Book review: Fundamentals of B2B Sales and Marketing

I really like riding a bus. I am lucky to have a direct route from my residence to my office, and every morning and late afternoon, I get 20-25 minutes of spare time. What do I do? I read!

I am actually surprised that other people don't do this as much. Some folks listen to some music, but I would say a solid majority just sits there and looks out the window. Maybe they meditate and just think some productive thoughts.

Anyway, I wanted to share with you the latest specimen from my bus reading adventures. Fundamentals of B2B Sales and Marketing by John Coe. I picked up this book on Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/Fundamentals-Business-Business-Sales-Marketing/dp/0071408797/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1236875196&sr=8-1) and actually posted the following review there as well:

"I'd like to offer a different perspective on this book. I am a Project Manager for a consulting company, and many of my projects are for Sales and Marketing organizations. Reading this book helped me better understand the business processes my clients are responsible for, and while it didn't make me an expert in B2B marketing, I can ask the right questions now. I actually took this book to a few meetings with the client and the team and read quotes from it in the context of 'guys, we are definitely doing the right thing - listen to what this book says'.

The book is full of specific details and examples, has a lot of hands-on information that could be applied right away, and its light, almost ocnversational style makes it an easy and enjoyable read."

Bottom line, if you are PM, it helps immensely if you expand your reading horizons beyond PM books. Understanding the client and speaking the same langauge as they do is a major success factors for a project; you will gain respect and SME status both from the team and the client.