How to Turn Everything You Know on Its Head—-and Succeed Beyond Your Wildest Imaginings
March 31, 2008
Sheahan, consultant and Young Turk of the business world, turns conventional wisdom around to discover marketing techniques effective with today's younger consumers, "who can't go to the toilet without phoning five of their friends." Sheahan puts forth business model-shattering concepts like gaining control by giving it up: allowing customers, networks and rank-and-file employees to improve products through feedback, interaction and inclusiveness. He even "flips"conventional thinking on outsourcing: "It is one thing to make products or do the paperwork for the world cheaply, and it is another entirely to innovate, design and sell goods and services to the world's advanced consumer markets." Sheahan illustrates his points convincingly with examples pulled from the business headlines, though some of his ideas may strike readers as overly dramatic and hard to follow, like putting as much effort into staff satisfaction as into customer satisfaction. Elsewhere, readers will find business fundamentals updated ("absolutely, positively sweat the small stuff" and "you've got to be fast, good, cheap, and more!"), and increasingly familiar lessons on exploiting a niche ("Mass-market success: Find it on the fringe"). Business owners and decision makers trying to capture the hearts and minds of today's younger consumers will find this a helpful guide.