Double Your Profits: In Six Months or Less (Packaging May Vary)

I had already read "Double your profits" about ten years ago. I received it from the CEO of the company I worked for at that time. He gave a copy of that book to all the executives of the company with a message saying it had been the best business book he had read lately and that he would like to share it with us. I have recently bought a couple of copies of that book to give to some colleagues at work. It is easy to read, straight forward and very practical. It inspires us to take simple measures to cut non strategic costs and raise the profitability of our business. Great book.

If you don't take care of your bottom-line, you won't be able to take care of any other of your management objectives is the theme for consultant Bob Fifer's writings about how to re-energize the profit drive of a business. Grouping his 78 steps into five parts, Fifer is clear that the first part is a personal commitment on the part of the leader; a commitment to be focused on results, consistent, tough, and fair. Part II is to create a culture of being the best. Then in Part III, taking a page or two from turn-a-round management books, Fifer offers 40 steps for cutting cost - including giving up the boss's corner office! With that, we are ready to move on the Part IV, increasing sales. Here, Fifer offers us another 20 steps that start with the recognition that we sell to people, not companies; and ends with recognition of the value of the sales force. The book finishes with some personal leadership advice; including the importance of determination, perspective, and stretch. This book is not a `soft skills', people manual. It is a turn-a-round style; remember the bottom line in everything you do book. As of this writing, the original hardcover publication is nearly 15 years old and not out-of-date for the right audience. It is easy to read, ~ 250 pages of relatively large type, and can be gone thru in a single setting. It is not "rocket science", it is hard-nosed, straight-forward advice on how to focus on the bottom-line. Dennis DeWilde, author of "The Performance Connection"

This is a real book, an important one, about real cost-cutting, in a real world. It has been used by many corporate leaders as a "bible" for increasing profits by cutting costs...all company costs that do not actually create a direct profit. That means cutting most of middle management, some senior management, and most employees who do not have direct responsibility for adding daily value to the bottom line. It preaches renegotiating or eliminating vendor contracts on a regular basis. It teaches questioning the value of any consultant or outside service. It is a roadmap for rapid, perhaps severe, cost-cutting to achieve immediate profitability.This is not a book for the timid. It is not a feel-good book, except for those who enjoy counting their money. It will make most readers feel uncomfortable, perhaps insecure. These are among the important reasons to read the book.This book was required reading by Sanford Weill and Bob Lipp for all the senior managers of The Travelers Insurance Companies when they engineered the takeover of the ailing company in 1993. It created shock among many of the senior management of the old, established Travelers, but the book prescribed an exact remedy for turning the corporation into a highly profitable company, now a thriving part of CITICORP...one of the great financial corporations in America.If the reader is a CEO or senior officer, this book is a guaranteed prescription for increasing profitability. If the reader is an employee, at almost any level, this book should be required reading for one's survival. If the reader is a vendor, a consultant, or from an association that provides a service to corporate America, the book should be required reading, because it imparts the knowledge of a real business culture that drives decision-making...and possibly will drive their future relationship with the company.The book lacks concern for human resources, for many of the people who make up a company's workforce. They can quickly become a drain on profits. Loyalty, human compassion, sense of community, and many human skills are too easily forgotten or deemed insignificant to the bottom line. This is one of the great faults of the book, of its philosophy, and of its short-term prescription for profits. It is why it only deserves four stars, instead of five. It would deserve five stars or more if the author had enough insight to find value in loyalty, human skills (other than direct sales), and the importance of communities or governments (of people) in the ability of a corporation to provide valid and profitable services. In this area, it is deficient.The book is very simple and easily read in one sitting. It should be required reading by anyone with a serious interest in business...or anyone who has an interest in an important modern business culture, for better or worse, but certainly for profit.

This is an outstanding book with specific suggestions for improving profitability. Even more importantly, it illustrates a mentality that focuses on the bottom line. To those who say that such measures as suggested, "can't be done" - - those who read and adapt the attitude of this book will say "I'm so glad you're my 'competition'".

Fifer does an outstanding job of providing a brief overview of the general ideas relating to maximizing profit by reducing unnecessary overhead and increasing the income side of things. The bulk of this quick read is aimed at specific suggestions which you can put into effect immediately. I highly recommend this book to any small business owner or corporate type who is responsible for actually making the money that the employees spend.