The Ultimate Entrepreneur's Book: A Straight-talking Guide To Business Success And Personal Riches

Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of research or private study, or criticism or review, as permitted under the relevant copyright, designs and patents acts, this publication may only be reproduced, stored or transmitted, in any form or by any means, with the prior permission in writing of the publishers. the Ultimate entrepreneur’s book the A STRAIGHT-TALKING Ultimate GUIDE TO BUSINESS entrepreneur’s SUCCESS AND book PERSONAL RICHES RICHARD DOBBINS AND BARRIE O. PETTMAN CAPSTONE iv Copyright © Richard Dobbins and Barrie O. Pettman 1999 The right of Richard Dobbins and Barrie O. Pettman to be identified as the authors of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 First Published 1999 Capstone Publishing Limited Oxford Centre for Innovation Mill Street Oxford OX2 0JX United Kingdom http://www. capstone. co. uk All rights reserved. Except for the quotation of short passages for the purposes of criticism and review, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN 1–900961–96–2 Digital processing by The Electric Book Company, London, UK, www.elecbook.com Substantial discounts on bulk quantities of Capstone books are available to corporations, professional associations and other organizations. If you are in the USA or Canada, phone the LPC Group for details on (1-800-626-4330) or Fax: (1800-243-0138). Everywhere else, phone Capstone Publishing on (+44-1865798623) or Fax: (+44-1865-240941). DEDICATION For Richard Robson This page intentionally blank CONTENTS DEDICATION ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS TO THE READER ABOUT THE AUTHORS V VIII X XII 1 EVERYTHING STARTS WITH IDEAS 1 2 YOU CAN HAVE IT IF YOU WANT IT 27 3 STRATEGY WILL GET YOU THERE 87 4 MARKETING IS THE KEY 125 5 SALES SKILLS WILL MAKE YOUR FORTUNE 151 6 EVERYTHING IS NEGOTIABLE 191 7 WE ALL NEED LEADERSHIP 209 8 EVERYTHING YOU DO AFFECTS SALES, COSTS AND PROFITS 227 9 NEVER USE TIME AS AN EXCUSE 271 FURTHER READING 289 INDEX 297 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS We wish to thank: • • • • • • Gordon Wills for 30 years of strategy, marketing and leadership Richard Branson for being a portrait in positive thinking Tom Peters for his contribution to management thinking Napoleon Hill for his observations on successful people Brian Tracy and Jay Abrahams for great insights and presentations Andy Lothian for being the student who taught us more than as academics we could teach him • All those philosophers, theologians and prophets who contributed to the Gita, Koran, and the Bible. This page intentionally blank TO THE READER Would you like to change your life dramatically? Are you tired of doing a crummy job for peanuts? Are you tir