Summer is a great time to catch-up on things. Between beach vacations, lazy afternoons on the porch, and slow times at work, we thought we'd make some suggestions for great reading. This three-part series features three books we highly recommend.

Do you get jealous of businesses that have widgets to sell?  We do too.  While websites can be seen and make a huge impact, you can't necessarily hold it.  Selling the Invisible gets to the heart of marketing services.  It even goes a step further.  (After all, how exciting is a car battery to touch and hold - versus the solution it produces when put in your car engine?) 

Beckwith writes from decades of experience branding and marketing companies large and small.

Whether you're a marketing expert or a complete newbie, this is a great read that will create and reinforce solid marketing techniques. The book isn't necessarily a quick read. We suggest reading it bit by bit, then setting it down and perhaps enjoying a boat drink while contemplating how to apply what you've just read.  Be careful where you put it for picking it up a few minutes later - it is invisible, after all.

Happy reading!

Summer is a great time to catch-up on things. Between beach vacations, lazy afternoons on the porch, and slow times at work, we thought we'd make some suggestions for great reading. This three-part series features three books we highly recommend.

Ever wonder how enjoyable your customer or employee experience is at your company? If you don't now, you will after reading Delivering Happiness by Tony Hsieh (pronounced "Shay"). His autobiographical account of starting the online shoe store Zappos.com details his own question-asking around customer experience and employee satisfaction. 

Hsieh isn't just passionate about this stuff - he's relentless. Zappos' mission gives a little insight: To live and deliver WOW. We're impressed by Hsieh's drive to go beyond a great customer experience, but to also ensure it resulted in profits and long-term sustainability. (Those are a high priority in business, right?)

All of us in business need inspiration from time to time. This book certainly delivers - and you'll likely burst out laughing at frequent intervals. The book is a quick read (great for a rainy day at the beach). We'd suggest reading it barefoot, though Zappos might not be so happy with that.

Happy reading!

Summer is a great time to catch-up on things. Between beach vacations, lazy afternoons on the porch, and slow times at work, we thought we'd make some suggestions for great reading. This three-part series features three books we highly recommend.

Here at Engenius, we go to a lot of meetings. Many are great. Some are bad. Occasionally, one may even end up being terrible. You know the ones we're talking about, where lots of things are said, nothing gets done, and nobody really remembers what happened, except that it was an hour of your life you'll never get back. Bad meetings happen, but did you know they can even cause death?

Death By Meeting gets to that point. Okay, okay, so it actually has nothing to do with death. It does get to the heart of bad and terrible meetings, what causes them, and how to do something about it.

This book is far from a summer fiction novel to read with sand between your toes, but what we appreciate most is that it's a parable. Patrick Lencioni does a fantastic job of making the story easy to read. This not only helps ensure that death is not a result from reading the book, but also ensures the principles of the book are understood and learned to prevent the same from being a result of meetings where you're at the helm.

Not only does Engenius recommend this book, we actually practice what we preach. The format Lencioni presents for his meetings is the same we use ourselves (with slight adaptation). We can't be positive, but we think it might also help with our life insurance rates.

Happy reading!