failing on your career.
7. Venture capitalist are typically looking to liquidate small company investments three to seven years down the road at a return of 35 to 60 percent annually.
8. A startup company should never be in more than one market.
9. The combined costs of sales and marketing should not exceed 5 percent of net profits.

Sales
1. Put the biggest enticement in the headline
2. Be repetitive

Product maturity
1. A product may be mature, as indicated by, weakening brand preference
2. Narrowing physical variation
3. Entry in force of private-label competitors
4. Market saturation
5. Stabilization of production methods.

Strategy
1. You only have to be 1 percent better than your competition in order to succeed. In the mind of the customer you will seem 10 percent better.
2. A company, which has high fixed costs and low variable costs, will be more likely to stress high volume sales and an increasing market share.
3. Price increase should be publicized if the company can make a well-reasoned, cost-driven case for the increase
4. Pull out of a declining company if one or more companies with significant resources are committed to staying in.
5. The three basic strategies to cope with fierce competitive forces are: overall cost leadership, differentiation, and focus.
6. If a company has money, it will be much less expensive to penetrate a new market during a weakening in the economy.
7. A consumer product should sell for four or five times the cost of the manufacturer's labor and materials. A service should sell for at least three times the labor cost to the firm.

ADR rule of thumb: validity and suggestions for its application: hotel investors use the ADR rule of the thumb because it's simple--a hotel should generate ... Hotel & Restaurant Administration Quarterly

Average customer rating:

ADR rule of thumb: validity and suggestions for its application: hotel investors use the ADR rule of the thumb because it's simple--a hotel should generate ... Hotel & Restaurant Administration Quarterly
John W. O'Neill
Manufacturer: Cornell University
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Management | Management & Leadership | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Pricing | Management & Leadership | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Cornell Hotel & Restaurant Administration Quarterly, published by Cornell University on August 1, 2003. The length of the article is 6039 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: ADR rule of thumb: validity and suggestions for its application: hotel investors use the ADR rule of the thumb because it's simple--a hotel should generate one dollar in ADR per every $1,000 in value per guest room; but that rule is not without its problems.(Finance)(Average-Daily-Rate)
Author: John W. O'Neill
Publication: Cornell Hotel & Restaurant Administration Quarterly (Refereed)
Date: August 1, 2003
Publisher: Cornell University
Volume: 44 Issue: 4 Page: 4(11)

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Alternatives to business valuation rules of thumb for small businesses.: An article from: The National Public Accountant

Average customer rating:

Alternatives to business valuation rules of thumb for small businesses.: An article from: The National Public Accountant
Leonard J. Sliwoski
Manufacturer: National Society of Public Accountants
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Book Description

This digital document is an article from The National Public Accountant, published by National Society of Public Accountants on March 1, 1999. The length of the article is 1621 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

From the supplier: Rules of thumb techniques are traditionally used for valuing small and mid-sized businesses. These techniques, however, can be problematic in many cases since the rules may vary depending on location and time. A better alternative would be to use proprietary databases that contain information on sales and purchases. These databases can be combined with information given by owners on the competitive position of the subject business to generate a range of business values that is often more accurate than estimates derived using valuation rules of thumb.

Citation Details
Title: Alternatives to business valuation rules of thumb for small businesses.
Author: Leonard J. Sliwoski
Publication: The National Public Accountant (Magazine/Journal)
Date: March 1, 1999
Publisher: National Society of Public Accountants
Volume: 44 Issue: 2 Page: 8(3)

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Beyond the Rule of Thumb: Methods for Evaluating Public Investment Projects

Average customer rating:

Beyond the Rule of Thumb: Methods for Evaluating Public Investment Projects
Tito Boeri
Manufacturer: Westview Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Popular Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

International | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Macroeconomics | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Public Affairs & Administration | Government | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Research | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Public | Administrative Law | Law | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0813377897

Chief Justice addresses judicial needs for 2004: thumbs up: judicial election reform, judicial nominating advisory committee.(A Mississippi Business Journal ... article from: Mississippi Business Journal

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Chief Justice addresses judicial needs for 2004: thumbs up: judicial election reform, judicial nominating advisory committee.(A Mississippi Business Journal ... article from: Mississippi Business Journal
Lynne W. Jeter
Manufacturer: Venture Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Mississippi Business Journal, published by Venture Publications on January 5, 2004. The length of the article is 1092 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Chief Justice addresses judicial needs for 2004: thumbs up: judicial election reform, judicial nominating advisory committee.(A Mississippi Business Journal Q&A)
Author: Lynne W. Jeter
Publication: Mississippi Business Journal (Magazine/Journal)
Date: January 5, 2004
Publisher: Venture Publications
Volume: 26 Issue: 1 Page: 20(2)

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Chilly reception: bankers turning thumbs down on FDIC tracking proposal. (Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.)(includes related article): An article from: Arkansas Business

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Chilly reception: bankers turning thumbs down on FDIC tracking proposal. (Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.)(includes related article): An article from: Arkansas Business
Dixie Walters
Manufacturer: Journal Publishing, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Arkansas Business, published by Journal Publishing, Inc. on May 3, 1993. The length of the article is 713 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Chilly reception: bankers turning thumbs down on FDIC tracking proposal. (Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.)(includes related article)
Author: Dixie Walters
Publication: Arkansas Business (Magazine/Journal)
Date: May 3, 1993
Publisher: Journal Publishing, Inc.
Volume: v10 Issue: n18 Page: p15(1)

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Enduring beauty: rules of thumb for successful field installation.: An article from: Doors and Hardware

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Enduring beauty: rules of thumb for successful field installation.: An article from: Doors and Hardware
Catherine Wilcke
Manufacturer: Door and Hardware Institute
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Doors and Hardware, published by Door and Hardware Institute on August 1, 1998. The length of the article is 2160 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Enduring beauty: rules of thumb for successful field installation.
Author: Catherine Wilcke
Publication: Doors and Hardware (Magazine/Journal)
Date: August 1, 1998
Publisher: Door and Hardware Institute
Volume: v62 Issue: n8 Page: p16(5)

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What You Need to Know Before You Invest: An Introduction to the Stock Market and Other Investments
Average customer rating:

The best way to explain it all.

It all fits together like never before!

NICE BEGINNERS BOOK ON INVESTMENTS

Clear, easy to understand and extremely helpful

I made money

What You Need to Know Before You Invest: An Introduction to the Stock Market and Other Investments
Rod Davis
Manufacturer: Barron's Educational Series
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
General | Investing | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
Introduction | Investing | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
General | Personal Finance | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
General | Finance | Accounting & Finance | Professional & Technical | Subjects | Books
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The Neatest Little Guide to Stock Market Investing (Revised Edition) (Neatest Little Guide to Stock Market Investing)

The First Time Investor : How to Start Safe, Invest Smart, and Sleep Well

Forbes Guide to the Markets: Becoming a Savvy Investor

How to Invest $50-$5,000 8e: The Small Investor's Step-By-Step Plan for Low-Risk, High-Value Investing (How to Invest $50 to $5000)

How To Make Money In Stocks: A Winning System in Good Times or Bad, 3rd Edition

ASIN: 0764110020

Book Description

Updated to help readers cope with the unusual number of uncertainties that characterize today’s financial markets, this book is a financial primer that will be of special value to first-time investors, but also enlightening to everybody who currently has a personal investment portfolio. The author provides sound fundamental information in clear language that non-experts can understand. Separate chapters give practical advice on how to select a broker and open a brokerage account, and describe how the stock market operates. Readers learn how to cut through the jargon that fills annual reports and other financial statements. They will find clear explanations of mutual funds, stock options, an investor’s legal rights, the tax consequences of investing, market analysis, technical analysis, and much more. Here is information that every potential investor should have before opening an account.

Customer Reviews:

The best way to explain it all........2007-02-12

I just wanted to compliment the auothor(s). Don't need to say much... it has all been said in the other reviews.
It is written in a way that understands what readers will not understand well. It then goes into good detail including simple examples to bring across the point.
Just get the book and everything about stocks will become completley clear. If u read a sentence and it still isn't that clear, then read the next sentence... it surely will be clear then.

It all fits together like never before!.......2002-07-07

Sallie Mae, Freddie Mac, Investment grade, junk bonds, Moody's, averages, indexes, up-tick, supply and demand, coupons, convertibles, mutual funds, inflation, corporate structure, IPO's, OTC, volatility, types of trades, derivatives, financial statements, etc.

This book has everything. It is perfect for somebody who has started to dabble in stocks and is looking to become a little more sophisticated.

I will read this book multiple times and keep it as a desk reference. Everything is so organized right where you need it! It even gives you a few sentences of background to give you a feel for why things are the way they are. It explains where things got their names from. It is a GOOD BOOK.

I would not recommend this book for a total novice. It might be a little too much. But for somebody who has seen all these terms banging around for a while, this clears stuff up so much.

The organization is amazing. It just all fits together like never before.

NICE BEGINNERS BOOK ON INVESTMENTS.......2001-06-12

IT REALLY EXPLAINS IN AN EASY WAY ALL THE BASIC AND FUNDAMENTAL CONCEPTS ABOUT THE STOCK MARKET AND THE MOST POPULAR INVESTMENTS. IF YOU ARE A BEGINNER, IT SHOULD BE YOUR BOOK.

Clear, easy to understand and extremely helpful.......2000-12-12

Rod Davis shows how microeconomic, market and industry concepts interrelate and, eventually, how they affect the net wealth of each individual investor. This book nicely combines the big-picture approach with simple explanation of quantitative indicators/calculations. The stock market will not seem that much of puzzle to you after you've read this book.

I made money.......2000-12-12

I used this book in a college class I took on stock market investing. It not only taught me how the market works, but how to make good decisions when I invested. It has helped me to make money in the stock market. I was able to avoid the high tech selloff as a result of my understanding of fundamental analysis. My portfolio returns last year were much better than the market average. Thank you, Mr. Davis.

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