First, a short story...

You're struggling to assemble the new bicycle for her birthday tomorrow. Her first "big-kid" bike. A two-wheeler with shiny pink fenders, a pink and white seat. Oh, the look on her face tomorrow morning. Wow. But wait, a bolt's missing. Look again in the box, through the packaging, the little plastic bags. Not there. No. Now imagine how she'll look. She can't ride it. A simple careless slip has destroyed the surprise, the joy you were buying. Can customer service help? Yes, they'll send out the bolt. In two weeks. Two weeks to send out a bolt? What are they doing? This is their mistake; can't they try a little harder to correct it? Will you ever purchase a bicycle from that manufacturer again? Doubt it.

A critical failure of marketing.

How many times a week, or perhaps a day, do companies make you mad? How about your cable operator? Or a car dealer's sales person? Or an insurance sales person?

Have you had to pay for customer service from your computer or software manufacturer? Pay for customer service?

Are you insulted by one commercial after another? Is your mailbox stuffed with junk? Your roadways littered with ugly billboards?

Why be loyal to you cell phone company when they ignore your complaints about dropped calls, static, phones that break, batteries that won't hold a charge, but then offer special deals (except, in the small print, "not for existing customers".)

All failures of marketing. But they are common; they happen to all of us. Do they have to be part of our culture?

Failures, critical failures that cost companies the loyalty of customers, as they march from one company to another.

Now this may seem a tautology, but so many companies fail to understand:

Companies that fail at marketing fail to grow.

They continually shoot themselves in the foot. Their days of heady growth only a memory of a better era.

Why You Should Buy This Book

The Failure of Marketing is the first book to directly address these failures - and many others - head on, providing clear direction for transforming your company into a growth machine.

Continual growth, the growth of companies such as Proctor & Gamble, GE, ITW, is due to their understanding of marketing and their discipline in following its basic principles. The Failure of Marketing clearly explains these principles complete with examples both of failures and successes. Illustrated with case histories and personal anecdotes, the book examines critical marketing challenges, providing clear guidance on building solid marketing strategy and linking it to successful tactical implementation.

The examples come from the author's experiences consulting with companies on their new products and core marketing strategy, from firms as large as Kraft, GE, Amoco and Ingersoll-Rand to entrepreneurial start-ups such as AirArmor and Tetherfree.

It's a book every marketer, every CEO should read and understand. It's the beginning of transforming your company into a continually growing, profitable organization - a growth machine.