Review of Win New Customers by Jean Ginzburg
I have to admit I was quite intrigued by the title of the book, "Win New Customers." Who doesn't want to learn how to get more customers? That is the lifeline of all businesses, after all.
3.5 Stars
What also drew me in to read the book was the author's insistence that this book was different and gave reasons why. "Refined" and "perfected" were two words to describe the reasons. How can you go wrong with words like that?
It seemed this was going to be the book that can help you get over the overwhelm factor of your business. That is another promise made by the author.
Summary
Book: Win New Customers!
Author: Jean Ginzburg
Publisher: Amazon
Recommended: Provisional. Read the Review for More!
As I started reading through the book, I found that the tools described are going to require some serious outlays of cash, and on a monthly basis. I understand that you need to spend money to make money. I have heard of (and used) many of the tools the author recommends. I am even on board with the concept of automating parts of your business that make sense to do so.
Affiliate Links Contained in the Book
However, most of the tools you would purchase under the advise of the author, would enrich the author substantially. Several links included are affiliate links, which pays a commission to the author whenever you buy something using those links.
Including affiliate links in books published on Amazon is against the Terms of Service.
I am not against affiliate sales, by the way. I use them myself (not in my Amazon books) and have made money from them. However, when the strategies defined by the author require subscriptions to services without much detail on how those services will help your business, it's likely to increase your overwhelm factor substantially. It also leaves you a bit suspicious of the author's motivation in writing the book.
I can't say for sure if all of the links included in the book are affiliate links where the author receives compensation from sales. I do know several are just by seeing the affiliate link in the browser when I clicked on them. Whether the links are affiliate links or not doesn't detract from the fact that they will increase your learning curve as well as your budget.
Increase Learning Curve
You can manage learning one tool fairly easily. However, when you introduce several at the same time, the learning curve increases simply by trying to come to grips with all of them at once. I have tried this myself. It's not easy to try and learn multiple tools at the same time. This, while trying to run the core aspects of your business.
The costs are another issue. Even if the average cost of the tools are $25 per month and you add five of them to your marketing arsenal, you are adding $125 per month to the cost of your business. The costs are likely to be higher.
It's difficult to imagine any business owner, who is already overwhelmed, not becoming more so by adding significant monthly costs to his or her business!
The tools suggested by the author are valid in the marketing industry. I am not trying to take away the need for tools to help your business. However, you should only introduce those tools when they make sense for your business, and hopefully, when they can be funded entirely by the proceeds from your business. To infuse a marketing blitz of tools is not a wise strategy. I have attempted this myself with disastrous results. It doesn't work.
Amazon Reviews
The reviews on Amazon for the book are stellar. I could not find any reviews that match my sentiment for this book. This means that the reviews are either fabricated or that I am completely off base in my review. I don't believe I am off base. I have been working in this industry for many years and have picked up a sixth-sense in the field. It should be pointed out that one reviewer shares the last name as the author. This practice of having family members review books is against Amazon's Terms of Service.
Positive Aspects of the Book
The book is well written. I did not find any glaring grammatical errors and it's likely there aren't any. It was an easy read. It won't take you long to get through the book. It's not overly long nor is it too short.
If you want to get a birds eye view of the marketing world as well as the tools available, the book is useful in accomplishing that. The book's strengths are in helping you define a plan and includes useful sheets and documents to help you get started.
The author gave me confidence that she is a qualified expert in the marketing world. I believe if you reach out to work with her one-on-one and you have a decent marketing budget, she appears to have the credentials to help you advance your business. I don't believe the book will be enough to get you there on its own.
Verdict
This book gives a good high-level overview of the marketing process and the tools available in the industry. It is likely that the book is used by the author as a stepping stone to gain customers into a coaching program. The book does not stand on its own as a means to grow your business and will add to your overwhelm factor rather than reduce it as initially suggested by the author.
You may find the book a worthy read as long as you take these provisions into consideration.
