In praise of building marketing and selling skills

I'm hunkered down, writing my second book, The Integration Imperative. One of my book's themes is that marketing and business development should be everyone's job, no matter what role they play within their professional service firms. For revenue-generating practitioners, it's often up to the individual to seek alternate ways to grow skills in marketing and selling -- you certainly don't learn this critical stuff through the traditional educational process!

And so, I send a big "High Five" to my friends Catherine Alman MacDonagh and Beth Cuzzone, who just published their new book, "The Law Firm Associate's Guide to Personal Marketing and Selling Skills." Here's what I especially liked about the book:

• Setting out the authors' definitions of marketing and sales. My favorite quote: "Marketing and sales are two separate and distinct processes, but they're very much intertwined."
• The two charts, used throughout the book, providing visual depictions of The Marketing Process, and The Stages of Personal Selling.  The charts are reviewed -- in visual form -- at the beginning of each chapter.
• The accompanying CD, inserted inside the back cover, containing checklists, tips, worksheets and forms. Now that's user-friendly!

The book, available here, is published by the American Bar Association's Law Practice Management section.

Comments

[Book marketing newbie]

Good luck with your book. I couldn't agree more, however, that a successful business involves everyone doing their part. Google is pro at this - who has not seen someone wearing a Google shirt around town. That is free, constant marketing.

[Dave]

Totally agree with you, especially concerning marketing, it takes effort and dedication to develop your skills and a lot of hard work

[Meredith McGee]

I realize sales and marketing are seperate, but it's hard to determine the right marketing tools to use when your company has a tight budget. You're right everyone must do their part; part of the problem often.