BUSINESS BOOKSHELF

A look at what we're reading and recommending this month.

GOOD GREEN HOMES

Green building is the future and Jennifer Roberts is helping us cross the bridge to get there. She is a longtime advocate and innovator in environmentally friendly living and building. We love her new book and the stunning photographs by Linda Svendsen.

The book is a presentation of how green building—or sustainable building—can make a difference. Green building means being smart about how we use energy, water, and building materials so that we can live well without needlessly damaging the environment. Creating a good green home isn’t just about conservation, about using less or saving more—although that’s certainly part of it. It’s about creating better homes that are easier on the environment, less expensive over the long term, and more enjoyable to come home to. The book is the ultimate new guide for people who want to live in comfortable, healthy, environment-conscious homes.

We recommend this book to our readers because many of you are remodeling your homes to accommodate an office; many are building new facilities on your properties to house your new business. With some simple steps outlined in this book, you can save money, and do your part to help save the environment. (Please check out the outdoor “conference room” on page 82.)

If you associate green-built housing with the unconventional or the quirky—tree houses, geodesic domes, dwellings constructed of tires or soda bottles—think again. Perfect for homeowners, remodelers, renters (who might be surprised by how much is within their power to change), architects, builders, and interior designers, this book lays out seven fundamental principles of green building, illustrated with more than 159 color photographs of twenty-five + homes. A beautiful book in every sense of the word.

MASTER SELLING, MAXIMIZE SELLING
By Kristina Susac
(Chronicle Books, $16.95)

It’s a competitive marketplace and this book seeks to help you create strategies to achieve your goals using a technique called Consultative Partnership. Going beyond offering the right product, service or price, this approach focuses on working as a partner with clients and customers in order to fulfill their needs in a continuing relationship.

The book examines all aspects of successful selling, including communication, laying the foundation for a good rapport, suggestions for learning how to listen, and insight into understanding body language and cues. The book also discusses how to stay motivated, handle rejection, and how to maintain customer loyalty.

“Master Selling, Maximize Success” features a holistic approach, which addresses the emotional factors that can impact the bottom line, such as life-work balance and adversity. Recognizing one’s personal goals helps define the professional ones, and developing a personal mission statement is a good start to prevent internal strife down the road.

The author is the founder of “Strategic Training International,” which specializes in corporate training on sales and presentations, telephone and communication skills, and customer service. Her clients include Coca-Cola, DHL, Motorola, Citibank and numerous other prestigious companies throughout the United States and Europe. Her website is: www.strategictraining.net.

HOW TO RUN A THRIVING BUSINESS
By Ralph Warner
(Nolo Press, $19.99)

Ralph Warner began his career as legal aid attorney serving low-income families in Richmond, California. Drawing on this experience he launched Nolo in 1971, a small business with a purpose: provide legal expertise to people who couldn’t afford a lawyer. The eventual success of Nolo demonstrates the “power of purpose,” one of several principles Warner now espouses in this great new book.

Nolo (www.nolo.com) is the nation’s leading provider of do-it-yourself legal and business solutions for consumers and small businesses. Since 1971, Nolo has offered affordable, plain-English books, forms and software on a wide range of legal issues including wills, estate planning, retirement, elder care, personal finance, taxes, housing and employment.

In this book he suggests that the most important elements for small business success are a sustained passion, a sense of purpose, and an emphasis on relationships with customers and competitors.

The book is presented in the same no-nonsense, accessible style that has made the company famous. Regular readers of this magazine know how we champion books by Nolo. This is one to add to your collection.

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