After reading this book I wasn't quite sure what to make of it. In fact, I felt like Hugh Jackman's character in the movie "The Prestige" right after his first viewing of Christian Bale's new trick, "The Transported Man" because I too felt that what I had just witnessed/read was too simple. My initial thought was that Gitomer's book was not written as charmingly as Guy Kawasaki's "The Art of the Start", nor did it have groundbreaking content like Lisa Johnson's "Mind Your X's and Y's" (thus I originally only wanted to give it a rating of 4/5 at best). But after allowing the contents of this book settle in my mind, I soon came to the realization (just as Jackman's character had done with Bale's trick) that what I had just read was probably the greatest "magic" I'd ever seen. "Little Black Book of Connections" is like the Holy Grail from the movie "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade", simple and unrefined, yet holds what every person is looking for and is immeasurable in value. In this case, "every person" is looking for the power to connect and Gitomer's book offers just that! At one point or another, every person needs to harness the power to connect, whether it's for business or pleasure. You may have the best product, service, business plan, resume or skill set, but if you don't have the power to connect, you'll never even have the opportunity to pitch it to a potential client or employer.
"Little Black Book of Connections" stresses the importance of giving first, having more friends and nurturing your connections through value exchange because the world isn't a fair place and everyone wants to do business with their friends or hire them (138), and "Rich relationships lead to much more than money. They lead to success, fulfillment, and wealth" (3). More notably, the book also shares tips on how you can connect with influential people (106), give your company more credibility (175), get people to call you or know you first (49), overcome your fear of rejection (65), and connect properly during a conversation (114). Furthermore, I find it particularly interesting how Gitomer outlines the differences between connecting during a business event as opposed to a networking/social event in Chapter 4 (98-104) since many people I know are only good at one and not the other (including myself, haha:)
All things being equal or not quite so equal, everyone can improve on their ability to connect and thus benefit from reading this book. So don't delay and check out "Little Black Book of Connections" as soon as possible or run the risk of losing more potential business or social "prospects" each and everyday!
To buy this book or simply learn more, visit www.amazon.com
Little Black Book of Connections by Jeffrey Gitomer - To learn more about this author, visit Kevin Lee's Website.
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