Book Review: Little Black Book of Connections

Recently, I finished reading Jeffrey Gitomer's Little Black Book of Connections: 6.5 Assets for Networking Your Way to Rich Relationships. 

Amazon.com Book Description

People in all kinds of jobs, in big and small companies career builders, sales people, and aspiring executives will love this edgy, practical, and fun book In the spirit, style, and format of the bestselling Little Red Book of Selling, the country's #1 sales trainer, Jeffrey Gitomer, offers a fresh take on networking and connecting your way to success. The Little Black Book of Connections is based on the power of give value first. It's about how you can climb the ladder without stepping on people's backs. It's about how to earn the respect of a powerful mentor without begging. It's about how to build stronger relationships with customers, bosses, co-workers, vendors, friends, and family. It's about being in the same room with powerful people. It's about how to connect and how to not connect. It's about how to say the right things to the right people in the right circumstances to make the right impression. The book is small. The cover is classic black cloth. The four-color text graphics makes it attractive and easy to read the compelling content is easy to understand and implement.

REVIEW

Format & Style

The format and style of this book made it an easy read for me.  Gitomer's sense of humor is shown throughout the book as seen by his clever cartoon jokes about networking.  Also, he does a great job of highlighting key takeaways through bold words and lists.  These techniques make this book more enjoyable to read as well as helped me to better retain information.  I really liked the length and size of the book as well.  Because of its size, you could probably read it, uninterrupted, in 1 or 2 sittings.  Lastly, I thought that the built in book mark (red string like in a bible) was a cool idea.

Content

Here are the table of contents to give you an idea of what is covered in the book:

• Asset 1 - Who Do You Know?
• Asset 2 - What Do I Want?
• Asset 3 - What Do I Do?
• Asset 4 - How Do I Connect?
• Asset 5 - Who Knows You?
• Asset 6 - The Secret Power of Connecting
• Asset 6.5 - The Value of Connections

Gitomer does a decent job of covering many of the basic networking concepts that you have probably heard before.   He brings in some of his personal experiences to provide examples for each concept that he talks about.  This is extremely important because he is speaking from experience and has something to back his observations.  He dives into a lot of detail in some sections and provides some interesting information such as "how to connect with a coworker", "how to connect with a banker", and "how to connect with a doctor". 

I am a big believer in learning from others so there are some good nuggets that you can take away from Gitomer even if you are an experienced relationship builder.  Also, the book helped to reinforce for me some of the networking techniques that I already utilize.

As you read this book, you will learn to understand and appreciate Gitomer's networking style.  While I don't agree with some of his techniques, that is okay because they work for him.  You need to try techniques that you are comfortable with and ones that fit your own style.

Recommendation

While Gitomer's Little Black Book of Connections: 6.5 Assets for Networking Your Way to Rich Relationships is a fairly basic book about networking, it was still a nice read.  I really enjoyed the style of Gitomer so it was an easy read that didn't take me too long to finish.  Gitomer is a very successful businessman who built his own brand into what it is today.  By reading this book, you learn about some of the techniques that helped him achieve success such as his wildly successful email newsletter, Sales Caffeine.

I recommend this book to anyone who wants to re-learn some of the basics of networking as well as anyone who wants to learn some of the secrets that Gitomer used to build a successful name for himself. So, give it a shot and read Little Black Book of Connections: 6.5 Assets for Networking Your Way to Rich Relationships.

After you read it, let me know your thoughts.

Comments

[cash for phones]

I read you view on Little Black Book of Connections it good,I hope you cover the complete Book in your review.Your stuff proves your are good analyzer...

[body weight loss]

The book review is very nice,In this review all most all concepts are cover,even I think review have to be mention in the last page of the book.

[eBridge advertising]

I really liked the length and size of the book as well. Because of its size, you could probably read it, uninterrupted, in 1 or 2 sittings.

[crowd SPRING]

Well this book, you learn about some of the techniques that helped him achieve success such as his wildly successful email newsletter,

[Residential MD]

Well Jeffrey Gitomer is the country's #1 sales trainer...If we read his books,we come to know about his techniques which is different from others..

[Radha Madhav Dham]

I am a big believer in learning from others so there are some good points that we can actually learn.