By Jason Falls Scott Stratten‘s new book, The Book of Business Awesome, launches today. If you’ve read his first book, Unmarketing, you won’t need any convincing to get the new one. Scott’s piercing advice and often humorous analysis of what companies are doing right and wrong or should do to build awesome experiences for their customers are sage nuggets of wisdom.
And as Scott does often, he has put together some awesome to go along with the launch. The first 250 people to pre-order one copy get another copy for their local library. The first 125 to pre-order two copies get the library copy plus a free mini-poster of Scott’s trademark, “Jackass Whisperer,” comment. (See one on Scott’s post here.) For people who order more quantities, there’s more benefits. Scott’s post has them spelled out.
If you aren’t familiar with Scott’s work, here’s my take on The Book of Business Awesome to whet your whistle, as it were:
It’s actually two books in one, set up as a flip-book. There’s The Book of Business Awesome, then, if you flip it over and look at the back cover, you see that the back of the book is the cover of The Book of Business UnAwesome. The juxtaposition of case studies in both give the optimist something great to read and the pessimist something, too. Both “books” are awesome in the stories they tell and advice they give.
The books are not just a bunch of chapters with a bunch of advice. It’s a series of stories, woven together that make for an easy read and some good head-nodding realizations. You won’t underline stuff as much as you’ll just think, “I’ve got to remember that story to tell to my staff at some point.”
The Book of Business Awesome is about learning to focus on you and your customer experience so that every employee is a touch point for a customer to say, “Damn! That was awesome.” The Book of Business UnAwesome is full of stories and lessons that show you the cost of not being awesome. The way each is presented is pretty compelling, making Scott effort … well, awesome.
Some of the early chapters in UnAwesome are just flipped perspectives of the same chapters in Awesome. Again … making it pretty awesome.
No, neither “book” is very long. Both run about 150 pages, which is half a typical business book. If you’ve read UnMarketing, you know lengthy chapters aren’t Scott’s thing. There aren’t any, “My mother is a fish,” write-offs, though. Each is just long enough to make the point.
There are chapters also focused on social media, public speaking and more of an individual “become awesome” conversation set. If I have any criticism of the book at all it’s that these seem a little out of place if you’re a business owner and marketer looking for inspiration in the enterprise. But even those folks need to understand social media, speak in public and serve on panels, so the connection is there.
The best thing about this book (these books?) is the case studies. Again, you’ll underline less and make note of the good stories more. That’s helpful in explaining your points to higher ups and the like. It’s also useful in keeping the advice and lessons of the book in mind down the road. Even after reading Scott’s story of the chef at the Hilton Garden Inn in Chapter 1 (of Awesome), you’ll forever think twice about judging someone who is apologizing for your bad experience.
There are dozens of neat stories and piece of sound advice tucked in these pages. Some of them you’ve heard from Scott before through his rants on YouTube or in speaking engagements. But all are still sound and worth hearing again, or for the first time. I love the ideas of remarrying your current customers, that marketing is a verb and that PR stands for “People React.” I won’t spoil those chapters for you, but rest assured, there’s some great nuggets of wisdom in there for you to chew on.
The bottom line here is that Scott Stratten’s second major book offering is as good, if not better, than the first. Buy it. It’s worth it.
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