Selling the Dream

by Guy Kawasaki

Book Overview

Guy Kawasaki's phenomenal success at Apple Computer and as a start-up entrepreneur was the result of an innovative approach to sales, marketing, and management called evangelism. Evangelism means convincing people to believe in your product or ideas as much as you do, by using fervor, zeal, guts, and cunning to mobilize your customers and staff into becoming as passionate about a cause as you are. Selling the Dream is a handbook and workbook for putting...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0887306004
• ISBN13: 9780887306006
• Release Date: August 1992
• Publisher: Harper Business
• Length: 352 Pages
• Weight: 0.58 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.3" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

Manifesto for Evangelism Marketing

This is not a new book. But the ideas are still as fresh today as they were in 1991, when Kawasaki released what many consider to be the evangelism manifesto.Ten years later, some of the company case studies, especially the technology firms, seem dated. Still relevant for today's business leaders and marketers is the message that to make products, companies and ideas successful, you must sell the whole hog - not just the sizzle-by getting people to believe in your product, company, or idea and to share your dream. In the 2001 doom and gloom new-business reality, Kawasaki's ideas about building excitement for your product or service is a ray of hope.Kawasaki researched and honed his innovative ideas in the 1980s as Apple Computer's chief evangelist and later as the founder of a startup software company. Kawasaki has a distinct sense of humor based primarily on good-natured sarcasm, and this makes the book an entertaining read. The starting point for any evangelism project is a cause. Case studies on individuals, organizations and companies who have passionately evangelized a cause, including Windham Hill Productions, The Body Shop, and the Mazda manager who internally championed the development of the Miata make up the book's instructive core.Inside you'll find a blueprint for planning and implementing an evangelism plan of your own. There are practical tips on everything you need to know, including creating a written evangelism plan, raising funds, hiring staff, creating promotion materials, and presenting your cause in public. As the ultimate how-to example, the book includes the original 105-page Macintosh Product Introduction Plan penned by Kawasaki and his Apple colleagues in 1983.One look at Kawasaki's picture on the book cover - he's dressed in jeans and a blue work shirt sporting a toothy grin - and you could say that Kawasaki helped usher in the casual dress environment so prevalent in today's workplace. You also know that this is not an academic business book. It's more like a handbook version of the bible for evangelists everywhere who want to understand the new model for business success.

If A Journey of 1000 Miles Begins With The First Step:

...this book should get you about 150 miles down the road real quick. If you are about to undertake a major project, no matter what, this book will give you some inspiration and encouragement. Again, he speaks in concepts more than laying down a numbered list of steps to follow which is why his ideas will still apply many years from now. This book seems to be written specifically to those in a non-profit organization, but the principles can again (like most of his books) apply to anyone, anywhere, doing any kind of project requiring lots of hard work and who are looking for an edge or will consider using some unconventional thinking. Heck, Im pretty lazy and wasnt really looking for a project to work on, but after reading this book, Im ready to GO FOR IT. Out of my way, Im going to conquer the world now!! (I liked it)

This is a book I return to again and again

Selling the Dream is a handbook for putting evangelism -- your passion for a product or idea -- into action. Kawasaki's blueprint for the beginning evangelist covers everything from how to identify good and bad enemies, how to deliver an effective presentation, to how to find, recruit and train new evangelists. If you ever need to reach out to customers or build a team, you'll find immediate value in this irreverent classic.

guy provides a blueprint for making your dream happen.

one of a few classic texts that i consult extensively during any significant marketing effort. full of real information that you can use immediately. it inspired me to strive for a higher level of personal performance. guy has done it again: given the world a front row seat for the explanation of how the mac became the force that changed personal computers forever... then detailed what i must do for my dream to become a reality. thank you guy!

This is an incredibly insightful marketing handbook!!

Mark Twain once said that the difference between the right word and almost the right word is the difference between "lightning and lightning bug". The same could be said about what many MBAs think marketing is compared with the "evangelist's" view of marketing. The latter gets an incredible charge from sharing some product or service, from promoting a cause passionately; the former is marking time by comparison. Guy Kawasaki's book is concise, lucid, amusing, and instructive. This book is lightheartedly profound and amusedly serious. It has much to teach not only intelligent business people, but everyone who has ever had a passion to share a dream with others.