Foreword by Keith Ferrazzi

The Procrastinators Guide To Marketing
Foreword by: Keith Ferrazzi, author of national bestseller, “Never Eat Alone”

You now hold in your hands the marketing book you’ve been looking for.  It is a recipe for your achievement. Embrace it.  Learn from it. Apply it.

After my first book, “Never Eat Alone,” was published in 2005 I was asked to serve as the keynote speaker at a Yale University alumni seminar in Washington, DC. This is where I met Mary and David Scarborough.

Over breakfast we discussed their ideas for this very book. I had dozens of questions and comments for my new acquaintances, and they patiently answered them as we talked about the world of marketing.  Later, after reading and rereading their manuscript, I became increasingly impressed with its content and scope – so much so, that I incorporated it into new employee training at my consultancy, Ferrazzi Greenlight. So, when David and Mary asked if I would write the Foreword, it was an honor, and I gladly took on the task.

A brief “thumbing” through the Table of Contents will quickly reveal its worth.  You’ll find everything you need to remove any fear or intimation you may be experiencing regarding the most dreaded four-letter marketing word: plan. Not only is their systematic approach comprehensive, well-thought-out and rock-solid, but they have a knack for presenting it in clear and concise language.

Entrepreneurs must maneuver in a dynamic, worldwide, rough-and- tumble marketplace, something that spells doom for business people who lack know-how and expertise.  In order to be successful you must gain mastery over certain fundamental skills, because they do not come naturally, or overnight, regardless of what you’ve heard.

For most, marketing proficiency is earned only after a great deal of effort and years of practice. But once mastered, you can apply its principles many times in the future and under widely varying circumstances.

First, however, you must stop dreaming about your business’ happy ending and shift your perspective by defining your life’s vision and goals; facing the brutal facts of reality (while remaining optimistic); and objectively assessing your strengths and weaknesses.

Only then can you plan your journey by selecting the places, tools, and most importantly, the people who will help you achieve your mission.  All this takes work and involves a lot of sweat equity.

That’s why I strongly recommend that you use David and Mary’s trustworthy expertise and legwork to shorten your learning curve.  In addition to their rock solid advice, brilliant templates and step-by-step guides, you’ll experience an enjoyable ride through their (and others) “real-life” lessons learned, stunning successes and vivid disappointments.

Yet, while I acknowledge that these elements help solve a largely unmet challenge for today’s small business people, my chief interest in this book lies elsewhere. And although my perspective may understandably be viewed as biased, I state it without reservation.  That is, this book reveals something more because it embodies several of the central tenets I introduced in “Never Eat Alone.”

And at every stage of my own career, I sought advice from the most successful people around me – those who could help me make more of myself.  Like other accomplished people, my eventual successes were in due, in part, to their kind and patient support… a “secret” rarely recognized, much less discussed, by business professors, career counselors or therapists.

Simply put, real “networking” is about finding ways to make other people prosper.  It’s about working hard to give more than you get.

And since today’s primary currency is information, a wide-reaching network of respected colleagues, mentors and friends is more critical than ever and one of the surest ways of becoming and remaining successful.

Savvy consumers enjoy a new, and ever growing, abundance of choice. They have grown tired and suspicious of plethora of self-proclaimed marketing “gurus” and entertaining “tricks” and tactics hyped on the Internet and elsewhere.  Smoke screens and latest diversionary, “get-rich-quick” schemes aren’t making it anymore.

Information is everywhere.

Competent, creative and well-thought-out content is hard to find.

This time, you’re in luck. David and Mary, unassailable marketing experts and thought leaders in their industry, genuinely and generously share their keen insights and intellectual property here as well as in their seminars and speaking engagements.  They consistently over-deliver and won’t let you down.

In the end, life is short and our opportunities are limited by time. So never waste one hour. Reach out to others. Develop a group of trusted colleagues, friends and mentors to lean on. Your long-term success depends upon it.

And David and Mary are very good company.